2/26/2025

My Dear Friend & POTUS, DJT,

            Do you own gold? Should I buy some as a hedge against a stock market crash or, worse, a failure of our banking system. I hesitate to even utter that kind of pessimism, but I know that others are also experiencing it since the price of gold is at an all time high. It’s getting close to $3000 an ounce. If I pick up some bars Costco, where might I put them for safe keeping?

            I have similar questions about these letters. When I engage in catastrophic thinking, I imagine anything electronic could someday disappear if storage facilities lose power. I’d have the files on my computer, but those require energy, too. If I print them out, they could burn up. Do I need something set in stone? This thought demonstrates extreme paranoia. Stories like Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower have planted seeds of doubt that surface in such moments of weakness. Does this ever happen to you?

            Kindred spirits (KS) are on my mind today as I reflect on the author I met yesterday & my BFF, who I meditated with this morning. According to Finlay & Eatough (2012), a KS is someone who gives you the easy, trusting, safe, affirming feeling of being understood. They provide a nurturing, encouraging, comforting & accepting presence. When I told the author about these letters as an expression of my beliefs, she immediately understood what I was talking about, instead of responding, as most people do, with raised eyebrows.

KSs are like the friendships CS Lewis wrote about which entail “naked personalities.” Is that what you & Elon have? If so, count yourself lucky! Such relationships are rare. I must caution you, two, not to get carried away in your attempts to tear things down. It’s so much easier to break things than make things.

I appreciate your efforts to make pricing in health care transparent. In order for that effort to work, you will need some standardization so it’s clear what “counts” when pricing a C-section, for example. That will require some wonks to do the math, so best not to blow up the agencies that might figure out all the required procedures related to a C-section.

I also appreciate your attention to securing access to various minerals, especially rare earth (REE). As you know China refines 90% of the REE in the world. Maybe we should figure out how to be their friends, so we can maintain a steady supply of those REEs. Bringing peace to Burma would be helpful in that regard, given that so much of the REE China refines comes from there.

BYBS,