Toilet Paper Money

I Feel Like I Am Living In Crazytown

We haven’t had an extended bout of painful inflation like this since the days of the Carter administration, and our leaders in Washington have decided that the best way forward is to rapidly create even more inflation.  They keep using words like “transitory” to describe the current inflation crisis, but then they turn right around and talk about the need to create, borrow and spend even more money.  It is utter madness, but at this point there is nobody that is going to stop them.  We are all passengers on a “highway to Weimar”, and those that have their hands on the wheel have gone completely nuts.

On Wednesday, we learned that on a year-over-year basis inflation continues to rise at the fastest pace that we have seen since the last financial crisis…

Federal data released on Wednesday showed that for the 12 months through July, the consumer price index rose 5.4 percent, unchanged from June and at the highest level since the Great Recession in 2008.

But since the way that the rate of inflation is calculated has literally been changed dozens of times over the decades, the only way to get an apples for apples comparison is to calculate what the rate of inflation would be if it was still calculated the same way it was at some previous moment in our history.

John Williams of shadowstats.com has done just that.  According to Williams, if inflation was still calculated the same way it was back in 1990, we would be at about 9 percent at this moment.

And if inflation was still calculated the same way it was back in 1980, we would be way into double digits right now.

Many Americans had assumed that we would never again see the sort of crazy inflation that we witnessed during the Carter years, but now it is here.

In particular, food prices, gas prices and vehicle prices are rapidly becoming quite painful…

New vehicle prices rose 6.4 percent on the year, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending January 1982. Gasoline was also up 42 percent.

The prices of many everyday items have jumped sharply in the past year. Bacon was up 11 percent and whole milk and beef roast were both 8 percent higher on the year.

Travel expenses jumped hugely from last summer’s depressed base level, with hotels up 24 percent and airfare up 19 percent.

Needless to say, this is having a substantial impact on our standard of living.

Even though wages are rising, they aren’t rising nearly as fast as the cost of living is…

It is getting harder and harder for American workers to make ends meet as rising inflation outpaces pay gains, pushing down inflation-adjusted compensation at a pace almost never seen before.

Adjusted for inflation, hourly compensation fell 2.7 percent in the second quarter, data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the nonfarm business sector showed Tuesday.

Inflation is a tax on all of us, and it is going to whittle down the size of the middle class with each passing month.

And this is just the beginning.  In recent days, many corporate executives have been very vocal about the fact that more price hikes are ahead.

For example, Shake Shack has publicly announced that another round of price increases is incoming…

The popular burger chain Shake Shack announced it will be implementing yet another price hike in 2021 to fight inflation.

During a conference call with analysts last week, Shake Shack’s chief financial officer Katherine Fogerty said customers will be paying three to 3.5 percent more for their food in the fourth quarter of 2021.

And the CEO of Tyson Foods is warning that costs keep rising even more quickly than his company can raise prices for consumers…

Tyson Foods Inc., the top chicken producer in the U.S., confirmed in an earnings call that food inflation continues to push prices higher.

Tyson’s CEO Donnie King said higher costs are hitting the firm faster than the company can lift prices, and retail prices are set to rise on Sept. 5.

My friends, this is going to get bad.

Really bad.

So what are our leaders doing in response?

Well, they have decided to create, borrow and spend even more money.

In fact, the Senate just passed a 1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure package and then immediately began working on a 3.5 trillion dollar spending package…

The Senate on Tuesday passed a $1 trillion infrastructure package and sent it to the House for consideration. The upper chamber then started work on a second $3.5 trillion package of further government spending. President Joe Biden will have to knit his party together to pass the larger measure. Already moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, have voiced concern about the impact of the $3.5 trillion measure on the $29 trillion national debt.

I feel like I am living in Crazytown.

They know that they are causing inflation, but they just can’t help themselves.

At this point, even a top Democrat is warning that there will be “grave consequences”…

U.S. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin on Wednesday said he had “serious concerns” about Senate Democrats’ planned $3.5 trillion spending plan, potentially gumming up efforts to move ahead with President Joe Biden’s top priorities.

Manchin, in a statement, said that although he voted to move ahead and debate the plan, he was worried about the “grave consequences” of such spending on the nation’s debt as well as the country’s ability to respond to other potential crises.

But even though some of our politicians may pay lip service to fiscal responsibility once in a while, in the end most of them just keep voting for these insane spending packages.

So what can we do?

I often say that we should “hope for the best and prepare for the worst”, but in this case there is no hoping for the best.

We know what they are going to do, and we know where this road leads.

So my recommendation is to prepare for the worst, and then do some more preparing, because things will eventually get really, really bad.

Congress is going to pass wild spending package after wild spending package, and the Fed is just going to continue to pump billions upon billions of fresh dollars into the financial system.

This is the greatest financial bubble in the history of the world, and it will be fascinating to watch how long it can last before it finally implodes.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five others that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

More Cowbell! Federal Reserve Officials Decide That More Inflation Is The Answer

Someone please make the madness stop.  Many years ago, when Saturday Night Live was still actually funny, comedian Will Ferrell starred in a skit that was entitled “More Cowbell”.  To this day, it remains one of the most famous skits in comedy history, and that is because it was absolutely hilarious.  If you have never seen it, you can find it right here.  Unfortunately for all of us, the Federal Reserve is now doing their own version of “More Cowbell”, but it isn’t funny at all.  At this point, Fed officials sound like a broken record, because month after month they just keep telling us that the answer to our growing economic problems is even more inflation.  They have completely gone off the deep end, but since most Americans are illiterate when it comes to economics hardly anyone is objecting.

Earlier today, I received an alarming email from one of my readers.  This particular reader was quite alarmed that the price of her favorite juice just went up three dollars, and I would have loved to tell her that these price increases are just “temporary” and that everything will go back to normal soon.

But I couldn’t do that, because that isn’t the truth.

On Wednesday, Fed officials once again voted to continue flooding the financial system with giant mountains of fresh cash…

The Federal Reserve open market committee has voted unanimously to continue the central bank’s easy money policies, again dismissing soaring inflation as ‘transitory’ and saying COVID-19 still poses risks to the economy.

The 11-member committee voted on Wednesday to keep the federal funds rate near zero and continue flooding the market with money through massive bond purchases ‘until substantial further progress’ is made on boosting employment.

“$120 billion a month in bond purchases” may sound boring to most Americans, but if people really understood what this was doing to our standard of living they would be protesting in the streets tomorrow morning.

On average, the Federal Reserve is pumping more than a billion dollars into our financial system every single hour.

This sort of thing is only supposed to be done during a major emergency.  The very first time that “quantitative easing” was used on a large scale was during the last financial crisis, and now it has basically become something that the Fed just does all the time.

As I discussed yesterday, the size of the Fed balance sheet has roughly doubled during this pandemic.  Of course this was going to cause inflation to spike.

On Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell openly admitted that “inflation could turn out to be higher and more persistent than we expected”.

Ya think?

But Powell also continued to insist that in the long-term inflation would go back down to 2 percent…

Indicators of long-term inflation expectations appear broadly consistent with our longer-run inflation goal of 2%. If we saw signs that the path of inflation or longer-term inflation expectations were moving materially and persistently beyond levels consistent with our goal, we’d be prepared to adjust the stance of policy.

What in the world is he smoking?

Does he actually believe that we can flood the system with trillions and trillions of fresh dollars and keep inflation down to about 2 percent at the same time?

If so, he should see a mental health professional immediately.

Right now, prices are skyrocketing all around us.  Earlier today, I came across an article that discussed how farmers are hurting because the price of hay has gone up by about 20 percent…

Local prices for large bales of hay — small bales are significantly more expensive — are shaping up to be around $210 a ton, DeRuwe said, around 20% more than the average year.

Yesterday, I discussed the fact that home prices are up 23 percent over the past year.

Apparently home prices are not yet high enough, because Fed officials want to flood the system with even more money.

Used car prices are up more than 45 percent over the past year.  In many cases, used cars are now selling for more than they were when they were brand new.

What we are now witnessing is completely and utterly insane, but the Fed is not the only one to blame.

Our politicians in Washington have been spending money like mad, and now another gigantic spending package is being discussed.

Fortunately, there is at least one Democrat in the Senate that thinks that Joe Biden’s 3.5 trillion dollar infrastructure package is just too big…

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona on Wednesday came out in opposition to Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending blueprint, virtually ensuring her party would be forced to make substantial cuts to get her on board.

In a statement to The Arizona Republic, the moderate Democrat said while she supported efforts to bolster the country’s economic competitiveness in an infrastructure plan, she believed the bill was too large.

In the end, we may see a package that is only about a trillion dollars in size.

But that is still utter madness.

Since the start of the pandemic, we have increased the size of our national debt by five trillion dollars, and now our politicians in Washington want to borrow and spend more giant mountains of money.

Earlier today, I came across an article about a “two-headed snake”…

An incredible video captures the moment a two-headed snake called Ben and Jerry devours two mice in each of is fanged mouths.

Reptile enthusiast Brian Barczyk shared the clip to his Instagram account, which shows each of the heads slowly chomping down on a pair of dead mice.

The two-headed reptile is the result of a phenomenon known as bicephaly, which occurs from the incomplete splitting of an embryo.

When I read that, I immediately thought about our current situation.

These days, the Federal Reserve and our politicians in Washington have become a “two-headed snake” that is relentlessly devouring our financial future.

If we stay on the path that we are on, there is no future for our country.

But it has become obvious that our leaders are not going to change.

Every time a new crisis erupts, their “solution” will be to create, borrow and spend even more money.

This “More Cowbell” approach to managing the economy is literally insane, but there will be no turning back now.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five others that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

Let’s Compare The U.S. Economy Before The Pandemic To The U.S. Economy Today

Throughout the first half of 2021, there was a tremendous amount of optimism about the U.S. economy.  Many believed that the pandemic would soon be behind us and that a new era of great prosperity would soon be upon us.  But now the optimism that we witnessed is fading as Americans become increasingly concerned about inflation, shortages and rising debt levels.  Our leaders created, borrowed and spent trillions upon trillions of dollars in a desperate attempt to get our economy back on track, and it turns out that all of that money didn’t really have the enormous impact that they had hoped.  On the other hand, inflation is now beginning to spiral out of control, and many are comparing this time in our history to the Jimmy Carter era of the 1970s.

In this article, I would like to compare the state of the economy today to the state of the economy just before the pandemic started sweeping across the country.

As you will see, it appears that a tremendous amount of long-term damage has been done.

Let’s start by talking about employment.  Just before the pandemic hit, 152 million Americans were employed, but today only 145 million Americans are currently employed.

Many economists are telling us that it will probably take a number of years for employment to return to pre-pandemic levels, but that also assumes that we will not be facing another major economic downturn in the near future.

Needless to say, I do not share that rosy assessment.

The number of Americans that are considered to be “not in the labor force” has also not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Just before the pandemic, 95 million Americans were considered to be “not in the labor force”, but now that number is up to more than 100 million.

We are being told that unemployment is “low” in this country even though more than 100 million people do not have jobs right now.

But according to John Williams of shadowstats.com, if honest numbers were being used the unemployment rate would currently be above 25 percent.

The good news is that at least we are not at 35 percent like we were during the peak of the pandemic.

Our politicians realized that things were really, really bad in 2020, and so they started spending money at a rate that we have never seen before.

All of this spending pushed our national debt from 23 trillion dollars prior to the pandemic to more than 28 trillion dollars today.

This is complete and utter insanity, but at least our politicians have been more restrained than the Federal Reserve has been.

During this pandemic, the size of the Fed balance sheet has nearly doubled.  It was sitting at about four trillion dollars just before the pandemic, and it has grown to more than eight trillion dollars today.

“Economic malpractice” is way too soft a term to describe what the Fed has been doing.

If the American people truly understood the Fed and what it has been doing to our currency, there would be wild protests in the streets tomorrow morning.

Collectively, our politicians and the Federal Reserve have pushed the size of our money supply to dizzying heights.  Just before the pandemic, M2 was sitting at about 15 trillion dollars, and now it has crossed the 20 trillion dollar threshold.

Anyone that believed that we could do this without causing rip-roaring inflation was just being delusional.

Just look at what has been happening to home prices.  They have been rising at the fastest pace ever recorded, and families all over America are feeling the pain.

A few days ago, I published an article in which I explained that home prices are 23 percent higher than they were at this time one year ago…

The median price for an existing home in June hit an all-time high of $363,300, up 23% over last year. That marks 112 straight months of year-over-year gains.

Needless to say, the vast majority of Americans have not had their paychecks increase by 23 percent over the past year.

The gap between the ultra-wealthy and the rest of us just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and the middle class is shrinking a little bit more with each passing month.

These days, we also have widespread shortages to deal with.  Prior to the pandemic, I don’t remember ever hearing about any major shortages, but now they are all around us.

In particular, the chip shortage has been incredibly painful for a lot of Americans, and the CEO of Intel is now telling us that it could last into 2023…

One of the leading voices in the semiconductor industry sees the chip-supply problems stretching as far as 2023.

It could take one or two years to get back to a reasonable supply-and-demand balance in the semiconductor industry, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal after the company posted second-quarter earnings on Thursday. “We have a long way to go yet,” he said. “It just takes a long time to build [manufacturing] capacity.”

At first, a lot of Americans believed our leaders when they were told that wonderful days were just around the corner.

But now reality is starting to set in.

Faith in “the recovery” is fading, and at this point more than half of all Americans believe that the economy is in poor shape…

Fewer than half of Americans, 45 percent, judge the economy to be in good shape, while 54 percent say it’s in poor shape, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Views are similar to what they were in AP-NORC polls in June and in March, despite increases in vaccinations and the flow of aid from Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

If most Americans are dissatisfied with the economy today, how will they be feeling if economic conditions are even worse six months from now?

In my opinion, we should be very thankful that economic conditions have been relatively stable in recent months, because the long-term outlook for our economy is not good at all.

Our leaders are literally in the process of committing national financial suicide, and the whole world will be affected since we produce the reserve currency that the entire planet depends upon.

So enjoy these relatively good times while you still can, because eventually they will be gone for good.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five others that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

Inflation Shock: Are You Ready To Start Paying “$40 Or $50” For A Hamburger?

After decades of living in a relatively low inflation environment, it is hard for most Americans to believe that things have gotten so bad so quickly.  In fact, even though I write about this stuff almost every day, it is hard for me to believe it.  We are watching prices spiral out of control all over the nation, and we know precisely who is to blame.  During the pandemic, our politicians in Washington have been borrowing and spending money at an unprecedented rate, and this has pushed our national debt up to 28 trillion dollars.  Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has been pumping trillions of fresh dollars into our financial system, and this has resulted in the Fed balance sheet nearly doubling over the course of this pandemic.  I have used the term “economic malpractice” to describe what our leaders are doing, but it is actually far worse than that.  They are literally in the process of destroying our economy, and even after so many experts have pointed out their colossal errors they still won’t stop.  They just keep creating more money, and now we have a horrific inflation crisis on our hands.

Following Joe Biden’s town hall on Wednesday night, the Daily Mail spoke to a restaurant manager in Manhattan named John Stratidis.  According to Stratidis, rising costs and rising wages will mean that consumers will have to pay more for their meals.  In fact, he is warning that New Yorkers could end up “paying $40 or $50 for a hamburger”…

‘When minimum wage goes up, who do you think is going to pay for that? The customer. Everything is going to go up just to be able to stay in business. When we give more money, the prices go up and when the prices go up who’s going to pay for that?

‘They’re going to be crying about it, and saying “it’s too expensive”. That’s inflation. You’re going to be walking in somewhere to eat something and paying $40 or $50 for a hamburger.’

Obviously, we aren’t at that point yet.

But if we stay on the path that we are currently on, we will eventually get there.

In some tourist traps, prices for burgers are already completely insane.  For example, one Las Vegas restaurant is now selling a burger that costs $100…

Located on the casino floor and a few steps from the poker lounge, Posh Burger offers seven burger choices, ranging from a $12 traditional hamburger to a $23 half-pound “super deluxe” waygyu steak burger, plus the option of a $16 vegetarian Impossible burger.

For diners looking to play out their high roller fantasies, an eye-catching $100 menu highlight is dubbed the Posh Royale Burger and created with wagyu beef, truffle, foie gras, gold dust, a garnish of lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and the secret Posh sauce.

That is crazy, but that isn’t even the most expensive burger around.

In the Netherlands, one luxury chef is actually selling a burger for $6,000.

I still remember the days when you could get a nice, thick fancy burger with all of the fixings for less than a dollar.

Sadly, those days are long gone, and food prices are now rising at a frightening pace all over the country.

The other day, billionaire John Catsimatidis made headlines when he warned that there would be a double digit spike in food prices “by October first”…

Catsimatidis said that he expects a 10 to 14% spike in food prices by October first.

FOX Business’ Ashley Webster asked Catsimatidis if he is going to be forced to pass the extra costs onto consumers.

“You have to pass it on otherwise you’re not doing your duty to guard your country, your employees and your company,” he responded.

But at least housing is still affordable, right?

Actually, CNN is reporting that home prices are 23 percent higher than they were at the same time a year ago…

The median price for an existing home in June hit an all-time high of $363,300, up 23% over last year. That marks 112 straight months of year-over-year gains.

23 percent in one year!

Has your paycheck gone up by 23 percent over the past year?

If not, you are rapidly losing ground.

Renters are not faring much better.  In some of the hottest rental markets around the country, rents have risen by more than 20 percent.  The following example comes from the New York Times…

Kaitlin Cindrich is facing a $200 monthly increase in rent this August if she and her husband can renew their apartment lease in Provo, Utah. That 25 percent jump is not something she expected, and the 21-year-old fears she may have to skip doctor appointments for her autoimmune disease to keep up with the payments.

Still, she acknowledges there isn’t much choice but to pay more. “We are hoping to stay because everything is so expensive right now that I would be paying the same whether I’m here or somewhere else,” Ms. Cindrich said.

Some markets are seeing more moderate increases, but overall we have seen rental prices increase by 9.2 percent up to this point in 2021…

Data from Apartment List, a listing site, confirms the trend visible in the Zillow numbers: So far in 2021, rental prices nationally have grown 9.2 percent, compared with the 2 to 3 percent that is typical from January to June. According to the most recent data available, prices were higher than economists at Apartment List would have expected had prepandemic trends persisted.

So what will the rest of 2021 look like?

Will rental prices have risen by a total of 15 or 20 percent by the time the year is through?

The Biden administration continues to insist that inflation is “low”, but hardly anyone believes them.

In fact, one recent survey found that 70 percent of Americans are “extremely or very concerned” about inflation…

A new internal poll from the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) shows growing concerns about rising inflation in a number of battleground districts ahead of 2022.

Seventy percent of respondents said they were either “extremely or very concerned” about rising prices and the rising costs of living, according to the polling memo released Thursday. Additionally, 60 percent of voters said they disapproved of President Biden‘s handling of rising prices and the higher cost of living. On top of that, the poll found that 42 percent of people polled were more likely to blame Biden and congressional Democrats for rising prices. Ten percent said they were more likely to blame congressional Republicans.

If you are in the 30 percent that is not very concerned about inflation, you should be, because it is going to absolutely suck the life out of your standard of living.

Meanwhile, more shortages continue to pop up throughout our economy.

Earlier today, I was stunned to learn that a shortage of back-to-school supplies is now being projected…

Back-to-school shopping is always a nightmare. This year, expect it to be even worse.

While parents may be used to encountering shortages of items like sneakers, backpacks and gadgets later in the season -— which typically lasts from mid-July through the end of August — products are expected to be in tight supply even earlier. That means shoppers could find themselves picking over the handful of ugly backpacks and bento lunch boxes with missing pieces left at the store as early as this month.

In the new book that I just released, I have an entire chapter about hyperinflation and shortages.  Everyone could see this coming from a mile away, but our leaders just couldn’t help themselves.

Whenever a major crisis comes along, their only answer is to create, borrow and spend more money.

Many are comparing this to the Jimmy Carter era of the 1970s, but the truth is that what we are facing is much worse than that.

We are literally witnessing our nation commit slow-motion economic suicide, and it is absolutely horrifying to watch.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five others that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

This Is The Worst Inflation Since The 1970s, And The Stage Is Being Set For The Total Collapse Of The U.S. Economy

How does it feel to live in a country with double-digit inflation?  On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics told us that the consumer price index has risen 5.4 percent over the past 12 months, and such a high number shocked a lot of people.  But in order to make a fair comparison to the past, we have to account for the fact that the way inflation is calculated has been changed literally dozens of times over the past several decades.  According to John Williams of shadowstats.com, if inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1990, the official rate of inflation over the past 12 months would be about 9 percent.  And if inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, the official rate of inflation over the past 12 months would be well into double-digits.

Everyone that has been warning that we could soon see inflation rise to levels that we haven’t witnessed since the the Jimmy Carter years can stop, because we are already there.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is committing fraud, because the numbers that they give us are almost meaningless.  For example, U.S. home prices have risen 20 percent over the past year, but the “shelter component of inflation” makes up only a tiny fraction of the overall consumer price index…

We’ll get the latest read on inflation Tuesday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts out its consumer price index for the month of June. As you may recall, the May report showed the biggest annual increase in consumer prices, 5%, in 13 years. But if you’re looking for the recent jump in home prices to show up in that number, you’re likely to be disappointed. The shelter component of inflation, as measured by the CPI, has stayed pretty steady, from around 2% to 3.5%, for the past decade. And some economists have a problem with that.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your mortgage payment accounted for only 3.5 percent of your overall budget each month?

Needless to say, such a figure is completely and totally unrealistic.

For most of us, housing is the single biggest expense that we face on a regular basis.  And as I have documented in many previous articles, housing costs have been soaring into the stratosphere in recent months.

Car prices are also rising at an extremely alarming pace.  According to CNN, the average price of a new car has shot up 12 percent over the past year…

In May, the average new car price hit a record $38,255, according to JD Power, up 12% from the same period a year ago. About two-thirds of car buyers paid within 5% of the sticker price in May, with some paying even more.

Instead of buying a new vehicle, you could purchase a used one instead, but used car prices increased 10.5 percent in just the last month…

Last month alone, average used car prices soared 10.5 percent – the largest such monthly increase since record-keeping began in January 1953. That spike accounted for about one-third of the monthly increase for the third straight month.

Renting vehicles has gotten a lot more expensive as well.

In fact, average rental rates are up a whopping 86 percent since this point in 2020…

Daily car rental rates have increased 86% compared to this time last year and 140% more than 2019, according to Julie Hall, a spokesperson for AAA.

The “5.4 percent inflation” fairly tale that the Labor Department is trying to sell us is absolutely laughable.

And as long as they keep putting out such doctored numbers, they are going to have zero credibility.

Everyone can see that prices are skyrocketing all around us.  In such an environment, a restaurant in New York can charge 200 dollars for French fries and some people will actually pay that price…

Serendipity3, the iconic Upper East Side restaurant, set a Guinness World Records title for making the “Most Expensive French Fries” — just in time to celebrate National French Fry Day Tuesday!

Serendipity3’s Creative Director and Chef Joe Calderone and Corporate Executive Chef Frederick Schoen-Kiewert are the masterminds behind the “Creme de la Creme Pommes Frites,” which cost a whopping $200.

Our leaders thought that they could pump trillions upon trillions of fresh dollars into the system without any serious consequences.

Sadly, they were dead wrong.

Inflation is wildly out of control, and one economist just told Breitbart News that the U.S. is starting “to look a little bit like a Latin American country”…

Desmond Lachman, an economist and senior fellow with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), told Breitbart News on Sunday that the U.S. is beginning to resemble a Latin American country given its inflation, government spending, and printing of money.

“[The U.S. is] in [a]very bad position from a long-term point of view. I don’t see how this can end well when we’re running — now — budget deficits something like 15 percent of GDP,” Lachman said on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Sunday with host Joel Pollak. “This is beginning to look a little bit like a Latin American country.”

It is actually much worse than that.

The truth is that we are in the terminal phase of the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world, and at such a critical moment U.S. officials have decided to systematically destroy the value of the reserve currency of the planet.

Prior to the pandemic, the U.S. government was stealing more than a hundred million dollars an hour from future generations of Americans, but now our politicians have upped that rate to more than 300 million dollars an hour.

And when the next major crisis comes along, they will pass even more “emergency packages”, because spending money is the only solution they have.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve continues to pump giant mountains of money into the financial system.  Since September 2019, the size of the Fed balance sheet has more than doubled, and that should be considered a crime against humanity.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans don’t even know what the Federal Reserve is, and only a small fraction of the population actually understands what they are currently doing to our financial system.

Facing no significant resistance, our politicians will continue to get us into staggering amounts of debt, and the Fed will continue to transform the U.S. dollar into toilet paper.

Sadly, what they are doing is setting the stage for the collapse of the late, great U.S. economy, and the economic pain that is ahead will affect every single man, woman and child on the entire planet.

***Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book, I have written four others that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Parler, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.