Major Dick -- World News Trust
Nov. 2, 2006 -- Inflation, the number one killer of old people in this nation and the world. The number of deaths as a result of inflation will probably never be known, but it is not hard to imagine a number somewhere between huge and astronomical and growing over time as inflation continues to eat away at the hard earned savings of pensioners and retirees.
To 'curb' inflation the Fed raises Interest rates such that "stuff" costs more to buy. If "stuff" costs more to buy, then isn't an interest rate hike an inflation producing act? It makes perfectly good sense to me that if it costs business more money to borrow capital to invest in production that they are going to pass that cost on to me, the consumer. And as a consumer if businesses are charging me more for purchasing their goods, then my employer needs to come up with some more wages to keep the cycle going.
I don’t bring this up because I am an advocate of interest rate hikes to curb inflation, or because I want to reduce taxation or any of the other silly reasons folks talk to the inflation issue. To me the root cause of inflation is just a topic for discussion and has very little if any impact upon me, and when I retire I’ll probably find myself in a position where inflation won’t matter much… right?
Well looky here Mister, I got a first hand lesson from Mr. Inflation recently that really gave me a shot in the Arse about inflation, 401Ks, savings, currencies, retirement etc. Not that I wasn’t already fairly well versed in the subjects, but I took one for the team the other day as a matter of course, to wit:
I own a 1994 gas-powered Mercedes Benz. That it still gets 22 miles per gallon after all these years should tell you something about why the Ford and General Motors companies are in the toilet these days still trying like Hell to achieve these mileage statistics, but that is a discussion for another day. Back in 1994, that’s approximate 11 years ago, I bought U.S. Savings Bonds in the denomination of $50 for the kiddies at $25 per Bond. All I had to do was tuck them away and wait a few years and PooF! There’d be 50 bucks for the kiddies to squander on whatever it was kids would be squandering money on those days.
Back in 1994 25 bucks would fill that 1994 Mercedes Benz with Premium fuel AND leave enough left over to take those kiddies of mine out to Mickey D’s or the Burger King for Happy Meals but I, in my infinite wisdom decided that U.S. Savings Bonds, with the full backing of the U.S. Government were the ticket to my kids future.
Fast-forward 11 years, do a little math and Voila! I discovered that those Savings Bonds were the worst thing I could have done with my money. After 11 years that $25 Bond purchase yielded a total of $36 and some change. That was enough to put three-quarters of a tank of Premium in that same old Mercedes Benz and forget about the Happy Meals.
Now imagine if you were one of those older generation folks that put their full faith and cash behind the Full Faith of the U.S. Government. Can you imagine what they must be going through nowadays? Inflation, the U.S. Dollar collapse and the loss of faith in the U.S. government by Americans and foreigners alike is something to behold.
I hope you folks are smart enough to start dumping your dollar holdings for real money before the big boys start dumping. I think if you GOOGLE “+Germany +hyper +inflation” and read a little bit of what comes back you’ll get an idea of where the U.S. economy is headed…soon.
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