TIME Magazine Columnist Predicts Global Economic Depression
Ian Bremmer, the highly regarded political scientist, has predicted a global depression in his most recent column in TIME. “The Next Global Depression Is Coming and Optimism Won’t Slow It Down,” read the morbidly-stated headline of his column. He bases his forecast on the global nature of the evolving economic crisis, and the severe impact of Covid-19 on economies that far surpasses what occurred during the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09.
The column by Bremmer follows last week’s release of Q2 economic data in the United States, which revealed that quarterly GDP had contracted by a staggering 33%. Unemployment rates in not only the U.S. but in all major economies are at double digit rates, as Coronavirus induced lockdowns continue to destroy consumer and industrial demand.
Meanwhile, stock markets worldwide are soaring, including the Dow Jones, as delusional investors continue to believe in the phantom of a V-shaped recovery. However, a spike in Covid-19 infection rates following a temporary receding after the initial lockdowns, reveals that such optimistic thinking is totally illusory. The likelihood of a second wave of infection in the Fall, coinciding with a likely divisive presidential election in the United States, makes Ian Bremmer’s dire economic forecast the most likely future trajectory for the global economy.