Sublime

Economics is broken. It has failed to predict, let alone prevent, financial crises that have shaken the foundations of our societies. Its outdated theories have permitted a world in which extreme poverty persists while the wealth of the super-rich grows year on year. And its blind spots have led to policies that are degrading the living world on a

The same is true of most nations, with their ballooning debt-to-GDP ratios. On every level we are, increasingly, slaves to debt, the fruits of our labors going to our creditors.

For all the differences between the rules and practices affecting rich countries like the United States as opposed to emerging markets, some unsettling resemblances to the U.S. situation are evident in the story of Argentina's rise and fall. Most remarkable is the manner in which the flow of foreign capital into the United States has rendered its

The following list comes from Michael Pettis, a very incisive commentator on global economics. It is probably one of the best single pieces you can read on how to identify problem countries in advance. Here is a slightly edited version of Michael Pettis’s five things that matter.3 1. Debt levels matter. The best way to measure them is as total debt