Hyperinflation

Asheron

vivatifosi wrote: »

So when I go to Smiths to buy a newspaper, are they going to accept a shaving from my bar of silver? No. Will my credit card ever bill me in silver or gold grams? No. Seriously, if things ever get that bad that silver and gold are the only currency; I'd be wanting a gun, a big supply of ammunition, a huge stockpile of food and big locks on my doors and windows first.

Good thing about guns is.......... if bad people get into power you can get them out again

vivatifosi

Asheron wrote: »

Good thing about guns is.......... if bad people get into power you can get them out again

The bad thing about guns... is when used in the name of democracy the end result is rarely democratic.

IveSeenTheLight

Generali wrote: »

AFAIK, there is no economic definition of 'hyperinflation' unlike say 'recession'* or 'unemployed'** so what would be your definition of hyperinflation and, preferably, why?

I'll let you know mine in a bit. Firstly I'd be interested in others' thoughts first and secondly I'm off to bed in a sec.

*2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth
**Not working but wanting to and actively looking for employment

Well it's essentially two conjoined words.
I'm sure were aware of what inflation means, but when joined to hyper what's the outcome.

Hyper can mean a number of things
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper
I think it's most likened to the following

A slang term used to refer to hyperactivity, a medical notion describing a state in which a person is abnormally excitable and exuberant

Essentially denoting that it's an abnormal state

You then would need to understand the statistical normal inflation rate to decide if it's abnormal.

System

I think it got pretty close to hyperinflation in UK terms in about 1972. Not particularly the rate, a modest 25%, but the fact that monthly wage and price increases were automatically built into the system.

I had just started my first job then, and we got automatic rises every month based on the RPI. The name escapes me, but they were not just paid by generous employers like mine, it was a nationwide indexing of wages.

Once that happens it is only a short step to printing the extra banknotes instead of doing something to break the cycle. It's not so much economics as psychology - you stop caring about the solution, and just watch the RPI figures to see what your pay rise will be.

Cleaver

SilverStandard wrote: »

I would say its when the public wakes up to the truth about paper money and everyone wants to get out of paper ASAP.

Forget what the inflation figures are supposed to be. Not many believe them these days anyway. Gold and silver tell the truth.

A question for all the gold and silver freaks on this site - does absolutely everything have to relate back to gold and silver?

Q. Do you want a cuppa?
A. One day people will realise that wealth cannnot be stored in tea. Silver is only the true worth.

Q. Did you have a nice day?
A. My dad not not involve silver. As silver is the only true holder of value I would say that my day was not all that nice.

Q. Has your sister had her baby yet?
A. My sister seems to believe that fiat currency is the way forward when in reality it is silver that will see real returns over the next decade.

Arcaine

I hate to be all accountant about it but the International Accounting Standard states that a cumulative inflation rate over three years approaching 100% is hyperinflation.

Loughton_Monkey

Defining "Hyperinflation" is the same as trying to define "Superstar".

Loughton_Monkey

diable wrote: »

As long as wages keep up we should be ok.

You didn't finish.

As long as wages keep up we should be ok....... to achieve Hyperinflation.

Generali

FWIW, my definition is that hyperinflation is when prices rise so quickly that:

- people don't want to hold cash as it's value is eroded faster than they are happy to accept
- you can see prices rising day-by-day. I know that my favorite sweets to eat of an afternoon at work are $2.19 a bag. How do I know that? That's how much they were yesterday, last week and last month. Under hyperinflation, I could be pretty certain that almost everything will rise in price on at least a weekly basis.

For those buying gold and silver at any price, hyperinflation is already here as they have lost faith in the currency. In reality for part 2 to be satisfied, inflation would have to be a few percent a month I guess.

Masomnia

Generali wrote: »

FWIW, my definition is that hyperinflation is when prices rise so quickly that:

- people don't want to hold cash as it's value is eroded faster than they are happy to accept
- you can see prices rising day-by-day. I know that my favorite sweets to eat of an afternoon at work are $2.19 a bag. How do I know that? That's how much they were yesterday, last week and last month. Under hyperinflation, I could be pretty certain that almost everything will rise in price on at least a weekly basis.

For those buying gold and silver at any price, hyperinflation is already here as they have lost faith in the currency. In reality for part 2 to be satisfied, inflation would have to be a few percent a month I guess.

I find it interesting that your criteria are both related to psychology/behaviour and not based on statistics.