Free Republic

"It seems to me like a lot of people think we're in a new inflationary boom," but, warns Gluskin-Sheffs David Rosenberg, "the answer is no... that's just not gonna happen. It's not like Ronald Reagan at all in that regard." Submitted by Patrick Ceresna via Macrovoices.com*This time around, not only are valuations at 15-year highs but we're entering it into the eighth year of the expansion of the bull market. You have to respect where were you are in the market cycle in the business expansion and we're much more mature now than we were in that early stage of...

There’s a predictable checklist for meltdowns in socialist countries, and it’s playing out with tragic regularity in Venezuela. Nationalize agriculture? Check. Start government-enforced rationing when the food supply dries up? Check. Seal the border when people try to flee to buy food elsewhere? Check. The next step, and usually one of the last before total collapse, is runaway inflation. That’s what we’re starting to see in Venezuela. Rapid inflation, called hyperinflation by economists when it gets really bad, is one of the deadliest poisons for any economy. The spiral is usually triggered when a government prints too much money to...

An essential element of the “unorthodox” doctrines, advanced both by all socialists and by all interventionists, is that the recurrence of depressions is a phenomenon inherent in the very operation, of the market economy. But while the socialists contend that only the substitution of socialism for capitalism can eradicate the evil, the interventionists ascribe to the government the power to correct the operation of the market economy in such a way as to bring about what they call “economic stability.” These interventionists would be right if their antidepression plans were to aim at a radical abandonment of credit expansion policies....

Argentina could have been the United States. Like the U.S., it was one of the world's 10 richest countries at the turn of the last century. And also like the U.S., that made it a New World magnet for Old World immigrants. But unlike the U.S., that was as good as it ever got. There was no Argentinian Dream. Just a nearly never-ending nightmare of either falling behind gradually or falling behind suddenly. All of which was self-inflicted. ..... The point is that nothing is inevitable. The arc of the political universe is long, and it doesn't have to bend...

When we see our grandchildren crying because they think someone might have looked at them crossways we wonder about the fate of the Republic. I think one of the hardest things about growing old is that you can remember what a pound of hamburger cost fifty years ago ($.45), so when the government assures us over and over there is no inflation we sort of get a disconnect going that seeps into many different areas of our lives. Wise men say that History repeats itself. Those who have studied the facts and lived long enough to get a seasoned perspective...

Venezuela, mired in an economic crisis and facing the world's highest inflation, will pull its largest bill, worth two U.S. cents on the black market, from circulation this week ahead of introducing new higher-value notes, President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday. The surprise move, announced by Maduro during an hours-long speech, is likely to worsen a cash crunch in Venezuela. Maduro said the 100-bolivar bill will be taken out of circulation on Wednesday and Venezuelans will have 10 days after that to exchange those notes at the central bank. Critics slammed the move, which Maduro said was needed to combat...

Venezuela will introduce six new bills ranging from 500 to 20,000 bolivars, the OPEC nation's central bank said in a statement on Sunday. Currently, the largest-denominated Venezuelan note is 100 bolivars (9.4 euros), which is worth just around two US cents on the black market. A two-liter soft drink bottle can cost 25 times that amount.

To paraphrase noted economic expert Obi-Wan Kenobi, many of the truths we cling to about currencies really do depend greatly on our own point-of-view. Take Venezuela. The good news is that, if you look at it over a long enough timeline, its currency hasn't changed much the past month. The bad news, though, is that's because it's gone from being almost worthless to almost entirely worthless. And the worse news is that it's actually lost over a third of its value during this stretch.

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If you’ve noticed the prices of of everyday goods are on the rise, you’re not alone. On Friday the Labor Department announced that the core consumer price index (CPI)—which strips out volatile food and energy costs—rose 2.3% over the past 12 months, up from 1.8% one year ago. “The data help the case for Fed tightening,” writes Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics. The futures market concurs. It is indicating that the chance of a rate high at or before the Fed’s December meeting is above 50% for the first time in months. But some analysts are...

Prices for medicine, doctor appointments and health insurance rose the most last month since 1984. The price increases come amid a broader debate about climbing health care costs and high premiums for Obamacare coverage. [Snip] Medical care costs altogether rose 1% just in August from July, according to the Consumer Price Index, a report on price inflation from the U.S. Labor Department.

Darryl R Schoon August 8, 2016 If the thunder don’t get you, then the lightning will… The Grateful Dead, The Wheel(lyrics) In the world of phenomena, everything has a beginning and an end; and today, the bankers’ endgame is moving closer to its inevitable resolution and demise. The question is no longer if, it is when and how. The relationship between paper money and gold is causal in central banking’s collapse. When paper money was backed by gold, it (1) gave the bankers’ paper money its value and (2) constrained the ability of governments to print limitless amounts of money,...

Oil prices officially charged into a bull market Thursday as the prospect of an output freeze by major producers, data showing the first weekly fall in U.S. crude supplies in a month, and a decline in the dollar boosted prices. Crude-oil prices have advanced more than 20% from their Aug. 2 low over the past several sessions...September West Texas Intermediate crude CLU6, +0.23% climbed by $1.43, or 3.1%, to settle at $48.22 a barrel

The Federal Reserve is raising expectations for an interest rate rise this year, even as early as next month, after two policymakers on Tuesday said the economic stars now appear to be aligning despite weak U.S. economic growth in the first half of 2016. New York Fed President William Dudley said "it's possible" to raise rates at the Sept. 20-21 policy meeting given evidence of wage gains and a tighter labor market that could boost inflation, while Dennis Lockhart of the Atlanta Fed said a hike next month is in play. The comments, which prompted investors to boost bets on...

The month of July saw a high number of bitcoin transactions in Venezuela with August achieving a new record high as more people turn to the digital currency as the country continues to tackle the inflation of Bolivar. Venezuela is a country that is blighted by hyperinflation. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Venezuela is projected to remain in a deep recession in 2016. Compared to contraction rate of 5.7 percent in 2015, 2016 saw a rise of 8 percent. Political uncertainty and the decline in the price of oil are factors affecting macroeconomic imbalances and pressures. The IMF...

The Burrito Index: Consumer Prices Have Soared 160% Since 2001 by Tyler Durden Aug 1, 2016 11:31 AM 0 SHARES Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via PeakProsperity.com, In our household, we measure inflation with the "Burrito Index": How much has the cost of a regular burrito at our favorite taco truck gone up?Since we keep detailed records of expenses (a necessity if you’re a self-employed free-lance writer), I can track the real-world inflation of the Burrito Index with great accuracy: the cost of a regular burrito from our local taco truck has gone up from $2.50 in 2001 to $5 in...

Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has thrown his political weight behind indexing welfare payments to inflation. Speaking at MacGill Summer School in Donegal, the Dublin TD struck a socially aware tone throughout his speech — referring to the period of economic downturn as “Ireland’s lost decade” and bemoaning a stalling in living standards. “Were it not for social welfare payments over half of the country would be at risk of poverty,” he said, before he emphasized the need to “protect the value of these payments now and into the future”. “I believe this can best be done by indexing...

While most advanced economies struggle to lift inflation, none would want Venezuela‘s situation: Consumer-price inflation is forecast to hit 480% this year and top 1,640% in 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund. A shortage of medical supplies means infants and other sick patients are dying of treatable illnesses. Soldiers guard empty grocery store shelves. Inflation is so bad, the government has had to order bolivars by the planeload.

One of the biggest threats to our economic outlook.” Endless discussions of how important inflation is to the US economy, and how there hasn’t been enough of it in recent years, and how more inflation would be a godsend, has become the standard. The threat of lethal deflation is being brandished to rationalize all kinds of absurd monetary policies. And we know why: inflation is good only for debtors, in an over-indebted country. But that’s not true either. Because a lot of debtors, particularly those who funded their education with loans, are being strangled by … inflation. “College Tuition and...

“Don’t be afraid to say to anything because no matter what you say, no matter how idiotic it is, it has already been said by some eminent economist.” – Ludwig von Mises... ...the first laser printer (Xerox Star 8010) set consumers back $17,000 in 1981... ...the norm in a free economy... ...the very rich serve as “venture buyers” since only they have the means to purchase what is both expensive and unproven... ...luxury items down to prices that we can all afford. The first ball-point pen cost over $12, the first mobile phone nearly $4,000, while the first... ...logical and...