If we tried to turn all the money in circulation into physically-tangible objects by buying arable land, forests, oil fields, mines, factories, infrastructure, etc. we’d find we ran out of objects long before we ran out of money. It’s like how we can play cards all night long and win a huge pile of chips, but when we try to cash them in they won’t do us any good if there’s no real, useful currency to exchange them for. Money is a lot like poker chips in that sense; we can play all we want so long as we don’t try to exchange them for real money (or tangible resources) and discover that we can’t.

That implies to me that society has become (or maybe always has been) one enormous Ponzi scheme and we may have finally reached the inevitable end of that type of game where it all comes crashing down (albeit in slow-motion thanks to various “stimulus packages”).

Better buckle up; it’s going to be a wild ride! (and for many it already is)

 As far as “austerity” measures go, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet, and they won’t be confined to any one country. This time of “stagnation” will soon be remembered as the proverbial good ol’ days. And there will be petty partisan bickering about what to do, or even whether or not there’s a “problem,” all the way to the bitter end. And for what it’s worth, I’m being an optimist.

There’s a reason our illustrious Prime Minister is visiting various African countries just now – it diverts attention from what his colleagues are doing to the disabled, chronically ill and working poor of the UK, as well as public services from the NHS to the armed services to the police service to schools.