“Where are we headed as a global economy?” is a question most of us worry about. My best guess is that over time – in years not months – governments will wither away and the underlying global economy will grow and prosper.
How I get there starts with where we are right now. And right now, there are enormous headwinds facing us. The headwinds all have a common theme however.
The governments of the United States, Europe and Japan currently owe trillions of dollars that it will not be able to pay. Part of the un-payable debt is due to the printing of close to $10 trillion of paper the central banks hope and pray will be considered money by their publics. The rest of the un-payable debt is due to promises about future benefits made by these governments to placate their citizens.
That rotten mess sits on top of a global expansion of the ability to produce goods and services wanted and needed by the emerging world. The truly amazing fundamental reality not understood by most is that more people as a percentage of this planets population have achieved calorie sufficiency in the past decade than ever before. That is worth repeating, more people as a percentage of this planets population are no longer calorie insufficient than ever before. Calorie insufficient is a nice way of saying starving to death.
Look at Asia. Broadband has created the possibility of a global economy. With broadband Asian factories can be the low cost producer for the world. Yes, the loss of manufacturing jobs to Asia costs the developed world jobs, but consider how many people have stopped starving as a result.
I am not saying that starvation is no longer an issue, I still contribute monthly to the Global Hunger Project, but what I am saying is that broadband is the communication technology breakthrough that is the best tool ever developed to fight starvation.
To summarize where we are right now is we have a vibrant global economy being stifled by bad governments in the US, Europe and Japan. Maybe the solution is simply removing all those governments and letting the rest of the global economy alone?
Do you know who would be most opposed to such a solution? My guess is the governments and those who are being paid by the government whether in salaries and benefits; as well as all the special interest group parasites.
Let me be emphatic that I am not advocating any sort of physical or even non-physical violence.
A buddy who read this in draft form suggested we need government to act as a monitor and referee to keep the bad guys under control. Maybe we do. But does it have to be called government or could social media take on being the referee and monitor for the globe?
By the way, Happy Anniversary my darling Virginia.
Charles Biderman
President & CEO TrimTabs Investment Research
Portfolio Manager, TrimTabs Float Shrink ETF (TTFS)
