Notes Today:

 

• China’s economy expanded 8.1% in 2021, defying expectations, despite slowing in the last quarter.

• The pentagon declares climate change a national security issue. Btw, the pentagon has known this for decades. 

• US annual rate of inflation jumped to 7% in December, its highest level since June 1982. 

• The euro zone’s annual inflation rate rose to 5%, record high, in December. 

• The Insurance industries had the fourth-costliest year ever for natural disasters, according to Munich Re. 

• Argentina’s interest rates are currently at a remarkable 40%. Inflation  at 51.2%

• TheBaltic Dry index has lost nearly 23% this week. 

• China would like to produce 40% more soybeans by 2025 hoping to become self-sufficient. 

• Fears rise over how unregulated trading and promotion of crypto assets are creating a new generation of addicts.

Tulip file:  Economist  According to some estimates, Bitcoins’ electricity use is approaching that of Italy. “You waste all these resources only to end up with a system that is controlled by people you have even less reason to trust than those who run conventional financial institutions,” 

•  China’s birth rate plummeted to just 7.5 births per 1,000 people in 2021, the lowest figure since records began in 1949.