Tuesday Link-Ups: Corporate Debt

There is an important article on Bloomberg today regarding corporate debt:

• Bloomberg – Risky Reprise of Debt Binge Stars U.S. Companies Not Consumers

Key takeaways:

• Corporations have been loading up on Debt to mask their falling sales.
• Corporations have not been investing this money into their businesses, instead – they have been financing share buybacks and increasing dividends.
• This will probably not end well.

And this is not just a problem for the USA:

• The Telegraph – Warnings mount on world’s corporate debt, China crisis

Will be interesting to see if this is the next Black Swan – or if it will be Pensions:

• ZeroHedge – Here’s Why All Pension Funds Are Doomed, Doomed, Doomed
• CNBC – Rich countries have a $78 trillion pension problem

Both problems stem from the unintended consequences of Zero and Negative interest rates.