The Wall Street Journal keeps telling Biden how to avoid inflation. Biden does not care. But the Journal never tells you how to save yourself.

There is another op-ed in today’s WSJ about how bad the hyperinflation danger is: ‘We Aren’t Ready for A Financial Crisis’ by Howard Adler.

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It says what I keep saying. We must cut federal spending. The trouble with all the WSJ op-eds saying this is that is where they stop.

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I add, the politicians will never do that, so you have to take care of yourself. The writers in the WSJ are acting like they are think tank guys, and many are. They write as if the President and Congress were interested in what they say and likely to follow the advice. Ha!

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My writing is the politicians are going to run the federal government off a cliff financially, so you had better take care of yourself. Then I explain how. The WSJ has not had a single article on how to protect yourself from the politicians driving the nation off a hyperinflation cliff. The Journal authors, just clutch their pearls and worry.

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I think I have seen one lame consumer tips for inflation Journal article—stuff like buy supermarket brand rather than national brand food, switch from beef to chicken, and so on.

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My advice is for the scale of the average affluent American and deals with the big picture of your finances, not how to save small change on your next meal.

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Your biggest move is a principal residence with a mortgage. It is a non-USD-denominated asset so it should keep its purchasing power even with inflation. The fact that it has a mortgage means your REAL equity will rise, not just stay even, because the real mortgage balance will fall due to inflation.

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Also, put some of your savings abroad in foreign currency bank accounts. I recommend seven such currencies and own six of them: AUS, CAD, CHF, DDK, NOK, NZD, and SEK. I have no NOK because I just have not gotten around to it.

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People in past hyperinflations sort of spend all day every day trying to get foreign currency. Basically, it is money the sellers of food, fuel, and medicine want. At that time, the USD will be money that no one wants.

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Generally, to live a normal life in USD hyperinflation, you need to leave the US and live abroad for the duration which I expect will be about 6 to 24 months. In most countries, you can go there on a 90-day tourist visa. At the end of the 90-days, you need to leave. How long you have to stay out depends on the country and the rules at the time.

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One year’s worth of such that makes sense to me and I think conforms to the pertinent rules would be 90 days in New Zealand, 90 in Australia, five in Singapore, 90 more in New Zealand, and 90 more in Australia.

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By using ATM cards and Swift wires, you can almost go to any nation anywhere. You do not have to go to the nation whose currency you own, although that is a bit more efficient since you avoid additional currency conversion charges.

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To go abroad you need two things: a current PASSPORT that does not expire in the next six months and a satisfactory answer to the question, “HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SUPPORT YOURSELF in our country?” During hyperinflation, your USD savings are irrelevant. You need to be able to say that you have enough money for all the days you plan to be there and it must be in a currency that is not hyperinflated.

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In my case if I go to Canada, I can tell them about my bank accounts in two banks there, show them bank statements, maybe stick my Canadian ATM cards into an ATM at the border to show them the balances, maybe the border guard will call the banks. Whatever. I have the funds. You need to have them also.

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Foreign currency is both a hedge against USD inflation and liquid. It is hard to buy food or gasoline with home equity. But you can buy it with foreign currency. You need to be outside the US. Within a hyperinflated US, foreign currency will be illegal. Those laws are called capital controls. They prohibit possession of foreign currency or gold. So your foreign currency and gold need to be outside the US. See EO 6102. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102

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You might need some liquid USD inflation hedges here in the US to use to buy gasoline or a plane ticket to leave the US. I suggest junk silver, US nickel coins or US penny coins. Those US coins contain metal with a melt value roughly equal to their face value. See https://www.coinflation.com/. Also precious metal jewelry, guns, a car, anything you can readily sell for cash.

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This is a brief article. My book has infinitely more detail.

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