2025. Will it be a good year?
If the current state of affairs is anything to go by the answer has to be a stark “No!”
Italy and France are in chaos, and the housing market in each of those countries is in tatters.
Germany is in free fall, and so is the UK.
In fact the EU is imploding. Just the time for idiot Starmer to want to rejoin.
There are signs that the desire for change is gradually building, but desire for something isn’t much help. Change needs a kick up the rear. If it doesn’t happen soon, there will be nothing much left to change.
I would have thought the death knell for Starmer would be his wife suing for divorce. In a sense that is the ultimate attack. Why he is hanging on when all is collapsing around him is beyond me. But that goes for so many politicians across Europe.
A month or so ago I did consider baiting King Charles to wake up and look for his crown and do something about the chaos that is British politics, but after a week of shilly-shallying I decided it was a waste of time asking him if he thought it might be a good idea to look out one of his windows. Starmer has conned the king into reading the King’s speech to Parliament and the country, and effectively asked the King to lie on his behalf. You would think a real king would not tolerate something like that.
But then you’d think a real constitutional monarch would take heed of a three million plus petition calling for new elections.
Clearly he is king in name only and cant be bothered to take his job seriously. The phrase ‘fiddling while Rome burns’ comes to mind, but is chased away by the thought that maybe these people are deliberately trying to destroy countries. Once upon a time such a view was generally thought to be a conspiracy theory, but it is becoming harder and harder to sustain that view. The destruction now looks as though it is deliberate.
So where do we go from here?
Those of you who regularly follow my posts will know I am a fan of the “Go East” mantra. But the power base in the east is China. So how is China doing at the moment?
The recent pictures coming out of Beijing, Shanghai, and other large Chinese cities is of a country in depression, with shops closed, streets empty, and people hastening back to their country roots. It seems the average Chinese person has lost money in real estate, has not made money in the stock market, is suffering wage cuts and layoffs, and is generally in big financial trouble.
Younger folks cant afford housing costs, and have little or no appetite for having children because they cant afford them, and they are embracing the ethic of ‘lieing flat’. In other words, the general mood has become one of apathy.
The government, which at the turn of the century was doing well, is now stuck with serious amounts of debt, just like governments in the West.
In short, the news from across the world is not good.
On top of all that, the Ukraine war still rumbles on with more and more dire results for the Ukrainians. Western governments are still wasting tax payers’ money supporting a lost cause. And tax payers are getting fed up with supporting what is effectively a corrupt state. The conspicuous spending of the Ukraine elite is sickening when set beside what the conscripts are having to put up with.
Will this madness stop, or will it escalate? I suspect it will only stop when something really bad happens. Do we have to wait for a Hiroshima moment?
A similar situation is raging in the Middle East (or West Asia, if you prefer). That looks even worse. There are a dozen states that are a mess, with changing allegiances, corrupt leaders, and a goodly crew of renegades.
One thing seems to be certain (if anything is in this part of the world), and that is that I cant see how Israel can continue to exist surrounded by enemies. The country does not have a single friendly neighbour. That is the ultimate recipe for the failure of a state. Even as we speak the country could be annihilated within 24 hours if the goading reaches a slightly higher level.
The real trouble is that there is no will in the USA for negotiation, or what, once upon a time, used to be called diplomacy. The Western philosophy appears to be “Why bother with talking if we can bomb the blighters?”
Is 2025 going to be another year ruled by the school bullies?
The problems raised in 2024 are continuing into 2025.
Where is the best place to live now that the West is failing in such a spectacular way?
And where does one invest one’s funds safely? Real estate prices are falling pretty well everywhere. Stock markets appear to be at a top, so investing there is highly risky.
Maybe one should invest in AI? But that in itself is highly risky? Which companies are going to make the money?
Perhaps one has to put up with the money markets for the time being. But with the debt levels through the roof right across the world, that area would appear to be riddled with risk.
Is it really time to invest in Africa? Throughout my lifetime I have looked to Africa on several occasions, but in the past all those enticing glimpses into an African renaissance have quickly turned to dust. Is this time going to be similar, or has that continent at last started to show promise?
Difficult questions.
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