In every recession, corporations reduce their leverage to shore up their balance sheets. Until now.
U.S. corporate debt is heading for 50% of GDP. That’s not merely a new record – it’s other-worldly.
In 2000, as well as 2008, bubbly asset price excesses reversed course around the time that corporate debt-to-GDP reached 45%. In Q2 of 2020, as the economy contracts further and as companies issue even more debt, the NASDAQ has been hitting new records.
The Federal Reserve is determined to put as much air into the stock bubble as it possibly can. There’s no end to the money printing, government debt monetization and corporate debt bailouts.
In the words of National Lampoon’s Clark Griswold, “This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy.”