Woh woh woh, lets just clear up a few things here. Firstly, I'm not a hyperinflationist, I simply believe we will have inflation over deflation. Secondly, to me this is entirely a currency event (or currency event's). And thats why gold sits smack bang in the middle of it. It has been the worlds enduring currency of the ages. It is the one real currency the world has. Not because it has some mystical quality or magical alure, but simply because that is the role man has given it. There are reasons for that that can be argued but thats for another thread.
My belief is simply that the world (at least for a time) will lose faith in the various paper currencies of the world. Whether thats due to massive debts or excess printing/supply or other, I'm not particularly fussed. I simply believe it will happen / is happening. You can see it happening already. Virtually all paper currencies are devaluing against the USD and Yen and they are all devaluing against gold. People are already trying to preserve their purchasing power. As TSS's article pointed out, the AUD's loss of purchasing power lead to producer price Inflation, not producer price Deflation.
Therefore I maintain that monies will continue to move towards the one currency that has historically maintained its purchasing power when paper currencies lose theirs.
If trust is to be regained in these currencies, interest rates will have to be raised ala Paul Volker a few decades back and put the now 'global' economy through an extremely devestating recession/depression due to the debt that currently exists.
Faced with this option would you devalue a currency 50% to cut the 'value' of that debt in half, or would you enforce the recession/depression on the people and make them pay for it that way. I believe human nature will win out and the latter will be avoided like the plague. NO ONE likes the truth when its as unpleasant as that. Look at how they are acting already....
So yes, the story is a lot more complicated then govts 'printing money'. Thats just a side attraction. The star of the show is the currency that cannot be devalued and has no counterparty risk. The shares of the miners are simply leverage to this. And no doubt human nature will shine through again and get caught up in the next speculative frenzy.
At the crux of it I'm simply banking on history and human nature
