The Interest of Time is a book about your Money.
As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the events that led to the Global
Financial Crisis, the economies around the world have yet to regain pre-crisis
growth levels. After unprecedented levels of stimulus, the US has embarked
on a process of normalization of interest rates. Will the central banks of
the world raise rates before the private sector has repaired their balance sheets?
Or will another recession put us on a collision course with 0% interest rates and
the Zero Lower Bound?
There are two ways to build wealth. Make more money. Or spend less. Traditional
economic theory relies on households and corporations who are always
trying to “maximize profits” (make more money). However, once every 50-100
years, a special type of debt-driven recession damages balance sheets so drastically it changes people’s thinking. They go into balance sheet repair mode. They spend less, instead of trying to make more.
The Great Depression was a Balance Sheet Recession that lasted over 12
years and caused a global depression that fueled the start of World War II.
Japan’s Lost Decade is a Balance Sheet Recession and has been raging for
almost 2 decades now.
And finally, the Global Financial Crisis, or The Great Recession, is a Balance
Sheet Recession. And it is not over.
Everybody knows that there was a financial crisis that occurred in 2008. This
is the true story about how the 30 million families that found themselves in underwater balance sheets recovered from the greatest financial crisis since The
Great Depression. Many more are still struggling under the weight of backbreaking
debt and stagnant wages in the US, and around the world.
This book is about the Great Balance Sheet Recession, why it happened, how
the governments, households and corporations of the world can deal with it,
and steps you can take to strengthen your family’s balance sheet for the future.