• 287 days Will The ECB Continue To Hike Rates?
  • 287 days Forbes: Aramco Remains Largest Company In The Middle East
  • 289 days Caltech Scientists Succesfully Beam Back Solar Power From Space
  • 689 days Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
  • 694 days Americans Still Quitting Jobs At Record Pace
  • 696 days FinTech Startups Tapping VC Money for ‘Immigrant Banking’
  • 699 days Is The Dollar Too Strong?
  • 699 days Big Tech Disappoints Investors on Earnings Calls
  • 700 days Fear And Celebration On Twitter as Musk Takes The Reins
  • 702 days China Is Quietly Trying To Distance Itself From Russia
  • 702 days Tech and Internet Giants’ Earnings In Focus After Netflix’s Stinker
  • 706 days Crypto Investors Won Big In 2021
  • 706 days The ‘Metaverse’ Economy Could be Worth $13 Trillion By 2030
  • 707 days Food Prices Are Skyrocketing As Putin’s War Persists
  • 709 days Pentagon Resignations Illustrate Our ‘Commercial’ Defense Dilemma
  • 710 days US Banks Shrug off Nearly $15 Billion In Russian Write-Offs
  • 713 days Cannabis Stocks in Holding Pattern Despite Positive Momentum
  • 714 days Is Musk A Bastion Of Free Speech Or Will His Absolutist Stance Backfire?
  • 714 days Two ETFs That Could Hedge Against Extreme Market Volatility
  • 716 days Are NFTs About To Take Over Gaming?
Is The Bull Market On Its Last Legs?

Is The Bull Market On Its Last Legs?

This aging bull market may…

How Millennials Are Reshaping Real Estate

How Millennials Are Reshaping Real Estate

The real estate market is…

Zombie Foreclosures On The Rise In The U.S.

Zombie Foreclosures On The Rise In The U.S.

During the quarter there were…

  1. Home
  2. Markets
  3. Other

Unsound Money Inevitably Means a Corrupt Society

With Special Co-Host John Rubino

34 Minutes, 34 Slides

Corruption

If there is one consistent theme we can learn from economic history, it is that Unsound Money inevitably leads to a Corrupt Society. It is both predictable and unavoidable.

Since August 1971 when the US adopted an unbacked fiat currency regime, and thereby launched itself unto the well trodden path of unsound money, the US has steadily witnessed debt soar while societal financial malfeasance has equally accelerated.

The measurement of consumer inflation which traditionally reflected (prior to 1980) assessing the cost of maintaining a constant standard of living (as measured by a fixed-basket of goods) has been reconfigured to understate the real rate of inflation via:

  • HEDONIC Quality Modeling - lower prices to account for quality improvements.
  • SUBSTITUTION - replace rising components with less expensive alternatives.
  • GEOMETRIC WEIGHTING - give less weight to rising components.
  • IMPUTATION - i.e. Homeowners' Equivalent Rent. Cost of housing used to be tied to home prices, but 1983 was switched to an estimate of what homeowners would have to pay to rent their homes, adjusted hedonically for quality improvements. Result: massive under reporting of inflation during the housing bubble.

These devious manipulations have lead to mis-represented measurements of inflation and growth.

Which...

Crisis of Trust
  • No longer measures the cost of maintaining a constant standard of living,
  • No longer measures full inflation for out-of-pocket expenditures,
  • Lowers the cost of living adjustments to Social Security.
  • Creates the false impression of a recovery in GDP (when deflated with the true inflation number, US growth has been flat or negative since 2009.)

THE UNAVOIDABLE RESULT:

  • A disconnect between what the government is telling us about our cost of maintaining our current lifestyle and our first hand experience,
  • A growing suspicion that we're being systematically deceived and exploited,
  • A building and economically crippling "Crisis of Trust".
  • A narrowing "Horizon of Trust".
  • A Dishonest and Corruptible Society.
The Culture of Corruption

 


Check Out Our Extensive Library of Videos
Video Library
YouTube Channel

20-40 Minute Shows with 25-50 Supporting Slides

 

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment