All the world’s financial eggs are precariously perched in one highly speculative basket, in a country run by someone who could be described – sticking with the basket analogy – as a complete basket case. On the eve of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, $10 trillion of foreign money was deployed in US shares, real estate and bonds. A realignment of global risk is on the cards and this means money leaving the US and returning home. Such “hope” value can only be sustained as long as more and more foreign money comes in at the bottom of the pyramid to maintain valuations at the top. London was the epicentre of global money, accounting for about two-thirds of all trade in international capital.

Source: The Irish Times January 31, 2026 13:31 UTC