There’s no hiding from the perception of growing inequality. Clamping down on the super-rich and more public spending are some of the proposed remedies. But at least with the latter, many are question their efficacy if fuelled by higher debt

How to Tax the Super Rich (Project Syndicate, 30 min podcast) Emanuel Saez, one of the architects behind Elizabeth Warren’s “Ultra-Millionaire Tax” plan sits down with Project Syndicate in this podcast to elucidate why a wealth tax may be key to solving some of the issues with inequality facing the US today.

Public Debt and Private Investment (VOX CEPR, 6 min read) Public debt doubled from $35 trillion in 2007 to $70 trillion by 2018. 70% to 102% of GDP in advanced economies and from 35% to 50% of GDP in developing economies. Massive increases in public debt has a crowding-out effect for firms looking to expand via debt financing. The ones hardest hit are credit-constrained, small unlisted firms. [Bearish SME]

Fiscal Policy Cannot Save The ECB (VOX CEPR, 7 min read) The problems of low inflation and negative interest rates cannot be addressed by expansionary fiscal policy, which provides temporary salves at best and which cannot be implemented on a scale large enough to make any real dent on the issues. [Bullish bunds]

How Long Will US Foreign Net Income Dark Matter Continue?(ECONOSPEAK, 2 min read) Despite the mounting foreign debt, the US still has a positive capital flow. Data suggests that US-owned assets abroad are earning far higher rates of return than what foreigners are earning from their assets in the US. This has for quite a long time been labelled the “dark matter” phenomenon. The question arises: how long can this odd situation continue? [Bullish US dollar]