Late Stage FIAT Debauchery is in Full Swing

How Investors and Retirees Should Prepare for Its Inevitable but Foggy Timeline and Horror that Never Ends ('Til it Does).

Sep 10, 2025

Money Isn’t Everything…Until it Is.

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is no longer a quirky economic sidebar you might stumble across in a grad-school textbook. It’s the operating system of late-stage fiat debauchery, a world where the printing press never cools down, deficits aren’t just tolerated but normalized, and digital rails like stablecoins and airdrops give policymakers the ability to inject money straight into every pocket on Earth with the tap of a button.

This is not the beginning of the end. It is the end of the end. And like I’ve said before, the irrational fiat system can last far longer than most of us can remain solvent from the destructive force of inflation and debasement.

What we are living through is less a sudden implosion or horrifying end than a “horror without end”—a slow, grinding monetary and financial nightmare that devours its own children. It’s a terminal drift into instability, asset bubbles, social fracture, and widening inequality.

So here’s the question that matters: How do you survive (better yet, thrive) when the direction is clear but the timeline is foggy?

In today’s post, we’ll explore:

The evolution of “late-stage fiat” via MMT, stablecoins, and digital airdrops.
The dangers and lessons of unchecked monetary expansion.
Why Bitcoin is not just an “investment” but a lifeline and reserve strategy.
Practical moves you can take now to protect and position your family wealth for what’s coming.

I. Fiat Currency’s Terminal Drift: MMT, Digital Expansion, and Policy Excess

From Gold to Pure Paper:
When Nixon closed the gold window in 1971, fiat became completely unanchored. For a while, trust alone carried the system. But trust erodes over time, and the cracks always show up in credit cycles, deficit spending, and political expediency. Each crisis since the dot-com bust, 2008, the pandemic—has widened the gap between discipline and indulgence. Central banks are no longer referees; they are co-conspirators in the game of perpetual money expansion.

MMT—The Seductive Mirage:
At its core, MMT promises governments can “spend first and tax later” because they can’t run out of their own currency. The pitch sounds modern and compassionate: mobilize resources for today, manage inflation tomorrow. But the bill always comes due. And for savers, wage earners, and investors without hard assets, that bill shows up as diminished purchasing power.

Stablecoins and Airdrops—The Digital Supercharger:
Stablecoins like USDT and USDC marry fiat’s familiarity with blockchain’s speed. Now, policymakers don’t even need banks as intermediaries. They can push digital dollars directly into your wallet—stimulus checks, universal basic income, or targeted subsidies—what used to be policy debate is now programmable code . This sounds empowering, but it also accelerates the cycle of creation and debasement.

II. Historical Scenarios: The Slow Burn and Sudden Shock of Fiat Collapse

History proves that fiat doesn’t usually die in an explosion—it rots. The decay is often masked by periods of apparent stability:

Weimar Germany (1920s): Reparations and reckless printing destroyed wealth overnight.
Zimbabwe (2000s): Hyperinflation gutted savings and forced barter economies.
Rome: Currency debasement went hand-in-hand with imperial decline.
Modern Signals: The 1978 U.S. “dollar crisis,” UK bond collapse in 2022, and yen interventions all show how trust disappears in a flash .

The lesson: collapse is rarely a single cataclysm. It’s a drawn-out bleed punctuated by shocks. And in the interim, savers quietly lose everything while believing they are “safe.”

III. Middle Class vs. Upper Class: Who Wins, Who Loses?

On paper, MMT and digital rails promise inclusion (via stimulus payments, frictionless access, emergency buffers), but here’s the rub:

Cantillon Effect: Those closest to new money—banks, asset holders, elites—get rich first. (Trickle down doesn’t trickle)
Lagging Wages: By the time new money reaches Main Street, prices are already up.
Digital Divide: Stablecoin airdrops enrich those fluent in Web3; everyone else plays catch-up .

The result? The gap widens and the upper class hedges into hard assets. The middle class lives month to month in inflating fiat.

IV. The Geopolitical Arch: Dollar Dominance Under Siege

The U.S. dollar has long enjoyed “exorbitant privilege”—issuing IOUs, the world happily absorbed. But that dominance is fraying. BRICS, China, and Europe are building alternatives. Central banks are buying gold at a record pace. Meanwhile, dollar stablecoins project U.S. inflation and policy everywhere.

What we’re left with is not a storm but a drizzle: trade wars, sanctions, capital flight, reserve diversification. Each drip erodes trust.

V. Bitcoin: Your Escape Valve

Here’s the liberating part: while fiat slides deeper into debauchery, Bitcoin stands outside the system. Scarce by design, immune to political meddling, globally accessible—it’s the only monetary asset that cannot be printed away .

Everyday investors don’t need to time the endgame. They just need to prepare:

Automate small, steady buys (DCA).
Take custody off-exchange with cold-storage hardware or multisig wallets of all your holdings that aren’t for spending or immediate liquidity access. There are great wallets out there from Trezor to Ledger (I have both), but I personally prefer and recommend the nGrave Zero for its optimal and leading airgapped security. Check it out here (full disclosure: I make like $25 in affiliate fees if you purchase from them, so that is not the motivation for my recommendation, but it beats a kick in the shins :)
Diversify how you earn or stack sats—cashback, peer-to-peer, mining if practical.
For larger sums, integrate institutional-grade custody and family trusts.
Keep your core Bitcoin savings unlevered—don’t chase yield with it, as that is a more advanced BTC portfolio management strategy once you have your rainy day nest egg secured.

When the next shock comes, capital controls and restrictions will follow. The only defense is to already have a reserve.

A personal email note from their founder on the recent security risks of cold storage supply chains and how the NGRAVE ZERO wallet remains 100% secure.
Hi Chris,
We are writing to you today with an important security update regarding a recent supply chain attack that compromised several widely used npm packages. This incident, which affected millions of crypto users, is a stark reminder of the persistent threats facing the digital asset ecosystem.
What Happened
Malicious code was injected into npm packages with over two billion weekly downloads. This malware was designed to target crypto wallets by:
Silently swapping your wallet address with the hacker's, often using a similar-looking address to avoid detection.
Altering transaction details right before you sign them.
Draining your funds without your immediate knowledge.
Why Funds on NGRAVE ZERO Are 100% Safe
This is precisely the type of attack NGRAVE ZERO was built to withstand. Because NGRAVE ZERO is a truly air-gapped device, it provides an unparalleled level of security.
With NGRAVE ZERO:
Your private keys never touch your computer or the internet, cutting off the primary attack vector for this type of malware.
Transactions are created on your phone or laptop but must be verified and approved on your NGRAVE ZERO offline.
Even if the malware changes the address on your computer, it cannot change what you see on your NGRAVE ZERO's large screen, specifically designed to display full transaction details clearly.
Your Final Line of Defense
This incident reinforces the critical importance of a simple security habit: always double-check the recipient address on your hardware wallet's screen before signing. Attacks may target your devices, but they can't trick your eyes. As long as you verify the transaction on your NGRAVE ZERO's screen, your funds remain safe.
A Note for You and Your Friends
The importance of using the right hardware wallet has never been clearer. Now is the time to secure your assets, whether you're taking the first step into self-custody, upgrading to the most secure wallet, or helping a friend. We are offering a 10% discount on NGRAVE ZERO wallets.
Use the code SAFE10 at checkout.
Stay safe,
Ruben Merre, Founder & CEO
Your folks can use Discount Now (SAVE10) at checkout to save 10%
ORDER NGRAVE ZERO

The fiat system is designed to last longer than anyone expects. That’s its trick. But that doesn’t mean you wait. You act early, while liquidity flows freely, while access is cheap, while optionality exists.

Practical Checklist:

Keep minimal fiat for expenses.
Hold Bitcoin as the base layer.
Layer in gold, productive real estate, and equity in durable businesses.
Build intergenerational plans with custody and estate protocols.
Review risk every quarter—don’t get complacent.

For the upper class, that means family offices, cross-border vaults, and multi-sig governance. For everyday investors, it’s simply about beginning—stacking your first reserve today.

VII. Conclusion: Navigating the Nightmare with Confidence

Late-stage fiat debauchery isn’t a reason to panic. It’s a reason to prepare. The fog around timing doesn’t change the inevitability of where this ends. History is screaming the same lesson: those who hedge into hard assets endure; those who stay in fiat get devoured.

Bitcoin isn’t just a speculative play. It’s the lifeboat. It’s the reserve strategy that can keep you solvent, resilient, and even opportunistic while others drown in the slow bleed.

The choice is yours: wait for the system to clarify, or act now while the fog still covers your moves.

Yours in health and wealth,

~Chris J Snook

Sources

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