Regarding the April 6 Your Money article “Money myths that can derail the inexperienced”: We can’t overlook the gravest dilemma we’ll soon face, which is inflation. The government funds its new projects with magic money, picked from the Federal Reserve’s money tree. This results in all of the existing money being worth less than it was before.

Think dumping a wheelbarrow full of cash at the bakery to get a loaf of bread in post-World War I Germany sounds fun? I know our government has leaders who can prevent that, but we are still likely to see inflation on a less apocalyptic scale.

You can fight inflation by investing in precious metals. Buy it in increments; over time those prices should steadily increase, whereas money in the bank will depreciate. This will not save you from massive inflation — nothing really can. But it’ll cushion the blow.

If your money is being devalued by 10 percent a year, in five years you’ve lost half your wealth if you don’t protect yourself. Notice how often the prices of postage and movie tickets increase.

I do agree with the article that it’s not a bad time to have long-term debt. Imagine paying off your low-interest mortgage years later in dollars that are worth half of the ones you borrowed before inflation hit!

Luckily, many of us have a relatively small amount of assets to protect. The inflation monster can’t eat what we don’t have. What we do control is our human capital: education, experience and skills that will help us maintain a decent standard of living.

What could ruin that is our national debt, because we will have to pay it off via taxes on future earnings. Realize that government-induced inflation is a hidden tax too. So vote for people who vow against spending what we don’t have.

First Lt. Richard Headley

Camp Taji, Iraq

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