Still in the UK, where all the buzz is that Boris Johnson wants to borrow lots of money and spend it on infrastructure. We'll see whether it actually happens, but if it does Britain will be the first Western economy to do the obvious thing 1/
The world economy in 2020 is basically awash in savings with nowhere to go. People obsess over inverted yield curves and all that, but the real story is how low long-term interest rates are across the world. Here's the real interest rate on US 10-years 2/ 
And here's the nominal rate on German 10-years; real rate even lower 3/
Markets are basically begging governments to put their money to work; and the obvious thing is to engage in a lot of public investment, both in physical infrastructure and in things like child development. Yet much of the political establishment is fixated on the evils of debt 4/
It's true that under Trump US Republicans, after spending the whole Obama administration calling debt an existential threat, have suddenly decided that it doesn't matter. But while they'll borrow, they won't invest 5/
Instead they've given huge tax breaks to corporations, who were supposed to ramp up private investment — but used the money to buy back stocks instead 6/
It's really incredible how we're squandering a golden opportunity to invest in our future. And the lack of investment also makes us highly vulnerable to bad news. When the next bad shock hits, we'll hit it without significant shock absorbers 8/
