Kurt Brouwer November 2nd, 2009

What happens when we enter high inflation?

My experience with inflation dates back to the 1970s and early 1980s.  Inflation averaged almost 8% for the entire decade of the ’70s, but it cranked up into double digits in 1979.  Let’s head back to those days of yesteryear "” the early 1980s "” and compare some key indicators to the situation back then.  Here is a good chart showing key interest rates plus inflation and unemployment, then and now:

Source: Carpe Diem

I suspect you could win some bets with some of these statistics.  How many folks really remember that home mortgage rates hit 18% back then?  Or, that they never went below 12% from 1979 through 1985?

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