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America stands on the precipice of a new era in its financial history. The last decade has seen record money creation, ballooning federal debt, and a Federal Reserve balance sheet that dwarfs anything in the nation’s past. In his new book, The Big Print: What Happened to America and How Sound Money Will Fix It, Larry Lepard delivers a sobering assessment of how we got here, why the next several years will be marked by deep financial instability, and what ordinary Americans can do to protect themselves.

Recently, Lepard spoke with Financial Sense Wealth Management's Jim Puplava in a far-ranging interview on the cycles of history, structural inflation, and the bigger picture outlook for investors.

The Fourth Turning: Are We Living Through History’s Crisis Period?

Lepard frames today’s economic and political turmoil through the lens of "The Fourth Turning," a cyclical theory of history laid out by Neil Howe and William Strauss. As Lepard explained:

"Every society tends to go through seasons of growth, maturity, late maturity, and then ultimately a crisis period where the rules kind of change, and then a new set of rules emerge."

These cycles, typically lasting about 80 years, have seen America reshaped by the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Great Depression/World War II. Lepard believes we are currently living through another such period, one that began with the 2008 financial crisis:

"The issue being addressed in this fourth turning is the issue of what is money. We've been on the road of Keynesianism, believing government spending and debt can solve problems. But eventually, if you keep growing debt faster than GDP, it becomes a problem that can't be solved without significant inflation, a big depression, or a monetary reset."

Money Printing and the Seeds of Inequality

America’s trajectory over the past half-century, Lepard argues, has been defined by an ever-looser relationship with sound money. The consequences are plain for all to see: asset bubbles, wealth inequality, and a system that increasingly favors the few at the top.

"America was built on the premise of fairness. But when you allow one category of people—hedge fund managers, big institutions—to borrow at 0% interest from the Fed, while the average person pays 25% on a credit card, it’s a very big distortion. It allows the moneyed players to get silly rich."

Lepard points out that policies like ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) have enabled the wealthy to leverage up and buy appreciating assets, while wage earners are left behind:

"Low interest rates cause people to borrow and push up asset prices. For those who could buy homes in 2008, that’s great. But for young people or those without capital, they're just left with higher costs and no way in."

This is not merely an economic issue, Lepard stresses. It's a political and social one, too:

"I try to walk down the center—I'm not saying Bernie Sanders or AOC have the right solution, but what they’re complaining about, they’re correct about. The money is broken, and it's just not fair."

Inflation: The Hidden Tax and Government Obfuscation

Lepard’s book draws on Milton Friedman’s adage, "Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon." He is scathing about official attempts to downplay inflation’s true impact:

"Financial people have figured out a way to report inflation as lower than it really is. If we can borrow at 0% and invest in assets growing with inflation, we'd all be billionaires. But that's not available to the average person. They just see their wages not keeping up with rising costs."

He points to the manipulation of inflation statistics—hedonic adjustments, substitutions, and the like—as a deliberate strategy to keep the public placated. But reality bites at the grocery store, at the gas pump, and in insurance premiums:

"I've had insurance bills go up 100% in the last year—auto insurance up 30%. Everything is going up a lot more than the 2% target they claim."

The Breaking Point: Severing the Link with Gold

Lepard traces the roots of America’s monetary disorder to 1971, when President Nixon ended the dollar’s convertibility to gold.

"1971 was a seminal moment. It’s been a slow, persistent problem since then. We've been kicking the can, but the can gets heavier and we're weaker."

Since then, every crisis has been met with more money printing and higher deficits—culminating in the recent COVID response, which Lepard describes as unprecedented:

"They shut down the economy, put 300,000 businesses out, sent out checks, and the debt soared from $19 trillion to $37 trillion. They printed 40% more money in two years, effectively stealing 40% of the value from savers."

Lepard is blunt about the political incentives:

"Politicians are like addicts. Money is a drug, and they want it to buy votes and keep the economy going. The Fed is the drug dealer, willing to supply the cheap money."

The Sovereign Debt Doom Loop

The core problem, Lepard insists, is mathematical. The U.S. debt now exceeds $36 trillion, with annual interest costs surpassing $1 trillion:

"This isn’t some conspiracy theory. It’s just mathematics. Deficits require more bond sales, which require higher interest rates, which increases interest expense, which grows the deficit. It’s a sovereign debt crisis."

Lepard foresees the need for "yield curve control"—the Fed buying government bonds with printed money—to cap rates, a move that he equates to outright debt monetization and, inevitably, more inflation.

"If we take interest rates up to 10 or 20%, the whole world goes bankrupt. So they have to do financial repression—buy the bonds themselves, print the money, and that’s going to be inflationary."

COVID, Bailouts, and the Politics of Money

The COVID response, Lepard argues, was a watershed moment—both for the scale of money printing and for the lack of targeted relief:

"They spent about $19,000 per family, much of it wasted. I know businesses that got PPP loans and didn’t need them. We’ve spent trillions on wars, too. All that debt, enabled by fiat currency, benefits the insiders and leaves the public with the bill."

Lepard sees the internet and decentralization as potential forces for good, breaking the power of centralized, captured systems:

"Fiat currency enables wars. The internet is driving us toward correcting these ills, so big centralized systems won't be as powerful in the future."

The Endgame: What Happens Next?

Lepard stops short of predicting a Mad Max collapse, but he is clear that the options are narrowing:

"The collapse scenario is unlikely. At the end of the day, politicians will choose to print money rather than let it all collapse into a depression. The risk is inflation, but they see that as a lesser evil."

He observes that each crisis brings bigger bailouts and more frequent interventions—a sign that the endgame is approaching:

"The contractions are getting closer together and stronger. The system is getting close to the endgame—printing and spending to keep it going."

How to Protect Yourself: Gold, Bitcoin, and Real Assets

What should ordinary people do? Lepard’s advice is simple:

"Own things the government can’t print. Real estate, gold, silver, Bitcoin. But real estate comes with rising taxes, so it’s not a pure play. Gold and silver are traditional protections against inflation."

Lepard is particularly bullish on Bitcoin—not as ‘crypto,’ but as a unique, decentralized digital asset:

"Bitcoin is a technological innovation—true digital scarcity. Only 21 million will ever exist. It’s digital gold. It’s volatile, but over any four- to five-year period, everyone who’s held it is ahead. I think it will go up 10x, then 10x again over the next 10-15 years."

However, he cautions:

"Don’t confuse Bitcoin with crypto. Most crypto is fraud. Bitcoin is the innovation."

He also advises prudent allocation:

"Nobody should put all their money in Bitcoin—it’s too volatile. But most people can afford to put 5% of their net worth in it. If I’m right, you’ll be glad you did."

Why Inflation Is Now Structural

Despite hopes for a soft landing, Lepard sees inflation as the defining challenge of the coming decade:

"Inflation will be the issue of our time. I don’t think enough people are aware of that. The math is inexorable. Politicians refused to address Social Security and Medicare costs, and here we are."

He believes a monetary reset is inevitable, and that the American public must be educated to demand real reform:

"If we can get more Americans educated, there’s a higher probability they’ll vote for someone who understands the problem. We need to return to sound money."

The Policy Response: Is There a Way Out?

Lepard does see hope, but only if bold action is taken:

"There is a solution—if we reset to a sound money standard, we can stop all this chaos now. It’ll be a one-time painful event, but I’d rather take one big hit than 15 years of inflation wiping people out."

He’s skeptical that politicians will act soon, but insists that change is possible if enough Americans understand what’s at stake.

Conclusion: Prepare for Change—And Demand Accountability

Lepard’s message is ultimately a call to action. The book, he emphasizes, was written not for experts, but for ordinary people:

"I tried to write it in a way so that anybody, with no monetary background, could read it and go, ‘Oh, this is how they’re taking advantage of me.’ Once you see it, you can’t unsee it."

He urges Americans to protect themselves—by owning hard assets and by voting for leaders who recognize the need for monetary reform:

"If you want to make the world fairer and solve this wealth inequality problem, we need politicians who believe in some form of sound money. Otherwise, we’ll keep lurching from crisis to crisis."

The math, as Lepard says, is inescapable. The only question is whether Americans will wake up in time to demand a better, fairer system.

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