Do you know who actually drinks the most beer in a year? As Oktoberfest rolls around, we decided to find out. Take our interactive globe for a spin to see the top 50 beer-drinking countries.

There is so much hype and cheer-leading out there amongst supposed gold & silver analysts that you probably wonder just who is worth your time to follow, if anyone. Having read and analyzed hundreds and hundreds of articles on the subject I have concluded that there is ONLY one such person.

The infographic below shows the difference in living costs around the world using CPI data as a relative indicator of a country's living costs compared to New York (for example, if a country has a CPI of 70, on average, it enjoys 30% cheaper living costs compared to New York).

This infographic shows the difference in Monthly Personal Disposable Income around the world using data from 2014. In this context personal disposable income refers to the income per person after all taxes have been paid.

If you believe that ignorance is bliss, you might not want to read this article. [Why? Because] I am going to dispel the notion that there has been any sort of “economic recovery”, and I am going to show that we are much worse off than we were just prior to the last economic crisis. [Ready to become informed? Then, read on!]

When markets expect that U.S. interest rates will be hiked, it typically strengthens the dollar because people rush to change other currencies into dollars where they can make more money and this higher demand for the USD drives its value up.

Gold stocks will soon go vertical again—just as they have many times in the past—and investors with just a smidgen of patience will see their gold portfolios driven by a hurricane-force bull market. Virtually all gold stocks will go much higher. As in the past, gains for the strongest juniors will be 10-to-1, and you can expect a few superstars to return 100-to-1.

The resource markets (including gold & silver) are well known for moving in cycles...Raging bull markets & crippling bear markets, repeat. The data doesn’t tell us exactly when gold & silver will enter their respective upcycles, nor how big they will be, but it does tell us this: new bull cycles are coming. Let me explain further.

With interest rates being pushed lower year after year, interest expense as a % of disposable income has been declining in Canada and, for the moment, these low interest rates keep the whole thing glued together but, were interest rates to ever rise, Canada's economy would blow up. Here's why.

Where the gold skeptics have their argument wrong is their belief in the almighty dollar. If the U.S. dollar crashed then gold prices would undoubtedly surge as the only credible rival safe haven currency, except perhaps the Swiss franc and the crashing of the U.S. dollar is not an unrealistic expectation. Let me explain.