Baltic Dry Index. 1583 -04 Brent Crude 73.22
Spot Gold 3146 US 2 Year Yield 3.91 +0.04
US Federal Debt. 36.676 trillion!!!
To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal
Henry A. Kissinger
Trump’s America, (330 million,) starts a trade war on the rest of the world, (8 billion,) and expects to win!
Well maybe, but that’s not the way to bet.
The Great Depression 2.0 now kicks off.
That great deafening sucking sound we hear, global wealth rapidly disappearing from the global stock casinos.
The velocity of money crashes in a few weeks.
Trump imposes 10 percent global tariffs; higher
rate for ‘worst offenders’
by Brett Samuels and Alex Gangitano -
04/02/25 4:36 PM ET
President Trump on Wednesday announced a
baseline 10 percent tariff on imports from all foreign countries, as well as
higher tariff rates for dozens of nations that the White House deemed the
“worst offenders” when it came to trade barriers.
The 10 percent tariff will go into effect
on Friday. About 60 countries facing a higher reciprocal tariff will see those
rates go into effect on April 9 at 12:01 a.m. Trump also announced a 25 percent
tariff on all foreign-made automobiles that will take effect at 12:01 a.m.
April 3.
Among the countries being targeted with
reciprocal tariffs are China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, India, South Korea,
Thailand, Switzerland, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and the European Union.
Trump said those reciprocal tariffs will
be calculated by combining the rate of tariffs and non-monetary barriers like
currency manipulation, then divided in half.
“The tariffs will be not a full
reciprocal. I could have done that, I guess. But it would have been tough for a
lot of countries,” Trump said.
The higher reciprocal tariffs included 35
percent on China, 20 percent on the European Union, 46 percent on Vietnam, 32
percent on Taiwan, 24 percent on Japan.
“This is one of the most important days,
in my opinion, in America’s history,” Trump said. “It’s our declaration of
economic independence.”
Other countries with high tariffs include
26 percent on India, 21 percent on Switzerland, 32 percent on Indonesia, 24
percent on Malaysia, 49 percent on Cambodia and 10 percent on the United
Kingdom.
The president predicted that his massive
tariffs will receive criticism, but argued that he also heard complaints about
his handling of China and the trade agreement he struck with Mexico and Canada
in his first term.
“In the coming days, there will be
complaints from the globalists, and the outsourcers, special interests, and
fake news,” Trump said. “But, never forget that every prediction our opponents
made about trade for the last 30 years has been proven totally wrong.”
More
Trump
imposes 10 percent global tariffs; higher rate for ‘worst offenders’
See Trump’s list: More than 180 countries and
territories facing reciprocal tariffs
Published Wed, Apr 2 2025 6:13 PM EDT
President Donald Trump on Wednesday
laid out the U.S. “reciprocal
tariff” rates that more than 180 countries and territories, including
European Union members, will face under his sweeping new trade policy.
Trump and the White
House shared a series of charts on social media detailing the tariff
rates they say other countries impose on the U.S. Those purported rates include
the countries’ “Currency Manipulation and Trade Barriers.”
An adjacent column shows the new U.S.
tariff rates on each country, as well as the European Union.
More
Trump's
list of countries facing reciprocal tariffs
Asia-Pacific markets slide after Trump’s tariff
announcement rocks sentiment
Updated Thu, Apr 3 2025 12:22 AM EDT
Asia-Pacific markets plunged on Thursday,
after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed hefty reciprocal tariffs on over 180
countries and territories - several of which are in the region.
In charts posted on social media, the
White House showed the effective tariff rates they claim other countries impose
on American goods, including by “currency
manipulation and trade barriers.”
The White House told CNBC’s Eamon Javers
on Wednesday that the new reciprocal rate on China will be added to existing
tariffs totaling 20%, meaning the true tariff rate on Beijing under this Trump
term is 54%.
Meanwhile, goods
from India, South Korea and Australia face tariffs of 26%, 25% and
10%, respectively.
Chris Kushlis, chief emerging markets
Macro Strategist at T. Rowe Price says the fresh tariffs “represent a
significant increase in tariffs on Asian exports, and arguably more than
anticipated by the market.”
The U.S. accounts for approximately 15% of
exports from the region, meaning that tariff increases ranging between 20% and
35% “would pose a meaningful headwind to growth this year, especially for the
more open trade-oriented economies,” he noted.
“Many Asia economies have a relatively
high proportion of their export value added that ends up in the US, so the
broad application of tariffs globally will hinder effects to redirect trade,”
Kushlis added.
What is interesting is that China “which
has the biggest trade deficit with the U.S. does not have the largest
reciprocal tariffs,” said Stephen Dover, chief market strategist and head of
Franklin Templeton Institute at Franklin Templeton.
Instead, he highlighted that Southeast
Asia — which has benefitted from past tariffs on China — has “some of the
highest reciprocal tariffs.”
Japanese markets led losses in Asia. The
benchmark Nikkei 225 was
down 3.10%, paring
losses of over 4% at the open, while the broader Topix index was down
3.48%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.58%
while mainland China’s CSI 300 was
down 0.71%.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi index fell 0.94%,
paring losses from over 3%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was down 0.21%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was
down 0.89% in its last hour of trade.
India’s benchmark Nifty 50 opened 0.34% lower
while the broader BSE
Sensex declined 0.46%.
Spot
gold hit a record high and was trading at $3,148.84 per ounce as at
11.58 a.m. Singapore time, as investors flocked to the precious metal.
Looking ahead, Franklin Templeton’s Dover
said that the tariffs “do not work if prices do not increase.”
“The average American family may pay up to
an estimated $4,200 more per year because of today’s tariffs (assuming an
average 20% tariff rate on imports),” he wrote in a Thursday note.
What this means is that the tariffs, will
likely slow household and business spending, thereby increasing the “risk of
U.S. growth and earnings disappointments in 2025,” Dover added.
U.S. futures
cratered as Trump’s sweeping tariffs of at least 10% and even
higher for some countries, raised the risks of a global trade war that would
adversely affect the already slowing U.S. economy.
Overnight stateside, stocks climbed in yet
another volatile session.
The S&P 500 advanced 0.67% to
close at 5,670.97, while the Nasdaq
Composite added 0.87% and ended at 17,601.05.
The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average added
235.36 points, or 0.56%, and settled at 42,225.32.
Shares of Tesla climbed 5.3%, rising on
news that President Trump has signaled to his cabinet that Elon
Musk will be stepping back
Asia
markets live: Stocks fall
Dow futures tumble over 800 points on fear Trump’s
tariffs will spark trade war: Live updates
Updated Thu, Apr 3 2025 12:20 AM EDT
U.S. stock futures cratered as President
Donald Trump unveiled sweeping
tariffs of at least 10% and even higher for some countries, raising the risks
of a global trade war that hits the already sputtering U.S. economy.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial
Average lost 828 points, or 1.95%. S&P 500 futures dropped
2.68% while Nasdaq-100
futures lost 3.19%.
Shares of multinational companies tumbled
in extended trading. Nike and Apple each dropped about 7%.
Shares of big sellers of imported goods were among the hardest hit. Five Below lost 14%, Dollar Tree tumbled 11%
and Gap plunged 8.5%.
Tech shares dropped in an overall risk-off mood, with Nvidia off 5% and Tesla down 7%.
The White House unveiled a baseline tariff
rate of 10% on all countries that goes into effect April 5. Even bigger duties
against countries that levy higher rates on the U.S. will be charged in coming
days, according to the administration.
“We will charge them approximately half of
what they are and have been charging us,” said Trump in a press conference from
the White House Rose Garden. “So, the tariffs will be not a full reciprocal.”
That halved figure includes “the combined
rate of all their tariffs, non-monetary barriers and other forms of cheating,”
he said.
What’s likely spooking traders is that
these rates will end up being much higher than expected for many nations. For
example, the effective tariff rate for China will now be 54% when accounting
for the new reciprocal rate and duties already levied against the country, the
White House clarified to CNBC. Traders had hoped a 10%-to-20% rate would be a
universally applied cap, not a minimum starting point.
“What was delivered was as haphazard as
anything this administration has done to date, and the level of complication on
top of the ultimate level of new tariffs is worse than had been feared and not
yet priced into the market,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B.
Riley Wealth Management.
The S&P 500 rose for a third day
Wednesday on hopes Trump would not announce a severe tariff plan on the risk it
would tip the economy into a slowdown and raise already sticky inflation.
The benchmark has been hit hard since late
February with it falling into correction territory — or 10% down from its
record — because of the heightened uncertainty caused by Trump’s ongoing tariff
announcements. This uncertainty has started to show up in some sluggish
economic data, which further pressured stocks by heightening recession
fears.
“If he would have come in with just the
10%, I think the markets would probably be up quite a bit right now,” said
Larry Tentarelli, chief technical strategist at the Blue Chip Trend Report.
“But because the tariffs came in bigger than many expected, I think what that
does is it creates more downside volatility right now.”
Extrapolating the losses in after hours
Wednesday trading, the S&P 500 is on course to fall back into a correction
during regular hours trading Thursday
Stock
market today: live updates Trump tariffs
US will boom: Trump rejects stagflation fears as
experts warn of economic crisis
2 April 2025
United States President Donald Trump on
Wednesday brushed aside concerns about stagflation, insisting that America's
economy is on the verge of a major resurgence.
When asked whether he was worried about
stagflation — a combination of stagnant economic growth, high inflation, and
rising unemployment — Trump responded, "I haven't heard that term in
years. I don't know anything about it. This country is going to be more
successful than it ever was. It is going to boom. We're going to have a
boomtown. We're going to boom".
The President's remarks came at a time
when economic analysts have raised alarms about the risk of stagflation — a
scenario where economic growth slows while inflation remains high and
unemployment rises.
Historically, stagflation has been one of
the most difficult economic challenges to manage, as it combines two typically
opposing economic forces: inflation and stagnation. The term gained prominence
in the 1970s when the US struggled with surging oil prices, economic
stagnation, and high joblessness, leading to a prolonged period of economic
distress.
Despite concerns from experts, Trump
remained confident that the US economy would thrive, calling his ongoing term a
'golden age' for America. He also vowed to bring manufacturing and production
back to the United States, emphasising economic self-sufficiency.
"We are going to bring manufacturing
and products back to America. For instance, we need pharmaceuticals for our
country — we don't want to buy them from other countries. Similarly, we have
our own lumber, we have our own energy. We don't need energy from Canada, we
don't need lumber from Canada. In fact, we don't need anything from Canada. I
believe this will be a golden age for America," Trump said during a press
gaggle aboard his Air Force One flight.
With the impending rollout of Trump's
reciprocal tariffs, economists are warning of a looming stagflation crisis in
the United States.
Experts cite Trump's economic policies —
tariffs, mass public sector layoffs, and government program shutdowns — as
key drivers of these concerns. They said warning signs are already emerging,
including declining consumer sentiment, falling stock markets, and persistent
inflation.
US will boom:
Trump rejects stagflation fears as experts warn of economic crisis
EU’s instant retaliation against Trump’s tariffs
set to target US tech and banking
1 April 2025
BRUSSELS – The European
Union is
poised with “a strong plan to retaliate” against Donald Trump’s plan to
impose sweeping tariffs on US imports from
around the world.
The
new tariffs are
expected to mark a massive escalation in his global trade war, marking what he
is describing as America’s “liberation day”, with speculation that he could
slap a universal 20 per cent levy on all imports.
However, European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has promised
instant retaliation, warnuing that Brussels
had “a lot of cards” to fight the battle ahead.
EU officials have already drawn up their
target list of American sectors for their counterstrike, taking aim at US
banking services and big
tech.
“We will approach these negotiations from
a position of strength,” Von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Tuesday.
“Europe holds a lot of cards. From trade to technology to the size of our
market. But this strength is also built on our readiness to take firm
countermeasures. All instruments are on the table.”
Trump has already slapped 25 per cent
tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium, as well as cars and car parts.
His so-called “reciprocal” tariffs are
aimed at punishing not only existing EU levies but what the US administration
sees as non-tariff barriers such as EU tech regulations, tax rates, and health
and safety standards for farm products.
While the
UK is unlikely to retaliate – after the Office for Budget Responsibility
warned reciprocal measures would hit GDP and wipe out Rachel Reeves’s £9.9bn
fiscal headroom by 2026 – the EU stands ready.
Von der Leyen said that, unlike the US,
the EU was ready to offset lost American trade with deeper ties with other
markets.
“Our hallmark is not only that we are the
biggest market in the world but that we are reliable and predictable,” she
said. “We have the power to push back.”
Von der Leyen has strong backing in most
EU capitals, with French President Emmanuel
Macron calling
for Europe to be prepared for a “world of tariff wars” and European Central
Bank President Christine Lagarde warning that leaders need to “stand ready for
anything”.
“We do not necessarily want to retaliate,
but we have a strong plan to retaliate if necessary,” Von der Leyen said.
The EU – which has an equivalent economic
power to the US – retaliated within hours against Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs
on steel and aluminium, targeting up to €26bn of American goods. But the bloc
has so far held back on the 25 per cent tariffs on cars.
EU officials note that while the EU has a
trade surplus in goods with the US, including cars, pharmaceuticals and food,
the US also has a trade surplus in services, from finance to technology.
Retaliation could involve digital levies
and stricter rules on Silicon
Valley,
as well as restricting banking and insurance access to the EU for Wall Street
giants.
“Europe is far from powerless. Its
long-standing ties with the US have played a crucial role in shaping America’s
economic success and geopolitical dominance,” said Tobias Gehrke, a senior
policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
“With strategic influence across trade,
finance, technology, and digital markets, Europe holds powerful cards that
could counter Trump’s coercive tactics,” he added.
EU’s instant
retaliation against Trump’s tariffs set to target US tech and banking
Global Inflation/Stagflation/Recession
Watch.
Given
our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians,
inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
US
inflation swaps price in big short-term tariff impact, flag recession risk
April
1, 2025
NEW
YORK (Reuters) -Investors in financial derivatives called U.S. inflation swaps
are betting that President Donald Trump's tariffs will have a hefty short-term
impact on consumer prices that will recede in the next few years as recession
concerns escalate.
Inflation
swaps are used to hedge against a rise in prices. They have two participants:
the receiver and payer: the receiver seeks protection against rising inflation,
while the payer, typically a bank, assumes the risk tied to inflation.
Specifically,
the receiver agrees to exchange with the payer a fixed amount for floating
payments tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for a given notional amount and
period of time.
These
instruments are also used by market participants to speculate on the path of
inflation and more broadly to infer inflation expectations. U.S. inflation
swaps cleared by LCH have amounted to $1.3 trillion so far this year, having
grown sharply since Trump's January 20 inauguration in the face of rising
tariff uncertainty.
Trump
is expected to announce on Wednesday a wide range of reciprocal tariffs against
U.S. trading partners who levy tariffs against imports from the United States.
While there are no specific details on which products will be affected,
analysts expect that tariffs will be imposed on cars, semiconductors, lumber,
and pharmaceuticals.
The
U.S. president, however, said last week, he was open to negotiating deals with
countries seeking to avoid U.S. tariffs.
Ahead
of this tariff announcement, U.S. one-year inflation swaps surged to a two-year
high of 3.07% on Friday, and were last at 2.99% on Tuesday. This move means
that investors believe headline CPI will average about 3% over the next 12
months, higher than the 2.8% year-on-year CPI reading for February, the latest
available data.
U.S.
two-year swaps, on the other hand, were at 2.84%, while those on three-year
maturities stood at 2.42%, LSEG data showed, suggesting the market thinks
inflation will come down after that initial spike.
"There's
an initial, one-time increase in inflation at the price level because firms
have to raise prices to offset the impact of tariffs," said Ryan Swift,
chief bond strategist at BCA Research.
"But
over the medium term, tariffs would actually slow manufacturing activity, which
means less demand ... and inflation will end up lower than what it would have
been otherwise just because the economy is hurt. It reflects recession
expectations."
Recession
is not the base case for many banks, although that likelihood has increased.
Goldman
Sachs, in its latest research note, has raised its 12-month recession
probability to 35% from 20%, reflecting its lower growth forecast for the
fourth quarter, declining consumer confidence, and "statements from White
House officials indicating willingness to tolerate economic pain."
J.P.
Morgan estimates a 40% chance of a recession.
BREAKEVEN
INFLATION
There's
another measure of price increase expectations, however, called breakeven
inflation, derived from the Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities market.
Breakeven inflation and inflation swaps are similar, although the former has a
liquidity premium attached to it due to supply and demand factors in TIPS
trading.
Some
analysts prefer to look at inflation swaps to measure expectations because they
are not tied to liquidity issues.
Breakevens
showed a similar pattern with U.S. inflation swaps: a big tariff impact in
one-year breakevens of 3.4% on Tuesday, sliding in the next few years.
Some
analysts pointed out that lower inflation expectations after that initial
tariff-related rise seemed misplaced.
"If
growth continues to chug along even if it is at a more subdued pace and you get
this big supply shock coming from tariffs, the inflation impact in the near
term will be larger than what the market is currently priced for and that could
last longer," said Phoebe White, head of U.S. inflation market strategy at
J.P. Morgan.
More
US inflation swaps
price in big short-term tariff impact, flag recession risk
Trump’s
car tariffs to put 25,000 UK jobs at risk, IPPR say
Wednesday
02 April 2025 6:00 am
President
Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on all car imports to the US could destroy thousands
of UK jobs, the Institute for
Public Policy Research (IPPR) have suggested.
The
think tank estimates that around 25,000 jobs will come under threat as a result
of Trump’s tariffs due to come into effect on Wednesday.
The
most exposed brands include Jaguar Land Rover and Mini, the IPPR said,
as respective factories in Solihull and Oxford would be at risk of closing
down.
IPPR’s
calculation assumes that car firms move abroad to avoid tariffs.
UK
vehicle exports to America – its largest trading partner – are worth some
£9bn.
The
think tank estimated that there were a total of 263,000 workers in transport
manufacturing. It said exports of non-electric cars fell by 24 per cent between
2018 and 2022.
Pranesh
Narayanan, a research fellow at IPPR, said the government’s growth plans were
“at jeopardy”.
“Trump’s
tariffs have huge potential to completely destabilise the UK car manufacturing
industry, affecting tens of thousands of jobs,” Narayanan said.
Car
manufacturing is already under intense strains as the sector saw a 11.6 per cent decline in
output in February, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
(SMMT).
The
UK is gearing up for much worse as Trump prepares to announce extra tariffs on
Wednesday in what he has dubbed ‘Liberation Day’.
Prime
Minister Keir Starmer is hoping to
clinch a trade deal with the US but there is no indication the two countries
will come to an agreement in the short term.
Downing
Street conceded that Trump
is likely to include the UK in sweeping tariffs on goods on Wednesday in an
event the president has labelled as “Liberation Day”.
The
IPPR is taking an optimistic view on Trump’s targeted taxes on car imports as
it urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to subsidise businesses involved in green
transport manufacturing and reduce trade barriers with the European
Union.
“If
the government uses the upcoming industrial strategy to drive investment in
[green transport] sectors, this could be the spark that leads to thousands of
new consumers to start buying British and buying green.”
Trump’s car tariffs to put 25,000 UK jobs at risk, IPPR say
Covid-19
Corner
This
section will continue only occasionally when something of interest occurs.
A
new Covid variant is on the rise. What to know about LP.8.1
2
April 2025
More
than five years since COVID was declared a pandemic, we’re still facing the
regular emergence of new variants of the virus, SARS-CoV-2.
The
latest variant on the rise is LP.8.1. It’s increasing in Australia, making up close
to one in five COVID cases in New South Wales. Elsewhere it’s become even more
dominant, comprising at least three in five cases in the United Kingdom, for example.
So
what is LP.8.1? And is it cause for concern? Let’s look at what we know so far.
An
offshoot of Omicron
LP.8.1
was first detected in July 2024. It’s a descendant of Omicron, specifically of
KP.1.1.3, which is descended from JN.1, a subvariant that caused large waves of
COVID infections around the world in late 2023 and early 2024.
The World
Health Organization (WHO)
designated LP.8.1 as a variant under monitoring in January. This was in
response to its significant growth globally, and reflects that it has genetic
changes which may allow the virus to spread more easily and pose a greater risk
to human health.
Specifically,
LP.8.1 has mutations at six locations in its spike protein, the protein which
allows SARS-CoV-2 to attach to our cells. One of these mutations, V445R, is
thought to allow this variant to spread more easily relative to other
circulating variants. V445R has been shown to increase binding to human lung
cells in laboratory studies.
Notably,
the symptoms of LP.8.1 don’t appear to be any more severe than other
circulating strains. And the WHO has evaluated the additional public health
risk LP.8.1 poses at a global level to be low. What’s more, LP.8.1 remains a
variant under monitoring, rather than a variant of interest or a variant of
concern.
In
other words, these changes to the virus with LP.8.1 are small, and not likely
to make a big difference to the trajectory of the pandemic.
That
doesn’t mean cases won’t rise
COVID
as a whole is still a major national and international health concern. So far
this year there have been close to 45,000 new cases recorded in Australia,
while around 260 people are currently in hospital with the virus.
Because
many people are no longer testing or reporting their infections, the real
number of cases is probably far higher.
In
Australia, LP.8.1 has become the third most dominant strain in NSW (behind XEC
and KP.3).
It
has been growing over the past couple of months and this trend looks set to
continue.
More
A new Covid
variant is on the rise. What to know about LP.8.1
Technology
Update.
With events happening fast in the
development of solar power and graphene, among other things, I’ve added this
section. Updates as they get reported.
Bellezza
process could replace copper with graphene in ICs
Posted
on 1st April 2025 | Modified on 1st April 2025
Anthony
Paul Bellezza (pictured) is the inventor of a 2D graphene fusion process being
used for CMOS chip assembly processes that fuses interconnects at temperatures
within the thermal budget of the chip below 400°C, and can work at temperatures
as low as 200°C.
“The
interconnect electrical resistance is almost undetectable – this will allow
faster computers to be produced that operate at lower temperatures as graphene
is also an excellent disperser of heat produced by the chips,” says Bellezza,
“my patent process will extend Moore’s Law and will in time eliminate copper
circuits that will be replaced by environmentally safer graphene as the copper
circuit size is now at the limit. Thinner, copper micro circuits increase
electrical resistance.
Scientist
and engineers have been trying to use graphene in semiconductor circuits for 20
years. The biggest problem has been that graphene cannot be soldered and does
not bond well at low temperatures with any other metals used in circuits. It is
the world’s best diffusion barrier that prevents oxidation and metal migration
in circuits.
“My
fusion process is the only process in the world that can use 2D Graphene for
circuit interconnects at low temperature assembling of CMOS chips,” says
Bellezza, “this is done by changing the crystalline structure of the substrate
metal which is iron/nickel plating. The substrate is prepared by physically
rolling or cryogenically treating for only seconds to form Martensite crystals
that will absorb carbon graphene when heated. This type of process has been
used for several hundred years in heat-treating carbonization of steel, but I’m
the first in the world to use this heat-treating process for microelectronic
circuits.”
The
fusion created is a true metallurgical union as the graphene becomes an alloy
fused to the substrate and CMOS Chips. The interface has very low electrical
resistance that increases the speed of the circuit. The process can be used for
all circuits in semiconductors. The carbon grraphene properties are now pivotal
and the best for fusing
“I
have researched the use of this type of fused interconnects in my other patents
found on my Web Site,” says Bellezza, “the solderless thermoelectric generator
was the start of this research in 2007 now patent US10,756,248 followed by
patent US11,380,833. I received two granted fusion patents in 2018 and 2021. My
fusion patents US10,937,940 and US10,096,761 are the basis of my current work
with several more fusion patent applications to be filed soon.”
“In
2018 when patent US10,096,761 was granted, I sent it out to a few University
Engineering departments for their review and comments,” says Bellezza,
“unfortunately, I received no direct response. I was hoping for positive
response from the University, but received none.”
Nonetheless,
Bellezza believes that the process “will bring 2D Graphene into the main
stream of integrated circuits for generations to come.”
Bellezza process
could replace copper with graphene in ICs | Electronics Weekly
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt
Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
“They
had stumbled either upon a serious flaw in modern financial markets or into a
great gambling run. Characteristically, they were not sure which it was. As
Charlie pointed out, “It’s really hard to know when you’re lucky and when
you’re smart.”
Michael
Lewis, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
