This morning I heard part of a news broadcast bragging about price increases in real estate and the stock market. The announcer was pretending that having a price increase means a strong market. But it doesn’t mean that. These price increases aren’t something to celebrate for most of us.

The stock market has little basis for price increases and many are extremely concerned that the stock market is going to crash.

I look at real estate across the nation as part of my information acquiring routine in order to keep track of price changes. Over the last few weeks there have been enormous price increases across the West and even in the South. Montana properties aren’t affordable anymore and there’s fewer worthwhile properties on offer. I saw what looked like an abandoned army barracks in the middle of nowhere in Montana with acreage on offer for $300,000 and the property was in bad repair. In the South, I saw a $325,000 increase since just a few months ago on a property that also came with acreage.

As this process of inflating prices continues it doesn’t make the use value any better. We are all losers in this price increase. There aren’t jobs enough to allow people to buy these properties as a place to live. As an asset, the price increase in real estate has been caused only by investors fleeing an overpriced stock market and buying real estate. When a stock is on offer for a new company and sells, it does the buyer no good if that company fails soon after. Old companies fail too and stocks will fall when the Federal Reserve eventually stops pumping the market with borrowed money.

Price manipulation is easy as we have seen over the last 13 years. Creating wealth is harder. Wealth creation isn’t possible when we are being immersed in liquidity gambles over the short-term. This price manipulation will end in tragedies large and small.

Where will anyone find refuge in a falling market with a failing currency? Certainly not in digital monies which will be at least as unstable and easier to manipulate. The outcome of deregulation in banking is taking us all to the poor house. The shables that money overprinting, stock market underwriting, real estate price increases, and more inflation in food and energy will make of our economy will soon be obvious to everyone.