Michael Pento: We are now witnessing the death throes of the free market
We are now witnessing the death throes of the free market. The massive and record-breaking global debt overhang, which is now $250 trillion (330% of GDP), demands a deflationary deleveraging depression to occur; as a wave of defaults eliminates much of that untenable debt overhang. The vestiges of the free market are trying to accomplish this task, which is both healthy and necessary in the long term-no matter how destructive it may seem during the process. Just like a forest fire is sometimes necessary to clear away the dead brush in order to promote viable new growth. However, the "firemen" of today (central banks) are no longer in the business of containing wildfires, but instead proactively flooding the forest with a deluge of water to the point of destroying all life.
Michael Pento is a specialist in Austrian economics and is the President of Pento Portfolio Strategies. Prior to starting Pento Portfolio Strategies he served as a senior economist and VP of the managed products division of another well known financial firm. Michael has also created ETFs and UITs that were sold throughout Wall Street. Earlier in his career, he worked on the floor of the NYSE. He is the author of The Coming Bond Market Collapse: How to Survive the Demise of the U.S. Debt Market