Inside today’s Daily Journal…

Editor’s note: On Friday, Porter shared part 1 of a three-part Journal about William Strauss and Neil Howe’s generational theory, which proposes that history runs in 80-plus-year cycles, divided into four distinct phases or Turnings.

To be clear, Porter wrote, this is not a prophecy. This is pattern recognition. And the fourth period – the “Crisis” period – began in 2008. And since each turning lasts around 21 years, that means 2029 will see the final, climatic end of this generational crisis.

Porter begins part 2 today…

The “Crisis” period began in September 2008…

Our money supply (M2) has grown from roughly $8 trillion in 2008 to $22.44 trillion – a 180% increase in the currency supply in 17 years

Federal debt has erupted to almost $40 trillion. Debt-to-GDP has crossed 120%, shattering the 1946 record that had stood for 80 years. Net interest on the national debt has passed $1 trillion annually – larger than the entire defense budget, and nearly triple what it was just five years ago.

This is not a cyclical downturn. This is the final storm. The only path forward is a complete financial reset.

If the financial signatures of the ordinary turnings are clear, the signature of the Fourth Turning – the Crisis – is emphatic to the point of brutality.

What always happens at the end of the Fourth Turning is the complete collapse of the sovereign’s existing debt and currency regime. And these changes go way back in Western Civilization – long before democrats and republicans and Democrats and Republicans.

The best, most illustrative example was the destruction of the Knights Templar.

In the 13th century, King Philip IV of France was the most powerful monarch of his age. But endless wars with Flanders and England gutted his treasury. He tried every expedient the medieval state allowed. See if this sounds familiar…

First, he debased the currency.

Between the 1290s and 1306 Philip IV systematically reduced the silver content of the French livre. When the economy began to seize up from the resulting inflation, the value of French sterling collapsed by more than 60%, forcing Philip to order the mass confiscation of private silver plate for re-minting.

Americans did the same when silver soared to $50 in 1980 and when it soared again to $100 this year.

Second, he expropriated his creditors one class at a time.

In 1291 King Philip arrested the Lombard merchant-bankers who had extended him vast loans against future taxes, seized their assets, and extracted 250,000 livres tournois by forcing them to purchase French nationality.

What do you think U.S. President Donald Trump is doing by starting a trade war with China? And have you seen Trump’s Gold Cards? You can buy U.S. citizenship for $5 million.

Third, on July 22, 1306 – the fast of Tisha B’Av – he arrested every Jew in France in a single coordinated dawn raid of roughly 100,000 people.

Philip IV expelled the Jews with only the clothes on their backs and 12 sous each, auctioned off their homes and belongings, and, crucially, transferred every debt owed to them onto the Crown’s books.

I know, you think that can’t happen in America. What do you think all of the demands for reparations are really about?

After running out of every other option, on September 14, 1307, Philip IV sent sealed orders to every bailiff in France, to be opened simultaneously a month later.