One of the most poignant global pandemics in recent memory has been the unexpected outbreak of the coronavirus in China’s Hubei province. The spread and impact of the disease even changed this week’s plan to release the next edition of Bubble 3.0, instead favoring some pertinent commentary from Gavekal’s Arthur Kroeber on the “Wuhan Flu”.

It is said there are “no atheists in foxholes”. When things get desperate, we all like to imagine a better outcome on the other side of whatever nightmare is being endured. It is also the case that when facing challenges, a natural reflex is to cling to beliefs installed in us at a young age.

When writing Q&A On The Hong Kong Dollar Peg back in May, there was no inkling that trust between the police and much of Hong Kong’s population would fully break down. Today, there is a parallel with the 1992 riots in Los Angles…

In the mid-1950s, geologist M. King Hubbert theorized that “peak oil” would come when the maximum rate of extraction of petroleum was reached, after which the production of oil would enter terminal decline. At the time Hubbert presented his theory, he predicted that US peak oil would occur around 1970. The theory appeared accurate for a time, however, pessimistic prophesies on the future of oil have continued to prove false as world oil production has not only risen but hit a new all-time high in 2018.