In December 2005, I realised that the world was on the cusp of a serious financial crisis–possibly the worst such crisis in human history. A private debt bubble that had been building for over 60 years in America, and 40 years in Australia, was about to burst. When it did, the economic prosperity and tranquillity of the apparently booming global economy would give way to a sudden collapse.

I was aware of this danger because, unlike the vast majority of economists, I take a non-orthodox approach to economics, grounded in the work of economists whose work has been ignored by that vast majority. This makes me part of a significant minority: perhaps 10 percent or more of academic economists reject the approach to economics that is represented by the “supply and demand” thinking that, to the public, epitomises economic theory.

It also made me one of a tiny minority of economics who anticipated the Global Financial Crisis. There were many other non-orthodox economists who expected this event, but only a handful of us went public with our views.

I now maintain a blog on the GFC called Debtwatch. It has grown into one of the largest economic blogs on the World Wide Web, with about 60,000 unique readers each month and over 3500 members posting at least 100 comments a week in a very civil and intelligent dialogue. Please visit the site and join in the conversation.

The blog on this site will be relatively inactive except for the 8 days of the Walk itself, when I will post every morning, afternoon and evening to report on the progress. If you want to join me for part of the experience, please keep an eye on this blog in case weather or other factors force a change of plans.