OS PINGOS NOS IS 11/07/2022

Could we be on the same road as 1914 Germany? Like that Germany, we now talk of economic matters in terms of billions, trillions and even quadrillions (last year, there were $1.14 quadrillion of derivatives outstanding). And, like post-World War I Germany, we keep running the printing presses-or their digital equivalents-to pay for excessively expensive bailouts and social programs. There are way too many dark similarities. So what advice would survivors of the Weimar Republic give us today?

According to a recent New York Times/CBS News poll of 998 adults showed that Americans have grown more optimistic about the economy, since Barack Obama took office as president. The number of people that think the country is headed in the right direction jumped to 39 percent from 15 percent during the final days of President George W. Bush’s administration. The number of people who still think the country is headed in the wrong direction dropped to 53 percent from 79 percent.