Hyperinflation.... the good, the bad, and the ugly

Hyperinflation is upon us folks.

Everywhere I look I see price increases as the dollar loses steam. But fear not! Unless you are just an employee or own stock in credit card companies...

Why is this?

Well let's look at what happens with Hyperinflation...


Typically, prices go up first... and then slowly, eventually, salaries catch up as well...

Remember when you were a kid and mowed a yard for $5.00 and then bought a coke for .50 cents and some elder said "I remember when coke was a nickel!". You didn't feel the pain of inflation because you jumped in the market at the point when what you got paid was already adjusted for inflation.

But... if what you are getting paid is not adjusted for inflation, this can be a serious problem and lead to a financial crunch in your household.

However, there are some silver linings here for the consumer... but some death knells for the credit companies.

Did anyone notice the post the other day about the 79% apr credit card? What's that about? I'll tell you... they are trying to recoup their losses due to inflation.

Let's say you owe on a $100,000 mortgage with a fixed interest rate. Well you got things working in your favor, because as hyperinflation makes what used to be $100,000 turn into $150k or $200k, your mortgage stays the same... as long as you can handle that mortgage until your income catches up with inflation you are fine and better off.

But if you have a lot of credit card debt or an adjustable rate mortgage.. watch out and run for cover... get rid of those as soon as possible because the owners of that debt will jack up the rates to compensate for inflation and there is nothing you can do about it... though the gov has passed a law to slow some of this...

The crux of the issue though is where your income is coming from... If you are a salaried employee or an hourly wage earner, there is someone else who is trying to adjust their own finances for inflation which will slow yours even more... and that is your employer.

The only way to be ahead of the game, (unless you have a good amount of savings), is to own your own business or in some other way deal directly with the source of your income without someone in between. Even then... you will have to find the right markets.... corporations will always have more money to spend than individuals... so aim your service at the SMB markets.


In the end, you can turn this sows ear into a silk purse... If you borrow money always do so on a fixed rate, and always make sure that you control your earnings potential and not some employer who is going to pay you the same regardless of how much you work. Because Labor will ultimately pay the cost for hyperinflation.

reply to post by HunkaHunka

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Hyper inflation does not start with increased price of goods: It starts with increased money supply at the consumption level. Our economy is much different than past economies, and there seems to be a tier leveled system in place, where different level of consumers can have different levels of inflation. As of now, the consume faces Deflation still, the consumers monetary base is shrinking. The corporate (rather, some corporations) through increased price of goods, government handouts etc are experiencing inflation -- but are not spending, they are hoarding.

Though I do agree, eventually inflation WILL happen, and it won't be pretty. I doubt very much it will be Hyper-Inflation and I do agree we are at the beginning threshold of inflation.

It's just very, very, very hard to have trickle down inflation when people are still loosing their jobs, ie, shrinking he consumers monetary base..

reply to post by HunkaHunka

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That's just inflation. Not hyper-inflation. It's not the same thing that's happened in Argentina in the 80s where grocery items would be marked by X price in the morning and jump a considerable amount in the afternoon causing people to riot. Or the price of a drink in a bar would jump in just one hour like what's happening now in Zimbabwe.

Clearly you don't know your economics. No wonder you believe there's still a recovery.

reply to post by Rockpuck

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Hyper inflation starts with rising interest rates, that then ris eout of control. Everytime they raise interest rates we start seeing inflation. Trace it back through modern history and it is pretty clear. Higher rates makes everything more expensive. They limit the money cirlulated so that we are forced to borrow.

The conspiracy here is that economic theory is a lie and is just used as a justification to rob us blind.

reply to post by HunkaHunka

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By the way, I have been experiencing the exact opposite. The cost of everything I buy seems to be falling.

Not wear i live! I work in a retail store, southwest CT. today i was putting up new labels..prices on jsut bauot everying in the store, over 7,000 items, had jumped 30 to 50 cents in price. We also have the new cigareete tax, started in october..ost $7.40 now for apack of smokes! A friend at work, wants to get new shoes at walmart...they jumped about $3 in price* so around me, seems like everything has jumped alittle. Price of gas has gone down though, lcoal mobile 87 octane at $2.89, CITGO $2.83 and suprisingly SHELL the msot expensive around me, 87 is at $2.87! Last month, was at abuot +10 cents

reply to post by ziggy1706

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Yep around here prices are skyrocketing as well...

For example, the Dentist who charged $1000 for a crown last fall is not charging $1200 a crown.

Now granted... there are some discounts occurring as retailers are trying to get rid of inventory.... but that shouldn't be mistaken with the inflation that is going on currently.

Yes. Because that would be deflation. When the inventory clears, the next batch will be more expensive. Why? Because of less volume. Now that's inflation.

according to the US government inflation has been negative? I wrote to my congressperson and he stated it was due to decreasing energy costs. BY energy costs he means gasoline prices not utllity prices. The way things are worded is very tricky!

reply to post by HunkaHunka

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Sorry buddy, but you do not understand hyperinflation. What you described was moderate inflation. Hyper inflation results in higher interest rates, higher cost of goods, food shortages, higher unemployment, credit contraction, etc....

You cannot have wage increases with companies still bleeding jobs. I encourage you to do some research and see what the economies and job force looked like during any country's period of hyper-inflation. There were no silver linings at all. I appreciate your effort to think through all this, but you need to do some more research because your conclusions have been proven wrong time and again both economically and throughout history.