John T. Reed’s news blog

I have a sense that readers think I am exaggerating how bad hyperinflation is. Venezuela, which is the main hyperinflation in the world today, has seen its GDP fall 40% since 2013. The people are starving literally. 64% of respondents to a survey there said they lost 25 pounds in 2017.This is why I say you must get out of a hyperinflated country if you find yourself in one. That requires a little preparation before the ’flation hits the fan. Preparation that is quite easy if you do it in time. But near impossible if you wait too long..Is America Venezuela?...

Trump needs to be impeached immediately to head off the trade war he has declared. His appointees who support that trade war, namely Commerce Secretary Ross and Trade Representative Lighthizer, should be fired immediately.I am not trying to punish him, I am trying to stop the trade war. He has turned himself into a colossal mistake made by American voters in 2016. I don’t care whether he goes to the Leavenworth Penitentiary or Mar-a-Lago. I voted for Gary Johnson.The foreign leaders who have threatened retaliation for this should also be impeached or whatever it’s called in their countries. There is...

 Trump announced big tariffs on aluminum and steel. That sort of thing could start a world wide trade war which many think triggered the Great Depression. Back then, it was a U.S. law called the Smoot-Hawley Tariff.I hoped he was just bluffing. Apparently not. I and others have said he was playing with fire in this regard. Now he looks like he has started a fire.My book How to Protect Your Life Savings from Hyperinflation & Depression, 2nd edition tells you what to do to avoid being financially devastated by a new depression.A couple of main points: USD debt that...

As part of my continuing efforts to “walk point ”medically for readers my age and younger, I had a stroke Saturday. Well, not quite  a stroke. It was a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA). Close enough. I call it a “free sample of a stroke.” I had the symptoms of a stroke. I got a security guard at the mall to call 911. I spent 24 hours in a hospital getting the various tests. It was a “free sample” because I suffered no brain damage. But having a TIA means you are more likely to have a full-blown stroke thereafter. I...

There is a nice summary of the road to bankruptcy the US federal government is on in today’s Wall Street Journal. Title is “Why America Is Going Broke.” Google that to read it.It has a simple line graph where the red line is entitlements, blue is defense, and yellow is all else. The blue line had been falling or flat since the 1950s. When I was in the Army in the 1960s, defense was the biggest expense in the budget. The entitlement spending that ate America Now, defense is about 3% of the GDP; entitlements are 15% and climbing at about...