The idea that money must grow in order to sustain economic growth gives the impression that money somehow sustains economic activity. But this has never been true.
Decades ago, the Chinese state began to accumulate gold merely as part of a makeshift backup plan. But it may have ended up with enough gold to make a real move away from fiat currency, which would be a disaster for its Western competitors.
If the Chinese sell us stuff and then "hoard" the money we pay them, that increases the value of the dollars we continue to hold here in the US, while also leaving us with more stuff to sell elsewhere.
97% of consensus economists didn’t see the last recession the quarter before it started. Even worse, 77% didn’t see a recession when it was already happening!
