Bud Conrad, Casey Research's chief economist, believes that our historic paradigm of continuous economic growth has reached an end. In his view, we have been funding growth in recent decades via first issuing an unsustainable amount of public and private debt, and more recently by runaway money printing. This has led to a temporary sense of calm – which Bud calls the 'eye of the storm' – which he believes we are now emerging from into much more troubled waters.
The tragic developments in Japan are likely to serve as one of (probably several) the catalysts that will trigger market dislocations that will accelerate the collapse. He and Chris are concerned that the global economy is unprepared for the world's third largest economy to quickly shift from being a net exporter of goods and funding to a consumer of them.
by blaggers