{"id":45004,"date":"2019-04-03T08:57:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T13:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=45004"},"modified":"2019-04-03T08:57:07","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T13:57:07","slug":"hyperinflation-history-may-provide-valuable-lessons-for-feds-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=45004","title":{"rendered":"Hyperinflation History May Provide Valuable Lessons for Fed\u2019s \u201cTarget\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.birchgold.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/hyperinflation-3-29-19-9.png\" alt=\"hyperinflation history lesson for fed\" class=\"wp-image-14625\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>From&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.birchgold.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Birch Gold Group<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.birchgold.com\/news\/hyperinflation-history-may-provide-valuable-lessons-for-feds-target\/\">Hyperinflation History May Provide Valuable Lessons for Fed\u2019s \u201cTarget\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In April of 1980 inflation\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/inflationdata.com\/articles\/inflation-cpi-consumer-price-index-1980-1989\/\" target=\"_blank\">peaked<\/a>\u00a0at a staggering 14.76%. That same year, the Fed triggered a rise in interest rates to near 20% around the same time, employing the controversial \u201cVolcker Rule.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul Solman explained in a 2009&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/economy\/what-led-to-the-high-interest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PBS Newshour<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>If by \u201cinterest rates\u201d you mean the rate set by the Fed \u2014 the Fed funds rate \u2014 it rose to TWENTY PERCENT in 1980. But no, it was not inaction but just the opposite: a deliberate rise in rates triggered by inflation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>And as you can see in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/inflationdata.com\/Inflation\/Inflation\/DecadeInflation.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">chart below<\/a>, the 1980s also represented the 3rd highest average inflation percentage in a decade since 1913:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.birchgold.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/average-annual-inflation.jpg\" alt=\"average annual inflation\" class=\"wp-image-14618\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So inflation rose dramatically, and the Fed employed a dramatic strategy, hiking rates through the roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as you look at the same chart, it\u2019s also clear three other decades had severe inflationary periods as well. Each time that happens in the U.S. the dollar loses buying power quickly as prices for food, energy, and fuel go through the roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Serious hyperinflation can happen relatively quickly. Venezuela is a recent example, where it only&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hyperinflation#\/media\/File:Time_BsF_would_take_to_lose_90_percent_of_its_value.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">took about 5 years<\/a>for the local bolivar to lose 90% of its value. Inflation&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-10-09\/venezuela-s-2018-inflation-to-hit-1-37-million-percent-imf-says\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">soared<\/a>&nbsp;to a ridiculous 1.37&nbsp;<em>million<\/em>&nbsp;percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also have historic examples of severe hyperinflation.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hyperinflation_in_the_Weimar_Republic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">From 1921-1923<\/a>&nbsp;the Weimar Republic of Germany suffered massive inflation. Sovereign Man&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sovereignman.com\/trends\/if-donald-trump-is-the-king-of-debt-these-guys-were-the-kings-of-inflation-24843\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">highlighted<\/a>, \u201ca single egg at the market would cost millions of marks\u201d during this economic upheaval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oddly enough, Germany\u2019s hyperinflation came not too long after a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/alphahistory.com\/weimarrepublic\/1923-hyperinflation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">decision<\/a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<em>print money<\/em>&nbsp;became standard policy. (Sound&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.birchgold.com\/news\/feds-dangerous-new-addiction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">familiar<\/a>?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zimbabwe also had a period of massive war-based hyperinflation in 2008-09 after&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hyperinflation_in_Zimbabwe#Self-perpetuation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">printing money<\/a>&nbsp;and devaluing its currency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These hyperinflation horror stories beg the question, will the Fed\u2019s \u201ctarget\u201d of 2-3% inflation per year be effective?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From&nbsp;Birch Gold Group Hyperinflation History May Provide Valuable Lessons for Fed\u2019s \u201cTarget\u201d In April of 1980 inflation\u00a0peaked\u00a0at a staggering 14.76%. That same year, the Fed triggered a rise in interest rates to near 20% around the same time, employing the controversial \u201cVolcker Rule.\u201d Paul Solman explained in a 2009&nbsp;PBS Newshour: If by \u201cinterest rates\u201d you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18769,413,426,3650,2064],"class_list":["post-45004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-birch-gold-group","tag-hyperinflation","tag-inflation","tag-us-federal-reserve","tag-volcker-rule"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45004"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45005,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45004\/revisions\/45005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}