Preparing Your Investments for an Inflationary Future

Let the boxing match begin!…In the near corner, we find deflation, with its furious fists of debt liquidation and credit contraction… And in the far corner, we’ve got Ben Bernanke’s printing press, with its menacing inflationary uppercut.

Inflation will win this contest eventually, but the match might go the full 12 rounds.

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GDP and Job Growth Not Consistent With Feds’ Economic Outlook

First, did you notice? Gold shot up $25 on Friday. At this rate, it will be at $1,600 by the end of this week.

Why? The smart money is betting that the feds will keep pushing inflation.

But today, let’s ignore the feds and talk about what’s happening in the economy.

You saw the latest GDP numbers last week. In the first quarter, the economy grew at a 1.8% annual rate, said the estimate. That is equivalent to the average real rate of growth for the US economy since 1925. The only trouble is, this growth isn’t real. It’s counterfeit. It’s phony.

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Consumer Price Inflation on a Diet of Gold and Wheaties

We’ve always wondered why there is so much debate about the rate of inflation. It seems like such a simple thing to track. You go in the store. You buy a box of Wheaties. You write down the price. Next month, you do the same thing. What’s so hard about that?

But what if the box is smaller next month? What if the Wheaties are twice as good? What if you can get the same enjoyment from a box of Wheatie-Puffs at half the price?

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China: Where Money Is Treated Best

“9% Unemployment Rate is a Statistical Lie” is a pretty catchy title, and being the kind of vicious little rat that I am, and who suspects treachery and betrayal at every turn, I naturally take a look at it to confirm my worst suspicions.

The bad news is that it is, indeed, scary stuff! The article is by Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com, who writes that John Williams of ShadowStats.com has calculated that “If unemployment was computed the way BLS did it prior to 1994, the true unemployment rate would be 22.2%.”

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Retail Sales: The Next Chapter of the Financial Crisis

It was a good effort…but “federal debt held by the public would double under the President’s budget,” says the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

While we were exploring gold storage, junior miners and asset protection in Zurich, the CBO did some heavy lifting on the budget proposal advanced by Mr. Obama on Wednesday.

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Government Spending Screws the Little Guy

Joel Bowman, managing editor of The Daily Reckoning, is in Argentina, and it looks like he is discovering that the corruption that comes with creating more money, so that the government can stupidly spend it, is now everywhere, and, indeed, the ugly end result is everywhere, too. In his essay “The Unfortunate Sate of the Argentine Beef Industry” an Argentine friend of Mr. Bowman’s explains, “as usual, the little guy, the one who the government supposedly set out to help, ends up paying more.” Ain’t that the truth! Hahaha!

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No Inflation in Sight

In response to the recent multi-month, multi-year and all-time highs posted by the Dow, oil and gold respectively, your suitably-entertained editor last week remarked, “Good Golly…what isn’t going up?!”

Indeed, commodities across the board are on the march and prices from the grocery store to the gas pump are beginning to reflect that reality. One headline we saw this morning called for “$5 gas by Memorial Day.” According to the Lundberg Survey, the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded as of Monday was $3.76…and rising.

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Investment Legends, Part I

What will happen to the US economy and the dollar in the near term? Will inflation increase dramatically? What is the outlook for gold, and where should you put your money? BIG GOLD asked a world-class panel of economists, authors, and investment advisors what they expect for the future. Caution: strong opinions ahead…

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The US Federal Reserve: A Rich History of Financial Folly

Ehow.com relates a piece of history in that “Since the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913, the money supply had increased 240 percent from 1913 to 1920, because of a relaxed gold standard, and prices had risen by an identical amount.”

Gaahhh! Prices rising 240%! In seven years, the money supply increased 240%, meaning it more than doubled, as did prices! No wonder they had a recession!

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