Paul Buitink talks to prominent economist Robin Brooks, who is based in Washington. Robin was Head of FX at Goldman Sachs, Chief Economist at the International Institute of Finance and currently Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
They talk about why the end of the euro is desirable and inevitable. Robin is also no fan of eurobonds. They discuss debt sustainability across the world, and Japan in particular, and why this is driving the debasement trade. The latter means the massive buying of hard assets such as gold, silver and platina. Robin expects this trend to continue in 2026.
Robin and Paul also discuss geopolitics and how Europe should deal with the US, Russia and China. What to do with sanctions and frozen Russian reserves they disagree on.
Timestamps:
0:00 Teaser
1:58 Background Robin Brooks
3:40 His career at Goldman Sachs
5:39 The debasement trade and unsustainable debt
9:48 Gold and silver to surge in 2026
12:17 Macro puzzles and bond yields
14:13 Central bank intervention in yields, MMT
17:06 Why the euro is failing
32:16 Why Germany and The Netherlands need to build alternatives
35:47 ECB and Transmission Protection Instrument
42:54 A divorce within the eurozone is needed
46:24 Russian frozen assets and gold
50:00 Central bank gold buying
51:30 Effects of confiscation for the euro
53:37 Decoupling strategies for the EU
59:30 Nuclear escalation in conflict West vs Russia
1:03:30 Angell’s paradox on sanctions
1:05:56 Outro
Credit to : Reinvent Money