Politics aside because boring, is a large global inflation event happening right now?

- Supply chain disruption worldwide causing shortages of s*** to sell.
- Labor shortages in western service based economies.
- China's electricity issues to continue into 2023 because face.
- Western countries awash with cash minted by the governments as a buffer against the whole virus thing.

I'm noticing big gains in crypto lately and while this is nice and all I wonder how much of that is inflation-driven with money floating around. Also anecdotally my BRZ basically doubled it's carsales list price between 2019 and now. Again nice, but is it real money?

If we are in the middle of an inflation tsunami, what's the best course of action for the man on the street?

Some excellent insights, I look forward to this thread not becoming hot wet garbage as we discuss this further.

I am no economist, and as someone who recently played Russian roulette with the housing market, I’m split.
On one hand I’d really like to see some things change (like the housing market in Australia) and concede that it’s a really good time to sell a car, reliable or not.

Most of the the economists I read are calling this transitory inflation and have lots of data to back it up (including just this morning some stuff from US Fed Chair showing no indicators of a wage/price spiral in the US at least).

Supply chain stuff is a big deal. I am working in logistics at the moment so have a front row seat to what is going on. The experts I work with predict this will continue through next year so the pressure of freight pricing will continue to have inflationary impact on pricing for stuff we import (i.e., literally everything). Planet Money has done a bunch of interesting podcasts on this, including this recent one about the bullwhip effect, which describes one of the interesting phenomenons in supply chain stuff.

There is some guessing that once the supply chain stuff starts resolving, it will happen very quickly and there will be a massive oversupply of both capacity and stuff - there was even some speculation that this could be so severe as to be /deflationary/. There are a lot of people working to try to resolve these issues, including really weird things like mass production of containers to try to deal with the container shortage.

Again, another excellent Planet Money episode looking at the container shortage problem in the US, which is so severe that they're sending empty containers back to China as fast as possible so they can be filled up with crap and then brought back to the US - denying US exporters the chance to get their stuff on a ship.

The labour shortages are real and a problem. Worth remembering that something like 1 in 500 Americans have died of COVID (and that number is getting worse, not better). Seems a lot of people have opted out of more risky working environments if they can get anything better.

Assuming a BRZ is a car, there are many stories of people who bought cars in the last couple years now able to sell them for more than what they bought them from. If that's not a sign we're living in the Upside Down I don't know what is. Car shortages are of course a problem of supply chain issues as well, in distribution & issues with chip supply and all sorts of other things (Just In Time planning falling apart in several cases).

The main lever feds have against inflation - the big red RAISE INTEREST RATES button - does not seem in danger of being pressed any time soon.

Can't recommend NPR's Planet Money and Indicator podcasts enough; they have basically been invaluable for me in the last few years to learn more about economics, particularly macro stuff in an engaging and approachable way. Has a US focus but still a lot of global stuff.

dont forget HUGE GAINZ in property prices.

The property situation is f***in mind blowing but, at least in Australia, probably hasn't contributed too much justttttt yet. Most people, especially in the last ~year or so, should have only been given mortgages if they could afford the repayments with a little bit of headroom (thanks to banking reforms) and there hasn't been much interest rate pressure with everything still being at record lows.

The true challenge is going to be if (when) the Reserve decides to kick up interest rates and applies pressure to those people that do not have enough margin. In theory this could lead to a bloodbath in the property markets as many are forced to sell or downsize.

In the possible event Labor get in and in the staggeringly unlikely event they try to do anything with negative gearing it would be chaos.

I reckon there is zero chance of this happening; no Australian government will f*** with the housing market. I believe government (regardless of who is in power) will open wide the borders and let in a million new immigrants to keep pressure on housing prices before they let the market fall significantly. The curse of being a vast empty country and having clueless politicians who want to just cram everyone into the same few cities.

Most of the the economists I read are calling this transitory inflation and have lots of data to back it up

Yeh, not sure anyone notable is claiming long-term structural inflation rather than an event, thought that was pretty clear in the OP.

So the questions (for me anyway) are how massive is the inflation; how long will it last; and is a correctional (deflation? stagflation? flat growth?) period expected to follow?

Edit: Australian property market does not seem especially resistant, the pandemic era has brought the biggest surge in prices for 30 years according to the ABC?

im rich selling my house now vs what i paid for it*



*unless of course i want to buy another house to live in.

You could buy a flash house in Aurukun though!

i still have a lot to give society.

maybe when i can buy a caravan and live in that.

The US Federal Reserve and US govt together injected over $5 trillion dollars during the last 2 years.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/yUMP0RnhhbBtfibZ3ZTb1y7dy2T0m6NZjlBZCfbA1Q7Cs4BYNnU48WG_FZFV75LWkyShRl0icE-8igmId9-uh-Ik7gyiKg=w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu

This was intended to offset a fall in the velocity of money caused by the COVID19 pandemic.

All other major central banks have been doing a variety stimulatory activity through
- zero and negative interests rates
- central bank bond buying
- yield curve control
- quantitative easing
- lowering of bank capital borrowing requirements.

This has caused an epic rally in equity markets and a fall in the yields of ALL major asset classes: real estate being the prime example, see also junk bonds. Only just at the last Fed meeting has there been confirmation of tapering the Fed's bond buying program however no talk of increases in interest rates. Some minor economies have raised rates slightly but I think this will be temporary - see below.

The next problem is that because central banks and governments (particularly US, EU and Japan) have loaded themselves up with extreme amounts pf public debt, with no possible way of ever repaying this debt, the only way they can manage an exit from the situation is via a controlled demolition of their currencies, through a protracted period of moderate inflation. 10 years of 5% inflation would devalue a currency by 72% and solve the public debt problem (while stealing further massive amounts from the poor to deliver to the rich - just what the politicians and elites want).

The only problem with long term persistent inflation is that the public eventually wiseup and the toothpaste cannot be put back in the tube.

Velocity from economic activity picks up, the excess liquidity cannot be taken back by central banks for fear of stalling the recovery, M2 x velocity causes a hyperinflation bomb. It will happen slowly and then very quickly.

How to protect yourself?: borrow a lot of money right now and buy assets of any kind (crypto, gold, real estate, equities).

Retirees, pensioners, savers will be annihilated.

what about my super? how is that going to go?

The only problem with long term persistent inflation is that the public eventually wiseup and the toothpaste cannot be put back in the tube.

"long term, persistent inflation" is how modern economies are designed to operate - unless you are saying long term, persistently INCREASING inflation, which is a different thing?

Edit: Australian property market does not seem especially resistant

I meant that it is (currently) largely de-coupled from inflation concerns. Property prices are up because of all the free money that has been pumped into the system combined with low interest rates combined with massive FOMO on behalf of every Australian that is now terrified they will never be able to buy a home if they don't do it RIGHT NOW TODAY (largely courtesy of those most vile of leeches, real estate agents, and their unwitting helpers, the media).

I think the problem is going to be if interest rates DO go up, then ironically we might see even more inflation - the cost of living will go up for most people, so it seems more likely that prices will go up to try to fix this before we see people desperate to offload their houses.

10 years of 5% inflation would devalue a currency by 72% a

how did you do this maths? I get less than 40%. Still a lot. But I've seen noone projecting 5% inflation for 10 years.

what about my super? how is that going to go?

super will be fine generally because they are mostly invested in equities, bonds and property trusts so will track these outcomes

But I've seen noone projecting 5% inflation for 10 years.

Major governments NEED to do it otherwise their public debt will suffocate their economies, just like japan has stagnated for the last 20 years with suppressed bond yields. Governments need to inflate away their public debt.

Suppression of interest rates will inevitably result in inflation because the cash becomes worth less than the asset. Cash is trash. The best real world example is residential housing yields that used to be 5% are now 3.5%. And that is why real estate is so much more expensive in the major capital cities.

I am buying commercial and residential real estate at the moment and the prices are far higher than I would normally accept but the train is about to leave the station.

so your position is that we'll see a new inflation target set at 5%? or are you saying they need to do it but won't?

ever since 2008 GFC, major economies have been trying desperately to generate inflation to combat the deflationary impact of technology and China's rise as an industrial superpower with a suppressed currency.

America tried Quantitative Easing, Japan tried bond yield suppression and eventually government intervention in ETFs and equities, and the EU negative bond yields.

None of this has worked and actually made the rich richer and poor poorer.

Now governments have hit the final frontier: uncontrolled fiscal expenditure: Modern Monetary Theory. Government expenditure is only constrained by avoiding inflation. This means Massive monetary stimulus payments, incentives not to work, giant new social expenditure programs. All intended to immediately increase demand for services and thus demand for labour. Once full employment is reached, inflation will follow as demands for wage increases take off.

The worldwide shipping blockages are a result of labour shortages in freight and dock workers. They have been paid primarily in America not to work or their eviction mortarium means there is no hurry to pay the rent, thus no need to go of benefits.

so your position is that we'll see a new inflation target set at 5%? or are you saying they need to do it but won't?

No government will admit they want you to lose 5% of your savings/wages every year. they will just go ahead and do it. governments don't give a s*** about people - the only purpose is power.

they will just go ahead and do it.

do what

implement massive fiscal expenditure without increasing interest rates. "running the economy hot"

.

Weimar Germany hyperinflation was transitory too.

I know Trog already said it, but the whole world relies on inflationary pressures.

Having more is what drives consumerism, and to a large extent helps us maintain order through having some clearly defined version of what success looks like in a material world.

Also, there's lots to consider when reading and learning about it. I tend to think much of the hyperbole written about inflation being bad (whether it be housing inflation, cost of goods inflation or other) comes from a position of wanting; while the inflation is good talk usually comes from a position of maintaining. Once you follow one path, it's difficult to find comparative viewpoints, but they are worth uncovering, imho - if for nothing else than to understand others views....

The US just recorded 6.2% annual inflation overnight. Is that transitory? We will find out in the next two months when people are about to get a rude shock how much their Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations cost.

I dunno man but I woke up this morning and it was 17 degrees celcius in the middle of November. Is an ice age coming?

You can sell a car you bought a year ago for more than you paid for it. Are cars a good investment now?

Most of the economists seem to be saying it is transitory and they back this up with varying levels of evidence - for whatever that is worth. (I tend to view economists as historians - they're basically only accurate after s*** has already happened and then can look for justifications.

There are so many confounding factors at the moment (e.g., UK -> Brexit -> no EU lorry drivers -> supply chain issues -> literally no food on shelves -> higher prices) I don't feel anyone really knows. But it feels like advocating buying into well-acknowledged massive asset bubbles might not be a sound strategy when you can wait a little bit and see how transitory it is.

Also: not sure if inflation in the UK is the same as inflation here. Does anyone care about inflation in the UK? (I mean, I do, because I still have a ton of money in pounds.)

I'd also note:
- it's not hyperinflation
- still waiting on an explanation for your maths?
- as usual I disagree with almost everything you say on the political aspects of it but not going to address any of that stuff

- still waiting on an explanation for your maths?

10 years of inflation at 5% is 62% depreciation in purchasing power- my mistake. that is a terrible outcome for savers, an excellent outcome for borrowers, and the required outcome for governments.

it's not like this is a new trick. inflation has been on hiatus since 2008, but steady inflation has been the default in the post WW2 economy. it gets disguised by various statistical tricks, like removing residential housing from the measurement. the government doesn't want the people to know about their secret 5% per annum tax.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/storythreads/2021-11-11/why-everyone-s-suddenly-talking-and-worrying-about-inflation?sref=wuvlDH3E

It's not hyperinflation in the traditional sense of the term. But for a whole generation of people who have no experience with inflation at all, 5% per annum is a brand new world. They have to adjust their thinking to pre-empting the inflationary effect. This will cause more pressure in asset prices, wages and consumer prices as Gen Y/ Millennials seek to get on the front foot.

This will cause more pressure in asset prices, wages and consumer prices as Gen Y/ Millennials seek to get on the front foot.

Definitely happening in housing. We are trying to buy (like every other a****** idiot at the moment) and I am astonished by the number of people that seem to be half my age looking at houses in the same price bracket as me.

Either young people make wayyy more money than I think, or they are simply willing to sign up for a huge amount of debt at an early age

ut for a whole generation of people who have no experience with inflation at all, 5% per annum is a brand new world.

I would also note many of these people have no experience with anything other than record low interest rates. the idea that interest rates might pop up significantly if inflation sticks around and impact their mortgage repayments is, I think, massively under-represented in a lot of the dialogue.

I still remember getting 8-9% on term deposits in ~2008 while the GFC was happening

I would like to point out a little history.
The current huge prices for housing also reflect the huge interest rates people paid to get their houses in the past.
I bought my house in 1980 and paid 14.5% (variable) for most of the loan period to Australia's biggest bank.

Also Australia's CURRENT inflation is around 2.1% and I do not live in America.

P.S. Always a big fan of yours trog. Thanks for ALL the fish!

https://www.infochoice.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/rate-history-1024x470.png

We get sick of being right sometimes.

Yet again the "experts" seem to have gotten it wrong for the entirety of recent history.

Watch the usual suspects double down instead of backpedalling

I wouldn't be surprised if, yeah, there's some chaos coming. A lot of it is caused by us focusing on the wrong thing in terms of wages - everyone's all "increase the minimum wage", but forgets about the flow-on effects of doing that. When you increase the cost of employing people stacking shelves, people working in call centres, people doing any kind of service business relies on, prices have to go up to cover those costs. That means food prices go up, petrol prices go up, electricity and other utility prices go up (and, of course, greedy property investors will also put rents up "to cover costs") - and once again you're back at "the minimum wage needs to go up because the cost of living is too high".

So much focus goes in to wages, but not enough in controlling and lowering the cost of basic and essential services.

Those costs are going to get passed on - unfortunately, mostly by people who are doing just fine, but don't want their profit margins getting eaten in to. And given that of late we've seen some significant increases in wages and work availability at the bottom end, I can see things getting really bad soon as a result.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TNWBSHNO

The pandemic has been very lucrative for both households and high net worth individuals. All that money will come spurting out of the waterbed somewhere.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-15/fed-to-pivot-to-fast-taper-more-rate-hikes-decision-day-guide?sref=wuvlDH3E

The US Fed Reserve just removed reference to "transitory" from their inflation commentary, and 1.5% of interest rate rises have now been foreshadowed over the next 2 years as inflation entrenches itself in the US economy.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-15/fed-to-pivot-to-fast-taper-more-rate-hikes-decision-day-guide?sref=wuvlDH3E

The US Fed Reserve just removed reference to "transitory" from their inflation commentary, and 1.5% of interest rate rises have now been foreshadowed over the next 2 years as inflation entrenches itself in the US economy.

Imagine thinking 1.5% over 2 years is enough to put a cap on this monstrosity.

https://i.imgur.com/lehHJcn.png

7.3% of cooked books inflation as well. The real number is probably 16-18%.

How much of this do you reckon made it into the crypto markets?

I suppose the question here is: Is how do we take advantage of inflation?
Already have held assets? Or is it a case of just don't have anything liquid that can be eroded (cash)?

bring on the interest rate rises!

no need to hurry troggles, i need my house value to keep going up until the olympics drive it up further.

no need to hurry troggles, i need my house value to keep going up until the olympics drive it up further.

how can it go higher than $infinity like all houses in BNE cost these days

have you not heard of sydney!

their house prices cost double infinity.

https://i.imgur.com/CsHGHZF.png

anyone still undecided?

inQld

https://i.imgur.com/acx18K6.png

10 years of inflation at 5% is 62% depreciation in purchasing power- my mistake.

Still incorrect sorry, Infi.

I'm with trog with this.

1.05^10 = 1.62889 (this, or the next step, is where your 62% figure comes from).

However to calculate the depreciation in purchasing power we first need to take the reciprocal of that...

1/1.62889... = 0.613913

But then to calculate depreciation we need to subtract that from 1.

1 - 0.613913 = 0.3860867

Or a 38.6% depreciation in purchasing power.

Does cryptocurrency expand the money supply?

No.

There are several definitions but none of them would include crypto.

Crypt is just another speculative asset. It is closest to a commodity I guess, like gold.

Money (fiat currency) is issued and protected by the sovereign govt, and can be used to pay the sovereign's taxes.

Unlike other assets, I have to treat crypto as trading stock with the ATO, the normal CGT asset rules (pay tax when you sell s*** for more than you bought it for) don't apply.

Its annoying.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/278536972_5719884164695031_827767798924313700_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=a26aad&_nc_ohc=9zYH1blh4mAAX-1t-lt&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=00_AT-sNr4Qyh3mX3PM_JIdvjMYh_Wgk9idhLrTKgNKsfxuSA&oe=625B8664

Have heard that if you remove fuel and groceries that there is not much inflation in that latest report.

Is this true? If yes, what does it mean? Does anyone really know? CAN anyone really know?

I swear to god this s*** is like trying to predict climate change if all you have to go by is weather reports.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/soaring-cpi-crushes-peak-inflation-narrative-sparks-global-turmoil

Inflation is out of control in the US. The interest rate market is now pricing in 10 more rate hikes by end of 2022. Every major Central Bank is majorly behind the interest rate market as if they are intentionally letting inflation run hot (of course they are, it allows government to inflate away their public debt).

No one seriously believes US inflation is only running at 8.6%. Nor is Australian inflation only 5.1%. It is more like triple that. The government will not allow the people just exactly how quickly their savings and wages are being devalued otherwise price escalation (including labour prices) would escalate far more rapidly.

Australia is probably six months behind this escalation pathway. The RBA has been far too conservative in its rate hiking too. The biggest problem is the past fiscal stimulus and the continuing fiscal deficits.

This is gonna get a lot worse. Have plenty of cash to pay your increasing interest bill. Cut costs, buy assets and ride the inflation wave.

what asset should i buy? (serious question)

i have a bit of cash sitting around i was going to invest (managed fund), but havnet pulled the trigger yet.

gold guns sheep

Nor is Australian inflation only 5.1%. It is more like triple that.

you are insane

borrow a lot of money right now and buy assets of any kind (crypto, gold, real estate, equities).

how does this advice from 4th Nov 2021 look today?

without adjusting for inflation:
- Bitcoin is down 52%, Ethereum is down 65.4%, Dogecoin is down 72.5%
- Gold is up 10%
- real estate: too soon to tell but with interest rates going up there are already lots of doom and gloom articles about it. I dunno what the banks can do other than pop the real estate bubble hard and fast otherwise it seems to me, in my naive view, that inflation will just get much worse
- some stonks:

Asset classes Value at: 30 Apr 2022 Return since: 1 Nov 2021
Australian Shares $10,314 3.1% p.a.
International Shares $9,351 -6.5% p.a.
US Shares $9,550 -4.5% p.a.
Australian Property $10,242 2.4% p.a.
International Property $9,983 -0.2% p.a.
Australian Bonds $9,473 -5.3% p.a.
Intl. Bonds (A$ hedged) $9,315 -6.8% p.a.
Cash $10,001 0.0% p.a.

------------------

I don't know what, if anything has performed well (certainly nothing I have) but let me know what you think people should do now and I think I'll try the opposite & see what happens!

Did someone say stagflation?

All I can say is I have been following my own strategy for the last 7 years. Lots of quality real estate, lots of debt.

These are 10 and 20 year strategies - not 6 months. Inflation is also causing rents to escalate at a rapid pace, 10-20% p.a.

And I would never buy crypto personally, but the big ones will do OK over the next 10 years.

If you are holding cash you are going backwards. Definitely a stagflation scenario. The government cannot cut spending because it has so many huge social programs (NDIS) out of control and ballooning in cost every year. So it will be more deficits, more debt, higher govt interest payments higher interest rates and on and on....

Assets will tear away in value.

And I would never buy crypto personally, but the big ones will do OK over the next 10 years.

just zero evidence to support this. Moron Jack from Twitter aside nobody with any brains takes Bitcoin seriously as an application for anything. it is a dysfunctional wasteful piece of s***. Ethereum can't figure out how to transition away from proof-of-work. almost everything else is a ponzi scheme, either by design or as an emergent effect

If you are holding cash you are going backwards.

I agree and I'm f***ed, all my assets are cash while we try to buy a house. I don't know what to do. I am hoping there will be some short term pressure on owners that are overextended and there might be some bargains I can jump on but aside from that, I have to pin my hopes on a) the Reserve Bank crushing the housing market by rapid, continued raises b) Putin getting assassinated and Russia calming the f*** down and energy prices going back to normal c) supply chains calming the f*** down and the cost of shipping dropping back down to where it was pre-COVID (currently ~10x what it used to be which I still believe is one of the biggest drivers of inflationary pressures.

Assets will tear away in value.

I assume this means "line go up" - not sure what tear away means? but I am not sure this is the case. there is still a lot of pump in all equities markets and housing markets (witness collapsing construction companies here for an interesting confluence of these two issues).

there is a lot of valid-seeming speculation that there is a longggg way for them to fall. I look forward to economists in 5 years telling us what we should have done in the next 12 months!

gold guns sheep

and honey

Can't necro my archived crypto thread so this will do.

Ethereum is possibly f***ed, news overnight that Celsius has halted withdrawals (think another LUNA implosion) and another massive Ethereum market selloff. DeFi can't stand if the underlying Ether value isn't there.

This also creates a terrible environment for The Merge and Staking, Vitalik may struggle to find enough holders willing to stake (and hence secure the network) if he tries to move to PoS during a bloodbath.

I switched to solar-only a month or two ago for mining. Fortunately I'm only holding half an ether while the whole thing falls down, not going to bother cashing out the rest. I will likely sell my excess GPUs and exit dedicated mining when the 4000-series NVIDIA cards drop. If there is low-value GPU mining going forward I will keep turning sunlight into e-money in case it spikes again. I refuse to buy ASICs.

Has been a fun ride and I made bank out of it. I guess I will have to finish my game now or something while I wait for the next bubble =|

infi complains about NDIS

It needs to be completely restructured.

I know from personal experience that the public is being fleeced by private allied health professionals because of this obsession with the service being delivered by the private sector.

All cryptos have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in the last 6 months what anyone with half a brain already knew. They are speculative garbage of the highest ponzi degree and they're instantly dumped when credit even hints at tightening. The fact they're still even talked about at this point goes to show just how big a bubble it is. So many people are losing big.

infi is right though, looking at the uncooked CPI numbers, it is clear inflation is MUCH higher than 5.1%. Property market is f***ed. Equities are f***ed. Bonds are f***ed. If you have cash it needs to go into gold/silver or commodities markets just to hedge inflation. There's no making money unless you want to roll the dice and short the ASX. The amount of people already in mortgage stress with interest rates barely even registering shows you just how much of a s*** storm is about to hit when rates go to the required 8-10% range (now, could need 15% interest rates in 6 months).

But we gotta love the hindsight here. "Transitory" inflation. What a joke

Just checking back in, the "official" Australian CPI is now 6.1%, US is now 8.5% and the UK is now 10%.

Did you get a pay rise by this much within the last year? Did your super fund return that much? If not, then the government has been printing money to hand to other people (to win votes successfully or not) while your real wages go backwards. And the super wealthy who can afford to borrow money to own lots of real assets which increase in value with inflation while their debt devalue get richer, transfer even more wealth to themselves. It's so wrong!

This is the great con job that governments and central bankers pull on the workers - this time under the guise of a bulls*** pandemic and spending programs where they pretend to care about you.

Interesting to hear word of inflation easing/tapering lately, with some pundits even sticking their hands up expecting rates to start ratcheting back in 2023.

Anyone want to play Nostradamus with me?

I think that the bears are wrong about the end of the world. I Personally reckon conditions will ease as the post-pandemic kinks in the economy are worked through and actors like OPEC have taken some profit.

I may end up being wrong (in particular China's domestic economy presents a global risk), but I stuck my hand up instead of acting wise in retrospect after years of bleating about the monetary system.

unless of course i want to buy another house to live in.

I'm selling up and living in a solar/wind powered dugout in a Nth Qld coastal hideaway with a starlink connection so I can hound u all till I die. Oh! and I want to raise lots of dragons.

All I can say is...if it wasn't for my daily dose of medicinal Psilocybins, I'd be feeling the pain of the current downfall of western civilisation...

Stay drugged up in the matrix. Reality wont be a bother.