Le Blog d'Olivier Berruyer sur les crises actuelles. 2011 Year in Review: Signs of an American Spring and a Fourth Turning. [Every year, friend-of-the-site David Collum writes a detailed "Year in Review" synopsis full of keen perspective and plenty of wit. This year's is no exception. Moreover, he has graciously selected CM.com as the site where it will be published in full.
It's quite longer than our usual posts, but by any measure, 2011 offered an over-abundance of 'business as unusual' developments to summarize. We hope you enjoy David's colorful observations and insights, which are very much his own. -- cheers, Adam] Background Governments gambled on a return to growth solving all the problems. That bet has failed. Every December, I write a Year in Review. So why do people care what an organic chemist thinks about investing, economics, monetary policy, and societal moods? Every year I feel like Bill Murray in ground hog day. Contents Investing Time for this turtle to come home. 2011 in Review.
Precious Metals et al.: 53% Energy: 14% Cash Equiv (short duration): 30% Other: 3% Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Marshall Auerback. Noahpinion. Jim Rogers Blog. Nouriel Roubini Blog. Peter Schiff Blog. Ludwig von Mises Institute. World Sovereign Debt Map. Interest-Rates / Global Debt CrisisOct 01, 2010 - 03:46 AM GMT By: Seth_Barani Debt creates problems. It is seldom known to solve problems, especially in the long run.
Countries with high debt are vulnerable to currency weakening as debt drives assets out of those countries towards low risk, high yielding countries. Here is an easy reference to sovereign debt of countries in the world. An interesting pattern emerges from the color-coding. Red States: Most of these are ultra-capitalist nations and are economically and politically close to United States. Yellow States: The south American nations do not seem interested in drinking US binge. Green States: Other than India, many of them are in Africa with low GDP, low debt, but rich in resources. One may argue that governments spend more because of the catalysis given by higher GDP. Question: Which countries have low debt/GDP ratio? We didn't include Japan in the chart because it will cast a shadow on other countries.