The Great Pillaging

Don’t Let Them Rob You [The Daily Reckoning] September 16, 2022 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( The Great Pillaging - “The dollar remains the least ugly currency out there even as it has been systematically destroyed in only a few years”… - The absurd Fed… - The Great Pillaging… [WARNING: Do you invest with these banks?]( [Click here for more...]( Take a close look at the investment banks above. Because if you have stocks with any of these brokerages... These new political developments WILL affect you. If you invest with any of these brokerage firms, see how to protect your portfolio from this new conflict. [Click Here Now]( West Hartford, Connecticut September 16, 2022 Editor’s note: Is the mainstream underestimating the severity of today’s inflation? Today, Jeffrey Tucker argues that it is, and that we may soon be hearing cries for price caps and rationing. [Jeffrey Tucker] JEFFREY TUCKER Dear Reader , By this time next year, the post-lockdown dollar will be worth $0.70 or less, on the way to a half dollar. In a mere five years, the dollar will have lost half its domestic value, even as its value among international currencies will likely rise. The dollar remains the least ugly currency out there even as it has been systematically destroyed in only a few years. Still, the reality has not sunk in. The other day, when the Consumer Price Index came out, the first round of reports were (if you can believe it) rather positive. The Wall Street Journal headlined the news: Inflation is “easing.” I saw this three minutes after having looked at the actual data release from the Department of Labor. I could not believe my eyes. Clearly, we are being lied to daily and hourly. If the American people knew the truth, there would be a revolution. At least one would hope. The headline number was bad enough. But look at the two-year stack. It ended up at a whopping 13.6%. When the CPI was released at the same 8.3% rate in April of this year, the two-year stack was only 12.5%. That’s a signal: not better, not the same, but worse. It took several hours before Wall Street got the hang of it. By noon, the DJIA had fallen 800 points. By the closing bell, the Dow had fallen 1,300, the worst crash in two years. The reason was clear. Inflation is not abating, contrary to what Biden said last month that inflation was 0%, a point believed only by the hopelessly stupid. It turns out that once you delete the gas price from the month-over-month increase, we are solidly in the double digits. [Click here for more...]( James Altucher has been helping people make a fortune with cryptocurrencies for several years. The whole internet laughed at him when Bitcoin crashed from its high of over $19,000… … but the laughing stopped when Bitcoin rocketed even higher, just as James predicted… … hitting over $60,000 in value. Now it has crashed again… and James is back with a NEW prediction about how to make a fortune with cryptocurrencies. And it’s NOT with Bitcoin. Find out what James is predicting now… and how to make up to an 8,788% return with crypto by 2025. [Click Here To Learn More]( The Absurd Fed The Fed’s bright idea is to keep inching up interest rates but nowhere near enough to bump short-term rates into positive territory, which is to say that the strategy will not work. Well, more precisely, it will work to crash the housing and bond markets and push people newly in credit card debt into new depths of bankruptcy. It will not cool much less stop this inflationary mess. Let’s break it down. The good news is that gasoline is down 10.6% from the previous month and far lower than the highs of June. But such month-to-month swings mask the overall problem. From 12 months ago, gas is still up 25.6%, which is alarming by any standard. It’s much worse with fuel oil. Despite falling 5.9% last month, it is still up 68.8% from 12 months ago. What drove this month’s numbers up were the prices of food, both at home and out, plus electricity and utility bills. You have surely noticed this. I’ve been watching the real-time data and seen this changing dramatically over six weeks. Electricity was up 1.5% in August and utilities in general up 3.5%. Over 12 months, that’s 15.8% and 33% respectively. That’s some very serious inflation, and notice the migration of the virus across the energy sector. It comes to gas and leaves gas and then infects electricity and utility bills. U.K. to the U.S. Europe and the U.K. are reverting fast to the Middle Ages without power. But the U.K. prime minister and the European Commission are instituting price caps, which only means rationing as we head into winter. In Europe, the policies are even more stupid: They have imposed a tax (a tax!) on windfall profits by energy companies, which is a way of punishing producers for producing at a time of grave shortages. It boggles the mind. Something about Americans today: We believe it cannot and will not happen here. Nonsense. We could find ourselves in this exact position in a matter of months. The Biden administration has gone on a holy war against gasoline while trumpeting the glory of electricity, wind and sun. And now look: Electricity, wind and sun are breaking the bank while gas is relaxing a bit in price. [Urgent Note From Jim Rickards: “You’re Running Out Of Time!”]( [Click here for more...]( Your exclusive “Pro level” upgrade to Strategic Intelligence is ready to be claimed. This is your chance to claim 3 exciting new benefits along with a whole new level of service. Hurry… you only have until the timer hits 0 to act… [Click Here ASAP]( You might be sad that you bought that electric vehicle, especially if you live in California, which is already rationing electricity for drivers. Just wait for it: The Bidenites will soon be inveighing against electricity too on grounds that the main source is not clean but dirty: coal. They want us all living like pure spirits in some Rousseauian fantasy, basking in sun and wind. Somewhere I had read that new and used cars had fallen in price over the last month. Nope: That’s more propaganda. New cars are up 0.8% in August and 10.1% for the year. Used cars fell only slightly in August by 0.1% but year over year are up 7.8%. Transportation services rose by 0.5% in August and by 11.3% for the year. Housing prices have not fallen either but rather the opposite: 0.7% for the month and 6.2% for the year. And so far in this inflationary wave, medical services have been protected from price pressure. No more. We are seeing sudden shifts here too: 0.8% for the month and now clocking 5.6% for the year. Sure enough, they are in a serious pickle today, with this inflation report that defies every prediction and raises a serious fire alarm. Producer prices released today make the point: Once you delete the gas prices, producers are paying more than ever. The Great Pillaging Goldman Sachs announced this week that it would kick into gear a new round of layoffs. Based on what they are seeing, they fully expect a painful recession that hurts not only financials but the entire business sector. That’s significant because it reveals how the pain is spreading from Big Tech to all sectors of economic life. With politics so intense these days, we cannot get even close to an objective accounting of the most basic facts. Last month we heard that inflation was gone and now we see that it is as bad as ever, even by the official data, once you look at a range of prices. In a matter of months, given present trends, we could find ourselves in a U.K.-like situation with cries for price caps and rationing. Don’t think for an instant that they won’t do it. They will. There are very few means of escape anymore. My father’s bag of gold and silver coins, and his five acres on a rural lake, are looking better and better. Regards, Jeffrey Tucker for, The Daily Reckoning P.S. On Sunday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m. ET, I’m going live with an update to one of the [most terrifying predictions of my career…]( A prediction that could negate decades of American prosperity and [send the Dow plummeting to levels that most investors will never be able to recover from.]( I must warn you, this event isn’t for the faint of heart. And due to the controversial nature of this event... My publishers are requesting you sign a waiver acknowledgement in order to attend. If you’re interested in attending you need to [click here now]( to review and sign it. The event is free, and I’ll even be giving away a play that could 10X or more during a market crash. So I strongly urge you to attend. [Click here now to sign up.]( Clicking the link above automatically registers you for The American Death Angel Summit, but does not obligate you in any way to attend the event. By reserving your spot, you will receive event updates. We will not share your email address with anyone. And you can opt out at any time. [Privacy Policy.]( Thank you for reading The Daily Reckoning! We greatly value your questions and comments. Please send all feedback to [feedback@dailyreckoning.com.](mailto:dr@dailyreckoning.com) [Jeffrey Tucker] [Jeffrey Tucker]( is an independent editorial consultant who served as Editorial Director for the American Institute for Economic Research. He is the author of many thousands of articles in the scholarly and popular press and eight books in 5 languages, most recently Liberty or Lockdown. 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