24 - Dan Denning on Inflation, Surrendered Civil Liberties and The Fire in the Titanic's Boiler Room

A man goes to see an epidemiologst to ask, “When will this pandemic be over?” “How should I know?” the epidemiologist replies, “I’m not a politician.” Ah yes, dad jokes. More truth than humor, no doubt. this week I caught up with the co-author of the Bonner-Denning Letter and one member of the so-called Aussie diaspora, Mr. Dan Denning, who currently resides in Colorado but who proudly called Melbourne home for a happy decade... We spoke about the situation Down Under, vis-a-vis immigration and border closures, the lockdown and lock out, plus the importance of standing up for your hard won rights and liberties. Dan also mused on the inflationary creep going on in the US, where prices for raw materials - lumbar, iron ore, base metals and such - are beginning to seep into the broader economy in a very real way. For those of us who, say, consume food and energy, that means higher prices at the store and at the pump. And for those who live on or near the margin, which as we saw over the past year is many more than you might think, that means some tough decisions ahead. All that and more we cover in my conversation with Dan Denning, up next... Time stamps - A rough guide... (00:50) - Intro (07:45) - An Open Letter to Australia (09:30) - An Aussie news play-by-play: Fear and trembling Down Under (11:00) - “When you control the message, and the message is fear, it’s not surprising that’s what you get.” Dan Denning (13:05) - What happened to asking questions? To standing up for our rights? (16:30) - The age old false dilemma: Liberty or Security (17:25) - Turning to the US and the maybe, possible, probably return to normalcy... (18:55) - Consumer Price Inflation - To the moon? (19:50) - Inflation is becoming a psychological phenomenon now (20:40) - US Jobs Outlook: When you pay people not to work, people to a good job at it (22:00) - Tom Dyson’s take on shipping stocks and raw materials (24:00) - Money printing: The point at which inflation goes from theoretically possible to practically catastrophic (28:00) - When it comes to free money, credulity is the limit (29:30) - Interest rates are the ones to watch... (30:45) - What ever happened to the bond vigilantes? (32:20) - The corrosive effects of unsound money on the broader economy (33:30) - The Japanese Story... and why it’s fundamentally different to the US (35:45) - Two transportation metaphors: The Titanic and Aeroplane Take-off Speed (39:00) - When incentives change from patience and prudence to borrow, borrow, borrow!