Tag: Inflation

Doug Casey on How Inflation Destroys Civilization… and What You Can Do About It

by Doug Casey

Inflation Destroys Civilization

International Man: According to a recent Newsweek poll, 63% of Americans “strongly support” new government stimulus checks to combat inflation.

In other words, let’s fight the effects of money printing by doing even more money printing.

What’s your take on this?

Doug Casey: The nature of the US has been transformed. Americans have come to see the government as a cornucopia that can kiss everything and make it better—especially since the bailouts of the Biden Administration.

That attitude has become a cultural value and very hard to change. “Panem et circenses,” as the Romans said, has become necessary for both the government and its subjects. Remember that the prime directive of any entity—whether it’s an amoeba, an individual, a corporation, or a government—is to survive. The present government can’t survive without supporting more than half the population, which has become parasites. But the government itself is the biggest parasite of all. Can parasites live on each other forever? No. To use an overly fashionable word, it’s “unsustainable.” Continue reading “Doug Casey on How Inflation Destroys Civilization… and What You Can Do About It”

Avoid Financial Hardship with a Stable Foundation

Birch Gold Group

Avoid Financial Hardship with a Stable Foundation

From Peter Reagan

We are living through an economic crisis that will earn an entire chapter in introductory economics textbooks in the future…

Just a few of the many “highlights” this year:

Right now, many Americans are struggling with economic hardship, thanks especially to higher inflation.

In fact, 63% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and that includes some six-figure earners, according to a recent report:

As of September, 63% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent LendingClub report  — near the 64% historic high hit in March. A year ago, the number of adults who felt strained was closer to 57%.

Anuj Nayar, LendingClub’s financial health officer, put his finger right on the major issue:

Consumers are not able to keep up with the pace that inflation is increasing. Being employed is no longer enough for the everyday American. Wage growth has been inadequate, leaving more consumers than ever with little to nothing left over after managing monthly expenses.

Even the more affluent savers are cutting back on their holiday spending:

Getting shoppers to spend this holiday season won’t be easy.

The National Retail Federation said Thursday that it expects holiday sales during November and December to rise between 6% and 8% from last year — a decline when factoring in the effect of inflation. The sales forecast excludes spending at automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants.

This isn’t promising, simply because consumer spending is the major driver of economic growth. Pullbacks in spending are often leading indicators of an incoming recession… Continue reading “Avoid Financial Hardship with a Stable Foundation”

Biden’s Plan to Lower Gas Prices Looks A Lot Like Communism

Via Birch Gold Group

Bidens Plan to Lower Gas Prices: Threatening Oil Companies (Are Price Controls Next?)

From Peter Reagan

As the November 8th midterm election draws closer, the U.S. economy is still suffering from red-hot inflation, and that includes high gas prices.

In response to public outrage over the situation, President Biden had a novel strategy. Previously, the Biden regime had sold 180 million barrels of crude from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), shrinking it to their lowest levels since the 1980s.

Did that work? The Treasury Department claims the decision “lowered the price of gasoline by 17 cents to 42 cents per gallon, with an alternate approach suggesting a point estimate of 38 cents per gallon.”

That’s not nothing! When California gas prices were nearly $7 per gallon (nearly $5 nationwide), we really were feeling pain at the pump. Continue reading “Biden’s Plan to Lower Gas Prices Looks A Lot Like Communism”

Doug Casey on How Social Security Increases Could Cause an Inflationary Death Spiral

by Doug Casey

Social Security

International Man: The Social Security Administration recently announced an 8.7% cost of living adjustment for next year. That’s the largest increase in over 40 years.

It represents an additional about $100 billion in annual spending for Social Security. Moreover, cost of living adjustments could increase even more in the future.

However, it seems the government will pay for this $100 billion by printing even more currency, which will make prices rise, even more, necessitating further cost of living increases.

What do you make of this?

Doug Casey: From its very inception Social Security was an unsustainable Ponzi scheme. They anticipated that money from new contributors would pay off early recipients. For decades they had demographics on their side; the average American was young and had a large family, and the economy was growing. Continue reading “Doug Casey on How Social Security Increases Could Cause an Inflationary Death Spiral”

David Stockman on Why We’ll Continue to Have High & Sticky Inflation Ahead…

Via International Man

Inflation Ahead

An examination of the CPI weighting scheme sheds further light on the high, sticky inflation readings which lie in the Fed’s inflation-fighting path ahead.

Y/Y Change In Components of CPI for Food and Energy, February 2020 to June 2022

For instance, food and energy as a whole accounts for 22.1% of the CPI, but there is a clear difference between the pure commodity component of these items versus the portion in which services and domestic labor costs are mixed into the figures. Continue reading “David Stockman on Why We’ll Continue to Have High & Sticky Inflation Ahead…”

We Will See the Return of Capital Investment on a Massive Scale

Via The Market

Market strategist and historian Russell Napier warns of a 15- to 20-year phase of structurally elevated inflation and financial repression. He shares his views on how investors should prepare for this new world.

Russell Napier has never been one of the eternal inflation warners. On the contrary: The market strategist and historian, who experienced the Asian Financial Crisis 25 years ago at first hand at the brokerage house CLSA in Hong Kong, wrote for years about the deflationary power of the globalised world economy.

«Many investors today still pretend that we’re in the system that we had from 1980 to 2020. We’re not. We’re going through fundamental, lasting changes on many levels»: Russell Napier.

«Many investors today still pretend that we’re in the system that we had from 1980 to 2020. We’re not. We’re going through fundamental, lasting changes on many levels»: Russell Napier.

Two years ago, the tide turned and Napier warned of a vicious return of inflation – and he hit the mark. In an in-depth conversation with The Market NZZ, which was lightly edited for clarity, he explains why most developed economies are undergoing a fundamental shift and why the system most investors have become accustomed to over the past 40 years is no longer valid.

Continue reading “We Will See the Return of Capital Investment on a Massive Scale”

How to Fight Inflation Like a Wall Street Pro

Via Birch Gold Group

How to Fight Inflation Like a Wall Street Pro

From Peter Reagan

This week, Your News to Know rounds up the latest top stories involving gold and the overall economy. Stories include: Investment bankers prefer gold for hedging against inflation, keeping currencies in mind when evaluating gold price, and why palladium is making the case for gold stronger.

Surprise! Investment bankers cite gold as best hedge against inflation

What do investment bankers have to say about inflation these days? For starters, they agree that central bank efforts to curb inflation are mostly proving fruitless. Interest rates are going up, but inflation rates aren’t going down. So what are some ways to protect oneself in this environment?

Continue reading “How to Fight Inflation Like a Wall Street Pro”

Will Student Debt Forgiveness Burst the Everything Bubble?

Via Birch Gold Group

Will Student Debt Forgiveness Burst the Everything Bubble?

From Peter Reagan

On Wednesday, August 24, President Joe Biden said the U.S. government would forgive $10,000 in student loans for most debt-burdened Americans:

U.S. consumers carry a massive $1.75 trillion in student loan debt, most of it held by the federal government, the result of university tuition fees substantially higher than in most other rich countries.

Biden’s administration will extend a COVID-19 pandemic-linked pause on student loan repayment to the end of the year, while forgiving $10,000 in student debt for borrowers whose income falls below $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for a married couple, the White House said.

Continue reading “Will Student Debt Forgiveness Burst the Everything Bubble?”

Fed Struggles to Stop Biden from Destroying America’s Economy

Via Birch Gold Group

Fed Struggles to Stop Biden from Destroying American Economy

From Peter Reagan

A couple of weeks ago we discussed Wall Street’s hopes the Fed will pivot back to lower interest rates and cheap money to bail out the stock market.

But after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s recent remarks at the annual FOMC meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, those hopes look more like wishful thinking than anything else.

Powell sounds even more serious about hiking the Fed funds rate for as long as it takes to cool off the historic inflation that has been heating up since President Biden took office in January 2021.

Continue reading “Fed Struggles to Stop Biden from Destroying America’s Economy”

Why This Recession Is Different Than All the Rest

Via Birch Gold Group

Why This Recession Is Different Than All the Rest

From Peter Reagan

No matter how you look at it, most Americans saving for retirement are feeling incredible pressure on their entire financial situation right now.

But before we dive into just how dire the economic situation is in the U.S., on the global level things aren’t “peachy” either. In fact, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is predicting a massive global slowdown:

The IMF now expects the world economy to grow 3.2% in 2022 before slowing to a 2.9% GDP rate in 2023 — marking a downgrade of 0.4 and 0.7 percentage points, respectively, from April. The Washington-based institute said the revised outlook indicated that the downside risks outlined in its earlier report were now materializing. Those include soaring global inflation, China’s slowdown and the war in Ukraine.

But while the global GDP outlook isn’t so hot, the Biden economy could also be heading for serious trouble over the next few months. Continue reading “Why This Recession Is Different Than All the Rest”

Oil at the Crossroads: Belief or Reality?

Guest Post by Chris MacIntosh

Oil at the Crossroads

What do you do when you see the proverbial storm on the horizon? You stock up on whatever you think you’ll need which you may not be able to secure when the storm hits.

Why stock & flow matters?

In inflationary periods people stock up because they fear the loss of purchasing power. The problem with this is that at some point you run out of your supplies and you need to replenish them. How do you fix that? Well you need “flow.”

Continue reading “Oil at the Crossroads: Belief or Reality?”

Fed Struggles to Extinguish the Inflation Bonfire (Here’s Why It’s Not Working)

Via Birch Gold Group

Fed Struggles to Extinguish the Inflation Bonfire (Here's Why It Is Not Working)

From Peter Reagan

This week, Your News to Know rounds up the latest top stories involving gold and the overall economy. Stories include: The Fed needs a 9% interest rate, gold posts biggest gain since March, and Venezuela’s gold isn’t getting home just yet.

Economist: Fed has to keep rising rates, will look for 9% benchmark

We’ve covered plenty of analyses over how interest rate hikes spell doom, especially in this economy. We’ve mentioned how the Federal Reserve will have to reverse course, which seems to be the consensus nowadays. But what would it look like if the Fed had its way with the benchmark rate? Continue reading “Fed Struggles to Extinguish the Inflation Bonfire (Here’s Why It’s Not Working)”

Trump’s Inflation

Guest Post by Antonius Aquinas

Former President Donald Trump attends a rally in support of Arizona GOP candidates, Prescott, Ariz., on July 22, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Once again, former president Donald Trump criticized the Biden Administration for the record consumer price increases that Americans are now paying.  His remarks followed up on his July 4th speech in Wyoming where he lamented about the state of the nation: “I know it’s not looking good for our Country right now, with a major War raging out of control in Europe, the Highest Inflation in memory, the worst 6 month Stock Market in History, the highest energy prices ever.”*

In his most recent campaign rally for GOP hopeful Kari Lake, Trump lambasted President Biden for creating the “worst inflation in 47 years”** and for his “war on American energy” which Trump believes has contributed to the record hike in fuel prices.

Continue reading “Trump’s Inflation”

We Know What Bidenflation Feels Like, But What Does It Look Like? It’s Not Pretty

Via The Blue State Conservative

by Steve MacDonald

Inflation has been brutal on the price of everything. It’s the not-so-hidden tax on Americans and usually the result of meddling from high up the political food chain. If you need a visual of the pain, here’s a video of a graph that shows inflation in real terms.

Continue reading “We Know What Bidenflation Feels Like, But What Does It Look Like? It’s Not Pretty”

Inflation Even Hurts the Penguins

Guest Post by Ron Paul

A recent video shows penguins at a Japanese aquarium rejecting the cheap fish the aquarium has substituted for the higher quality fish the penguins are used to receiving. The reason the aquarium switched fish is because rampant inflation has made it impossible for the aquarium to afford the higher quality fish. The penguins’ reaction illustrates the flaw in governments claiming that even if inflation makes it impossible for you (or penguins) to eat steak (or higher quality fish) your quality of life has not been diminished as long as you can afford hamburger (or cheap fish).

Continue reading “Inflation Even Hurts the Penguins”