Market StrategistのRussel Napierへのインタビュー記事です。サブプライムローン危機時のBig Shortで多大な利益を上げたことで有名なMichael Burry氏のツイートで取り上げられていました。
— Michael Burry Archive (@BurryArchive) October 17, 2022
現在置かれている世界の構造の大きな変化に着目し、15-20年後を見据えた長期での投資戦略について述べられています。
結論を言うと、①高CAPEX銘柄(エネルギー、環境変化対策、防衛などの資本財セクター。)②ゴールドへの投資を推奨しています。詳しい中身を見ていきましょう。
This is structural in nature, not cyclical. We are experiencing a fundamental shift in the inner workings of most Western economies. In the past four decades, we have become used to the idea that our economies are guided by free markets. But we are in the process of moving to a system where a large part of the allocation of resources is not left to markets anymore. Mind you, I’m not talking about a command economy or about Marxism, but about an economy where the government plays a significant role in the allocation of capital. The French would call this system «dirigiste». This is nothing new, as it was the system that prevailed from 1939 to 1979. We have just forgotten how it works, because most economists are trained in free market economics, not in history.
I think we’ll see consumer price inflation settling into a range between 4 and 6%. Without the energy shock, we would probably be there now. Why 4 to 6%? Because it has to be a level that the government can get away with. Financial repression means stealing money from savers and old people slowly. The slow part is important in order for the pain not to become too apparent. We’re already seeing respected economists and central bankers arguing that inflation should indeed be allowed at a higher level than the 2% target they set in the past. Our frame of reference is already shifting up.
今までのデフレはグローバル化によってもたらされていた。脱グローバル経済に変わりつつある今、構造的に以前のような低いインフレ率にはならず、4-6%の間が平常運転となる。
My structural argument is that the power to control the creation of money has moved from central banks to governments. By issuing state guarantees on bank credit during the Covid crisis, governments have effectively taken over the levers to control the creation of money.
This is the new normal. For the government, credit guarantees are like the magic money tree: the closest thing to free money. They don’t have to issue more government debt, they don’t need to raise taxes, they just issue credit guarantees to the commercial banks.
It’s easy for them in the way that credit guarantees are only a contingent liability on the balance sheet of the state. By telling banks how and where to grant guaranteed loans, governments can direct investment where they want it to, be it energy, projects aimed at reducing inequality, or general investments to combat climate change. By guiding the growth of credit and therefore the growth of money, they can control the nominal growth of the economy.
中央銀行が管理するのではなく、政府が直接クレジット保証することでお金を刷るようになってしまった。これはインフレ率やGDP成長率が人工的に操作されることにつながる。規律を守るのは中央銀行の役目だが、それを実行するのは難しい。なぜなら中央銀行理事は政府から指名されている以上、逆らうのは難しいから。
Yet at the same time, central banks have turned very hawkish in their fight against inflation. How does that square?
We today have a disconnect between the hawkish rhetorics of central banks and the actions of governments. Monetary policy is trying to hit the brakes hard, while fiscal policy tries to mitigate the effects of rising prices through vast payouts. An example: When the German government introduced a €200 bn scheme to protect households and industry from rising energy prices, they’re creating a fiscal stimulus at the same time as the ECB is trying to rein in their monetary policy.
Who wins?
The government. Did Berlin ask the ECB whether they can create a rescue package? Did any other government ask? No. This is considered emergency finance. No government is asking for permission from the central bank to introduce loan guarantees. They just do it.
中央銀行が引き締めを行っても、政府がバラマキの緩和をする。この相反に勝つのは政府。中央銀行の許可なくローン保証を政府は実施できるから。もはや中央銀行には力はない。
People are already talking about stagflation today.
That’s utter nonsense. They see high inflation and a slowing economy and think that’s stagflation. This is wrong. Stagflation is the combination of high inflation and high unemployment. That’s not what we have today, as we have record low unemployment. You get stagflation after years of badly misallocated capital, which tends to happen when the government interferes for too long in the allocation of capital. When the UK government did this in the 1950s and 60s, they allocated a lot of capital into coal mining, automobile production and the Concorde. It turned out that the UK didn’t have a future in any of those industries, so it was wasted and we ended up with high unemployment.
2022年現在の状況はハイインフレ&経済のスローダウンというレベル。スタグフレーションではない。スタグフレーションになると、さらに高い失業率も伴う。最終的にはスタグフレーションに行き着く。
What will this new world mean for investors?
First of all: avoid government bonds. Investors in government debt are the ones who will be robbed slowly. Within equities, there are sectors that will do very well. The great problems we have – energy, climate change, defence, inequality, our dependence on production from China – will all be solved by massive investment. This capex boom could last for a long time. Companies that are geared to this renaissance of capital spending will do well. Gold will do well once people realise that inflation won’t come down to pre-2020 levels but will settle between 4 and 6%. The disappointing performance of gold this year is somewhat clouded by the strong dollar. In yen, euro or sterling, gold has done pretty well already.
まず国債は避ける。エネルギー、気候変動、防衛などに問題を抱えており、それを解決するには多大な投資が必要。このCAPEXブームは長く続くので、これらの資本財・エネルギーセクターの銘柄が良い。さらに高いインフレ環境(4-6%)が継続するのでゴールド投資もよい。
What about countries that don’t follow the path of financial repression?
That’s going to be tricky. Switzerland, for example, will probably stay away from these policies, but it will see continued inflows of capital, creating upward pressure on the franc. Sooner or later, Switzerland will have to bring back some forms of capital controls.
国際的にはスイスが中立で健全。スイスフランが強い状態が今後も続き、政府は通貨高対策を継続することになる。中国はロシア同様、地政学リスクが高すぎるので投資は避ける。
かなり長いスパンの話であり、短期的なトレードとは区別する必要がありますが、投資家として、このような大きな世界の構造変化を理解しておく必要があります。レイ・ダリオ氏も今の世界情勢は今後の世界の在り方を変える転換点という20年先を見越すような長期的な話をしています。ダリオ氏の著作を筆頭に下記2冊はオススメです。
