Bernanke will be forced to go boldly where only fools and morons have gone before. That is, on the road to hyperinflation.
Remember. There’s inflation and there’s hyperinflation. Normal inflation is caused when people have more money to spend and less to spend it on. They bid up prices. Hyperinflation is different. It comes not from an increase in demand for things, not from greed, but from fear…raw, naked, unadulterated fear that paper money is losing its value.
What touches off hyperinflation? Sometimes the cause is obvious. Central banks print up bills with lots of zeros on them. Everyone knows the currency has become “funny money.” Everyone rushes to get rid of it. Typically, this causes a collapse in the economy,which convinces the central bank to add more zeros!
