Hyperinflation Preparation

Is anyone worried about hyperinflation?
If so, how are people preparing for the dropping in value of our currency?
Are you stockpiling food or do you think this is just a bunch of nonsense?

reply to post by tarpon68


Hyperinflation will occur if nations such as the U.S UK and any other facing economic trouble try to solve this problem by printing money to get themselves out of it. This is a definite possibility. Stockpiling food would be a good idea for sure, non-perishable tinned goods are best for this, as is bottled water. Another idea would be buying into gold, silver platinium etc.

It's already happening. In U.K. over the last 6 weeks or so the price of "own brand" tomatoes, baked beans and kidney beans has increased as much as 65%. Gold and silver is all very well but ultimately you can't eat precious metals.

I wish I could find the charts I saw of "money supply" in the US, where it climbs steadily for a few decades, and then, in 2008, jumps a hundredfold!

Most of that jump is sitting in banks, and so, it hasn't affected the economy - yet.

But it is poised to be flooded into our economy as we type, and when they decide it is time...we will see hyperinflation like nobody's buisness!

So...yes. I am as prepared for it as I can be. Which is to say, I am destitute and hoping for a better future sometime.

I haven't thought about it until now but i think each month or week i will make room on the shopping list for whatever extras i can start buying to stockpile stuff away in the room under the stairs and if nothing happens well at least i'll have plenty of food to enjoy later in the year.

I have noticed bottled water is rising in price it's crazy i don't know if anyone else has, check in your local shops but when bottled water starts costing more than a can of coke then somethings up.

It might be worth while everyone reporting on various commodity increases so we can spread the word.

Some people I have approached are fully aware of price increases but cannot state precisely by how much. This is precisely what retailers count on. I was able to notice the above increase because they are items I purchased on a regular basis.

It's also worth mentioning this increase was across the board. In one week I visited four major national U.K. retailers to find these items at the previous price but to no avail. All showed signs of what can only be described as a cartel.

What is more amazing is that the R.P.I. has allegedly fallen. Well, amazing unless you know the R.P.I. is as farcical as the Dow Jones or FTSE.

reply to post by Nirgal


Really? My bread, beans and what not all apear to be stable in price and some have in fact fallen due to lower fuel costs. Where are YOU shopping? We're actually facing a deflationary scenario in the UK, with inflation in 2009 highly tipped to be well below the target of 2%.

reply to post by stumason


Morissons
Tesco
Somerfield
Sainsburys

In October '08 the approximate price of a tin of chopped tomatoes was 0.22 Pounds Sterling. Today they are approx. 0.37 Pounds Sterling. I make that about 68% increase.

More importantly, where are you shopping?

reply to post by Nirgal


Tesco, exclusively. I will have to go back through my orders for the past year when I get home, but I have actually noticed my monthly shop coming down in price significantly over the past few months. Last summer, I would spend roughly £100 a shop at tesco, which would keep my family in food for most of the month, yet I'd need to top up before it was over. Now I can spend £70 and last the month. Bread has definately come down, that's for sure.

I also take advantage of offers, where available. It is ironic you should mention chopped tomatoes as Tesco currently have branded Napolina 4 packs at half-price, which is currently £1.94 for four tins making it 48.5p/tin. This offer has been going for at least a month.

Here be an article from Nov 2008 about the deflation scenario we are looking at in 2009.

I have found that changing my habits away from branded products and maikng everything fresh at home, such as fish in batter, pasta, burgers or pizza saves me a fortune. The price of a home made pizza compared to a Goodfellas one is miniscule. I reckon a home made pizza costs less than £1 to make, is bigger, is fresh and you can have whatever toppings you want.

Well, I hope you're right and these things do fall in price. I'm already working to a pretty tight budget. All meals are prepared from scratch and I usually make up to 4 days worth in one go. I don't have to worry about feeding anyone other than myself (yet) so I can get away with monotony.

Hopefully I will eventually share. This will help with all living costs and, short/medium term, get me away from a ridiculously large urban population. My partner is not "awake" nor do they consider me a nutter so my idiosyncrasies are currently tolerated.

I even created a small garden last year to grow my own tomatoes. This exercise is postponed until my new location facilitates home-grown again. Hopefully the fact I will be further North will reduce living expenses even more.

In the USA at least, hyperinflation is inevitable. The 10+ Trillion dollar debt we have is simply untenable. The only way it can be repaid is the way nations with fiat currencies have always done; print money until it’s worth so little that you can just ship boatloads of paper to your creditors. Unfortunately for people like my retired mother, that means that their life savings will be worth nothing in no time flat. I’m trying to convince her to change her investments over to be denominated in Swiss Francs, but it’s no use I’m afraid.

As for me, all my savings are in silver and stored food/supplies, so I have little to lose. If worse comes to worse, I’ll be living in a tent under my mothers car port, and turning her and her neighbor’s yards into crop yielding gardens. Perhaps I’ll make some money doing auto mechanic work on the side. Good job I’m low maintenance.

Yes, the aggregate Money Supply has skyrocketed while the Velocity of money has hit the skids. It takes both to create Inflation. Much like the formulae for Poweror Force where Mass x Acceleration (velocity) = Force.
MV= F. Here we have M (money supply) x V (velocity of money) = inFlation. So far a lot of that money has gone into a financial black hole, ergo no traction....kind of like dumping a truck load of bricks. If into a sink hole then no accumulation above the surface (deflation) but if on level ground then the stack will rise (inflation). So far they have been filling the sink hole and no inflation but if, once the liquidity problem is cured, they dont take out those excess reserves then we will have inflation. As long as the Fed and Treasury are in control they should be able to do that but if they lose control (like the german Weimar Republic or Zaire or Zimbabwe) then the dollar will tank big time and hyperinflation is a possibility. IF. In the meantime our national debt as a % of GDP is still less than what it was during WWII...but that is Not counting future entitlements like social security, medicare, etc.

I know it is probably flogging a dead horse but what are the so called top economic experts saying in to regards money? I keep hearing commercials on Sirius satellite radio telling me to invest in gold and silver???? Is this the consensus worldwide in the upper class or the smart people of the world? It's hard to believe I should invest in something that gets plugged in between segments of the Howard Stern show. Is there some truth to what we are hearing? It's seems like buying into an infomercial after the Jerry Springer Show. The concept kinda makes sense though when you look at what holds value in world history. I'm obviously not expert but what are your thoughts?

[edit on 4-1-2009 by tarpon68]

[edit on 4-1-2009 by tarpon68]

Gold and Silver.... any scenario now is pure speculation.

2 Things I have not seen go down in value are Food & Ammunition. A sound investment at any time.

I agree and I have stockpiles of both

Originally posted by tarpon68
I know it is probably flogging a dead horse but what are the so called top economic experts saying in to regards money? I keep hearing commercials on Sirius satellite radio telling me to invest in gold and silver???? Is this the consensus worldwide in the upper class or the smart people of the world? It's hard to believe I should invest in something that gets plugged in between segments of the Howard Stern show. Is there some truth to what we are hearing? It's seems like buying into an infomercial after the Jerry Springer Show. The concept kinda makes sense though when you look at what holds value in world history. I'm obviously not expert but what are your thoughts?

[edit on 4-1-2009 by tarpon68]

[edit on 4-1-2009 by tarpon68]

I’ve noticed this too, and it has me very suspicious. Everybody is selling gold! You can’t turn on the radio, TV or internet without having someone pushing gold at you. It has me wondering if we’re going to see gold confiscated by the gov again like FDR did.

reply to post by resistor


Gold was selling for about $300/oz five years ago. This morning? $844/oz. Those people selling gold on the infomericials are doing so because they're getting rich off of it.

If I were looking to make such an expensive investment in preparation for an economic crisis, land is a much better purchase to make. I'd also rate any usable barter item such as food, tools, ammunition and weapons as better investments.

Originally posted by infolurker
Gold and Silver.... any scenario now is pure speculation.

2 Things I have not seen go down in value are Food & Ammunition. A sound investment at any time.

Exactly. Things of real value will become wise investments. Clothes, food, alcohol, cigarettes, and probably most of all, ammo.

As far as money I am about to start investing in foreign currencies myself.

Oh ya I just bout myself a water filtration system as well. One that takes out flouride. =)

[edit on 7-1-2009 by Anonymous Avatar]

Originally posted by tarpon68
Is anyone worried about hyperinflation?
If so, how are people preparing for the dropping in value of our currency?
Are you stockpiling food or do you think this is just a bunch of nonsense?

If you think it is nonsense or not really isnt the point. With the world economy in the state it is in something is bound to break eventually. Hyperinflation, riots on a world wide scale, total economic collapse, something is going to need to happen to reset this mess we have all helped create.

I stockpile food, water, silver, gold, ammo and guns. Other things Ive mentioned in other threads, but I dont see any reason to reiterate myself. The question really comes down to is what are you ready for, and what steps do you plan to take should something happen. If you want to sit idly by and hope for the best, then dont stockpile anything. Count on your government sponsored retirement and wade through life as best you can. If something comes down, sorry for you. If you want to prepare, always prepare for the worst, no matter what it could be, then if something comes down the pipe, you will be ready.

Wow, how can anyone look at the events of the last year and think that prepping is nonsense?

This simply astounds me.

We had food riots last year, people in Zimbabwe are eating cow dung, others people were raiding rice paddies, there's already shipping problems, people are reporting shortages, we're in the middle of a global economic crisis and some people aren't sure if that's enough reason to prepare?

I hear this from my family as well and I am shocked by it. I don't get how anyone on the Internet could NOT be aware of what is happening all around us.


What are you going to do if there is no food in the store, you can't get to the store, or there's no electricity so the store won't sell? Start a garden at that point and wait the six months to get your first meager harvest? If you spend about 30 seconds thinking about this, you'll realize that no one is going to care that you and your family are starving.

So if you haven't done so, you need to start stockpiling food. Don't worry how much you need, just buy as much as you can afford because it's doubtful you could get a year's supply together in less than a month. Besides, you'll have to figure out a way to store it so you do not lose it to bugs or spoilage. I recommend you get a vacuum sealer and food storage containers. If nothing happens, you won't have a to shop for awhile.

Buy basics that can be made into something else, like flour, sugar, rice, dried milk, beans, and cooking oil. It's usually cheaper. A 25 lb bag of flour, 10 lb bag of sugar, a 20 lb bag of rice, 10 lb bag of beans will set you back about $30 and along with yeast and a couple of cans of fruit or vegetables will feed two to three people substistence level amount of food for about a month.

Once you have three to six months of the basics, you can then start filling in with other items, like canned meat, peanut butter, honey, maple syrup, canned soups, baking mixes, etc. It will take you about three months to develop a one-year supply of food, and my guess is it will cost about $1,000 assuming you purchase more than just the bare essentials.

Get some good basic cookbooks and learn to make food from scratch, especially bread. It costs an estimated 50 cents to make your own bread at home, compared to almost $3 for a tasteless loaf at the store.

Stock up on medicines (over the counter and prescription), vitamins, personal hygiene products, bleach, soap and whatever else you don't want to live without. Other items to have are socks, sturdy shoes, hats, gloves, etc. A way to purify water is also recommended by most experts, even if it's only a Brita water jug.

You might also consider getting gardening supplies, heirloom seeds and canning equipment -- and then starting your garden. You'd be amazed how looooonnng it takes to grow food.

Start downloading any information of value from the Internet, then storing it to a flash drive so you can access it via lap top or any computer. Any information that is crucial, like first aid guides you should print out or have in book form.