Eudemos

US interest expense on public debt just crossed $1.27 trillion over the last 12 months. It took 73 years to 109x that number from 1947 to 2019. It has more than doubled in the six years since. The 30-year treasury just cleared 5% for the first time since 2007. Japan's 20-year bond hit its highest yield since 1997. This isn't an isolated move. This is a global repricing of sovereign debt risk happening in real time. The doom loop is simple: higher rates mean higher interest expense, which means more borrowing, which means more supply, which pushes rates higher. At this pace, interest on the debt will surpass Social Security as the largest line item in the federal budget. The US government will spend more servicing past borrowing than on the retirement safety net for 70 million Americans. Global money supply just crossed $121.9 trillion, up $17.1 trillion in two years, growing at 7-8% annually. Central banks are trapped between inflation that won't die and debt loads that require low rates to service. Cut rates and you pour gasoline on the inflation fire. Hold or hike and the interest expense spiral accelerates. There is no clean exit. The inflation side is getting worse. Electricity prices up 50% in five years. PPI leading CPI higher. Data center construction at $50 billion annualized, up 437% since 2021, now exceeding office construction. The Informationist's CPI overlay tracks the 1970s pattern with a 0.93 correlation. April 2026 CPI sits at 3.78%, right at the inflection point where inflation re-accelerated before peaking near 14%. The Fed declared victory prematurely then, too. Meanwhile the S&P 500 just set a record for the most components hitting new 52-week lows on a day the index poked above its prior all-time closing high. The six-week rally is the biggest since QE1, concentrated in a handful of AI and infrastructure names. The index is a mask. Underneath it, the average company is deteriorating. Twenty-one million against all of it.

The salary you actually need to feel comfortable in the UK in 2026 has more than doubled in the last 15 years. In 2010, £35,000 was a solid graduate salary. You could rent decently, eat out, take a holiday, save a bit. In 2026, the equivalent number — same lifestyle, same level of comfort — is closer to £75,000. That's the difference between 'affording your life' and 'getting by.' £35K used to put you on the comfortable side of that line. £75K is now the entry point. Most people earning £45-£60K in 2026 are quietly running paycheck to paycheck, feeling vaguely confused about why a salary that sounds substantial doesn't actually go very far.