The big macro-economic news story of the last 18 months has been a combination of inflation & increasing interest rates. I want to talk about that, and offer you A Tale of Two Countries, wherein we compare and contrast the affects of each in the US & Canada.

As the Trump’s pack their bags and head for the exits, they leave in their wake a swathe of destruction through the Capitol Building, the Republican Party and the not so United States of America.

It’s October in a US election year so we’re going to talk a little politics. It’s an election in which most of us here in Canada won’t be casting a ballot, however for reasons outlined below, the results of the US election affect us here in Canada in a very real way.

Governments around the world are pumping funds into their economies trying to create inflation (stimulate growth) while their central banks are vowing to keep interest rates on the low for years to come. Concerns are rising that we appear to be entering a period of stagflation.

By any measure these are extraordinary times. Our world has been gripped by fear of an unseen enemy. A virus has emerged to which we have no natural immunity or, as yet, vaccine. People most affected are the elderly, those with serious underlying health issues and those with compromised immune systems.

It is said that stock markets are constantly climbing walls of worry. They rise or fall on corporate earnings, economic news or a simple soundbite on CNN. Today however we may be facing something we haven’t seen in living memory, the potential for a viral pandemic. Enter COVID-19, the official name for this particular coronavirus.