General on Metal Pilot Blog

The Monetary System: Sovereign Debt Crises (2026)

Sat, 29 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0200

Framework evergreen; the history is dated and final. Data as of August 2026. How a sovereign debt burden becomes unsustainable — and the ways out — is durable and reads that way here. The figures for the seven historical cases are settled outturns, each sourced and dated beneath its table. The Japan section (Section 9) is the deliberate exception — current figures and forward scenarios, not finished history, and it predicts no crisis. Any worked ratio illustrates the mechanism, not a forecast. Informational only, not investment advice; AI-assisted and human-reviewed (see Section 13).

The Monetary System, Part 3: Rates & Inflation (2026)

Tue, 25 Aug 2026 17:00:00 +0200

Framework evergreen; figures dated. Data as of August 2026. How a central bank works and how QE transmits are durable and read that way here. Every figure is a dated benchmark from the source named beneath its table — re-source before reuse. Balance-sheet-to-GDP ratios are approximate and flagged; QE programme sizes are headline totals. Informational only, not investment advice; AI-assisted and human-reviewed (see Section 14). Update cadence: annual.

The first guide in this series explained why governments run deficits; the second, how they borrow. This one covers the institution that sits above both — the central bank. Since 2008, central banks have moved from quiet rate-setters to the most powerful actors in the economy, printing trillions to buy bonds and, in 2022, slamming the brakes as inflation returned for the first time in forty years. This guide explains what a central bank actually controls, who runs it, and each of its powers in turn — from setting interest rates to quantitative easing — alongside the record of rates and balance sheets across the major economies since 1995. It is the free primer; for the company- and project-level data these policy regimes ultimately move, that is what Metal Pilot is for.

The Monetary System, Part 2: Bonds & Yields (2026)

Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:30:00 +0200

Framework evergreen; figures dated. Data as of August 2026. How a bond works and how a yield is set are durable and read that way here. Every yield is a dated benchmark from the source named beneath its table — re-source it before reuse, because rates move daily. The China and Poland series are approximate and flagged; the euro-crisis spreads are the documented peaks. Inflation (Section 6) is annual World Bank CPI, and the bond total-return figures are indicative and rounded. Informational only, not investment advice; AI-assisted and human-reviewed (see Section 11).

The Monetary System, Part 1: Spending & Debt (2026)

Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:00:00 +0200

Framework evergreen; figures dated. Data as of August 2026. The way spending, deficits and debt fit together is durable and reads that way here. Every number is a dated benchmark from the source named beneath its table — re-source it before reuse, because fiscal data is revised routinely. Informational only, not investment advice; AI-assisted and human-reviewed (see Section 12). Update cadence: annual.

Every government does three things with money: it spends, it taxes, and it borrows the difference. Do that year after year and the borrowed differences pile into a debt — and across the rich world and China alike, that pile has been growing for a quarter-century. This guide explains what governments actually spend on, why deficits turn into debt, and how the debt burden has moved since 2000 across nine big economies — the United States, China, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Poland, Canada and Australia. It is the free, big-picture primer; when you want the company- and project-level data that sits underneath the macro picture, that is what Metal Pilot is for.