Free Republic

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,...

Perpetual Q.E. Without The Billboard, Hyper Monetary Inflation Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing Nov 30, 2011 - 08:15 AM By: Jim Willie CB The US Federal Reserve has fooled a lot of people into believing that the grand monetary pump and debt monetization project has been put on hold. The only thing that changed was their talking publicly about it. The money press has been working to the limit, never stopped. The discussion has been kept quiet, but the machinery still makes a lot of shrill noise. The proof is not movement of lips by central bankers, but the data from...

As expected, the Fed has just bailed out the world once again: FED, ECB, BOJ, BOE, SNB, BANK OF CANADA LOWER SWAP RATES - BBG ECB, FED other major central bank to lower the pricing of existing USD liquidity swaps by 50BPS And as we have been writing every single day, the worldwide dollar crunch is now confirmed: At present, there is no need to offer liquidity in non-domestic currencies other than the U.S. dollar And finally, a promise to bailout Bank of America when it hits $4.00 again: U.S. financial institutions currently do not face difficulty obtaining liquidity in...

The U.S. Federal Reserve, acting with five other central banks, took steps Wednesday to boost the troubled global financial system by making it cheaper for banks to trade in U.S. dollars. The Fed -- along with central banks of the eurozone, England, Japan, Switzerland and Canada -- announced a coordinated plan to lower prices on dollar liquidity swaps beginning on December 5, and extending these swap arrangements to February 1, 2013.

Stock Market Report Hyperinflation! Stock-Markets / HyperInflation Nov 29, 2011 - 01:03 PM By: UnpuncturedCycle I read article after article warning us that excessive printing in the western world is going to produce hyperinflation, and I’ve heard good analysts calling for hyperinflation for almost five years now. Lately the call seems to have morphed into a plea. The Federal Reserve Chairman has pledged to do his part, dropping money out of helicopters if need be, so how could we have deflation given such declarations? We all know that the Fed has created almost US $4 trillion out of thin air...

John Williams Hyperinflation Warning, Preserve Wealth Value With Gold Commodities / HyperInflation Nov 28, 2011 - 01:01 PM By: The Gold Report Among the specters lurking in ShadowStats.com's Editor John Williams' gloomy outlook for the U.S. are the demise of the dollar, hyperinflation and the ongoing lack of political will to take sound corrective measures. Still, as he tells The Gold Report in this exclusive interview, investors have options. Williams contends that turning to gold, silver and strong foreign currencies would protect wealth and position savvy investors to take advantage of extraordinary opportunities likely to flow out of the turmoil...

Today the NY Fed released its quarterly report on consumer credit, and in it is a wealth of charts on the nature of consumer debt. The charts did contain a red flag: For the first time since the recovery began, there were clear signs that in Q3, consumers started falling behind on paying their debts following several quarter of improvement. It's not across all categories, and it's not necessarily even dramatic in some cases, but it is notable for the reversal in the pattern.