Demise of the Dollar, 3rd Edition

INTRODUCTION: FISTFUL OF DOLLARS

December 15, 2022

Dear Reader,

We are living through a great inflation. It's why we feel pain at the pump, and why we grimace at the appalling price of a carton of eggs. It is also why the Fed is raising interest rates more aggressively than they have in half a century. And why if you want to buy a home or a car, you are forced to take out loans that are more and more expensive. And yet, most people just take out the loan, make the big purchase and buy, and deal with the consequences. The real question is: How long will the American consumer be able to sustain an ever‐rising cost of living before they can no longer take it? And what does “not taking it anymore” really look like?

Historians will look back and say this inflationary period, 2020–2023, was on par with “The Great Inflation” of the 1970s. This period may even take the title. Whether you lived through the last great inflation, or are yet too young to understand what the country went through back then… this book is for you.

In fact, the book you are reading was not written for economists. Nor was it written for historians. This project began 20 years ago as a way to describe what is happening to the American dollar to everyday Americans.

In layman terms, the way you feel inflation is that everything seems more expensive. For example, every year the Farm Bureau calculates how much a traditional Thanksgiving home‐cooked turkey dinner—turkey, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, the whole ...