Asset Allocators' Soapbox: Patrick Armstrong

The US recently saw its debt match its GDP, at $14.3trn, and is facing the prospect of default if its government cannot agree to raise its debt ceiling. The UK is running persistent deficits and the eurozone is being suffocated by the debt of the periphery. The West is in a deleveraging state and suffering from near double-digit unemployment and anaemic growth. In such a weak economic climate the question is: how will it deal with its massive debt and deficits? Debasing currency to pay off debts is not a new phenomenon. In the past it was a literal debasing of the amount of precious m...