Could the peak in interest rates be close? Why have collapsing natural gas prices not led to lower household bills? Could Twitter really go bust?
Stock markets are rallying
Our latest podcast looks at better than expected inflation news from the US. Stock markets loved it but they have been going up for 6 weeks now. If Twitter still had a quoted share price it would, by contrast, be going down. At least, Elon Musk seems to think so when he mutters about the possibility of bankruptcy.
The latest blow-up is in crypto and (another) Bitcoin crash. There is a connection to higher interest rates causing problems for people and institutions who have borrowed too much. We might include Musk in that list. We might worry about more blow ups. And really hope that the peak in inflation, and therefore the peak in interest rates, is close.
On Apple podcasts here
On Spotify:
What ever happened to companies needing to make a profit? Good article -https://world.hey.com/dhh/the-bubble-has-popped-for-unprofitable-software-companies-2a0a5f57
If there are these redundancies happening, then now might be a good opportunity to beef up the DPC, the Garda, etc. and bring the tired IT systems of the govt and private sector to the highest standard possible. The cyberattack on the HSE was not an isolated incident. Recurrent attacks on IT systems will be a continuing threat for years to come. And beyond that we could look much more seriously at properly enabled IT systems for running the country. There are lots of other countries wh have gone much further than we have (I'm thinking some of the Baltic states, for example). I noticed the following paper showing that high speed internet access had a dramatic effect on New Zealand's exports: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/does-faster-internet-increase-exports-evidence-from-new-zealand_90ee7e6c-en.
Great pod as always 😀