‘A decade ago, whenever I chatted to anyone at Switzerland’s Bank for International Settlements, I felt like I was hobnobbing with dissidents .. Earlier this month I travelled to Washington for an International Monetary Fund and World Bank meeting. There was a cheery mood in the air, just as there was in 2006… But now, just as before, those BIS dissidents are muttering in the wings. At the IMF gala, Borio (still at the BIS) told me that the pesky matter of debt has not disappeared. On the contrary, since the 2008 credit crisis, it has risen sharply: the level of global debt to gross domestic product is now 40% — yes, 40% — higher than it was in 2008. The world has responded to a crisis caused by excess leverage by piling on more, not less, debt.’
– Gillian Tett (October 20, 2017, context)
“This one will be bigger than the one starting in 2007.”
Dissidents.
“Cyc, I’ve got a knot in my stomach.”
Cyc didn’t say anything, just showed me Currency Reform and Banking Reform.
( To be continued.. )
‘Wishful thinking with respect to “a golden opportunity.” The global government finance Bubble has been fueled by almost a decade of near zero rates, massive central bank monetization and unprecedented amounts of government borrowing. My view holds that myriad global Bubbles have become only more vulnerable to any meaningful tightening of financial conditions. And there are pressing issues that increasingly put the loose financial landscape in jeopardy.’
– Doug Noland ‘..ultra-loose global finance..’, April 24, 2018
‘At $164 trillion-equivalent to 225% of global GDP-global debt continues to hit new record highs almost a decade after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Compared with the previous peak in 2009, the world is now 12% of GDP deeper in debt, reflecting a pickup in both public and nonfinancial private sector debt after a short hiatus. All income groups have experienced increases in total debt but, by far, emerging market economies are in the lead. Only three countries (China, Japan, United States) account for more than half of global debt—significantly greater than their share of global output…’
– IMF Fiscal Monitor, April 2018, p. 30