Warning! Runaway Inflation Storm on the Way

The last time the U.S. experienced runaway inflation that severely limited the buying power of the public was during Jimmy Carter's Presidency, 1977-1981.

Inflation stood at a staggering 13%. Interest rates rose to 21%. Unemployment rose to nearly 9%.

For these reasons I have been adamant in my assertion that our current financial crisis is clearly NOT 'the worst since the Great Depression,' as the mainstream media is fond of saying.

For example, interest rates have been amazingly low for the past 16 years. Unemployment has also been historically low despite a spike in the last 2 quarters of 2008. And inflation has been nearly non-existent, except for the rise in gasoline prices in 2008, which led to a hike in food prices.

But even then, inflation has rarely topped 6% in all of the years since Jimmy Carter.

That is about to end. And the government's 'fix' for the current problem is the root cause.

The U.S. is heavily in debt. There is no money to give to the various entities the government insists we must bail out. The only way this can be done is to borrow more money or print more 'money.'

Our good graces with our creditors are quickly coming to an end. Thus, Washington will be forced to print more money out of thin air. Barack Obama has stated that he is willing to do exactly that.

The problem is that these courses of action are a prescription for stunning spikes in inflation. That is the price the market forces us to pay when we engage in activity that is foreign to sound financial practice.

As Robert Romano states in the article linked above:

The laws of supply and demand apply to dollars just as any other good, service, or commodity. Put simply, the more there is of something, the less it is worth in value. Taken together—the monetary base expansion, the national debt expansion, the bailout mania, the deficit-spending—and that is a whole lot more money than there was previously in circulation.

In short, if your money is increasingly worthless because there is more and more of it in circulation, then it will be more and more difficult to purchase goods.

Agri-Fuel to Cause Food Prices to Skyrocket

Washington, DC (TLS). In the frenzied rush to judgment amid the hysteria surrounding global warming, one little fact seems to totally escape notice on the part of those who are determined to ram 'agri-fuel' down the throats of consumers. Such 'green-friendly' fuel will cause food prices to skyrocket.

The increase has already been felt as prices are rising for grains, oils, eggs, corn, and other commodities that are used to make ethanol and other fuels that are made from farm-grown items. Meat prices are on the rise as well since farmers must purchase grains to feed their stock...grains that are also used to produce fuel.

No better example of the law of supply and demand can be found than that which is currently being played out in the push to develop grains into sources of energy. As the demand for these grains increases due to their utilization in the production of fuel, prices will increase for these grains...which means that farmers must pay more to buy them for their livestock, and thus, the consumer will pay more for meat at the grocery store.

Market watchers say we can expect such rises in prices for food to continue. Such inflation is the result of governments pushing the agriculture industry to grow goods that can be used as alternative sources of energy. This causes an unhealthy competition between that which is grown for food and that which is grown for energy.

To be sure, agri-fuel is one alternative source that can be utilized in our search for alternatives to oil. But it is a big mistake to think this is the only source or even the main source of such an alternative.

To rely solely on agriculture to provide for the nation's energy will end in disaster.

This is why modern-day nuclear power is long overdue a second look. Nuclear power is much safer than back in the days when the plants that produced it were lacking in some of the modern safeguards that prevent the infamous 'meltdowns' of Chernobyl and science-fiction films. Modern technology has rendered the production of nuclear energy to be safe.

And it is as clean and 'green-friendly' as it gets.

Another alternative that should be put on the fast track is hydrogen fuel cell technology. Here again, the process of production is safe and and the energy it produces is clean.

The utilization of these two important alternative sources of energy will take a great amount of pressure off of the agricultural industry, thus saving Americans a tone of money at the grocery store.

Read more about this here:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/consumer_goods/article1642746.ece