Article originally appeared on www.zerohedge.com.
International Man: At $1.1 trillion, annualized interest on the US federal debt is now the second-largest budget item—and is on track to become the largest.
Meanwhile, long-term interest rates are climbing, even as the Fed lowers short-term rates.
Can the US government keep kicking the can down the road? Or will Trump have to reset the system?
Doug Casey: Starting in the 1960s, a growing number of people noticed the size of the debt and annual deficits. Even back then—when numbers were trivial compared to current levels—it was said this can only end up one of two ways: Either runaway inflation, where the dollar loses all value, or catastrophic deflation caused by massive defaults in debt.
It occurred to me, in the 1980s, that it could wind up with both happening, either in sequence or simultaneously in different sectors of the economy. While you couldn’t rule out a soft landing, the most likely …
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