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| By Martin Weiss |
The inflation disaster striking America is actually a lot worse than the 8.6% announced this past Friday.
I say that for four reasons ...
First, because it’s accelerating: From April to May, it jumped at an annual rate of 11.7%. Welcome to double-digit inflation.
Second, the 8.6% inflation does not include the latest spike in average gasoline prices, now soaring past $5 per gallon for the first time in history.
Third, if you calculated inflation the way the government did in 1980, it would be close to DOUBLE the 8.6%.
The fourth is the clincher: Everyone knows that once inflation hits these crazy-high levels, it’s unstoppable. Workers demand higher wages. Higher wages drive prices even higher. And the whole thing careens out of control.
Trouble is, no one in Washington is doing much about it, except playing the blame game.
Sure, the Fed has raised its official interest rates. A bit. The effective Fed Funds Rate is now 0.83%.
But it’s a joke. The official inflation rate is more than 10 times higher!
Meanwhile, the White House blames it on black swan events that are beyond their control. The pandemic. The war in Ukraine. Trade wars.
They don’t admit those are just the sparks.
They don’t admit that the real fuel for inflation is the massive, unbridled abuse of their money printing presses that Washington not only controls … but has deliberately manipulated for decades. Under the past four presidents!
Yes, the inflation we’re seeing now is shocking. But what’s even more shocking to me is that most people are still so complacent about the truly dangerous inflation that’s now rearing its ugly head.
They didn’t live through the 1970s, when folks waited in gas lines for long hours just to top off their tanks … when the value of supposedly ultrasafe Treasury bonds plunged by more than half and … when the price of gold surged 2,324%.
They didn’t live through the inflation that gutted the economy of Brazil in the 1970s and Argentina in the 1980s, destroying the savings of millions of middle-class citizens … bankrupting their governments … prompting their leaders to confiscate their bank accounts … unleashing mass protests against inflation … tearing apart the fabric of society.
Nor does anyone dare think about the hyperinflation that wreaked havoc on the entire world … starting in Germany after World War I … creating the greatest avalanche of worthless paper money ever seen, and … giving rise to the most murderous dictator in the history of Western civilization.
Hundreds of millions of Americans going about their daily business in America today are oblivious to the torrid past of inflation.
Fewer still believe anything vaguely similar might be possible today.
They have not yet learned the lessons of history.
They don’t yet see the likely consequences.
I’ll tell you more about them — and how to prepare — in my three-part emergency briefings starting tomorrow at 2 p.m. Eastern.
Already registered? Great!
If not, check your inbox today for an invite from me. It’s free. But only for readers.
As I said, we go live tomorrow. So today’s the last day to RSVP.
Good luck and God bless!
Martin
