In 2008, we saw the result of three decades of neoliberalism in the United States and Europe, what we used to call Reaganism and Thatcherism, damage and shake the world financial system. Rather than resolving the problem by repudiating neoliberalism, including its emphasis on more money for rich people and less money for workers, big tax breaks for the wealthy, the deregulation of corporations from pollution to banking, and so-called "free trade," the central banks of the world have been desperately trying to hold things together with bubblegum and bailing wire - also known as low interest rates.

Now it has reached the point where one of the largest banks in Denmark is offering negative interest rates on home mortgage loans. What that means is that if you buy a house and take out a mortgage right now with this bank, the amount that you will pay back at the end of 10 years will be less than the amount that you borrowed. The bank is paying you to take out a mortgage. While the bank is charging some fees to cover some of their costs, this is clearly an unsustainable business model, And shows us how the efforts of central banks desperately trying to avoid the world sliding back into the crisis of 2008 are failing. Batten down your hatches.

The economic winds are starting to howl.

-Thom