The warning signs are no longer theoretical.

Every few decades, history delivers a brutal reminder: currency collapse can happen quickly, and when it does, everything changes — food, fuel, shelter, freedom.

Heck… look at the price of Real Estate — it’s more than doubled in many areas in the last 5 years. So much for 6-7% inflation (it’s really 100%+). Their secret is keeping it contained to certain sectors so they can subsidize the incremental collapse.

As the prepared minded, we’re trained to think ahead. And that means looking beyond headlines and into the deep structural rot beneath the economy’s surface.

We’re about to do just that — and what you’re about to read may be one of the most sobering breakdowns of America’s financial trajectory you’ve ever seen.

Let’s define what we’re talking about, because hyperinflation is a very specific and terrifying phenomenon. It’s not just “prices going up.” It’s when a currency becomes so worthless that prices double — not over a year, but over weeks or days.

Traditionally, economists define hyperinflation as inflation exceeding 50% per month, but the core issue is a collapse of confidence in money itself. When people lose faith in currency, they stop saving, rush to spend before their money becomes worthless, and the system collapses into chaos.

This isn’t fantasy. It’s happened — in Weimar Germany (1923), post-WWII Hungary, Zimbabwe (2007–2008), and more.

Each time, the collapse followed a pattern. And frighteningly, that pattern is now emerging in the United States.

Let’s take a quick tour through three of the most notorious hyperinflation events and pull the lessons from each.

In Weimar Germany, massive war debts, loss of industrial territory, and reparations payments pushed the government to print money uncontrollably. With fewer goods being produced and more currency in circulation, inflation spiraled. People were paid twice a day, and by lunchtime their paychecks were worth less than a loaf of bread. The lesson: when a government prints money to pay off debt instead of solving the core problem, collapse follows.

In Hungary, post-war destruction of factories and farmland meant money flooded the system while goods disappeared. The government printed more to rebuild, but there was nothing to back the currency. Prices doubled every 15 hours. Again, the lesson was clear: no amount of money printing can make up for lost productive capacity.

In Zimbabwe, the government seized productive farmland, destroying food supply. They responded by printing more currency to fund social programs. It didn’t work. At the height of their crisis, a loaf of bread cost trillions of Zimbabwean dollars. Ultimately, people abandoned the local currency and used U.S. dollars or barter.

All of these share four deadly ingredients:

Now, let’s talk about the U.S.

There are multiple red flags converging. On their own, each is troubling. Together, they create the perfect storm.

As of 2025, U.S. federal debt has crossed $37.5 trillion, with no plan in sight to slow it down. This doesn’t include unfunded liabilities like Medicare, Social Security, and pension guarantees, which add tens of trillions more.

Worse, interest on the debt now competes with military and healthcare spending. That means the government must borrow even more money just to pay interest on what it already owes. This is what economists call a debt death spiral.

When the government runs out of buyers for its debt, the Federal Reserve steps in and “buys” U.S. Treasuries — effectively printing money out of thin air.

This used to be rare. Now it’s routine.

Quantitative easing (QE), pandemic stimulus, and bailouts have flooded the economy with trillions of new dollars. While the Fed has tried to reduce its balance sheet, political pressure often forces it to turn the printers back on.

This is textbook monetization of debt, and it’s one of the main triggers in every historical hyperinflation case.

America no longer produces what it once did. In 1970, over 25% of GDP came from manufacturing. Today, it's around 11%. The COVID crisis showed how fragile global supply chains really are — one port shutdown in China, and U.S. shelves go empty.

This matters because you can’t flood the economy with cash and expect stability if the goods that money is supposed to buy don’t exist. More dollars + fewer goods = price explosions.

Inflation is driven by psychology as much as economics.

When the public believes inflation is going up, they act differently — they spend sooner, demand higher wages, hoard goods, or seek assets like gold and crypto. That behavior fuels further inflation.

The danger is when this psychology becomes unanchored. When people no longer believe the Fed can “fix it.” When foreign investors dump U.S. Treasuries. When allies start trading in gold or Chinese yuan instead of dollars.

If that happens, the dam breaks — and hyperinflation becomes not just possible, but inevitable.

Hyperinflation is usually a political failure long before it’s an economic one. It happens when leaders lack the courage to cut spending or raise taxes, and instead choose the “easy” path: print more money.

Both parties are guilty of this. Trillions in new programs are passed without funding. Debt ceilings are lifted reflexively. Entitlement reform is political suicide. The result? Kicking the can down a road that’s quickly running out.

Not a single politician is going to commit re-election suicide by championing entitlement reform or opposing money printing.

Here are the five key flashpoints to watch:

If even two or three of these occur at once — hyperinflation spikes.

That’s what they said in every country before it happened.

The U.S. is special — no doubt. We issue debt in our own currency. We have reserve status. We’ve escaped collapse before.

But those are only protections until confidence is lost.

If people no longer believe the dollar will hold value, those protections evaporate — just like they did for the British pound in the mid-1900s.

Here’s what smart preppers are already doing:

We’re not fearmongering.

We’re pointing to patterns. Debt explosions. Money printing. Political pressure. Supply breakdowns. All leading indicators of collapse — and all happening now.

Will it be this year? Maybe not. But the system is brittle. The cracks are forming.

When the next crisis hits — economic, geopolitical, or technological — we may cross the line into hyperinflation. And when that happens, those who’ve prepared will survive. The rest? They’ll be holding dollars that buy less than toilet paper.

Don’t wait. Don’t trust the system to fix itself. Get ready.

Stay sharp. Stay alive.
—George Shepherd

P.S. You may want to consider taking on low interest, UNSECURED debt now in order to buy Bitcoin, Gold or land (not a house). Because when the dollar collapses, you can pay off your note with the increased value of the assets you hold and keep the rest of the profits/investments — free and clear.

It’s like having the corruption and negligence in Washington actual gift you real tangible wealth. Consider it reparations for a century of THEM eroding your dollars.

Not financial advice, just a new way of thinking about debt — which I personally believe is evil.