International Monetary Fund

Will Greece avoid financial disaster one more time by somehow pulling one more rabbit out of a hat? It seems unlikely, but we shall know fairly soon

Last year (2014), China overtook the United States in gross domestic product adjusted for purchasing power (GDP-PPP, see point 4 for explanation), according to both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (Note 1). It may come as a surprise, but this is really a matter of China simply reasserting its position as the world’s largest economy, which it had lost around 1890 to the United States. This is based on estimates developed by the late legendary economist Angus Maddison of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

President Obama’s policies of thwarting fossil fuel production are diminishing our influence on world affairs by denying the United States’ unparalleled ability to supply fossil fuels to friendly nations. Developing nations need inexpensive coal to supply cheap electricity for their deprived masses.

These days, when some world leader or politician speaks of the climate—the weather is what is happening right now wherever you are—they are not talking about sunshine or rain. They are talking about a devilishly obscene way of raising money by claiming that it is humans that are threatening the climate with everything they do, from turning on the lights to driving anywhere.

“Gold is money. Everything else is credit.” — John Pierpont Morgan

The world’s largest economies seem engaged in something like the children’s game of “musical chairs.”