Gold prices will go through the roof. Silver prices won’t be cheap. Commodities will most likely soar in general. The dollar will take a complete flogging. Stocks and the entire financial industry will shake — and possibly even tumble. You can read more about what might happen if the US defaults on its debt at ... Read More »
The phrase “Greater Depression” was coined by Doug Casey a decade or so back as a way of describing the economic crisis he foresaw as inevitable, and which is now materializing. Because I think it is important for every organization to constantly challenge its own assumptions, I’ve long acted as something of a devil’s advocate ... Read More »
Greece never should have joined the EU in the first place. Doing so tied the nation down, pushed them into a world of easier credit, and flooded the country with cheap exports. When Greece joined the EU, they signed away economic sovereignty and prosperity. Debt: Greece’s Original Sin Ever since the founding of modern Greece ... Read More »
The price of natural gas has been pretty cheap since the financial crisis a few years ago — much cheaper than many predictions and forecasts have concluded. There are plenty of reasons for this that anyone considering energy investing should understand. If your goal is to invest in energy at all, then you should read this. ... Read More »
A popular argument among risk-tolerant investors and entrepreneurs is the idea that debt is a good way to hedge against inflation. Some, including Mike Dillard who is one of my business heroes, argue that if you know inflation is going to be about 5%, and you can buy a house at a 4.5% mortgage, you ... Read More »
With everything going on in the world today, we thought it a good time to catch up with the views of longtime friend Richard Maybury, a low-key but highly respected author, lecturer and analyst. In addition to his work consulting with businesses and high net worth individuals on strategic planning, Richard is the editor of ... Read More »
Yesterday, it was reported that US GDP growth slowed during this past quarter from 3.1% to a new low since last spring: 1.8%. Naturally, people responded to this statistic negatively. Consumer confidence dropped for the first time in a month as US household’s 6-month outlook was hesitant. However, contrary to popular opinion, this slowed GDP ... Read More »
Is copper going to be the next gold? Some people say yes — including the world’s biggest gold mining company. Gold is breaking records in terms of price but it may be copper that wins the prize. In a surprise move, the top gold bullion producer in the world, Barrick Gold Corp., recently bid for ... Read More »
Stocks are taking a massive dive on news that Standard and Poors, one of the leading rating and outlook agencies in the world, has changed its outlook on the United States. They now claim that our outlook is “negative”. They explain that our debt and budget deficits will probably not be remedied by our politicians. ... Read More »
I’ve always argued that the best hyper-inflation hedge is an investment in “stuff” or “real investments.” Academics and the politically correct financial community will probably never take such terminology seriously, because it sounds old fashioned, makes me seem suspicious, and sounds like I don’t trust the system. Then again, all of this is true about ... Read More »
As I’ve written about repeatedly in the past, the government routinely changes how it reports inflation in order to make the new larger numbers look smaller. If we reported inflation now the way we used to report it in the 70s before some of the major “changes” in reporting protocol, we’d see that for february, ... Read More »
In the last few months, we’ve written exhaustively about inflation. The last article published on inflation explained the three stages of inflation, and we offer a 16-part course on inflation completely for free. A common question I receive is, “Are TIPS safe ways to beat inflation?” TIPS are Treasury Inflation Protected Securities — essentially investments ... Read More »
Over time, prices have a tendency to increase. Though there are many factors that contribute to an increase in consumer prices, inflation is usually the most rudimentary and common. Historically, inflation has contributed to the collapse of countries and most empires. Ancient Rome clipped the edges of their denarii until bread cost 300 denarii a ... Read More »
When billionaire Warren Buffet throws his money around, people listen. Recently, Warren Buffet announced his decision to buy stocks and ownership of a variety of companies in India, a country only 25 years ago considered a third-world nation. This kind of announcement deserves some investigation. Isn’t India the country with millions living on less than ... Read More »
In 2007 when the housing bubble collapsed, it was widely recognized that perhaps the key factor in the rapidly collapsing financial sector was the artificially lowered mortgage rates. Since 2000, the Federal Reserve had been carefully cultivating a housing bubble by manipulating the industry to create unprecedentedly low interest rates. This caused banks everywhere to ... Read More »
This is going to be an extremely politically incorrect article, and I’m already bracing myself for the onsaught of inevitable emails that will be filled with angry investors who have a religious-like faith in the stock market. I don’t have that faith. I do own publicly traded stocks, and probably always will own publicly traded ... Read More »
Massive inflation is going to hit the United States and most of the western world. It’s unavoidable. Over the last few weeks, I’ve written all about what inflation is, how it works, who it hurts, who it helps, and how to prepare for it. You can read the other articles here in the inflation course. ... Read More »
Here’s an experiment. Take an economy that’s facing high unemployment, a stagnant growth rate, and excessive tax burdens. Then create a gargantuan unelected bureaucracy with nothing to do but bind up businesses and individuals with a slew of regulations that costs the economy trillions annually. Put the two together, and it won’t be pretty. Here’s another ... Read More »
As the conventional and cheap oil and gas start to dry up in the Middle East… a bigger, even better opportunity seeks to replace it. For many who aren’t familiar with the region, the Middle East comes across as an updated version of Lawrence’s Arabia, only with lots of oil. But this mosaic of cultures ... Read More »
Yes, the economy is bad — and yes, it’s going to get worse. The Federal Reserve is hell-bent on destroying the dollar. The inflation is already starting… food prices, gold prices, energy prices, and commodities in general are exploding. Wednesday, the UN reported that food prices In 2008, food prices around the world hit a ... Read More »
What we have done to future generations over the past 30 years is absolutely criminal. 30 years ago the U.S. national debt was a bit under one trillion dollars, and at that time it was considered a huge national crisis. Today, the national debt is 14 times larger and the years ahead look absolutely apocalyptic ... Read More »
After stellar years for both gold and silver, what prices will precious metals hit in 2011? Here’s an analysis based strictly on their price behavior in the current bull market. First, take a look at the annual percentage gains that gold has registered since 2001 (based on London PM Fix closings): Excluding 2001, the average ... Read More »
Amid the fierce debate over our tottering Social Security program, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Social Security isn’t just an entitlement for those over the age of 65. It’s also a government-run disability insurance program for over 152 million American workers. And not surprisingly, it’s a government program that is poorly ... Read More »
While there are some small signs that the American economy may be slowly easing its way out of the Great Recession, across the pond economic turmoil remains. The Ireland fiasco is only a small part of the economic woes sure to hit the EU in the coming months, and the viability of the Euro itself ... Read More »
The Fed is a corrupt and powerful institution, and Chairman Bernanke is making the global crisis worse. His new speech given last week in Europe was terribly misguided and will upset markets as the Chinese and Germans won’t ignore his challenges. Bernanke’s interpretations of the markets have been wrong since before he was appointed to ... Read More »