MOTLEY FOOL
Hyperinflation?
Q: What’s hyperinflation? Are we experiencing it now in America?
– B.H., Honolulu A: Not at all. It’s true that the U.S. year-to-year inflation rate in March reached 8.5%, the highest rate in 40 years and well above the average annual rate of around 3.1% – but that’s nowhere near hyperinflation.
Hyperinflation is extreme, rather rare and typically short-lived when it happens. Definitions vary, but it’s often defined as a monthly inflation rate of at least 50%; it’s also been used to describe a three-year cumulative inflation rate of 100% or more.
The folks at Ernst & Young Global recently opined that the following countries were experiencing hyperinflationary economies: Argentina, Iran, Lebanon, South Sudan, Sudan, Suriname, Turkey, Venezuela, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
FOOLISH TRIVIA
Name That Company
I trace my roots back to 1912 – only nine years after the Wright brothers’ famous flight – when one man established a company after building an airplane in a rented church, and a pair of brothers started building seaplanes. The two businesses merged in 1995, and I was born. Today, based in Bethesda, Maryland, I’m a leading aerospace and security enterprise, recently valued at nearly $120 billion. I employ around 114,000 people worldwide. I develop everything from satellites to missiles, missile defense systems, radar systems, undersea systems, tactical aircraft and Sikorsky helicopters. I have I.T. operations, too. Who am I?
Last Week’s Trivia Answer
I trace my roots back to 1946, when I was founded as an informal hotel referral system. (My average room rate back then was around $5.40 per night.) By 1962, my reservation system was the only nationwide one. A year later, my 699 member hotels made me America’s largest hotel chain. I entered Mexico in 1976. Today, based in Phoenix, I boast roughly 4,700 hotels in more than 100 countries and territories. My 18 brands span economy, upscale and luxury varieties and include Sadie, Aiden, Worldhotels, Surestay, and a chain with my original name. Who am I? (Answer: BWH Hotel Group (originally Best Western Hotels & Resorts))