Inflation is a tax on the middle class. The rich can afford it—even make more money from it. The poor and illegal aliens don’t care, they get free education and health care, welfare payments and other financial supports go up. Only the middle class is destroyed higher costs, fewer jobs and the sense that government is working against them. If the $5 trillion budget/infrastructure bills are passed, we will have runaway inflation in a matter of weeks. As the money is “spent” on special interests, donors and killing the military, public safety and failed government schools, every segment of society will be affected—quickly.
“No one seems to know how long federal borrowing can go on. Economists like Paul Krugman, since 2000 a New York Times columnist, has not expressed a concern about the national debt or about inflation. Krugman, a Nobel Laureate in economics, sees the current inflation, which is about 5.3 percent a year, as a temporary phenomenon. Other economists say that, eventually, the U.S. will be so indebted that America will become a Third World nation.
Look what happened to Germany after World War I. What cost one German mark in 1918, cost one trillion German marks in 1923. Some people believe the German hyperinflation was largely caused by reparations — and the massive printing of German marks — imposed by some of the victors of World War I.
The German hyperinflation destroyed the German middle class. The political consequences for Germans and individuals in other nations were extremely dire.
Just as with the fascist CRT, COVID regulations based on ideology not science, we have become a fascist nation. The only thing missing is Germany style inflation—and today we are looking into the face of that reality.
By Richard Colman, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views, 8/31/21
The financing of World War II put America deeply in debt.
After the war, high inflation appeared.
Inflation can be very dangerous. Inflation, when too high, demolishes the middle class, which does not have enough money to buy food or pay rent.
World War II had to be won.
To fund the war, the U.S. government did two major things:
(1) It raised taxes.
(2) It sold “war bonds.” By selling war bonds, borrowed money (bonds) prevented taxes from going ever higher.
Hollywood actors and actresses helped in the American victory effort. A partial list is below.
Clark Gable
Ronald Reagan
Bing Crosby
Groucho Marx
Bob Hope
Irene Dunne
Greer Garson
Hedy Lamarr
During World War II, there were wage and price controls. There was also rationing of food, gasoline, and other items.
In 1943, the U.S. government imposed the withholding of income taxes. At the time, one of the proponents of withholding was, of all people, Milton Friedman, the famous economist.
After the war, inflation occurred. In the 1946 mid-term elections, the Republicans took control — from Democrats — of both the House of Representative and the Senate. President Harry Truman was so unpopular that most Americans expected him to lose the 1948 election.
In the 1948 presidential election, the Democrats and liberals were split into three groups:
(1) The Dixiecrats, Southern Democrats led by Strom Thurmond.
(2) The Progressives led by Henry Wallace, who was Franklin Roosevelt’s vice president from 1941 to 1945. In 1944, Roosevelt dumped Wallace and picked Truman to be vice president. On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt died, and Truman became president.
(3) The regular Democrats led by Truman.
We all know what happened. Truman won the 1948 election.
The table below, which is from <inflation.com>, shows the degree of U.S. inflation from 1940 to 1949. In the post-war years, inflation was a very serious problem. However, in the post-war years, the Great Depression did not return. Americans had jobs.
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INFLATION RATES 1940-49
| Year | Jan- | Feb- | Mar- | Apr- | May- | Jun- | Jul- | Aug- | Sep- | Oct- | Nov- | Dec- |
| 1940 | (0.71%) | 0.72% | 0.72% | 1.45% | 1.45% | 2.17% | 1.45% | 1.45% | (0.71%) | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.71% |
| 1941 | 1.44% | 0.71% | 1.43% | 2.14% | 2.86% | 4.26% | 5.00% | 6.43% | 7.86% | 9.29% | 10.00% | 9.93% |
| 1942 | 11.35% | 12.06% | 12.68% | 12.59% | 13.19% | 10.88% | 11.56% | 10.74% | 9.27% | 9.15% | 9.09% | 9.03% |
| 1943 | 7.64% | 6.96% | 7.50% | 8.07% | 7.36% | 7.36% | 6.10% | 4.85% | 5.45% | 4.19% | 3.57% | 2.96% |
| 1944 | 2.96% | 2.96% | 1.16% | 0.57% | 0.00% | 0.57% | 1.72% | 2.31% | 1.72% | 1.72% | 1.72% | 2.30% |
| 1945 | 2.30% | 2.30% | 2.30% | 1.71% | 2.29% | 2.84% | 2.26% | 2.26% | 2.26% | 2.26% | 2.26% | 2.25% |
| 1946 | 2.25% | 1.69% | 2.81% | 3.37% | 3.35% | 3.31% | 9.39% | 11.60% | 12.71% | 14.92% | 17.68% | 18.13% |
| 1947 | 18.13% | 18.78% | 19.67% | 19.02% | 18.38% | 17.65% | 12.12% | 11.39% | 12.75% | 10.58% | 8.45% | 8.84% |
| 1948 | 10.23% | 9.30% | 6.85% | 8.68% | 9.13% | 9.55% | 9.91% | 8.89% | 6.52% | 6.09% | 4.76% | 2.99% |
| 1949 | 1.27% | 1.28% | 1.71% | 0.42% | (0.42%) | (0.83%) | (2.87%) | (2.86%) | (2.45%) | (2.87%) | (1.65%) | (2.07%) |
Source: <inflation.com>
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The massive borrowing during World War II had a period of reckoning when, after the war, wage and price controls were lifted.
Inflation is “debtors’ paradise.” The debtor, in the case of World War II, was the federal government. The government had to pay back its debt in cheaper dollars.
America has yet to come to grips with debt. In 1837, there was no national debt. In 1981, the national debt reached $1 trillion. Today, the national debt is nearly $30 trillion.
No one seems to know how long federal borrowing can go on. Economists like Paul Krugman, since 2000 a New York Times columnist, has not expressed a concern about the national debt or about inflation. Krugman, a Nobel Laureate in economics, sees the current inflation, which is about 5.3 percent a year, as a temporary phenomenon. Other economists say that, eventually, the U.S. will be so indebted that America will become a Third World nation.
Look what happened to Germany after World War I. What cost one German mark in 1918, cost one trillion German marks in 1923. Some people believe the German hyperinflation was largely caused by reparations — and the massive printing of German marks — imposed by some of the victors of World War I.
The German hyperinflation destroyed the German middle class. The political consequences for Germans and individuals in other nations were extremely dire.
In 1923, Adolf Hitler tried to overthrow the Bavarian government. Hitler failed and went to jail, where he wrote “Mein Kampf” (“My Struggle”).
In 1933, Hitler became chancellor of Germany. We all know what Hitler eventually did to Jews and other groups whom Hitler hated. Between 1939 and 1941, Hitler declared and conducted war against Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, and other nations.
Worse than Germany’s post World War I inflation was what happened in China.
In China from 1947 to 1949, inflation was 15,000,000,000,000,000,000 to one.
Post-war Hungary, from 1946-47, had even worse inflation. The inflation rate in Hungary was 400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 to one.
So where is the U.S. headed? It seems that as long as Americans (individuals and corporations), the Chinese, and the Japanese buy American debt, there should be no worry.
But what happens if people who buy American debt don’t want to buy this debt?
The answer may come when all of us are dead and gone.
