Hyperinflation has entered the chat ...

Hyperinflation didn’t need mentioning until @jack invoked it over the weekend. Hyperinflation is bad, very bad, just the worst. Hyperinflation is very high and accelerating inflation that absolutely cripples the ability of normal people to buy normal stuff. There are some technical definitions that put a number on it but let’s assume this call by Jack Dorsey means sustained double-digit inflation rates for an extended period (this would be a conservative estimate for a hyperinflation scenario) … could this happen? In Canada? In North America? In the rest of the developed/Western world? No! Hard no! Strong pass!

Why not? Great question! There are so many checks and balances in the systems of developed economies that would trigger automatically and manually to interrupt hyperinflation that the real risk would be triggering a recession which would be far preferred to hyperinflation.

Hyperinflation has happened and is likely to happen again - it is a genuine risk in banana republics where underinvestment in basic infrastructure, systems and controls is a major problem, while plundering the wealth of a nation and sucking money out of the real economy is viewed as a perk of the job for the political class - the result is to print hoards of cash in an attempt to mask the real problems which then sets off a vicious hyperinflation cycle where your money becomes worthless and your country becomes a poverty case, virtually overnight.

So if you’re reading this while shopping at a Banana Republic and not living in one then it’s really not worth fussing over.

It might be best to just mute @jack and move along.?