economic reality

Saxo Bank has published the latest in its annual series of “outrageous predictions,” and among the bigger calls is that American capitalism is ending. As US debt spirals ever upwards, the federal government will have to make government bonds tax-free, according to Chief Investment Officer Steen Jakobsen, who joins this week’s Merryn Talks Money to discuss the list. “The hand of government is just getting heavier and heavier,” he says.

Other predictions include a global Champions League owned by Saudi Arabia, a health crisis triggered by obesity drugs and a two percent European Union wealth tax.

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When it comes to millennials, the media has certain tropes that it likes to go back to. Millennials love avocados. Millennials aren't into homebuying. Millennials are always killing off this or that product or service. But what if the consumption lens is the totally wrong way to talk about this generation? On this week's Odd Lots podcast, we speak to Malcolm Harris, the author of "Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials," about what he says is a more useful frame for understanding the economic stresses millennials face.

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