How Inflation Is Destroying America—and What You Can Do About It

Thanks to rampant inflation, socialism—and the poverty it inevitably brings—could soon become irreversibly entrenched in the United States, just as it has in numerous Third World countries.

Rapidly rising food, housing, medical, and tuition costs are squeezing Americans, many of whom fail to grasp the true cause of their declining living standards.

The explosion in the cost of living is a predictable consequence of the Federal Reserve’s ongoing currency debasement.

Consider this.

Imagine working 9 to 5 for 50 years, only for the Federal Reserve to print 40% of the money supply and inflate away 20 years of your hard work.

You don’t have to imagine—it actually happened during the Covid mass psychosis, when governments around the world indulged in a frenzy of currency debasement.

In other words, if your after-tax wealth hasn’t increased by 40% since 2020, you aren’t keeping pace with the monetary debasement.

As Michael Saylor aptly put it, “The road to serfdom consists of working exponentially harder in order to earn a currency growing exponentially weaker.”

It’s no wonder an increasing number of people are struggling to make ends meet. It’s like running on a treadmill that only tilts steeper and speeds up.

I have no doubt the Fed will soon engage in even more egregious currency debasement.

The Federal Reserve is Your Enemy

The Federal Reserve is back in the news, preparing to launch yet another round of currency debasement—what it euphemistically calls “monetary easing,” a term the media mindlessly parrots.

Whenever discussing the Fed or central banks, it’s essential to keep the basics in mind.

You have to start with the most fundamental concept: central planning doesn’t work. That’s the first principle.

Central planning of shoes doesn’t work. Central planning of wheat doesn’t work. And central planning of (fake) money doesn’t work.

Central banks in general—and the Fed in particular—are on a mission impossible. They don’t know what the interest rate should be. Nobody does. That’s something only a voluntary market of savers and borrowers, dealing in honest money, can determine.

A politburo can’t centrally plan interest rates any more than it can potatoes. They are inevitably going to fail—and cause significant damage in the process.

It’s also crucial to remember that central banks have nothing to do with the free market. They are, in fact, the antithesis of it.

In Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, central banking is the fifth plank.

Meanwhile, the lying media portrays central bankers as selfless bureaucrats heroically trying to save the economy. It’s a load of BS. Central bankers are the enemies of the average person—the driving force behind currency debasement and the primary cause of the spiraling cost of living.

From Inflation to Socialism—and Worse

Even though the media won’t admit it, the Fed’s currency debasement is the primary reason most people are feeling the sting of rising prices today. They know it’s getting harder and harder to maintain their standard of living—but few understand why.

They’ll blame supply chain problems, Vladimir Putin, or greedy corporations—anything but the Fed, the true source of inflation.

The media’s hunt for the “real cause” of inflation is like O.J. Simpson’s search for “the real killers,” only more absurd.

The deliberate confusion surrounding inflation opens the door for opportunistic politicians promising supposed freebies to ease the pain. Tragically, many fall for this siren song.

Perverse as it is, the very policies sold as solutions to inflation only make it worse. Inflation perpetuates itself like a heroin addiction—people keep craving more of the very poison that’s destroying them.

For instance, a Newsweek poll shows that 63% of Americans “strongly support” government stimulus checks to fight inflation.

In other words: let’s combat the effects of currency debasement by engaging in even more currency debasement.

The more inflation erodes living standards, the more people clamor for misguided government interventions—universal basic income, price controls, rent controls, inflation “relief” checks, and higher minimum wages—all of which fuel the same destructive cycle of rising prices.

It’s only a matter of time before “Fight for $15”—the rallying cry for a $15 minimum wage—becomes “Fight for $20,” then “Fight for $50,” and eventually “Fight for $100.”

Instead, people should fight to end the Federal Reserve and the counterfeit money it creates out of thin air and forces everyone else to use. That’s the only way to break this insidious cycle that impoverishes everyone except the politically connected insiders closest to the printing press.

But of course, that’s not what’s likely to happen.

The more probable outcome is that the US continues down an inescapable spiral—a political-inflation doom loop that follows a predictable pattern:

1. In a fiat currency system, the government inevitably prints ever-increasing amounts of currency to fund itself.

2. This makes prices and living costs rise faster than wages.

3. The average person feels the pain but doesn’t understand why.

4. More people support politicians who promise freebies to ease the pain.

5. To pay for those “freebies,” the government prints even more currency.

6. The result? More inflation—and the cycle repeats.

Most of America Depends on the Government

At this point, we have to ask ourselves whether the political situation in the US will improve. Unfortunately, the evidence points to a troubling but inevitable answer: no.

The reason is simple—an ever-growing number of US voters are now net recipients of benefits from the government. This also includes the vast number of government employees and those in the nominally private sector who feed off the warfare state—defense contractors and other firms that thrive on massive, no-bid government contracts.

Those involved in the military-industrial complex live off government largesse as much—or more—than those collecting food stamps and other traditional forms of welfare. Yet they’re rarely counted in the statistics. Any honest accounting of who depends on the government must include them.

When you tally everyone living off political dollars instead of free-market dollars, the number easily climbs north of 50% of the US population.

In other words, the US has already crossed the Rubicon. There’s no going back.

The growing majority of voters who collect net benefits from the government form a built-in constituency that will perpetuate policies financed by ever-increasing inflation.

That’s a major reason why I believe ever-increasing currency debasement is inevitable.

What You Can Do

Most people have no idea how bad things can get when the political-inflation cycle spirals out of control—let alone how to prepare for it.

The price of groceries, medical care, tuition, rent, and everything else will continue to rise. The only question is: how fast?

This is an established trend in motion—one that’s accelerating and nearing a breaking point.

And when that break finally comes, those who understand what’s happening and prepare accordingly will be in a vastly different position than those who don’t.

That’s why I’ve put together a special report called The Most Dangerous Economic Crisis in 100 Years: The Top 3 Strategies You Need Right Now.

Inside, you’ll discover the practical steps you can take today to protect yourself and your family before it’s too late.

Click here to get your free PDF copy now.

The post How Inflation Is Destroying America—and What You Can Do About It appeared first on Doug Casey’s International Man.

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