by Doug Casey, Casey Research:

“We love installments here.”

“If you can get 12 months, that’s good. But 24 months is even better.”

An Argentine lawyer told me that last week. We were chatting in a pub in Palermo, a neighborhood in Buenos Aires.

Now, you might be wondering how we got on the riveting subject of payment plans. I’ll tell you. We were talking about Argentina’s money problems.

In case you haven’t heard, inflation in Argentina is off the charts right now.

Inflation measures how fast prices for everyday goods and services rise. A high inflation rate is bad. It means that the money in people’s wallets doesn’t go as far.

Last year, the official inflation rate in Argentina was 25%. The year before, it was 37%. Everyday goods and services in the country are 71% more expensive than they were in the start of 2016.

This is why Argentines love installments. It allows them to pay off purchases over time using a devalued currency. In other words, it helps them reduce the harm caused by inflation.

• But why should you care about this?

After all, Buenos Aires is over 4,000 miles south of the United States.

The answer is simple. Argentina isn’t the only place in the world where government-issued paper money is failing. Right now, currency crises are happening all over the world. And there are many more in the making.

The good news is that there’s a monetary revolution underway right now… one that will allow millions of people to protect their wealth from reckless governments.

I’ll explain what I mean by this in a second. But let me first say a few more words on Argentina.

Sky-high inflation isn’t the only thing wrong with this country’s money system.

• It’s also very difficult to get money here…

You see, ATMs in Buenos Aires are stingy. Most only let you withdraw 2,000 pesos at a time. That’s about 91 U.S. dollars.

To make matters worse, most ATMs stick you with a 10% withdrawal fee. That adds up quickly.

Because of this, many locals have a “cash guy.” This is someone who you send money to through your bank. Then they give you cash, and charge you a comparatively modest fee of 5%. They’re basically “dealers” in Argentina’s underground money market.

In short, Argentina’s monetary system has serious problems. And they’re only getting worse.

• The Argentine peso is in free fall…

It’s down 16% on the year. That makes it one of the worst-performing currencies on the planet this year. It’s also now trading at a record low against the U.S. dollar.

Argentina’s government is doing everything it can to stop the bleeding.

Two weeks ago, Argentina’s central bank spent $4.3 billion to prop up its currency. When that failed, it took even more drastic measures.

Last week, it raised its key interest rate by 300 basis points (3%). That’s an incredibly aggressive move. Most major central banks raise their key rates by just 25 or 50 basis points at a time (0.25% or 0.50%).

This monster rate hike came out of the blue. The bank didn’t even have a meeting scheduled.

Argentina’s central bank did this because it desperately wants to generate demand for Argentine pesos. It hopes this sky-high interest rate will lure investors to Argentina.

But it didn’t work. The peso crashed on the news.

So, Argentina’s central bank surprised the world by raising its key rate by another 300 basis points (3%) yesterday. The country’s benchmark rate now sits at 33.25%. That’s 20 times higher than the Federal Reserve’s benchmark rate.

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