Free Republic

In the midst of all its other woes, the Islamic Republic of Iran has just suffered the worst economic collapse of its existence: the Iranian rial has lost 30% of its value overnight.

Alright, buckle up for this one. So, it seems like they're pulling some pricing shenanigans, you know, the kind that messes with your head. Take ChapStick, for example – they're slapping a fake markdown from a whopping $9 down to $1.43. And it's not just lip balm; we're talking hefty bags that normally cost $5 getting a fake markdown from $35 to $15. It's like a weird pricing rollercoaster, and Walmart's in on the ride. Now, why are they doing this? Well, rumor has it they're trying to ease us into what they're calling hyperinflation. Big, several hundred percent price...

Javier Milei’s new government has kept his outrageously optimistic promises. Within days of taking office, he basically dismantled Peronism, the socialist-fascist system crippling the nation since the end of World War II. He did it by decree: He declared an economic state of emergency lasting for two years, and by virtue of the state of emergency, stopped government control of the economy across the board. You can read it here in the original: It’s a massive, detailed document. For example: Hyperinflation is a big problem in Argentina, because the government just printed the money needed to pay for its desires....

By Javier Simon Sponsored by Credible - which is majority owned by Fox Corporation. Credible is solely responsible for the services it provides.Although the Great Recession impacted the savings of American workers across generations, it delivered a major hit to the retirement savings of the youngest Baby Boomers, according to a study by the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College. Boomers born in the early 1960s at the end of that generational wave had saved an average of about $280,000 for retirement when they reached their 50s. That’s nearly $50,000 less than their older counterparts born in the...

***In the 1960s, city leaders demolished part of the Fillmore District, a neighborhood once known as the Harlem of the West, displacing 883 businesses and 20,000 people, most of them Black. Decades later, thousands of people remain displaced and the neighborhood has turned into a predominantly White enclave of multimillion-dollar homes. To compensate for that and other instances of racial discrimination, the city’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee recently recommended that qualifying Black residents receive $5 million each in reparations. ***The proposed reparations program is not a recompense for slavery, which was never legal in San Francisco, but instead, the...

A Croatia supporter and model has insisted she feels comfortable wearing her daring World Cup outfits without fear of arrest in Qatar, despite strict modesty rules in the conservative country. Ivana Knoll said she was initially 'super angry' after reading the dress code restrictions for the Gulf state, with both male and female visitors advised to 'dress modestly' in public I heard about the rules and I was shocked. The dress code forbids showing shoulders, knees, belly and everything and I was like 'Oh my God, I don't even have the clothes to cover all of that'. 'I was super...

The global economy is at risk of crippling hyperinflation and “extraordinary” conditions that could prompt the worst financial crisis since World War II, according to major hedge fund Elliott Management. Elliott Management, led by famed billionaire investor Paul Singer, warned clients that extreme conditions present in the current economic landscape have “made possible a set of outcomes that would be at or beyond the boundaries of the entire post-WWII period ... The letter also cautioned that economies around the world are “on the path to hyperinflation” — a term referring to uncontrollable acceleration in the cost of daily necessities. While...

Argentina’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate Thursday in a bid to prop up its currency and curb inflation nearing 100%. The central bank boosted its benchmark Leliq rate by 5.5 percentage points to 75%, according to an emailed statement. The move comes a day after data showed consumer prices jumped nearly 79% a year in August, the fastest pace in 30 years. It was the bank’s ninth rate hike this year. The bank’s board of directors also added in the statement that it intends to reduce the level of short-term debt held by the central bank next year,...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Sunday she is “very worried” the Federal Reserve’s moves to fight inflation will “tip the economy into recession,” after Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned economic growth will slow as the central bank tries to combat inflation by raising interest rates. Key Facts During a Sunday appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Warren said hiking interest rates could put Americans out of work and won’t “deal directly” with some of the root causes of inflation, including the war in Ukraine, supply chain snags and Covid-19. Warren’s comments were in response to a speech Powell gave...

If half of the firms in the entire country really do cut jobs over the next year, what will our economy look like afterwards? All over America, companies are anticipating that a major economic downturn is coming in 2023, and a lot of them are already planning to shed workers in order to cut costs. Of course this sounds so much like what we went through back in 2008 and 2009. Millions of Americans lost their jobs during the “Great Recession”, and it was truly a very dark time in our history. So are we right on the verge of...

For the first time in nearly 50 years, Great Britain’s inflation rate is expected spike beyond 18 percent, according to a dire new report from Citi. Benjamin Nabarro, the chief UK economist at Citi, told clients at the start of the week that the bank expects CPI inflation to reach 18.6 percent by January, in part due to soaring electricity and natural gas costs. (Related: The UK’s hyperinflationary track started to really become noticeable last year.) “Our latest estimate, updated for the further 25 percent and 7 percent rally in UK gas and electricity prices last week, points to a...

Some states are rolling out new inflation relief stimulus for their residents in the form of either checks or tax rebates. Critics of this measure are arguing that giving people free money will only keep inflation higher for longer. One such state is California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom just announced that some 23 million of its 39 million inhabitants will receive checks of up to $1,050 as part of a $17 billion “inflation relief” spending package. This package includes rental assistance, suspension of the state sales tax on diesel and funding to help people pay for past-due utility bills. (Related:...

This morning the CPI (Consumer Price Index) report came out and was higher than expected (Inflation stayed red-hot in May as CPI spiked 8.6% — highest since 1981). (Article by Stan Szymanski republished from EncouragingAngels.org) It is kind of like telling someone who is buried on the beach up to their neck in sand that the tide is coming in but not as fast as you think it is. Most of the food prices I see are up at least 15-33% from what I was used to paying. I know that the standard government numbers say that food inflation is...

Joe Biden is calling on seven of the top oil companies to do something to help quell surging gas prices after accusing them of intentionally exacerbating the strain on Americans' pocketbooks after the average price per gallon surpassed $5.00. The president is sending letters Wednesday to Marathon Petroleum Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, Chevron, BP, and Shell to demand action on lowering gas prices at the corporate level and account for the surge. In a letter to Exxon obtained by Axios, Biden wrote that the difference 'of more than 15% at the pump is the result of the...

New Zealand tech CEO, Kim Dotcom did the math on the United States’ sovereign debt and he tweeted a thread about it, saying it may the most important thread that he may ever make. Kim explains that US spending and debt have spiraled out of control and the Government can only raise the money it needs by printing more of it, which means that hyperinflation is guaranteed. He says this has been going on for decades and there’s no way to fix it and that the US got away with this for so long, because US dollar is the world’s...

It’s just another day in the life of that lovable, laughable economic farce known as Erdoganomics (yes, it’s even more laughable and idiotic than MMT, if one can believe that), where cutting interest rates in the middle of hyperinflation is supposed to fix everything. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that, and the latest CPI and PPI data out of Turkey today confirmed as much. Turkey’s inflation soared in May to the fastest since 1998 as the continued surge in food and energy was not helped by the country’s ultra-loose monetary policy. Consumer prices rose an annual 73.5%, up from 70%...

A year ago, ahead of the consensus, we argued that inflation was underestimated. Now it is time to warn about the coming slowdown. Like then, our view is unfashionable. Indeed, in the past week equity markets staged a strong comeback, a sign that investor spirits are recovering from their soggy start to 2022. As we note below, that bounce back isn’t entirely without justification. But it isn’t likely to enjoy much follow through, either. Several factors have underpinned the most recent recovery of risk assets. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell assuaged fears by offering an unusual degree of clarity about...

Economist John Williams says the economy is in deep trouble, and the Fed knows it.Williams says the Fed talking up “robust economic growth” that is causing inflation is “nonsense.” Williams explains, “The one thing that is not causing inflation is ‘robust economic growth.’ So, when they talk about raising interest rates to kill this robust economic growth that’s triggering the inflation, that’s absurd, and the Fed knows it… If the Fed foolishly raised rates as reflected in the payrolls as not being fully recovered, you are going to have a sharp downturn, a double dip depression here. At the same...

Peter Schiff discusses whether the current inflation will turn into hyperinflation and how to protect your savings and investments. The Rob Schmitt Show on Newsmax 1/11/22. Segment...

Think 6.8% CPI is high? Think again: this morning long-suffering Turks living in Erdogan’s macroeconomic experiment woke up to learn that the country’s annual inflation rate surged to 36.1% last month, its highest in the 19 years Tayyip Erdogan has ruled, blowing away expectations of “only” 27.4%, and laying bare the depths of a currency crisis engineered by the president’s unorthodox interest rate-cutting policies. Staples such as transportation and food – which took increasing shares of households’ budgets during 2021 – rose even fasterIn December alone, consumer prices soared by a hyperinflation-like double-digits, rising 13.58%, the Turkish Statistical Institute said...