Across the rich world, a fiscal crisis is looming.
Bond yields are climbing, public debt is ballooning,
and demands for more government spending
only seem to get louder.
At The Economist, we think spending cuts will be essential.
Unfortunately, many governments will take the easy way out and raise taxes instead.
But here's the problem.
Tax systems look increasingly broken.
What's more, taxing wages, their mainstay,
will become harder as AI throws labour markets into turmoil.
So taxes need fixing.
But how?
I'm Edward Carr, The Economist deputy editor and welcome back to The Insider.
In Washington, we have Zanny Minton Beddoes, our editor-in-chief,
and here in London, Henry Curr, our acting business affairs editor,
and making his Insider debut Tom Carter, our Britain economics correspondent.
Welcome to all of you.
I want to start by looking at
just how much of a mess governments have got themselves into.
And then we can ask how AI will make things