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$21,714 For Every Man, Woman And Child In The World – This Global Debt Bomb Is Ready To Explode

According to the International Monetary Fund, global debt has grown to a staggering grand total of 152 trillion dollars.  Other estimates put that figure closer to 200 trillion dollars, but for the purposes of this article let’s use the more conservative number.  If you take 152 trillion dollars and divide it by the seven billion people living on the planet, you get $21,714, which would be the share of that debt for every man, woman and child in the world if it was divided up equally. 

We are living during the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world, and our financial engineers have got to keep figuring out ways to keep it growing much faster than global GDP because if it ever stops growing it will burst and destroy the entire global financial system. 

Bill Gross, one of the most highly respected financial minds on the entire planet, recently observed that “our highly levered financial system is like a truckload of nitro glycerin on a bumpy road”.

“The Powers That Be Have Looted Everything.” Greek Farmers Fight Riot Police With Shepherd Crooks

The economic and social disintegration of Greece used to be big news. However it’s largely been overshadowed by the migrant crisis, and the American media hardly reports on Greece anymore. If you’ve been out of the loop, allow me to get you caught up on the financial situation in that country, by giving two answers to the questions you’re probably thinking.  1.) Yes, the Greek government still sucks.  And 2.) the people of Greece are still really pissed off. 

Believe it or not, riots are still a common occurrence in that country. In fact there was an incident last week in Athens, after the government tried to increase taxes and social security contributions. In response, over a thousand farmers from Crete, who used to be immune from these taxes, took a ferry to Athens and proceeded to riot outside of the agriculture ministry building. 

This however wasn’t an ordinary riot, not even by Greek standards. The farmers fought the riot police with shepherd crooks.

 

DYI:  Click the above article there is a 3 minute video farmers with their shepherd’s crooks attacking the police.  Stunning to say the least and yet a bit comical if it were not for the serious situation the Greeks find themselves in today.  

The Greeks need to pull out of the EU go back to the drachma – original Greek currency – devalue to reduce their debts and reduce labor costs that will cause a two to three year short term massive hardship but once completed growth will resume.  Not a pretty picture but far better than drowning Greek society through a two and possibly three decades deflationary slow motion smash. 

This is Worse than Before the Last Three Crashes

by Wolf Richter • Mar 4, 2017 •

Everyone has their own reasons for their boundless optimism or their doom-and-gloom outlooks. But there are some factors – boundless optimists should push them aside assiduously – that, from a historical point of view, would trigger tsunami sirens. Because in the end, it’s not different this time. And the cycle of “multiple expansion” and “multiple compression” is one of those factors. 

 

Earnings have been flat since 2011! The other day, I posted a chart that showed that earnings of the S&P 500 companies in Q4 2016 were back where they’d been in Q4 2011. So five years of earnings stagnation. Yet, during those five years, the S&P 500 index soared 87%!

 DYI