The Cycle We’re In — And Why It May Be Nearing Its End

I meet a lot of people in my profession, something I very much enjoy, and typically these conversations centre around procurement careers or business requirements that rely on the supply chain to achieve key business goals. Lately, however, these discussions have been straying from such topics and leaning more towards economic conditions, unemployment rates, financial risk, and the future of younger family members who may struggle to secure a job or afford a property. As many within my network already know, I am a keen follower of the economy and geopolitical events, an interest I embraced after selling the Jigsaw business, when I had more time to absorb the complexities of global derivatives and the history that has shaped the trajectory we are on today. I’ve shared much of this in the reports I’ve written since 2018, which, on balance,  attracted a strong following and considerable interest. A small minority disliked the content, particularly when it challenged conventional thinking or agendas devised by NGOs.

These reports focused deeply on supply chain themes but also extended into topics such as education, the maturing labour force, the devaluation of money, and the growing threat of digital systems. For this report, I wanted to explore the admittedly sensitive topic of communism, something akin to dicing with the devil. I hope, however, that I’ve kept personal opinions to a minimum and based the content primarily on historical facts. Many of the conversations I’m having suggest that more people sense something is broken in the world. Something feels amiss, though they can’t quite put their finger on it. The obvious is clear to many: rising crime, expensive groceries, climbing bond yields, shrinking super funds, declining health, and falling Western birth rates. Yet there’s also a less tangible shift, something harder to quantify.

Then there’s gold and the wider precious metals complex, rising aggressively beyond the comprehension of many. We are in a world where gold exceeds $6,000 AUD, silver trades above $70, and platinum looks set to accelerate to five times its current value. If there were ever a canary in the mine screaming financial Armageddon, gold would be it. Of course, I’m far from a financial adviser, but I’ve been pointing out since 2017 that the future does not lie in bonds and derivative fiscal instruments, it lies in tangible assets unlinked to leverage. Many believe this is just another cycle, something that will pass, resolved by an elected official or central bank lowering interest rates back to zero. I believe this is a mistake. We should think of the current scenario in terms of climate, not season, and this season is nearing its endgame.

As many people lack the time to conduct deep research, I wanted to draft something broader than a simple economic overview. GDP and similar metrics are useful, but they don’t address the root cause of why we are in such disarray. That requires looking beyond economics into the social realm, an exploration of idealisms, as these are often the driving forces behind economic outcomes that affect us all. By this, I don’t mean personal views on pronouns, gender, or religion. I’m referring instead to the idealisms of national and global structures, the systems that collect our tax dollars, set policy, and control the value rate of usury. What is this cycle, and why are we possibly at its endgame if we stay on this path? Why won’t the economy bounce back to the world we once knew, a world built by baby boomers that established the frameworks of industry, finance, and social stability we now take for granted? For transparency, I’m not religious, nor politically right or left. I’ve simply always been inquisitive, striving to uncover truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. If I can share one snippet of information that helps someone make better decisions for their family, that’s a win.

Communism has long been an idea that elites have flirted with since the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Modern society appears shaped by the conflict between labour and capital. Revisiting the War of Independence (1775–1783), the United States won its freedom from British rule, guided by a belief in God-given liberty over a ruling class. Europe, meanwhile, took a different path, one of elite control. In Germany, Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Bavarian Illuminati, emerged as a key influence. He believed in dismantling monarchies and the nuclear family, envisioning a secular order ruled by elites with the masses reduced to serfs, a concept recognised as the embryonic root of collectivism. Since then, the tension between individual liberty and collectivist control has driven global conflict. The French Revolution also reflected this tug-of-war. While the monarchy had indeed bankrupted France through endless wars, the question remains whether the revolution was hijacked by the Jacobins, aligned with early democratic socialist ideals. Thomas Jefferson sympathised with the revolutionaries and admired Maximilien Robespierre, who believed that virtue and terror were both essential tools of governance during revolution. John Adams, however, warned against unchecked radicalism, and was proven right as France descended into chaos and bloodshed. In the UK, Robert Owen, a Welsh socialist textile manufacturer, promoted the abolition of private property and introduced economic experiments centred on shorter workdays, free education, and better communal housing. These experiments, later known as early socialism, consistently failed. Then came Karl Marx (real name Moses Levin), author of The Communist Manifesto, and a surprising supporter of Abraham Lincoln. Marx recognised that implementing communism would be far easier through a centralised government.

The world changed forever with World War I, triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Europe’s fragile alliances collapsed into global conflict. The debts incurred then still echo today, influencing modern wars and the redrawing of territories, particularly in the Middle East following the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire. World War II saw Western powers align with Russian Bolsheviks to overthrow fascism, repositioning global power from Britain to the United States, who also hauled all the gold. Again, socialist, and collective agendas spread across both the U.S. and Europe. So, if the West “won” both wars, supposedly fought to defeat fascism and contain communism (cold war), why do our rights continue to erode? Why are surveillance systems expanding, governments growing, and policies increasingly suffocating both private citizens and corporations? Did communism just get re-packaged.

Capitalism, of course, is not perfect. By the late 19th century, the U.S. was industrialising rapidly. Farmers left the land for factories, railroads expanded, and labour exploitation grew. Unions arose as a necessary counterbalance, but some evolved into radical socialist movements. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), founded in 1905, believed in overthrowing capitalism altogether. Their influence reached Australia and beyond. Immigration, meant to boost economic output, also brought radical socialist thinkers sympathetic to the Bolsheviks. The Haymarket Affair of 1886, which turned violent, and the rise of Eugene Debs, leader of the Socialist Party of America, cemented socialism’s foothold in Western politics. In truth, the West was never truly at war with communis, or fascism. From the early 1900s, both Europe and the U.S. were drifting toward a socialist model. Efforts to counter oligarchic exploitation were often hijacked by extreme socialist forces. Most people today wouldn’t call themselves socialist, yet many embrace the benefits of state support. I consider myself a capitalist, but I support free education, public healthcare, infrastructure, and law enforcement. Does that make me a socialist? Perhaps the truth lies in balance. I favour smaller government, domestic investment, and transparency, not a system that tracks citizens, taxes them into poverty, and serves a hidden elite. It seems strange to me the number of private dealings the public sector officials take part in, hiding it from the public, yet the public, who are the private sector, must have all their dealings tracked and traced. Somehow, this seems inverted. Call me radical, but surely a government works for the people, and be held to account by the people. Somehow, this does not seem to be the case, even if packaging states otherwise.

By 1917, Lenin had taken power in Russia, declaring, “We shall now proceed to construct the socialist order.” The Romanov family was executed, and by 1919, the Communist Party USA was formed, pledging allegiance to Moscow. The Great Depression (1929–1939) accelerated socialist policies in the U.S. The Federal Reserve, created in 1913, enabled elites to manipulate markets and interest rates. It is a little-known fact that the depression was engineered on purpose by the central bank. Roosevelt’s New Deal introduced large-scale government control through social welfare programs. While presented as compassion, they entrenched dependency on the state. Roosevelt’s advisors, such as Rexford Tugwell, admired Stalin’s policies, much as some modern leaders admire China’s digital systems of control. The hallmark of communism is not brutality alone, but control disguised as compassion.

Much is taught about WWII, but little about WWI and the rise of the Bolsheviks, whose revolution, funded in part by Western interests, set the global stage for ideological manipulation.

Marx’s Communist Manifesto listed key principles:

• Abolition of inheritance

• A progressive or graduated income tax

• Abolition of private property

• Abolition of national sovereignty and patriotism

• Abolition of the individual home and family

• Abolition of established religions

• Creation of a monopolistic central bank

• Centralisation of communication and transport

• Control of factories and farm production

• Central ownership of capital with a deployable workforce

• Blurring of rural and urban distinctions

• Free public education as indoctrination

The Nazi Party’s manifesto shared many of these principles, showing fascism and communism as ideological twins, both seeking total central control. The conclusion? Neither ideology was about freedom. Both were designed to reshape society under state dominance, serving elite agendas.

People are becoming poorer, not by accident, but by design. Global debt, rising taxation, and increasing surveillance all point to a deliberate restructuring of Western society, a controlled demolition of the middle class. While populations are distracted and divided by social issues, those in power tighten control. The baby boomers, though not without struggle, were rewarded with stability, home ownership, holidays, and family life at all classes of income. The next generations are being denied even these modest returns, while they work an 8-10hr shift. Whether you back Trump, Albanese, or Starmer, don’t be fooled, they share the same underlying goals. The problem is no longer political; it’s systemic.

The power still lies with the people. Only through awareness and unity can Australia, and the broader Western world, understand our true oppressors and prevent the continuation of a cycle that began more than a century ago.