The biggest debates I have are with gold bugs. They believe endless money printing will inevitably lead to hyperinflation and that will push the gold price over $5,000 an ounce while sinking the dollar to near zero.

They are (and have been), quite simply, wrong!

Japan has already proven that money printing doesn't lead to much higher inflation, and certainly not hyperinflation… especially when in a deflationary period of debt and bubble deleveraging like the 1930s. Such an environment destroys money and creates deflation, with fewer dollars chasing goods and services.

The truth is, Japan TRIPLED down on its money printing efforts in 2013 after 14 years of more typical levels of QE… and it had a minor impact on inflation or the economy.

Look at this chart…

It shows the insanity of Japan's (and all others') QE efforts. We're the only sober country since early 2014…

China leads the central bank balance sheet race when it comes to total assets. Europe's next in line, then Japan, and then the U.S.

But look to the right of the chart. As a percentage of GDP, Japan's central bank created total assets at a whopping 97%, yet its GDP is only 25% of the U.S.'s.

Japan's QE has been about four times that of the U.S. For the U.S. to do what Japan has done, the Fed would have to QUADRUPLE down and print $12 trillion in addition to the $4 trillion it has already printed.

Try proposing that after the last round of QE finally fails.

But even if the Fed tried to print a fraction of that, it still wouldn't result in hyperinflation.

An aging, flat or shrinking workforce is deflationary.

Debt deleveraging and bursting bubbles are deflationary.

We're in the deflationary Winter Economic Season, and it's almost impossible to create high inflation in such a period.

Consumers, businesses, and governments have over-expanded and can't, or don't, need to borrow more. They don't need to leverage the money central banks print.