Global Economic Crisis

Sheldon Filger-blogger for GlobalEconomicCrisis.com

The  Center For Economics  and Business Research (CEBR), a UK based consultancy firm, has issued a new forecast that projects China’s GDP will surpass that of the United States by 2028, making China the largest economy in the world. This  projection is five years earlier than an earlier forecast, pointing to an  accelerating decline in U.S. economic strength relative to that of the People’s Republic of China.

According to the CEBR, the primary driver in the imminent surpassing of America’s GDP by China is the impact of Covid-19. The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the U.S. more than any other national economy,  creating massive financial losses, major economic dislocation  and political instability that also retards future economic growth. In contrast, though the pandemic originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the draconian measures adopted by Beijing led in the long-term to less economic damage. The relatively low rate of Covid infections in China over the past several months has enabled America’s primary economic competitor to return to growth, while the United States in mired in a patchwork of intermittent and inconsistent lockdowns, while infection rates and  mortality are at a peak.

The fact that China is now projected to have the largest GDP in the world by 2028 will have significant geopolitical consequences, as well  as determine which country will have the most impact on the global economy. Thus far, there are no signs that political leaders in either the U.S., Europe or Russia have fully comprehend the seismic shift in economic power that is occurring virtually in real time, largely enabled by a global pandemic that ironically originated  in China.

In the 2-year period between 2008 and 2010 something peculiar happened to the U.S. Federal Budget. In 2008 the Federal Government in the United States spent $253 billion on interest  incurred by the national debt, representing  8.5 % of all federal outlays. Over the next two years federal budget deficits skyrocketed due to stimulus  and other fiscal programs undertaken in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. Obviously, massive deficit spending  greatly increased the national debt. However, instead of the expected increase in annual interest payments, the amount allocated for debt interest payments by the Federal Government actually declined to $196 billion, representing  only 5.7% of the Federal budget, a sharp decline from only two years previously.

How was this seemingly impossible mathematical trick accomplished? The answer is surreal in its simplicity. The Federal Reserve, by monetizing the debt and exercising other monetary levers at  its disposals, sharply reduced interest rates across the board. In the case of short term interest rates, they were in some cases reduced to virtually zero ; in essence, free money.  It is only for that reason that interest paid on the national debt plunged while the overall debt ballooned due to continuous  and massive deficit spending.

Will the incoming Biden administration be so lucky? Unlikely. After massive deficit spending in President Trump’s final year in office, primarily due to a Coronavirus relief bill  that increased borrowing by more than $2 trillion dollars on top of the already large structural deficit, a President Biden is set to add a new and even larger Covid stimulus  relief package during his first year in office. So clearly, the national debt will continue to grow at a rapid rate.

What about interest rates? If it could, the Fed would keep interest rates at zero almost forever. But it  can’t. On the horizon are warning signs of high inflation. In the period after the Global Financial Crisis low inflation enabled central banks worldwide to prime the pump and run the printing presses. This time there is decoupling of major trading relationships: U.S. and China; U.K. and Eurozone. As  supply chains fragment, costs will be driven  upwards. Furthermore, there exist geopolitical tensions that threaten to drive up commodity prices, should they worsen. Political instability within  the United States itself creates elevated risks, which in turn stimulate inflationary pressures.

Any meaningful uptick in the  rate of inflation will compel central banks, including the Federal Reserve, to begin raising interest  rates. Once that happens, the massive deficit spending of the Biden administration that is now projected will unleash a sovereign debt trap, condemning the American and other economies, large and small, to stagflation, meaning higher inflation and a highly depressed economy. The handwriting is on the wall. In a worst case scenario, the U.S. government will default on its national debt, with seismic repercussions. Alternatively, the Biden administration could attempt to reduce the national debt through hyperinflation, which will  induce it s own calamitous impact on the nation’s social stability.

Sheldon Filger-blogger for GlobalEconomicCrisis.com