Within hours of the US military strikes on Venezuela and the capture of its president, Nicolas Maduro, President Trump proclaimed that “very large United States oil companies would go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, and start making money for the country.”  Trump did not hide that a major reason for the attack and kidnapping of Maduro was aimed at putting the US in control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, described as “our oil” by Trump.

During his New Year’s Eve address broadcast, China's Communist leader Xi praised the country’s advancements in key sectors. Images ranging from humanoid robots performing kung fu to new hydropower projects rolled on the screen as he spoke. He also announced  that the National People’s Congress would discuss the country’s new five-year plan at its upcoming legislative session in March.  China’s 15th five-year plan is all about AI.

In many ways, the world in 2026 faces similar challenges to the year of 2025 – only more intense. The big themes of the past year are evolving, rather than disappearing. In my forecast for 2025 last year, I reckoned that “a recession in 2025 is unlikely; but on the other hand, it is too early to argue for any sustained rise in profitability across the G7 that could drive productive investment and productivity growth to new levels.

At the end of every year, I remind readers of the ten most popular posts on my blog over the last 12 months. But first, just to let you know: since I started the blog in 2010, there have been 6.2m viewings on the blog from 2.5m visitors. During that time I have posted 1350 times.  In 2025, I did 69 posts with 483,365 viewings.

Every year at this time, I look back at the books that I have reviewed during the year on this blog. This time I shall include some that I did not review but now consider might interest readers. Let’s start with some mainstream works that attracted much attention. In the US, Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, writers at liberal mainstream 

The latest World Inequality Report 2026 reveals the stark cleavage between rich and poor in the world – a division that is getting wider to the extreme. Based on data compiled by 200 researchers organised by the World Inequality Lab, the report finds that fewer than 60,000 people – 0.001% of the world’s population – control three times as much wealth as the entire bottom half of humanity.

The Financial Times points out that, on the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump vowed to “immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One”. Yet, since his return to the White House in January, inflation has remained elevated. As a result, Trump’s approval rating has slipped, weighed down by concerns over the cost of living. However, last Wednesday, he claimed America’s cost of living worries are a…

The AI bubble continues. The Magnificent Seven of tech media continue to drive the US stock market, along with the AI companies. The ten largest US companies by stock market value, holding over 40% of the total market cap of the S&P-500 index, have continued to shift upward in price, well above any increase in earnings (profits) recorded. Recent earnings from major US ‘hyperscalers’ (AI development companies) show that revenue growth remains strong, but free cash flow is being sucked up by accelerating capital expenditure.  

The UK had an apparently important financial event today. The Labour government’s finance minister (called the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a feudal royal term), Rachel Reeves presented the government’ s tax and spending measures for the year (and years ahead). It was billed as a ‘make or break’ budget for the Labour government which is languishing badly in the opinion polls – its share of support has halved from an already low election result of 34% in July 2024 when Labour won a landslide of seats. 

The usual joke about the United Nations Climate Change Conferences (COPs) is that each one is a ‘cop-out’. Each time there is a failure to agree on ending fossil fuel production as the source of energy, even though it is now well established that carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions come mainly from the use of fossil fuels. Each time there is a failure to agree to significant planned and implemented reductions in emissions from all sources, production, transport, wars etc.

Chile has a general election today. Around 15m voters can take part in the first round to elect a new president, the lower house and half the seats of the senate. Incumbent President Gabriel Boric, who was elected in 2021, is constitutionally barred from seeking a consecutive second term. So all is up for grabs. Boric was a former student activist who got a decisive victory in 2021.

In this part two, I resume my review of the Historical Materialism conference in London with a look at some of the sessions on climate change, ecology and the impact of artificial inteliigence – as well as on the state of the world economy. As the climate crisis worsens globally, naturally there were several sessions on how capitalism is destroying humanity, other species and the planet itself.

Every year the Historical Materialism journal holds a conference in London. It is attended by (mostly) academics and students to discuss Marxist theory and critique capitalism.  This year the conference seemed very well attended and the best organised ever. There was a huge range of sessions and plenaries on economics, culture, technology, imperialism, war and gender issues. There were many ‘streams’ of presentations on fascism, technology (AI), imperialism, climate change and, of course, Marxist theory. 

Let the Financial Times sum it up: “US stocks ride AI hype and trade truce to 6-month winning streak S&P 500 and Nasdaq post longest runs of monthly gains in years.” The FT points out that US stocks have hit their longest monthly winning streak in four years as AI hype, declining interest rates and Donald Trump’s move to dial back his trade war led the way.

The latest economic activity indicators called purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) confirm that the major economies are still crawling along – neither slipping into slump nor picking up pace. The global PMI stands at 52.4 in September (any score above 50.0 means expansion, any score below means contraction). Source: JPM In effect, the major economies remain in what I call a Long Depression that started after the Great Recession of 2008-9. 

The US stock market continues to hit new record highs; the bitcoin price is also close to highs and the gold price has rocketed to all-time highs. Investors in financial assets (banks, insurance companies, pension funds, hedge funds etc) are wildly optimistic and confident about financial markets. As the chair of Rockefeller International, Ruchir Sharma put it: “Despite mounting threats to the US economy — from high tariffs to collapsing immigration, eroding institutions, rising debt and sticky inflation — large companies and investors seem unfazed.

This week the price of gold in US dollars hit $4000 per troy oz. This is an historic high (at least in nominal dollars). But even that high looks set to be surpassed, with investment bank Goldman Sachs forecasting $4900 per oz by year end. And the gold price in other major currencies has also been rising. What is behind this unprecedented rally? 

Güney Işıkara and Patrick Mokre have published an insightful book that explains how Marx’s theory of value operates to explain the trends and fluctuations in modern capitalist economies. Called Marx’s Theory of Value at the Frontiers - Classical Political Economics, Imperialism  and Ecological Breakdown, the title tells the reader that the book is about taking Marx’s law of value towards what they call its ‘frontiers’, namely markets and trade; imperialism and the global environmental crisis.

Last week US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered a $20bn swap line to Javier Milei’s government in Argentina and pledged to buy its bonds, as the Trump administration moved to shore up its ideological ally. The measures temporarily halted a rout in Argentine foreign exchange and bond markets triggered by the rapid depletion of the country’s foreign reserves as Milei sought to defend an overvalued currency.

The 80th edition of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 80) opened yesterday in New York.  The theme this year is: 'Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights', highlighting the urgency of delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reinvigorating 'global cooperation'. When the United Nations was born in San Francisco on June 26, 1945, the overriding goal of the 50 participants who signed the UN Charter was stated in its first words: …

The 2025 conference  of the International Initiative for thePromotion of Political Economy (IIPPE) just took place in Ankara, Turkey.  The IIPPE was founded in 2006 with the aim of “developing and promoting political economy in and of itself but also through critical and constructive engagement with mainstream economics, heterodox alternatives, interdisciplinarity, and activism understood broadly as ranging across formulating progressive policy through to support for progressive movement.”

US economy has a widening gap: between rising inflation on the one line and employment on the other. According to mainstream Keynesian theory, that should not happen. That’s because a weakening labour market should lead to a fall in wage increases and in consumer demand and price inflation will subside. The experience of the 1970s economies disproved that theory supposedly supported by the so-called Phillips curve (ie a trade-off between price rises and unemployment).

Norway has a general election today. In a country of 5.6m people, some 4m are entitled to vote and there is usually a high turnout by international standards – over 75%. Indeed, early voting has become increasingly popular, with up to 60% voting before the official day. Norwegians are probably the richest nation in the world – if you measure that by average income per person . 

In 2019, economics professor Gita Gopinath left the halls of Harvard University to become the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Three years later, she made an unprecedented jump from economic analysis to policy management, becoming the first ever ‘deputy managing director’ — or the IMF’s effective number two – the right-hand (woman) of IMF managing director, Kristalina Georgieva.

US President Donald Trump announced that he had fired Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Trump says that she committed mortgage fraud by taking out two mortgages, claiming both properties as her primary residence, back when she was a professor at Michigan State, before joining the Fed. Naturally, Cook dismissed these charges, and as Keynesian economist Paul Krugman said on his blog,