Inflation

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
Paraquat and agent orange come to mind

Yeah I forgot about paraquat. That was just directed at dopers though. We all know what a horrible life threatening and destroying drug marijuana is. Woops again. Getting it confused with alcohol. Well still can't see even the worst administration using agent orange on our crops that are consumed by the vast majority of the people. We'll see what the next election brings. It could be really bad, but now that the economy is growing again I doubt it.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
Paraquat and agent orange come to mind

Yeah I forgot about paraquat. That was just directed at dopers though. We all know what a horrible life threatening and destroying drug marijuana is. Woops again. Getting it confused with alcohol. Well still can't see even the worst administration using agent orange on our crops that are consumed by the vast majority of the people. We'll see what the next election brings. It could be really bad, but now that the economy is growing again I doubt it.

whatever the economy is doing is being eaten by inflation I think the next election might be historic

 

[foweler]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102
http://mises.org/daily/3056

I have no doubt they would do that or something like it again....say nationalizing private retirement savings to "save" their SS ponzi scheme.


1) People must be governed because they are too stupid and evil to govern themselves.....
2) ALL people MUST be allowed to vote for who will govern, down to the biggest loser or most corrupt......
3) Those who are finally elected are also people....goto #1


Even if you set aside this logical dilema for a moment and assume that anything going wrong in govt is merely an honest mistake.....they have still made so many "honest mistakes" of such magnitude that they are in a position of having to come right out and admit how bad they have ruined the future of unborn children.
That their borrowing, spending and living large while doing so will result in a much lower standard of living and potential to save and get ahead, much less retire, for young people alive now and at least a generation of yet unborn Americans.
It has been my observation that they will confiscate any wealth they think they can (and they DID in 33) before admitting to mistakes of that magnitude, just like any other stupid and evil person would.

Forgive my hesitance to see ANY group of humans as anything but a group of humans, complete with the very flaws they are supposed to be protecting us from.

 

[GarlicEater]

Heckel's Hens :

Quote:
Really? The French workweek is a whopping 35 hours, retirement was less than 60. Coombine that with all their other nany-state issues and it is simply unsustainable. They were rioting fiercely last month because they might have to work until 62. GASP! Americans who don't "like" France usually do so b/c they feel France is snobby. But I certainly don't think jealousy factors is.

Have you BEEN around French people? Yep I've seen the snobby thing, and it's highly annoying. We'd call it "Being French" lol. Some are like that, most are great people. (I've also seen Americans being "Ugly Americans" overseas.) But they somehow manage to be a very agricultural country, but have fantastic technology. The only unsustainability issues they have is letting in a bunch of folks from elsewhere who have 14 kids each ..... where's Martel The Hammer when they need him?​

 

[rufus]

Inflation will happen; there is no other way for our governments to pay off the debts except running the printing presses. Finger pointing and speculating how we got into this fix is not going to save us. We need to figure out how to preserve what little wealth we have been able to accumulate. We are in the here and now; not the then and there.

A lot can be learned from studying the German inflation of the Weimar Republic and other nations that have gone through this process.

In my father's day, the Mexican Peso was one ounce of silver, just like the US silver dollar. In fact, it was used in world trade, especially in China. After the revolution things changed. I guess someone bought printing presses.

However, when I was a kid, the Mexican peso was worth 12.5 US cents. This was real handy in that a US quarter (un toston) was two pesos and a US dollar was 8 pesos.

Then Mexico got into selling oil on the world market. The government signed contracts for future production with some Asian countries. The future looked good; politicians and union officials were living large.

But suddenly, the value of oil fell. Those countries that had signed on for future deliveries welched. Mexico was in a real bind. They had counted on the high price of oil to provide a rosy future and a wonderful present. The national debt was horrendous. Fidel Castro told the Mexican Government to default and walk away from their debt.

They chose the printing press instead.

Dollar denominated bank accounts were frozen. Mexican banks were nationalized. People owing debts abroad had to pay those debts in dollars, deutsche marks or pounds sterling. or whatever currency the loan was in. Times were really tough. Wealthy Mexicans were reduced to begging loans from their north of the border relatives.

Meat was off the table for several years.

I found a thousand peso note that had been stuffed into a road atlas. At the time it went into the Atlas, it was worth $125. By the time I found it, it would not buy a coloring book and crayons for the kids.

Who survived the inflation and even came out ahead?

Those that in those frantic days transferred their wealth out of the country and had it denominated in the currency of a stable country did well.

Those that did even better were those that had large outstanding peso denominated debts arising from the purchase of hard assets. They could pay them off in the worthless pesos. It was a great way to accumulate property and businesses.

Dope dealers and drug lords did well. Their product was sold north of the border in US and Canadian dollars.

Vegetable growers and exporters did well. A lot of their product was also sold north of the border, but their labor costs were in pesos.

Politicians and union officials did well. They always survive.

In the end, Carlos Slim ended up owning a good deal of the banks that had been nationalized. In 1990, Telmex was sold to a consortium centered around Slim.

What did we learn?

Don't pay off your debts; wait for the inflation. But, beware of charge accounts that can adjust interest rates and adjustable rate mortgages. Look for something with a fixed interest rate.

Buy land and hang onto it.

Buy stock in companies headquartered in and doing business in business friendly countries.

Buy gold and silver and hope the government does not take it from you. But beware, precious metals do not pay dividends and when you cash out, you will have a taxable gain. Even thought the real value of the metal is the same, you will end up paying taxes on the dollar gain.

There is the temptation to put funds abroad in stable countries' currencies. The IRS is on to this.

Any future ideas that anyone can suggest will be appreciated.

Rufus







I found

 

[rufus]

Quote:

 

[rufus]

Now I have messed up the post. Mea culpa.

Rufus

 

[rufus]

Now I see that Gold went over $1,505 for a while this morning. That is a far cry from the $20 an ounce the government paid when they confiscated the peoples' gold.

Also, I see where the federal government is attempting to sell off government motors. This is happening just as China is concerned about their holding of US dollars.

I can foresee the ownership of GM falling into the hands of Chinese investors. That will not be good news for the United Auto Workers and retired GM employees.

Let's see what happens next.

Rufus

 

[GarlicEater]

Silver's at $45 right now, it's amazing.

 

[rufus]

The government cannot print more gold or silver. You know they would love to if they could.

Rufus