A “Hyper-Depressionary” State. Is it Really Coming?

You see millions of websites devoted to the topic. These would mostly be the self-proclaimed “Gold bugs” who warn us that an impending hyperinflationary event, which would significantly boost prices of all precious metals and necessities such as food, would lead to chaos as the country’s savings would vanish literally over the course of a couple of weeks.  Riots would occur. Commodities would gain in value as Fiat currencies see their end game.  Overall it portrays a very ugly picture indeed (let me pull out that Mayan Calendar).  My definition of hyperinflation revolves around a deep and sharp loss of confidence in a currency. This is different than inflation where it is simply a function of too many dollars in the economic system; however, the line between high levels of inflation and hyperinflation is quite gray primarily dominated (in my view) by “future inflation expectations”. Quick upward movements in this metric would signal to me that the public is less confident in the purchasing power of their currency, a prerequisite to hyperinflation. Another reason that I’ve thought of, though not heard much about, would be a supply-side shock in important material resources.   Regardless, I’ll come out and say upfront that there are so many headwinds, crosswinds, you name it, that predicting whether hyperinflation would occur would be akin to throwing darts. However, this will not stop me from researching the reasons why such an event may occur.