With the price of gold through the roof, now is a good time to be a gold miner in Alaska, but then again, it always has been.

I have been ambling around Western Europe for the past few weeks. Wherever I go, I run into the same issue – there are a lot of people-watchers who fret about the pending Presidential election in the United States.

My reaction is to urge them not to dismay; America has hosted bulls in the china shop before, and if that is what comes, so be it.

My argument is simply this – America is as strong fiscally as it ever has been. Inflation is generally behind us; militarily, we are standing by and watching what's going on in Ukraine and the Middle East while our proxies carry our water; immigration has effectively fallen off the table; abortion rights have quieted down to the level of a dull roar; and there is a sunrise on the horizon.

The best thing about a close election is that all the interested parties get the opportunity to be heard – if not understood. We are far stronger arguing about our differences than fighting about them. At the end of the day, life will still go on. If the right prevails, it won't move the heading of the ship of state one degree, more or less more, than would happen if the left were to gain the leadership.

Among the interesting background factors is the price of gold. For decades, gold could not break through the $2,000 per ounce ceiling, but all of a sudden, since the end of 2023, it has surged above $2,700/oz at this writing.

While Alaska's major gold mines and wannabe mines have been breaking out the champagne, the price of gold is almost enough to make placer mining profitable as well.

As usual, one must ask, "What is driving this spectacular increase?"

The stock market is setting new highs, interest rates are pushing south, unemployment is low, and, generally, for those who are able to contribute to the economy, times are good.

It appears that the world's central banks are sucking all the gold out of the room. They have purchased hundreds of metric tons of gold over the past two years, almost doubling their reserves to 11%.

Clearly, those who know about such things are taking the conservative track.

Supposing the almighty dollar shows some weakness and China, India or even Russia knocks us off of our economic pedestal, what do we do?

Historically, we retreat to the gold standard. In kind, gold is a pain in the neck to deal with, but it does have the advantage of being fungible. Fortunately, we are a far distance from that problem.

We know that there must be a reserve currency available to hold the commercial world together.

Transferring wealth between buyers and sellers must be cheap, reliable and generally available, and currently, only the U.S. Dollar meets those standards.

Ironically, the greatest economic risk that America faces at the moment is our exuberant propensity to give money away.

Giving away arms and munitions doesn't really count. After all, someone will have to fill all those empty warehouses with bigger and better things that go boom in the night. Give-away programs are something different. Call it wealth redistribution, if you like, but we probably cannot withstand too much more debt service in the name of Inflation reduction. Irrespective of how things work out on Nov. 5, on Nov. 6, there will be a new day dawning.