Peter Zeihan - The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization

Peter Zeihan, author and geopolitical strategist, is back on the show with Jason Hartman to discuss inflation, the breakdown of supply chains and global manufacturing, the labor shortage, generational demographics, the Russia Ukraine conflict, and so much more!

“In his timely new book, The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization, author and geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan maps out
the next world: a world where countries or regions will have no choice but to make their own goods, grow their own food, secure their own energy, fight their own battles, and do it all with populations that are both shrinking and aging.

The list of countries that make it all work is smaller than you think. Which means everything about our interconnected world - from how we manufacture products, to how we grow food, to how we keep the lights on, to how we shuttle stuff about, to how we pay for it all - is about to change. A world ending. A world beginning. Zeihan brings readers along for an illuminating (and a bit terrifying) ride packed with foresight, wit, and his trademark irreverence.”

At the moment, the labor disconnect is the single largest issue behind our inflation numbers and the worker shortage will increase every year until 2030. The advanced worker cadre of baby boomers is moving into retirement and the need for government spending to keep these people alive will skyrocket.

The very core of globalization is that anyone can go anywhere to get anything. This will change as China is no longer a reliable manufacturing partner and many companies are on their way out. Also, when we talk about the breakdown of supply chains, we're entering into a world where raw commodity access is no longer guaranteed, so we can look forward to large portions of the world losing access to the inputs that are necessary to attempt a modern lifestyle. Take silicon for semiconductors for example; 95% of it comes from one mine in North Carolina. So it's one thing to control global food or global energy - it's another thing when you can control the only input that allows digitization to even theoretically happen.

The sourcing of raw materials is critical. Now that the world's top wheat exporter has invaded the world's number four wheat exporter, what short and long term consequences can we expect? Not to mention that Russia is also the world's largest exporter of fertilizer and the components necessary so people can make it. We're in the early stages of a multi year shortage in all things agricultural.