Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2013 - How did we get here?


     America owes more money than any country in the history of the world. On a single given day in the United States, the Federal Reserve will print new currency in excess of $2.5 billion for just one reason…to keep America from collapsing into a historic depression. How did we get here?

     When the government produces economic losses of $1 trillion per year, you have to borrow $1 trillion to make up the difference. It’s just math. Most countries do this, but not to this extreme. If you can no longer borrow your way out of the deficit, just print new money to cover the difference. In South America, we learned that when a country borrows 40 cents on every dollar spent, it causes hyperinflation or the economic equivalent of an atom bomb. A loaf of bread costs $30 because the value of the currency is devastated and then all consumer wealth is obliterated. In the United States, we currently borrow 46 cents on every dollar spent by the government. How did we get here?

     In the beginning, the government set a limit of $800 billion, then an additional $900 billion, and then more. Once the money was spent it became increasingly embarrassing to ask for more funding. Subsequently, the Fed started QE4 by printing $40 billion per month to buy mortgages and then an additional $45 billion per month for Treasuries on a never ending basis. Hence, they would never have to be embarrassed again. Just keep printing new money to pay our debts. So if anyone asks you what we produce in the United States, tell them money. We are the world’s greatest producer of new money or the soon to be trophy of hyperinflation. This is important, the government wants this inflation to make it easier to pay off the national debt because the currency value of the debt is significant reduced.  A trillion dollars doesn’t buy what it used too.  Hyperinflation is not an unusual phenomenon. Thirty-two countries have experienced hyperinflation over the last 100 years of which no less than twenty-one have experienced it in the past 25 years and four in the past 10 years. The United States is one of the few countries to have experienced two currency collapses during its history (1812-1814 and 1861-1865) to pay off war debts.  As a result, the Fed prints $2.5 billion per day because we can no longer borrow the needed money to fill the gap.  Therefore, the only time-honored solution to the economic losses of our day is for the Fed to print new money relentlessly, tons of it without end.  How, in God’s name, did we get here?

     On the other hand, don’t worry about how we got here. Worry about how to avoid becoming a penniless hyperinflation victim? Worry about what you can do to survive the coming tragedy while everyone else is suffering desperately? Actually, the only viable solution to hyperinflation is quite simple. Buy commodities.  It really doesn’t matter which commodities you buy because the price of everything is rising exponentially. Buy, hold, and then just wait. If you look hard enough, there’s always a silver lining to get through the catastrophe.  A small commodities account would dramatically increase in value. You may become a millionaire overnight.  But don’t forget, once the roulette wheel starts to spin, it’s too late to place your bet.

     In every modern case of hyperinflation the decision to inflate was a political one, not an economic one. Time magazine editor said, “We are in the midst of historic cultural and demographic changes.” I might ask…What are these historical cultural and demographic changes? We shall see. Perhaps, the old Chinese proverb, “May you live in interesting times” might also be a curse.

Excerpt from For Our Children:

     “How do you fight an economic war,” Tom said.

     “Sun Tzu, the art of war, make your enemy surrender without a fight,” President John Henry instructed. “First, become the lender of last resort; assume their debts so they’re obligated to you. Second, drive them into bankruptcy and force their default. Third, create hyperinflation to kill any hope of recovery. They will surrender to you when their stock market crashes, government fails, and blood runs in the streets. The new government seizes control without a fight. That’s how communism got its start.”

     “You didn’t answer my question,” Tom pointed out.

     “Defeat the Middle Class. Cut the supply line of credit to their economy and everything will crash,” President Henry professed. “Public debt is, by far, the greatest danger to be feared.”
 
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