“I see more inflation and more currency turmoil as we go forward. There are huge debt imbalances in the world. U.S. is the largest debtor nation in the world and all the assets are in Asia. The largest creditors in the world are China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore – this is where the assets are and the debts are in the West. Those imbalances have to be resolved. They frequently lead to more currency turmoil. We’ll see more inflation, we’ll see more governments fall. We just saw Tunisia fall – more are coming because the world is going to continue to have these problems, and especially inflation that is going to cause more social unrest.”

So said investing legend Jim Rogers when he spoke recently with ChrisMartenson.com about the inflationary pressures rising dramatically around the globe, despite some governments’ best efforts to downplay them. Jim shares his “outside in” perspective on US monetary and fiscal policy, and how international players find themselves forced to react. He sees a lot of fundamental imbalances that need to be corrected for, as well as shortages of almost everything developing. In his words, “It’s going to be a real mess before it’s over.”

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Inflation is actually much higher than what the BLS claims it is; something that purchasers of college tuition, pharmaceuticals, or health insurance know all too well.

To give the BLS some credit, they must try and estimate a single rate of inflation that applies to everyone equally.  But that is a completely impossible task. An octogenarian living in Seattle on a meager pension and taking lots of prescription medications will have a totally different inflation experience than an 18 year old living in their parent’s basement eating Ramen noodles.

But even after spotting the BLS some slack, there are some enormous and glaring errors in their methods that render the official inflation measure hopelessly – and dangerously – inaccurate.

In this article, I am going to reveal how US inflation numbers are badly understated, how this practice short-changes institutions and fixed-income individuals alike, and why this means fiscal and inflationary train-wrecks are the most probable outcome for the US — and, by extension, the globe.

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• The Big Squeeze: Predicting the Effects of Savings Extortion and Abuse of the Middle Class
• The Blind Men & The Elephant—The Totally Bullshit FCIC Commission Report and Dissents
• Americans Increasingly View Global Economy As A Negative
• Crisis May Seem Criminal, but Try Making a Case
• Ahead of the Bell: Unemployment Benefits
• Foreclosure Rates Slow In Hardest-Hit Areas
• An Export Land Model Analysis for the USA-Part 1

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• E-mails Suggest Bear Stearns Cheated Clients Out of Billions
• CBO: Social Security To Run Permanent Deficits
• Inflation? No Problem … If You Avoid Food
• Majority of Shelters Could Close with Proposed Budget
• Arizona Seeks Waiver To Cut 280K From Medicaid Rolls
• Quinn Calls for Borrowing Plan
• In U.S., One in Four Unemployed Adults in Financial Distress

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• IMF Chides Us For Fiscal Folly
• Potholes Gape From Detroit to New York as Funds Fade
• Christie Says He’ll Go to Illinois to Lure Jobs to New Jersey
• Christie Says Medicaid to Be Biggest Budget Challenge
• McDonald’s Will Raise Prices In 2011
• Evenflo To Raise Prices For Baby Products
• Rising Costs Threaten Corporate Profits
• Food Price Rise May Be Lasting-Nestle Chairman
• Food Prices Rise Around The World
• Vailas: Idaho State Budget Fat Trimmed To The Bone
• 27.6% Teen Jobless Rate For 2010 An Illinois Record
• Sandoval Speech Focuses on Budget Crisis, Education (Nevada)

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• The Great Debt Shift
• Silver Coin Sales, ETF Outflows Show Divergence In Market
• Home Prices in U.S. Declined 1.6% From Year Earlier
• US Stocks Open Lower As Blue-Chip Earnings Weigh
• January Consumer Confidence Jumps
• U.K. Economy Unexpectedly Shrinks in Winter Freeze
• California, EPA to Work on Joint Auto Standards

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• Ireland Government Crumbles As Green Party Pulls Out Of Ruling Coalition
• Mauldin: The Unsustainable Meets the Irresistible
• Conserving Doomed Systems (Or, Why We’re Staying On The Titanic)
• Silver Is The New Gold
• U.S. Jobs Outlook Rises to Decade High, Survey Says
• Heating Oil Rises on Cold Weather Forecast for U.S. Northeast
• Citi Warrant Sale On Tap for Treasury

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• U.S. Stocks Decline, S&P 500 Ends Longest Weekly Winning Streak Since 2007
• Clegg Says U.K. Must ‘Insulate’ Economy From Investment Banks
• The Real Cost Of Offshoring
• For Older, Out-Of-Work Residents, The Future Looks Grim
• Don’t Bank on It
• Accounting Tweak Could Save Fed From Losses
• Microcredit: 
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

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• The Yuan’s Coming Out Party
• Alpha 2 Says “Cliff Ahead”
• Euro Gains Amid Optimism Leaders Will Act to Ease Debt Crisis
• Gold Heads for Third Straight Weekly Decline on Outlook for Interest Rates
• California Unemployment Rate Ticks Up To 12.5%
• E.P.A. Approves Increased Ethanol in Auto Fuel
• US Renewable-Energy Incentives Help Bloom Energy To Expand Sales

Get started building resilience into your life with our ‘What Should I Do?’ guide

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One way to improve resiliency as well as quality of life is to grow your own vegetables locally. However, gardeners in northern climates are especially challenged by limited growing seasons. In this brief article I will show examples of how to easily extend and preserve the harvest and have fun doing it.

Why Extend Your Harvest?

Presently we can drive to the supermarket to get nearly anything we want even in winter. The fresh fruits and vegetables we see have often been grown thousands of miles away in a tropical climate and flown in using a lot of energy may not be so cheap or plentiful in the future. As well as potentially reducing dependence on energy, extending the harvest of your own foods has advantages including:

• Less work and simpler than preserving by canning or freezing
• Fresher, higher quality than canned
• Less expensive than supermarket
• Increased resiliency with the option to of a local food source
• Controlling your own food sources is more pleasurable and rewarding

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Inflation Is So Much Worse Than We’re Told (Full Report)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Executive Summary

• Inflation is several percent higher than claimed
• The criticality of correctly weighting the CPI & how the current methodology is flawed
  • Case study using healthcare: one of the largest victims of underweighting in today’s CPI
• Why the Fed (erroneously) sees deflation and is making dangerously-flawed policy decisions as a result
• The 8 steps of an inflation-induced financial crisis in the US
• Recommendations for living in an inflationary world

Full Report (for enrolled members)

Provides a much deeper dive into the CPI, it’s flawed methodology, the likely implications of understating inflation, and strategies for individual investors than available in the public-only article.

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