The coming years are going to be very tough indeed. Once hyperinflation kicks in, everyone will be losing (except for those few holding gold), particularly the vulnerable lower middle class. Though it may not be comparable with the situation we face, I lived in Peru from 1988 to 1991 during a period of hyperinflation and I have seen the devastation it caused. People simply stopped producing goods, because prices changed everyday and all got into trade and speculation. I have seen the middle class simply disappear in a few years due to the loss of employment and extremely high interest rates bankrupting anyone who had been investing and therefore was holding debt.

We are lucky that the BRIC countries are still strong, but we will have to see what inflation will do to their economies.