Where has all our money gone? I’ve been wondering for a long time!

When I was a kid, my brother came home from the Navy on leave and told me about the hard times in China. I asked what the word was inflation he meant when he said that new word for me. Inflation was a pretty big word for my young mind.

My brother has a simple way of explaining things. He said, Inflation is when you need a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread.

I observed inflation firsthand as a child. War is a great generator of inflation. Before World War II we could buy a lead of “Bake” Dunlop for 5¢.

HAS lead it was what we now call a chocolate éclair. I bought one yesterday at my store’s bakery for 89¢. It wasn’t even half the size of one of Bake’s early plumb bobs.

Bake Dunlop’s first plumb bob measured about 5 x 5 inches. Bake raised the price to 10¢ just after the war started. The price of flour had risen and Bake was having difficulty getting sugar, which was rationed. (Other things we had ration books for were gas and tires. My family never used them because our car was still on blocks in the garage. Dad hadn’t been able to afford to drive his old Oldsmobile during the depression.)

Bake then cut the size of his plumb line in half and still collected a dime. Then he cut it in half again. The price was still a penny. So we had a quarter-size plumb bob at twice the price. That is inflation.

Last month I bought a new car with little use. It cost me twice as much as our first house.

In 1975, 230 ounces of gold could buy a Cadillac for $8,000.00. Today you could buy three (3) $35,000.00 Caddys for 230 ounces of gold and have $30,000.00 in change.

Gold and silver are good fighters against inflation. The United States Mint stamps gold and silver bullion coins. They are golden eagles and silver eagles. They are legal tender. I started collecting some of these coins. The reason is that I am on a fixed income and inflation is killing my livelihood. I can tell you how I am collecting coins if you send me an email.

You have probably noticed that our government is very concerned about inflation. They watch the indices closely. China is very worried. As our currency loses value, China suffers. They have a large trade surplus that endangers the world’s monetary systems. They may be more worried than we are. (I didn’t make this up. I take the Wall Street Journal.)

Foreign investors are worried about the falling value of their US securities. I’m talking about values ​​etc here and not about clips. If they get too worried and switch to a “safer” investment, our markets will be hit hard. I’m talking about the stock market and commodity exchanges here etc and not the local farmers market.

My brother used to tell me to borrow dollars and pay them back with pennies. This is because the value of the money he is using to pay off long-term debt is worth less than the money at the time he borrowed.

Your local financial expert can help you beat inflation if you have anything left to invest. That’s the problem. Many people are so in debt that they cannot invest. Interest eats up all your surplus.

So what should we do to fight inflation? Well, we can use the plan of Taylor Jones, the cheat writer, which follows:

1. Stop spending beyond your NEEDS.

2. Pay your debts. Take the highest first and start making multiple payments. If the payment is $200.00 a month, see if you can drop $400.00 a month. If not, at least increase your payment.

3. Consider getting a lower interest loan to pay off and combine your debts. You will then be able to make a larger payment to eliminate that debt. we used to call this combining your bills into one gigantic debt. The problem is that people combine their bills and then start spending the ‘new’ money they now have left over instead of using it to pay off debt.

4. Send me money! Hey, I’m just kidding (unless you really want to)!

Okay, so the cheat writer Taylor Jones’s plan isn’t original. I still like it!

The end

money, gold, silver, inflation, government, china, investment, debt, get out of debt, eliminate debt