Its ‘Minsky Moment’ time again as investors start to worry about return of capital
“You can’t run the most reckless monetary and fiscal experiment in history without the bill eventually coming due. The first invoice arrived as inflation. The second has come as a financial panic, with economic…
Today’s financial crisis confirms that “failing to plan, equals planning to fail”
Companies and investors need to invest time now on having a genuine debate about the risks ahead. The regulatory failures of the past few days highlight what can quickly go wrong, if…
China’s One Child Policy meant it “lost” 73 million brides – adding to its real estate and economic risks today
Everyone will now lose out as China’s real estate bubble continues to burst. The speculators who bought apartments they couldn’t afford will go bust. The new capacity built to supply the bubble…
Food prices hit record level as fertilizer costs/availability reduce farm output
As the World Food Programme warns, “High fertilizer prices could turn the current food affordability crisis into a food availability crisis, with production of maize, rice, soybean and wheat all falling in…
Clean energy set to squeeze fossil fuel demand as ‘the electrification of everything’ continues
Portugal is showing the way. Despite 6 months of drought last year, 57% of its electricity came from renewables. And its clean energy focus means it is becoming “one of the cheapest…
The next car you buy will probably be Electric, and you may not need to buy another
As the photos from New York in 1900 and 1913 remind us, transitions happen very quickly once they get underway. One day, we are saying “it will never happen”. The next, we…
Plastics recycling starts to take off, and potential Winners & Losers emerge
Russia’s invasion has dramatically accelerated the need to transition from fossil fuels to renewables, and from single-use plastics to recycled product. In turn, this will create Winners & Losers. Some companies will…
Smartphone market confirms major recession underway – 6th consecutive quarter of falling sales
The smartphone market has now been in decline for 5 years. And whilst the Fed would clearly love to get stocks racing to the moon again, history suggests that Apple’s CFO is…
Japan’s premier warns of “social dysfunction” as ageing populations challenge Western and Chinese economies
Japan has wasted trillions of yen with its failed stimulus programmes. Had it devoted even a tenth of this money to developing a proper Retraining programme for people in their 50s/60s, it…