What You Don’t Know Might Hurt You
The disruption caused by Covid is probably bigger than you’ve been told.
Yes, unemployment is still a problem. Businesses have closed that aren’t going to re-open. Governments are still dictating much of public behavior.
In the wake of all this, the US government has gone on a spending spree of biblical proportions.
The Government has Gone on a Spending Spree
The government under the Trump administration spent $2.2 Trillion in March of 2020 and another $900 Billion in December of 2020.
The government under the Biden administration just spent an additional $1.9 Trillion for “Covid relief” and is now pushing for another $2 Trillion in spending for “infrastructure”.
That’s about $7 Trillion spent in just over a year. And we haven’t yet added the $4 Trillion the US government spends as a matter of course each year.
We’re running Trillion dollar deficits. That’s borrowed money. On which the government pays interest.
70’s Era Inflation Could Be Coming Back
Sooner or later (probably sooner) this kind of deficit spending is going to cause an increase in inflation.
Most of you probably aren’t old enough to remember the last time we had high inflation in the US. Loan rates on houses were in the 20’s. 20% and higher!
That $250,000 house that costs $1054 today? That payment is $4177 at 20%.
Gas prices doubled in three years.
Car loan rates were 17% in 1981
Food prices went up 20% in 1973 and another 12% in 1974.
In the aftermath of Covid (so far) 63% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck. That’s up from 44% before the pandemic.
What Are the Real Numbers?
The following table shows a list of price changes between June 2020 and March 2021. If all the basic commodities increased that much and the money supply and wages all went up that much. Do you really believe that inflation is only up 1.4%? Or does maybe the government use some special math to fudge the numbers the way it wants to?
I copied this data from the newsletter "Field Notes" by Jeff Opdyke. You can subscribe at Subscribe to Field Notes, from Jeff D. Opdyke (globalintelligenceletter.com) Highly recommended.
So here’s the problem, as I see it:
A significant portion of the US population is living paycheck-to-paycheck, yet prices are going up everywhere.
Inflation is here.
So What Now?
One way you can protect yourself is to get a side business going so that you have an extra income stream to help cover those additional expenses.
That’s what I’ve done. I remember the 70’s and 80’s and it wasn’t a pleasant time to be in a job whose wages didn’t keep up with prices.
A second income is good insurance against inflation and downturns that could negatively affect your job.
If you’d like to look at a Simple Home Business that could match your job income in less than 6 months, take a look here.
I’m Rooting For You,
