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While negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program are at a standstill, news this week indicates that Iran is clearly losing the economic battle. As in other cases, currency problems in Iran may contribute to an unpredictable and destabilizing political outcome. Iran’s currency fell by more than 18 percent against the dollar on Monday and another 8 percent on Tuesday, marking a new low in Iran’s continuing economic crisis. The figures are grim: a sheaf of rials worth ten thousand dollars a year ago would be worth about $3,750 Monday and $3,500 Tuesday; on Wednesday, there were protests in the bazaar.Short of...

A currency disappearing in value and hyperinflation as a result. Not surprisingly, people don't like it very much when they go to sleep with their money being worth one amount and then wake up the next morning to find their money worth a lot less. New York Times: The first outbreak of public anger over Iran's collapsing currency and other economic maladies jolted the heart of the capital on Wednesday, with the riot police violently clamping down on black-market money changers, hundreds of citizens marching to demand relief and merchants in the sprawling bazaar closing their shops in protest. Iran's...

Since the U.S. and E.U. first enacted sanctions against Iran, in 2010, the value of the Iranian rial (IRR) has plummeted, imposing untold misery on the Iranian people. When a currency collapses, you can be certain that other economic metrics are moving in a negative direction, too. Indeed, using new data from Iran’s foreign-exchange black market, I estimate that Iran’s monthly inflation rate has reached 69.6%. With a monthly inflation rate this high (over 50%), Iran is undoubtedly experiencing hyperinflation. When President Obama signed the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act, in July 2010, the official Iranian rial-U.S. dollar...

Hyperinflationary Currency Collapse Is Leading To Big Anti-Regime Protests In Iran Joe WeisenthalOctober 3,2012 Earlier this week we wrote about how Iran's currency (the Rial) is in a state of total collapse, in part due to oil sanctions. It's obvious that the spiraling cost of things is having a major destabilizing effect. The BBC reports on protests: Riot police in Iran have clashed with protesters in the capital over sharp falls in the currency, the rial. Tear gas was used to disperse the demonstrators, some of whom were setting fire to tyres and rubbish bins. There were many arrests, reports...

Hyperinflation Is Virtually Assured – John Williams Economics / HyperInflationSep 13, 2012 - 01:41 AM By: Videos The Federal Reserve is talking about “unlimited QE,” or money printing, to boost employment. Economist John Williams says, “That’s absolutely nonsense. The Fed is just propping up the banks.” Williams says, “You’re likely going to see a dollar sell-off . . . That should evolve into hyperinflation.” Williams, “Doesn’t see the current system holding together without hyperinflation beyond 2014.” He contends the real annual deficit is “$5 trillion per year” and says, “That’s beyond containment.” Williams predicts, “Hyperinflation is virtually assured because the...

The mainstream media in the United States is almost totally ignoring one of the most important trends in global economics. This trend is going to cause the value of the U.S. dollar to fall dramatically and it is going to cause the cost of living in the United States to go way up. Right now, the U.S. dollar is the primary reserve currency of the world. Even though that status has been chipped away at in recent years, U.S. dollars still make up more than 60 percent of all foreign currency reserves in the world. Most international trade (including the...

Martin Armstrong is an iconic investor who has called more market tops and bottoms than just about anyone else out there. He believes that hyperinflation will not occur in the US so long as there’s a functioning bond market. He believes that the government will be forced to drastically cut spending and cut back benefits. Social security will be cut, along with all major government programs. The bond vigilantes won’t have it any other way. This will lead to a lost decade, with price inflation starting in 2014 and a real collapse occurring after 2015. Whether his vision will come...

When, Not If, Inflation Returns By Jeff ClarkSeptember 10, 2012 The cheek of it! They raised the price of my favorite ice cream. Actually, they didn’t increase the price; they reduced the container size. I can now only get three servings for the same amount of money that used to give me four, so I’m buying ice cream more often. Raising prices is one thing. I understand raw-ingredient price rises will be passed on. But underhandedly reducing the amount they give you…that’s another thing entirely. It just doesn’t feel…honest. You’ve noticed, I’m sure, how much gasoline is going up. Food...

Hyperinflation – Still More Than A Monetary Phenomenon 08/17/2012 1:15 PM Cullen Roche One of the bigger myths in the world of economics and finance remains the cause of hyperinflation. As I’ve highlighted many times over the years, hyperinflation is more than just a monetary phenomenon (and misunderstanding this led to many incorrect hyperinflation predictions in the USA in recent years). In fact, the monetary explosion is almost always the result of some other rare or extreme exogenous factor. My original conclusions on this found that hyperinflations tended to occur around the follow events: * Collapse in production. * Rampant...

PETER SCHIFF: We Are Sailing Right Into The Perfect Storm Sam Ro Aug. 9, 2012, 9:26 AM Peter Schiff of Europacific Capital continues to sound the alarm on the risks of the government's mounting debt load and the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy. Like Roubini and some other doomsayer, he employs the "perfect storm imagery." From a piece in King World News: The perfect storm is the real fiscal cliff that we’re going to go over. The real fiscal cliff is when we can’t borrow any more money because our creditors wake up to the fact that we’re no...

Shouting matches and even physical fights break out each time a minibus pulls up to drop off passengers at a crowded bus stop in downtown Harare. It's all about not getting short-changed. Hyperinflation forced Zimbabwe to trash its worthless local currency three years ago in a move that brought much needed relief to the crippled economy but created a surprising new headache: a lack of coins. "Change is a big problem, and at the same time passengers are impatient with us. I have been slapped a few times for not having change for them," said a bus conductor Walter Chakawata....

Britain’s pension system is in meltdown, with retirement payouts slashed 27 percent in just four years. Experts say the Bank of England’s policy of printing money to ease the country through the recession has destroyed the pensions industry and “impoverished more than a million pensioners”. And yesterday, in a fresh blow, the Bank’s policy makers agreed to more quantitative easing (QE), pumping an extra £50 billion ($77.4 billion) into the economy and boosting the money supply to £375 billion ($580 billion). William Hunter, director of Hunter Wealth Management, said: “The economy may need more QE, but pensioners need it like...

It is worthwhile noting that inflation as a factor of global economic security has the innate capacity to upend carefully laid plans and further upset the equilibrium, being a source of economic hardship that only a limited number of state actors can affect via their national policies argue former Reagan advisor Dr Norman Bailey and Dr Alexander Mirtchev Governments everywhere are responding by devaluing currencies, applying price restrictions, raising interest rates or imposing currency controls — in a way, true to the legacy of Diocletian. In some cases, they are attempting to obfuscate price increases — by changing definitions, altering...

The Anatomy Of Sovereign Debt Default Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis 2012 Apr 17, 2012 - 12:47 PM By: Michael Pento The three primary factors that determine the interest rate level a nation must pay to service its debt in the long term are; the currency, inflation and credit risks of holding the sovereign debt. All three of those factors are very closely interrelated. Even though the central bank can exercise tremendous influence in the short run, the free market ultimately decides whether or not the nation has the ability to adequately finance its obligations and how high interest rates...

www.financialsurvivalnetwork.com presents: Max Yemets was back on talking more about hyper-inflation and how debts get destroyed. He told the story of how his father took out a loan to purchase a bicycle back in Soviet controlled Ukraine. It was a large loan by their standards; but when hyper-inflation hit, his father was able to repay the loan for virtually nothing. There's something instructive about this scenario, and history could very well repeat itself. Imagine having a large mortgage that you get to pay back in greatly depreciated dollars. Max believes that if you aren't buying metals now, you should be!...

If you are looking for the most nauseating cover possible on Ben Bernanke, please consider the April 2012 issue of the Atlantic. The cover asks the question "Ben Bernanke saved the global economy. So why does everyone hate him?" For starters Ben Bernanke did not save the global economy. Making such a proclamation is like a football fans proclaiming victory at the end of the third quarter with the score 54-24 following a 24 point rally after being down 54-0. Simply put, it is far too early to make a presumption the Fed "saved" anything given the global economy remains...

The Fed's Inflation Target; QE3, QE4, QE5, Etc. Are In The Queue Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing Jan 29, 2012 - 11:26 AM By: David Knox Barker The U.S. Federal Reserve policy announcement on Tuesday, January 25, 2012 marks an important moment in monetary history. The forecast by a majority of the members of the FOMC for interest rates to hug zero until late 2014 was of interest and points to the FOMC conviction extended global economic stagnation at best, reflecting the long wave forces at work in the global economy. However, more importantly, it was the first time that the...

Southern Europe Permanently Crippled, The Only Tool Left Is Hyper Inflation Economics / HyperInflation Jan 20, 2012 - 11:24 AM By: Jim Willie CB Any perusal around the world these days features Southern Europe crippled, preparing for the inevitable Greek Govt Bond default. It features a crippled US housing market, a mockery of statistical accounting in the US Gross Domestic Product, the plight of the COMEX with established veterans clearing out desks (not trading), the extreme physical demand reported by the London Trader, and the indictment of the SLV iTrust Silver Fund tool used by the cartel. The survey does...

I have received a few emails asking if I was still content with my decision to shut down my brokerage. Not only am I content, but after seeing the news that broke over the weekend, I am of the considered opinion that the entire financial blogging community should formally call for a general financial market strike. And I’m not kidding. A couple of things have happened regarding the MF Global mess that I don’t think got the attention they should have because they broke over the weekend. So let me fill you all in. First, all notions of personal property...

Global Economic Crisis: The U.S. An Insolvent And Ungovernable Country Economics / Global Debt Crisis 2012 Dec 18, 2011 - 11:57 AM By: LEAP As announced in previous GEABs, in this issue our team presents its anticipations on the changes in the United States for the period 2012-2016. This country, the epicentre of the global systemic crisis and pillar of the international system since 1945, will go through a particularly tragic in its history during these five years. Already insolvent it will become ungovernable bringing about, for Americans and those who depend on the United States violent and destructive economic,...