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News channels around the world reported on the chances of hyperinflation in the US. Here an overview of different sources so you can make up your own mind. Feel free to air your opinion in the comments section below:
Bloomberg interviewed investor Marc Faber who fears the US economy will copy Zimbabwe's hyperinflation: The U.S. economy will enter “hyperinflation” approaching the levels in Zimbabwe because the Federal Reserve will be reluctant to raise interest rates, investor Marc Faber said. Prices may increase at rates “close to” Zimbabwe’s gains, Faber said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate reached 231 million percent in July, the last annual rate published by the statistics office. “I am 100 percent sure that the U.S. will go into hyperinflation,” Faber said. “The problem with government debt growing so much is that when the time will come and the Fed should increase interest rates, they will be very reluctant to do so and so inflation will start to accelerate.”
The Market Ticker presents a market fact based report in its article It is Failing: ALL OF IT: I have tried to warn people since the summer of 2007 that you cannot "print" your way out of a credit over-expansion, nor can you deny the ultimate contraction in the economy and assets. Bernanke and other policymakers, including both the Bush and Obama Administrations, have tried to deny reality. You can't. The Bond Market has had it with the games, and despite a "good" auction today signaled its disgust with the lies, the unending deficits and both bonds and stocks sold off at the same time. The Telegraph cited China's warning to the US about the massive dollar inflation: China warns Federal Reserve over 'printing money' - China has warned a top member of the US Federal Reserve that it is increasingly disturbed by the Fed's direct purchase of US Treasury bonds. [..] Mr Fisher, the Fed's leading hawk, was a fierce opponent of the original decision to buy Treasury debt, fearing that it would lead to a blurring of the line between fiscal and monetary policy – and could all too easily degenerate into Argentine-style financing of uncontrolled spending. However, he agreed that the Fed was forced to take emergency action after the financial system "literally fell apart".
MoneyNews reports that the some people in the FED also voice the increased likelyhood of inflation: Philadelphia Federal Reserve Board President Charles Plosser issued a stern warning that inflation pressures will likely be greater than most anticipate, and dismissed the output gap theory that many point to as a reason why inflation should not be feared, according to Reuters. Plosser said he sees inflation near 1.2 percent in 2009 and 2.5 percent by 2011, and said these predictions take into account steps the Fed will take to curb inflation.
The Financial Times comments on the risk of US inflation: But it would not be that smooth – probably more like the great inflation of the late 1960s and 1970s with boom followed by bust and recession every three or four years, and a successively higher inflation rate after each recession.The fact that the Federal Reserve is now buying longer-term Treasuries in an effort to keep Treasury yields low adds credibility to this scary story, because it suggests that the debt will be monetised. That the Fed may have a difficult task reducing its own ballooning balance sheet to prevent inflation increases the risks considerably. And 100 per cent inflation would, of course, mean a 100 per cent depreciation of the dollar. Americans would have to pay $2.80 for a euro; the Japanese could buy a dollar for Y50; and gold would be $2,000 per ounce.
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