I'm glad you insert "if" to highlight the fact its a best guess...

I'm glad you insert "if" to highlight the fact its a best guess only. So thanks for that latitude.

You might know this, but then again you might not. All western democracies have escalated fiscal dominance over monetary dominance since 2009 and now its the norm. Its all part of a larger economic cycle that has existed for centuries to help keep the lights on. So there's no 'out from under the rock' revelation in your post! But thanks for taking the time to respond with a little more data backed opinion.

The best current example of this is the "Beautiful Bill" which is likely (subject to the Senates final cull) to add to the debt / gdp equation that nation currently is burden with. Its a fiscal dominance runaway! This nation has a similar issue, but far removed from the lofty success of the USA on that front. Funny enough, business call outs during the last round of results state tariff uncertainty is the reason for no decisions on investment and the inability to publish forward guidance. Oh. Buffett's indicator is at 99% again - so much uncertainty and such high valuations.

Lets not also forget the monetary surge every government participated in, which was the root cause of inflation spike and added financial instability - not a consequence of the current government, although they've used the same tools to manage policy outcomes. It started many years before their first innings.

The treasury market is the best indicator of where its all headed and that its debt bought by the Fed to keep the government solvent. If bonds spike to 5+ then equities are going to be eviscerated, including WDS, although less so than in the US because its metrics have been under pressure for months already.

I'm not invested in WDS despite your closing misguided assertion, because the risks remain to the downside.

Gold is the best form of protection against the creeping debt/gdp monster due to the fiscal dominance cycle in all western democracies. China is another f-fest of enormous mis-allocated capital.