Until recently, I didn't appreciate this topic. In my view, it was a hobby horse (Dutch: stokpaardje) of the liberal-left. Today, my perspective is shifting following its drivers, being: (i) increasing life expectancy or demographics, (ii) being irrelevant to society, (iii) declining religion, and (iv) urbanisation. In many countries, the average age of the...
Economics & Finance
America’s Faustian Pact with runaway debt is coming due (Telegraph)
3 Jun, 2023
INTRODUCTION LO: While the article below is correct, it is not complete. Americans believe in lowering taxation and increasing spending (eg, military). Even a child should be able to understand that such a situation is - ultimately - unsustainable. Quite possibly, the American solution is to sacrifice the US$, in the line with this (in)famous, bluntly true 1971...
World of Debt
2 Jun, 2023
My blog title has been borrowed from a recent Project Syndicate article: A World of Debt. Early 2018, I published my blog Deficits, Losses, and (Government) Debt. My 2018 diagram (obviously) excluded the impact of the 2019-2023 pandemic, which created lots of new government debt. With hindsight, my 2018 diagram contained too much and too little information. Hence,...
Washington isn’t listening to business on China any more (FT)
17 May, 2023
INTRODUCTION LO: The FT opinion below is an interesting, valid analysis that is worth reading. Until 2020, I would - probably - have agreed with the conclusions below. In my 2019 update of the 7 Belief systems (eg, 2015 original), I had even removed Politics from its Power domain. The subsequent Chinese political crackdown on various business sectors made me...
Europe Is Waking Up to Threat of an Eastern Version of Brexit (Bloomberg)
15 May, 2023
INTRODUCTION LO: At times, I wonder if Americans have any clue about Europe. Nobody in Europe will care about a Hungarian exit, apart from (some) Hungarians. Even Brussels may view their exit as an opportunity. Moreover, it will never happen as England has shown that you can only lose by exiting Europe. Let me be very clear: nobody likes those Brussels' politicians....
U.S. Think Tank Reports Prompted Beijing to Put a Lid on Chinese Data (WSJ)
14 May, 2023
Wall Street Journal title: U.S. Think Tank Reports Prompted Beijing to Put a Lid on Chinese Data WSJ subtitle: Some reports based on publicly available information alarmed officials By: Lingling Wei Date: 7 May 2023 "A recent campaign to restrict overseas access to China-based data sources was partly triggered by a drumbeat of U.S. think tank reports on sensitive...
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