John T. Reed’s news blog

Jason Zweig's WSJ column Saturday was titled "An Investor's Guide to Deflating Inflation Fears." . A more accurate title would be how common stocks and bonds did in past moderately high inflation. Who cares? What to be in and out of in inflation is quite well identified BY THE DEFINITION of inflation. . It is a loss in purchasing power of the USD. So you want to avoid USD-denominated assets, own assets not denominated in USD, and owe USD-denominated debt. Sufficient liquidity for routine and rainy-day expenses is also necessary. . Zweig says T-bills had a slight negative return from...

Today’s WSJ has an op-ed titled “Democrats’ Tax Plan Would Sink Real Estate” . Since I am a real estate investment expert, that is a pretty big statement. The authors cite the 1986 Tax Reform Act and S&L Debacle. . That was bad. I lost $750,0000. However, it did not “sink real estate.” It ended using real estate for tax shelter. And it destroyed the S&L industry. . But If I had owned just single-family houses, instead of apartment buildings, I would have lost little or no money. Thus my most recent book which says to only buy principal residences...

“Why were we not warned of this?” will be the question on everyone’s lips if and when the USD hyperinflates. If you Google “inflation,” you will find an increasing number of media stories. But if you Google “hyperinflation,” you will find next to zero. Is hyperinflation a subset of inflation? More like the other way around. Hyperinflation is to inflation what lightning is to a lightning bug. Succinctly, hyperinflation wipes out all your dollar-denominated assets (cash, bank accounts pensions, annuities like social security, cash value life insurance, American bonds, certificates of deposit) and your dollar-denominated debt (mortgages—other types of debt may be...

My wife inherited a bunch of currency. Below are photos of them. Many were obtained abroad in the 1940s. She assigned me the task of selling them or converting them to USD if possible. If you want any of them, tell me which and your offer. If you have any information about converting them to US dollars, I would appreciate hearing how I would do that.    

“Does the Fed Have the Will to Fight Inflation?” is a WSJ op-ed today. . The author, Jason de Sena Trennert, uses the phrase “financial repression.” First time in a long time I have seen that phrase. I have said that is one of the five bad laws that hyperinflated governments pass. The others are capital controls, price controls, rationing, and anti-hoarding laws. . Financial repression means the government restricting to a low level how much interest can be paid on your money. We had it in 1975 and before. Banks were not allowed to pay interest on checking accounts....