In history class we were all told the story of how post WWI Germany experienced what's called hyperinflation. That was due to two primary economic factors: a shortage of goods and services (stores with bare shelves) and an extreme glut of fiat currency (paper money backed by air and empty promises).

Here's the problem that manifests: when you have too much money chasing not enough products you end up in a bidding war to get that last role of toilet paper and the price goes up. When you have way, way, way too much paper money and not enough toilet paper then the bidding war accelerates and the price goes way, way, way up to the point where you need a wheelbarrow full of Deutsche marks to buy a loaf of bread. Remember that story? Well it happened in Germany and it's about to happen here.

"No way! That was long ago and far away. This is America and that can never happen here!" Right. And Joe Biden got 81 million votes, too. Here's why this not only can happen here but is already in motion.

On Shortages of Goods and Services

Everything you buy, wear, eat, live in, everything you can touch was brought to you on a truck. A truck delivered stuff cross-country. Trucks take things to the airport, pick them up at the destination airport and deliver them to a store where you then buy it and take it home. Every economy in the world, especially the American economy, lives and dies on trucks.

There are four major trucking companies in the US that probably account for 50-70% of all trucking shipments. One of them, the Yellow trucking company just went out of business. The "Why" isn't important. The fact that 10-20% of our trucking capacity just disappeared is.

That doesn't sound like much but it's a major slice of the supply-chain pie. Why is this important? Because our toilet paper was on those trucks. Remember "The Great TP Shortage of '21"? Now tell me a decrease of 10% of our supply chain isn't going to negatively affect our economy. It will and the supply chain interruption has already begun. Look for additional trucking companies both large and small to fall by the wayside and compound this problem, for the same reasons Yellow just bit the pavement. There's your first piece of the hyperinflation puzzle, in place and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The Keystone Piece

We've experienced "normal" inflation for the past 2-3 years now. We know what it looks like. If you were around during the '70's you know what it looks like when it gets really bad. Hyperinflation will dwarf all of that. Here's what's about to happen.

The world uses the US Dollar as it's main currency of choice to buy and sell things internationally. Been that way for about 80 years or so. On Aug 15 of '71, Nixon took us OFF the gold standard which meant that our paper dollar was no longer backed by gold or silver as is required by our Constitution. That freed up the Federal Reserve to print more worthless paper money whenever they wanted to, and the world is tired of being forced to use our worthless paper currency and succumb to all the political crap that comes with it. So what are they doing about it?

A handful of countries that account for more than 50% of the world's GDP have been working together to develop their own gold-backed currency and ditch the dollar. That group is called BRICS and they will be meeting in S. Africa later this month specifically to announce that they are moving forward with their plans to launch their currency.

What that means is when they launch their gold-backed currency, every one of those member countries will be selling back all the US Dollars that they currently hold and will be replacing it with their own metals backed money. That means that all those worthless dollars will be coming back home to the US where you and I will get to deal with the problem. What problem you ask?

Let's Review

#1-We're facing a shortage of goods and services on our shelves because of some major issues in trucking that look only to get worse before it gets better. So we have a shortage of goods and services.

#2-We're awaiting an announcement in a few days that will send a tsunami of worthless fiat money back into our economy.

Outcome: That means we will have a mountain of worthless money (one that DWARFS Everest) chasing too few goods and services and we all know from paragraph #2 and #3 above what happens when this occurs; you get hyperinflation. You're going to need a wheelbarrow to buy a loaf of bread.

So know that and act accordingly.

Self-Pay Clients Anyone?

When prices go up small businesses raise their prices, "to keep up with inflation", yes? Can you do that?

Can you raise your rates for your EAP clients? Nope.
Can you raise your rates for your insurance-pay clients? Nope.

Someone else controls how much you get for servicing those clients and they're under contract at defined rates with their clients (the businesses that pay their insurance premiums) so unless it's written into the contract those rates won't be going up until renewal.

Can you raise your rates for your self-pay clients? Yep, and that's the ONLY aspect of what you bill that you'll have any control over but you can see the issues you'll face (everyone will face) if your next client needs a wheelbarrow of worthless dollars to see you for an hour. (This is where you forget everything you've read to this point and say, "but that can never happen here", but this scenario is already in play.)

The best time to start cultivating your self-pay business block was about 5 years ago. The second best time is now.

Summary

Heck yeah, this is scary. The trucking problem already exists. If the BRICS gold-backed currency is announced in a few days then this scenario is going to play out. The only way I see to stop it (hyperinflation) from happening is for the US to return to a gold-backed currency before the fiat tsunami hits our shores.

In the meantime, start focusing on finding more self-pay clients and just know that when the manure hits the oscillating wind device your clients are still going to want to use their EAP and Insurance benefits, not your hyper-inflated self-pay rate. It's an ugly Catch-22 so pray for a US gold-backed currency (like the one our Constitution requires) pretty darn soon.

Don't panic just yet, let's see how this plays out first. Just be forewarned and stock up the pantry. I hope I'm wrong. We'll know in about 4 weeks.

(Thank you Mrs Bowers)