Why Prices Keep Rising: My Favorite Inflation Hedge(s)

“What is the most dangerous threat to your investments? Inflation.” — Paul Cabot (“Maxims of Wall Street,” p. 149)

Last week’s FreedomFest was a triumph! Nearly 2,100 attendees jammed into the new Caesars Forum Convention Center in Las Vegas. Dozens came up to me to express their enthusiasm for this first-rate conference of freedom lovers who came to learn, network, socialize and celebrate liberty. The huge L.E.D. screen in the main hall was mesmerizing.

John Fund, senior writer for National Review, said, “There is so much to do and see at FreedomFest, it’s impossible to be bored!” James Brown, producer of Living with Pride, said “It was a WOW experience.” Alex Green (Oxford Club) said it was “Perhaps the best FreedomFest ever… But I say that every year!”

Marco Valerio, a local reporter, told me, “I had a blast at FreedomFest (my first), and was overwhelmed by the amount and the variety of the content.” Indeed, FreedomFest is an intellectual feast, and this year we had more diverse speakers than ever, including Tom Woods, Kennedy, Ice-T, Cornell West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Over 250 speakers in all.

The conference started off with Governor Joe Lombardo, the first Nevada governor to welcome us to Las Vegas. He is famous for vetoing over 100 legislative bills, a record.

Confronting Bobby Kennedy, Jr.

One of the highlights was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s talk before a standing-room-only crowd. He promised to unite the country with an “American Strong” agenda.

He said, “I pledge to appoint a cabinet comprising members of the Democratic Party, Republican Party, Libertarian Party and people from the Green Party and other parties and parties outside the political process” and “to order the intelligence agencies to cease propagandizing the American public.”

Near the end of his talk, I shouted out, “Bobby, join the debate!” followed by a chant, “Bobby, debate!” The audience joined in. Many attendees wanted to know why RFK Jr. refused to be part of the Presidential Debate following his talk. Candidates for the Libertarian, Green and Constitution parties had agreed to be on the stage, but RFK Jr. had refused. Why? He answered, “I don’t want to debate my friends!” It was a clever political answer.

He got a standing ovation.

The Impact of the Trump Assassination Attempt

During the last day of FreedomFest, we learned of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. He was a lucky man as the assassin barely missed killing the former president. Interestingly, Trump seriously considered coming to FreedomFest, thanks to the invitation from Wayne Allyn Root, but ultimately decided to do a campaign stop in the battle-ground state of Pennsylvania.

The fallout has been significant. After the assassination attempt, the election betting odds increased dramatically in favor of Trump, and the Republicans taking Capitol Hill. See www.electionbettingodds.com.

The near killing of Trump forced President Joe Biden to offer Secret Service protection to RFK Jr., given that Kennedy is polling 15% recently.

The Case for Optimism in a ‘Brave New World’

For me, the highlight of this year’s conference came from the top public intellectuals, Steven Pinker from the United States and Matt Ridley from the UK.

Your editor in between Matt Ridley, author of “The Rational Optimist,” and Steven Pinker, author of “Enlightenment Now.” 

Investors are often attracted to the prophets of doom, who are constantly predicting a collapse on Wall Street. So, it was refreshing to hear both speakers promote some optimism in today’s world. Despite wars, inflation and wokeness, almost every economic indicator is better today than years ago.

There’s a reason why stocks are at an all-time high. Inflation is coming down and the economy has yet to fall into recession. As I say in my “Maxims of Wall Street,” “bears makes headlines, bulls make money.” It pays to be an optimist. Read my latest Skousen CAFÉ here: My Second Most Important Lesson on Wall Street — Mark Skousen

Watch the Main Stage Sessions Here

You can watch our 2024 main stage speeches and behind the scenes interviews on demand starting Aug. 21 with the CiVL digital pass for $39. Hot topics included inflation, climate change, the wars in the Middle East and the November elections. Details are at freedomfest.com/civl. Be sure to sign up during our pre-sale before Aug. 1 to save!

Announcing Next Year’s FreedomFest: ‘The Oasis of Liberty’

The location of next year’s big show created quite a sensation: Palm Springs Convention Center in California, famous as a haven for Hollywood writers, actors and retirees. The dates are June (not July!) 11-14, 2025. Our host hotel will be the beautiful Renaissance Hotel.

We are offering the super “early bird” special — only $347 per person to the first 300 who register, or until Aug. 1. (200 have already signed up, so take advantage now.) Register here: Begin Registration: FreedomFest Palm Springs 2025 (swoogo.com)

Plus, we offer a special bonus. If you sign up this month, you will receive a free ticket to EconoSummit in Las Vegas Nov. 9-10, the first investment conference after the elections (a $400 value). Sign up for FreedomFest, and we will send more details.

The Best Inflation Hedges

One of the most popular sessions at FreedomFest was “Living with Permanent Inflation: What Is the Best Inflation Hedge?” with myself, Alex Green (Oxford Club), Nathan Lewis (co-author with Steve Forbes of their new book “Inflation”) and Richard Stern (Heritage Foundation).

I started off by showing this remarkable graph of CPI (price) inflation since 1775.

Prior to World War II, price inflation was temporary, caused by wars. But since World War II, inflation is permanent, a result of creating the Fed in 1913, abandoning the gold standard in 1933 and 1971, adopting Keynesian economics and deficit finance and never-ending wars engulfing the United States.

Conclusion: Prices will continue to rise. Inflation is here to stay.

After discussing this permanent inflation trend, we reviewed the outlook for tech stocks, inflation-protected bonds, gold and silver, real estate, energy and cryptocurrencies. Which one is best?

It turns out that all of them qualify as inflation hedges, with the exception of bonds (TIPS have done poorly in the past few years).

Stocks: The stock market does not do well as an inflation hedge in the short run (as demonstrated in 2022) but tends to be the best inflation hedge in the long run, as Jeremy Siegel demonstrates in his famous chart in “Stocks for the Long Run.”

Gold and silver: Since we went off the gold standard completely in 1971, gold and silver have been volatile but have been superior inflation hedges overall. I recommend keeping 5% of one’s portfolio in gold and silver.

Oil and real estate: Two assets not included in Siegel’s chart are energy (oil and gas) and real estate. Both have been proven good inflation hedges for the long run. I include them in my recommended portfolio in Forecasts & Strategies. They are up by double digits this year.

Bitcoin Outshines Them All, But Will It Last?

Bitcoin: Last but not least, Bitcoin has been a speculator inflation hedge, given its limited supply and growing demand as an alternative to the dollar. See this chart below.

Bitcoin beat out all the other assets eight out of 11 years and has continued to outperform in 2024.

But note that in three years it was the worst performing asset.

We had a huge debate at this year’s FreedomFest: “How long with the bitcoin bubble last?” Alex Green and John Mackey (former CEO, Whole Foods Market) teamed up to argue that bitcoin was a scam and giant Ponzi scheme and would eventually collapse (Mackey said it would go to “zero”!), while Joel Bomgar and Chris Hunter defended the new cryptocurrencies and said they were here to stay and provide many benefits on hard asset and medium of exchange.

Indeed, I see that former President Trump has recently reversed his views on Bitcoin and is now a supporter. That’s bullish for Bitcoin and the blockchain technology, which has the most potential.

Upcoming Event

If you live in Utah, come join us! Tomorrow evening (Friday, July 19) my wife Jo Ann and I will be speaking at the Kimber Academy, 135 South State Street, #12, in Lindon, Utah, from 7 -9 p.m., on our new book “There Were Giants in the Land: Episodes in the Life of W. Cleon Skousen,” followed by an autograph session. The cost is only $20 per person. For more details, click here.

For more information on the Giants book, go to This Hollywood Story Could Not Be Told Until Now – Mark Skousen

Good investing, AEIOU,

You Blew it!

President Biden Shuts Down Las Vegas Airport for Hours, Then Gets Covid and Is a No Show! 

By Mark Skousen

My daughter and her husband were at FreedomFest last week and boarded a plane in Las Vegas Monday morning bound for Orlando. The plane had a minor mechanical problem that delayed the flight for a couple of hours.

Then the trouble began. President Joe Biden and Airforce One landed at the Vegas International Airport, causing all flights to delay departures while Biden was visiting Las Vegas for a fundraiser and a speech before UnidosUS, a Latin civil rights conference.

Six hours later, the airport finally reopened, and planes could take off again. My daughter and her husband ended up on a “red eye” to Orlando. Customers were on the plane for so long that all three pilots were pulled off the flight and replaced due to overtime. One pilot called it “the most bizarre cascade of events” he’s ever seen in his 30 years of piloting.

Thanks, President Biden, for thinking of the common people who needed to fly home or go to work the next day. (Couldn’t Air Force One land at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas and avoid these huge delays?)

To add insult to injury, Biden never made the Latin conference. He came down with Covid for the third time: President Biden tests positive COVID, taking him off campaign trail during critical time.

The President has been vaccinated several times for Covid, but he continues to get it. So why do they keep insisting on calling it a vaccine?

My wife and I have been vaccinated and both of us got a severe case of the virus back in 2021. I’ve talked to numerous people who have gotten the virus after getting the shot.

When you get the smallpox vaccine, you don’t get smallpox again.

It’s time we stopped calling the Covid shot a “vaccine.” Let’s call it was it is: A flu shot whose effectiveness varies and, in some cases, causes irreversible harm.