Japanese investors have sold off eurozone government debt at the fastest pace in a decade, suggesting that the move by one of the major holders of European debt could lead to a sharp sell-off in the market. Gross online sales by Japanese buyers rose to 41 billion euros in the six months to November, the …
Europe’s Welfare State: expensive and ineffective
European states have the largest welfare systems among OECD members and among the most expensive in the world, symbolizing the post-war social democratic social contract. But all of this has begun to be overturned with the pandemic and later the Ukrainian crisis as a starting point. At the same time, Europe’s economic dynamism has faded …
Trump will crush the dollar to revive the US economy
The new US administration will sail into uncharted waters to address the ongoing economic decline, as President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly pointed out – the transformation of monetary policy that followed the end of the gold standard is the core of his announced Make America Great Again strategy. The US’s “excessive monetary privilege” has enabled …
European Productivity: Slowdown with wage freezes and layoffs
Productivity in Europe is slowing, putting a damper on real wage increases, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has found. In its “World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2025” chapter, the ILO highlights that labour productivity has declined since the COVID-19 pandemic. Real labour productivity per hour worked in the EU-27 economies fell by 0.1% per …
Banks’ exposure to government debt will bring economic collapse
Crises are never caused by excessive exposure of businesses and individuals to risky assets. Crises can only happen when investors, governments and households accumulate risk in assets where most people believe there is little to no risk – namely government bonds. The recent sell-off and the underlying trend What does the recent sell-off in US …
Citizens, be careful, in Revolut and Viva Wallet, are the funds sufficient?
Let’s be careful… we raise the issue of capital adequacy for Revolut and Viva Wallet in the event of an adverse scenario and what risks consumers – depositors may take out of ignorance. Revolut Revolut has been involved in fraud many times in the past and a lot of money has been lost. A search …
The specter of the IMF hangs over Britain and the new debt crisis
The latest turmoil in UK bonds has drawn comparisons to the collapse of Liz Truss’s 2022 mini-budget, but a parallel with the debt crisis of the 1970s may be more apt. About ten days ago the British pound came under sustained downward pressure amid a fall in the value of UK government bonds, which arose …
Inflationary money: foundation of uncontrolled state growth – destruction of economic & social freedoms
The rulers and the ruled in the Western world have long succumbed to a particularly demonic temptation: the replacement of commodity (or precious metal) money with unbacked, state-issued money, known as fiat money. In a sense, they have been seduced by the alluring prospect of securing the power to increase the quantity of money arbitrarily …
The huge Public debt and Budget deficit, the trade war and the… problem with the dollar
Investors around the world spent much of 2024 worrying about China’s problems with the housing market and deflation. In 2025, it’s the US’s turn to be the star of the negative scenarios. While Donald Trump’s trade war is making headlines, the rapid decoupling between US net foreign investment and the level of federal debt is …
Trump’s Tariffs – US Economic Suicide – and the Gold Standard
On November 30, 2024, US President-elect Donald Trump threatened the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, as well as other states in the process of joining – with 100% tariffs on their exports to the US if they dare to attempt to replace the …