Is The Global Game Of Golf On The Downswing?

Used to be the preferred leisure activity of the economic savvy, has the game of golf been on a global decline during the past 28 years?

By: Ringo Bones  

During a recent survey taken during the first week of 2018, it was found out that there are one-third less Americans playing golf compared a decade ago – this was despite of the recent inclusion of golf by the International Olympic Committee during the 2016 Rio Olympics. The recent findings could scare the global golf industry which is currently worth 70-billion US dollars a year - and yet globally, golf has been in decline during the past 28 years. Should golf equipment manufacturers start to worry? 

The decline in the global game of golf was first noticed back in 1990 and, ironically, it was first noted in Japan – a country well known for its obsession of golf where even insurance companies there issues a so-called “hole-in-one-insurance” for serious golfers. Even the rise of Tiger Woods during the 1990s only raised a brief anomalous peak of new golfers – but only in the United States. But why are many leaving the game of golf and why did it failed to raise new recruits?

Since the late 1980s “Lincoln Savings And Loan Scandal” broke, the game of golf – which unfortunately most of its enthusiasts work in the top-tier world of finance – acquired a perception of a game only for rich old folks, as in “elitists”. And most importantly, a typical golf course wastes more water than a high-end gated community in the middle of the Nevada desert; which probably makes golf an easy target during times of class warfare by environmentalists. Add to that the climate change denial stance of Donald J. Trump and his ilk, it seems like every left-leaning intellectual had been abhorring golf not just for reasons Mark Twain quoting: “Golf is a good walk spoiled.”

Could Mainland China’s Ticking Debt Bomb Destabilize The Global Economy?

Some economic pundits say that debt is just a manageable byproduct of an ongoing economic boom, but could Mainland China’s looming “debt bomb” destabilize the global economy this 2018?

By: Ringo Bones

To anyone familiar with modern economic science will also be familiar with some “Keynesian economic pundits” stating that debt is just a merely manageable byproduct of a booming economy, but could the massive debt pile – often called “Mainland China’s ticking debt bomb” – that is a byproduct of the economic boom that created the world’s second biggest economy the trigger that could destabilize the global economy this 2018? But first, here’s a brief history on how Mainland China’s public and private debt grew to such monstrous proportions as to scare a significant number of economic pundits who just recently acquired a semblance of confidence on the direction of the global economy. 

Back in 2007, around the time when Mainland China overtook Japan as the world’s second biggest economy, both public and private debt stood at around 6-trillion US dollars. Ten years later, the Mainland Chinese public and private debt reached 23-trillion US dollars. What worries some economic pundits the most is not mainly the monstrous debt size but the slowdown in economic growth since the end of the first decade of the 21^st Century as Mainland China moves from a developing to a developed economy. Because Mainland China is now a main driver of global economic growth, the solution to the country’s ticking debt bomb is now everybody’s concern. 

Weaning the nation off that debt without intensifying its ongoing economic slowdown can be tricky. Despite Mainland China’s growing by 6.9-percent in 2017 beating the government target of 6.5-percent growth forecast, it is a mere shadow of the 10-percent or more annual economic growth the country experienced during the middle of the first decade of the 21^st Century. Cleaning up the nation’s banks is one approach. Propping up borrowers to prevent defaults is another, but propping up borrowers could leave the country mired in bad debt and make it susceptible to years of economic stagnation like what happened to Japan that started back in 1991 which it has just more or less recently recovered.