Dear Angry Old Lady, my wife and I - she 72 and I 77 - are going out more and more but it is in the daytime that I talk about because age tends to tire us later.

Depending on the country and the pensions situation ageing populations can be important contributors to a healthy economy. They go out during daytime, shopping, travelling, having lunch out etc. They are spending at times younger people are working. That spending creates employment and employment means tax income for governments. The time is long overdue for ageing populations to be seen as an asset rather than a liability and pensions system in countries where they are inadequate, fixed and fixed fast.

Interesting article. Much of the theory of “experts" is beyond me but central banks have played no role in the taming of inflation in the west in the past 20 or so years. China did that and I, for one, would like to see an end to the monthly circus of central bankers basking in publicity as they pontificate over tinkering with interest rates.

I thought the Volksgeld initiative here in Switzerland an interesting idea. It got rejected in today’s referendum but something like that, with some modifications, would solve many of today’s banking risks.

Cryptocurrencies are being taken seriously here too.

Interesting article. One thing that is very concerning is the lack of investment has taken place during a time of very low money costs. If interest rates go up because the Fed cannot control its twitchy fingers any longer then it is hardly likely that investments will go up. The US tax cuts could have prioritised investment and we can only hope some investment will emerge from that otherwise the 21st century really will belong to China

seekingalpha.com/.../4168435-chinas-democracy-vs-u-s-tweetocracy. James

I do not like Seeking Alpha either because my articles - that take weeks of research - get confined to back pages whereas those of prolific “authors”, who paste in most off their articles from company websites, get editors' plaudits. What I do like is the openness of discussion in comments that happens with my articles on SA. That does not seem to be possible on TalkMarkets. If there were other comments to your article I cannot see them and learn from them, maybe adding further to the conversation myself. James

Good article, the US/China trade deficit looks large but much of it is “made" in the US

seekingalpha.com/.../4168435-chinas-democracy-vs-u-s-tweetocracy

I hope you are right on pricing. I do not try to guess those but if my own views are correct they have only one way to go - up seekingalpha.com/article/4158962-gas-new-oil

I read today that UK government debt - already very high - has risen higher than forecasts made at budget time. Increasing interest rates will not help.

Good article. It is also worth remembering that the last Greek bail-out did not actually go to Greece, much of it went Deutsche Bank to save them from their exposure to Greece. On another occasion it was found that same "assets” were held at different parts of this mammoth bank at 40 different values. I doubt that has been fixed. One also wonders where the auditors were.

Good article. I am very interested and have much to learn about block chain. Among other things it is very energy intensive and I would like to know if there are any reliable sources of information about that. I touched on its energy use in this recent article seekingalpha.com/article/4158962-gas-new-oil