John T. Reed’s hyperinflation/deflation blog
Chase letter ending international wire transfers and transactions exceeding $50,000 a month
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Copyright 2013 John T. ReedA number of readers sent me an Infowars article containing a letter from Chase bank to some business customers telling them that after 11/17/13, they would no be able to send international wire transfers or have transactions exceeding $50,000 per month.Two of my readers who sent me this, warned that Infowars has a reputation for unreliability.I promised to look into it, although I told my readers who said this was the capital controls I have been warning about that it was not because capital controls are solely the province of the federal government. So here’s the...
The Charles Schwab bank ATM card and foreign currency withdrawals—from Facebook
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Copyright 2013 John T. ReedA reader said Charles Schwab bank offers an ATM card that charges only .25% for currency conversion when you use it in an ATM in a foreign country that spits out foreign currency. My USAA ATM card charged me 1% for each ATM withdrawal in Australia and New Zealand in March. I just visited my local Charles Schwab brokerage. They charge NOTHING for use of their ATM card in a foreign currency ATM. Zero. Zilch. Nada, not .25%. There is no minimum balance to have the necessary checking account, although you are not going to get...
All the other kids are doing it—many central banks weakening their own currencies to protect exports
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Copyright 2013 John T. ReedMy book How to Protect your Life Savings from Hyperinflation & Depression, 2nd edition says that inflation/deflation is just one side of a 13-sided coin. If you mess with any of the 13 sides, it affects the other 12. With each passing month, it seems, another nation deliberately weakens its own currency. This is done by lowering interest rates and/or by “printing” more money. Lowering interest rates in a particular currency-issuing country or the Eurozone makes the people of the world desire the currency in question less. So does “printing” too much money. ‘Draw gold from...
Capital controls in Venezuela force people there to buy real estate
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Copyright 2013 John T. ReedThe 9/4/13 Wall Street Journal has an article tilted “Escape for Cash Trapped in Caracas.” Google that title to find a copy on-line to read. The 5 laws that accompany hyperinflation I have repeatedly told readers that hyperinflation is always accompanied by five laws: • capital controls • price controls • financial repression laws • rationing • anti-hoarding laws Venezuela, run by socialists, has high inflation. They also have capital controls. Those prohibit residents from possessing foreign currency or gold and from getting their local, hyperinflated currency out of the country. The Day the Dollar Dies...
Cash management in anticipation of U.S. capital controls
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Copyright 2013 John T. ReedI was recruited out of Harvard Business School to work at Crocker National Bank in the San Francisco financial district in 1977. Initially, I was going to be in construction finance, but at the last minute, they said I would be in the international division.WTF?SWIFTBut at that point things were too far along to change. I had turned down the other offers, the moving trucks were coming, etc. But what the hell was I, a real estate investment expert going to do in a bank international department? One thing that happened that year was the invention...