whereas the last graph showed a hook with a small gasp of a rebound, this chart has clearly rolled with no signs of coming back up. ask yourself, what is your biggest personal asset? if you're a home owner this one is easy. therefore, if no one is taking out RE loans to buy more houses this means that house prices are going to continue down. if we were threatening hyperinflation, everyone and their mother would be rushing to the banks and borrowing to buy a house (a tangible asset whose loan would inflate away, ie, a free house).
This one is pretty silly. Half the country just got burned badly by the real estate market, and the other half knows someone who did. Even if "Hyperinflation will start tomorrow" was written in flaming letters across the sky, people wouldn't be jumping back into houses.
In my view, the people that are sure that hyperinflation won't happen here are just as crazy as the people that are sure that it will.
The US economy and the US dollar are seriously fucked up right now. The current condition cannot continue much longer. There will be a change, a big change, and it has a pretty good chance of getting nasty.
But, as bad as things are, it is still the best game in town. The importance of this global view cannot be overstated. There will be no apocalypse while the US remains the safe haven.
So, while the doomsayers are right that the US appears to be doing everything it possibly can to usher in a serious bout of hyperinflation, it won't happen today, or tomorrow. It might not ever happen at all.