Shadow Economy, Meet Your Shadow Economist

Friday, June 12, 2009 10:16 AM

By: Julie Crawshaw

Try this on for size: Unemployment is really over 20 percent, the U.S. economy now is literally shrinking by 8 percent a year, and consumer prices are jumping by nearly 7 percent.

Sound like doomsday scenario? It’s happening right now, says businessman and consultant John Williams, author of the Web site Shadow Government Statistics, found at shadowstats.com.

The government is creating so much new money, Williams told SmartMoney, that the all-but-inevitable result is hyperinflation, where “your highest denomination, the $100 bill, becomes worth more as toilet paper than money.â€