Greece is not the place to be right now.
Its citizens are capped out at $67 a day on the ATM. Its pensioners are pinching pennies. Its doctors are leaving in droves. Its long-term demographics are deplorable, making the chances for recovery more and more abysmal. It’s a nightmare!
I’ve already explained that large-scale debt deleveraging will be one of the triggers that sends the global economy back into crisis. Now that Greece has defaulted on its $1.7 billion IMF payment, they’re looking more and more like the beginning of the end.
If Greece kicks the bucket, it could spill over to the other weak euro zone members — namely, Portugal, Italy, and Spain. Lance explained yesterday that investors who are fearing the worst from Greece dropped out of not only Greece debt but those other lower quality bonds as well.
With so many developed countries already sitting on the brink, and with the worst yet to come, it’s important to consider which countries will be hit the hardest… and which will fare the best going into the next recovery.
The truth is that, with the lower birth trends that come from increasing urbanization, wealth, and education, almost all developed countries have sideways (at best) to falling demographic trends for decades to come.
But there are a few exceptions…
And they are, in order: 1) Australia… 2) Israel… 3) Switzerland… 4) Norway… 5) Sweden… and 6) New Zealand.
In these countries, the millennials or “Echo Boomers†will ultimately bring them to new heights.
They’re the few countries that, unlike the U.S., saw a larger generation following their baby boom. These demographics are partially due to higher birth rates but mostly because of strong immigration policies.
When you consider how the stronger demographics in a country like Australia translates into more spending, you understand why they’re at the top! Here’s a look at their spending wave from the middle of last century to the end of this one:
