Was just trying to explain to someone why everything is going to shit, specifically companies, and realized, I don’t fully get it either.
I’ve got the following explanation. The sentences marked with “???” are were I’m lost. Anyone mind telling me, if they’re correct and if so, why?
The past few years, central banks were giving out interest rates of 0% or even negative percentages. Regular banks would not quite pass this on, but you could still loan money and give it back later with no real interest payments.
This lead to lots of people investing in companies. As long as those companies paid out more money than those low interest rates, it was worthwhile. But at the same time, this meant companies didn’t have to be profitable, because they could pay out investors from money that other investors gave them???
This has stopped being the case, as central banks are hiking interest rates again, to combat inflation???
Everything is going to shit for the richest countries in the world. The supposed economic uptick after the 2008 crisis never happened, and economic recovery after COVID was fucked up by the Russian invasion. Things will balance out eventually, but for now I suspect we’ll be in the hole for a few years.
Everything is getting better by the day in many poor countries. Who knows what the political status and policies of the USA will be in fifty years, but countries like China and India are developing at break-neck speeds.
Things are looking up, just not for everyone. I think we’ll have to adjust our perspectives once Asian powers regain their historically powerful presence in the world economy in a few decades; as countries used for cheap (or even forced) labour develop and demand higher wages, luxury products and imported food will continue to get more expensive.