I have a fairly broad portfolio of stocks, ranging from blue chips to outright bets inspired by the wallstreetbets crowd.

I have divested entirely of anything that relies on the spending power of the British consumer; retail, house builders, all of it. British people just don't have discretionary money to spend, and it's getting worse rather than better. Thus far, this particular stock market bet has gone well for me (although obviously it's a sign of bad times for the UK consumer). This is not the same as British companies; those with large overseas markets are still going. My Games Workshop shares have been absolute champs, for example.

I cannot speak for other countries, but the UK is one I can see with my own eyes. The people are just ending up with ever less discretionary spending power, where discretionary now appears to be gradually edging towards including "something to live inside" and "food."

Well, yes, there's an incoming petrol/jet fuel shortage which is currently being disguised by running down inventory. That is necessarily going to hit consumption. Only way out of that is investment, which if targeted correctly both improves the economy in the short run and provides productivity benefits in the future.

There is, as they say, a war on.

> The other possibility is that workers will succeed in bidding up wages, fuelling persistent inflation even once energy prices fall.

This is the central madness of our times: people do want higher wages, but they don't want inflation, except a large part of inflation in a service economy is .. other people's wages.