FuturePlay's Kwon on Investment Strategy
The Asia Trade
Oh-hyoung Kwon, CEO and Partner at FuturePlay, discusses his investment strategy and outlook in the Korean tech startup space, He speaks with Annabelle Droulers on the sidelines of BEYOND Expo in Macau on "Bloomberg: The Asia Trade". (Source: Bloomberg)
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It's about whether America can maintain access to foreign capital while reducing its debt dependence, kind of like keeping your rich friends while learning to pay for your own drinks. For 40 years, the U.S. has run its economy on other nations' savings like a teenager with Dad's credit card. That model is more exhausted than a parent of triplets. Critics will call this government interference in free markets. But free markets in international finance have always been about as real as professional wrestling — entertaining, but heavily choreographed. Every major economy practices industrial policy; America just outsourced its policy to allies and called it 'free trade.' Now the U.S. is bringing it home like a college kid with dirty laundry. Read: Why Trump's tax and spending bill isn't getting the bond market's vote Japan's quiet subsidy of American prosperity is ending. The U.S. Federal Reserve can't print its way out of this one — they've tried that trick more times than a birthday party magician. Congress can't tax its way out either, though God knows they'll probably try. The only path forward is a new bargain that transforms debt into equity, dependence into partnership. For American investors and homeowners, the message is crystal clear: The era of cheap money is over. Lock in fixed-rate mortgages while you can. Prepare for higher interest rates. And watch for announcements of new investment vehicles that could reshape global finance. The greatest risk isn't change — it's pretending the old system can continue. Japan's bondholders are already voting with their wallets. The only question is whether Washington can engineer an economic soft landing for the U.S. or whether the country is headed for the kind of turbulence that has flight attendants reaching for their own oxygen masks. 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