Financial Repression Toll Collectors
Joe Morrissey@morrisseyjoe
+4.1%
since Oct 6
Practiced to +0.6% over 3 days before going real.
Practice chapter: simulated results; no money was invested.
The idea
I believe the US will end up managing its debt through financial repression, keeping rates below inflation for years, so cash and bonds quietly lose ground while owners of scarce physical assets with pricing power come out ahead. This basket sticks to toll collectors and landowners: pipelines with tariff escalators, irreplaceable railroads, towers, timberland and farmland, CPI-linked landlords, and landfill franchises, with no single name above a modest slice and some cash held in reserve.
What it owns
- Pipelines earn volume-based fees with built-in inflation escalators, collecting more as the dollar weakens without taking on commodity price risk. · Enterprise Products PartnersIt operates as a toll collector on energy moving through its network, paid by volume rather than by commodity prices., Williams CompaniesIt collects fees for moving natural gas through pipelines that cannot be rebuilt, with those fees stepping up over time on contracted terms., EnbridgeIts pipelines carry built-in tariff escalators that rise as prices do, collecting rising tolls while rates stay pinned below inflation., Kinder MorganIt owns one of the largest contracted gas pipeline networks in the US, with tariffs that reprice upward on contracted terms.23%
- Railroads and toll highways control irreplaceable rights-of-way and reprrice freight and tolls with inflation year after year, acting as toll collectors on essential infrastructure. · Union PacificIt owns irreplaceable rights-of-way across the western US and reprices freight rates with inflation, functioning as both a landowner and toll collector., FerrovialIt runs toll roads where tolls are contractually linked to inflation, repricing automatically as the consumer price index rises., Canadian Pacific Kansas CityIt operates the only railroad connecting Canada, the US, and Mexico, controlling a route that cannot be duplicated and repricing freight with inflation., CSX CorporationIt is one half of a two-railroad market in the eastern US, giving shippers limited alternatives when rates rise with inflation.22%
- Farmland, timberland and royalty acreage are physical assets that governments cannot print and that often appreciate as inflation erodes currency. · Texas Pacific LandIt owns land in the Permian and collects royalties and water fees without drilling, functioning as a pure landowner with repricing rights., WeyerhaeuserIt owns about ten million acres of US timberland, a physical asset that grows in volume every year regardless of monetary policy., Gladstone LandIt owns farmland and collects rent from farmers under leases that reset upward over time, capturing inflation through a scarce physical asset.13%
- Landlords with inflation-linked leases pass rising prices straight through to tenants, turning real estate into a mechanism that captures inflation gains. · VICI PropertiesIt owns the land under the Las Vegas Strip and collects rent under long leases, many explicitly linked to the consumer price index., PrologisIt owns warehouses on scarce land near ports and cities and rolls old leases up to much higher market rents when tenants renew.12%
- Cell towers are scarce vertical real estate with long leases that include annual rent escalators, allowing owners to collect rising fees as carriers depend on coverage. · American TowerIt rents space on cell towers with annual rent escalators built into leases, collecting rising fees because carriers cannot abandon coverage., SBA CommunicationsIt derives nearly all revenue from leasing tower sites with escalating rents, functioning as the purest tower landlord in the group.11%
- Landfills are permitted scarce assets with steady pricing power, functioning as toll booths on everyday life that raise prices faster than inflation. · Republic ServicesIt owns scarce landfill capacity and pushes through steady price increases year after year, functioning as a toll booth on waste disposal., Waste ManagementIt owns landfills that are nearly impossible to permit anymore and raises collection prices faster than inflation because customers have few alternatives.10%
- Companies positioned to benefit as financial repression redirects capital flows and erodes purchasing power across economies. · The company benefits from long-term lease agreements with built-in escalators that protect against inflation, and recent spectrum deals have expanded its revenue streams while divestitures have simplified its business model.4%
- Cash4%