Peter St Onge Podcast Ep 190: The Coming Age of Permanent Inflation
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Sep 21, 2026 Larry Lepard, author of The Big Print and founder of Equity Management Associates, explores America’s looming sovereign debt crisis. They discuss permanent inflation, the Fed’s bailout role, AI and productivity, the debt doom loop, fiscal dominance, and why a Volcker-style cure may be impossible today. Lepard also examines yield-curve control and the case for gold, silver, and Bitcoin.
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Money Printing Captures Productivity Gains
- Productivity should reduce prices, but monetary expansion absorbs those gains instead.
- Lepard says cheap credit flows to Wall Street, while households face mortgages and credit cards costing 6–30%.
AI Cannot Outrun The Debt Math
- AI can raise productivity, but Lepard rejects the idea that it will quickly offset debt-driven inflation.
- Escaping a debt burden through rapid growth historically required inflation, including 18% in 1952.
America Is Following The Sovereign Debt Playbook
- The United States resembles countries that financed persistent deficits with debt, then money creation.
- Lepard calls this a sovereign-debt crisis and expects high inflation, though reserve-currency status may delay failure.
