The anarchic AI race: boom, bubble, and bust The history of capitalism is littered with bubbles: periods in which over-excited investors pour their money into ultimately worthless ventures – from the Dutch tulip mania of the 1630s, to the South Sea and Mississippi frenzies of 1720, to today’s cryptocurrency craze.
Shadow banking: a ticking time bomb under the US economy For months, the most peculiar situation has been playing out in front of our eyes. On the one hand, global capitalism has clearly entered a prolonged phase of crisis which is expressing itself at all levels. On the other hand, the US stock market is booming.
What the stock market bubble can tell us about the state of the US economy The financial markets are booming like never before. After a few jitters in April as Trump announced his ‘reciprocal tariffs’, the stock markets have hit record after record. This at the same time as workers are being squeezed, government finances are in crisis everywhere, central banks are failing to curb inflation, and unemployment is rearing its ugly head. Something doesn’t add up.