The U.S. Dollar’s Eroding Purchasing Power

The New American: The U.S. dollar has lost nearly 30 percent of its purchasing power since 2020, a stark illustration of inflation’s impact on American households. According to analyses citing data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI), what cost $100 in early 2020 would cost roughly $130 for the same goods and services by mid-2026.

The CPI is a statistical tool compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). It tracks changes in the price of a basket of consumer goods and services. It shows a cumulative price increase of 29 percent over the past six years, equating to an average annual inflation rate of roughly 4.3 percent.

Factors driving the erosion include massive fiscal and monetary responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, such as trillions of dollars in government stimulus and Federal Reserve bond buying. This boosted demand, while supply chains faltered.

Inflation Understatement

Some argue that the CPI understates inflation by underweighting essentials such as housing, groceries, and fuel for many families. Reporting for The New American in 2008, analyst Dr. John Fisher explained that “changes to the CPI … have increasingly distorted official statistics” to create a false sense of economic stability. This distortion is destructive because “the Treasury and the Federal Reserve use the CPI as one of the measures for establishing U.S. monetary policy Read More…

Opinion: Two prophecies.

The linchpin of Biblical Prophecy is the catching away (Greek, harpazo) of believers to meet Christ in the air. If only 30% of approximately 65% of the United States who identify as Christians were to depart instantly, the result would undoubtedly cause an economic tsunami.

• 65% of 350 million = 227.5 million identify as Christians
• 30% of 227.5 = 86,000,000 could depart

When that happens, Paul tells us in 2 Thess. 2:3-4  a great apostacy (deception) will take place, and according to Rev. 6:1-2 the door will be open for the arrival of Antichrist.

^“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.”

So, yes that is prophetic. But, there is more…

As the 7 year tribulation gets underway, a 2nd horseman on a red horse will appear, (Rev. 6:3-4), who will take peace from the earth with wars and rumors of wars (Mat. 24:6).

The money printing that has taken place since 2008 (with every president) unleashed the Federal Reserve to print our way out of economic collapse. US debt that stood at 10 trillion has increased by another 28.9 trillion.

The cumulative economic destruction could one day cause another event that has never happened: global hyperinflation, Rev. 6:5-6.

When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”

A quart of wheat, representing one person’s food for the day, will cost a day’s wages. But many will be forced to buy barley, a less expensive food usually used for animals. Three quarts of barley will also cost a denarius, but only the 1% will still be able to afford the luxury of oil and wine. Affordable access to economic commerce will be strictly limited.

Now the true picture of hyperinflation emerges, that a person will be forced to work a full day to have enough money to feed themselves for one day.

This economic event can happen suddenly following war and pandemic with the collapse of a major currency. When hyperinflation grips the world, food prices will rise out of control as happened in the post-World War I Weimar Republic, which not coincidentally, produced the rise of Adolf Hitler.

See our paper, “The 1% and Revelation, Do not Harm the Oil and Wine” here.