For the first time in U.S. history, the national debt has risen past $17 trillion. That number is a bit hard to comprehend and means little to Americans when not applied to their everyday lives. So just how does the national debt affect consumers, and why should the average American care about how much this country owes? Here's why and how.

Bitcoin’s days are numbered - literally. Ex-Federal Reserve Bank examiner, Mark T.Williams even goes so far as to predict that Bitcoin will trade for under $10 by June 30, 2014. That's a bold prediction, no doubt, but the point is clear – Bitcoin doesn’t stand a chance at ever gaining widespread adoption.

Stock market volatility, directed mostly to the downside this year, has caught the attention of anyone with funds at risk. The obvious question on most people’s minds is whether to get out or to put more money in. Advice going both ways is readily available. Here are some such articles. Take them into account and make your own decision regarding whether this correction is an opportunity to buy or a signal to sell.

Do you focus almost solely on the present? Do you assume tomorrow will be just like today? Do you think that just because your current behavior regarding debt has not created trouble or hardship thus far, that it won’t tomorrow or on into the future? Would you not be able to get by if debt/credit were outlawed? Really?? Then you're an economic zombie - or perhaps even an economic idiot!

Silver has moved above its 200-day moving average which is a signal for silver prices to challenge the $50 area, overcome it and then traverse ‘blue sky country’ to target the upper trendline shown in the chart shown below.

People are focusing on the price of PMs, treating gold and silver as vehicles for increasing in price relative to their cost of purchase and not on the reality of what the artificially suppressed market is showing. It is the reason for buying and holding gold and silver that matters. Know this: It does not matter what you pay/paid for owning physical gold and silver. Price is temporary; physical is permanent. That being said, however, a red flag is in currently in effect regarding gold & silver. Below I explain why.

The plunge in emerging markets that started this year has given us the Fragile Five (Indonesia, South Africa, Brazil, Turkey and India), courtesy of Morgan Stanley, because their big current-account deficits mean they are acutely vulnerable to a sudden exit of foreign capital. The trouble is, it isn't true. The next crisis will start, as did the last one, in one of the developed economies [and this time round] it is likely to come from one of these 5 countries:...

Warren Buffett's favorite indicator - the ratio of the value of U.S. stocks to GDP - is seen by him as a reliable gauge of where the market stands and these days it suggests that all the main indexes are pointing to an imminent 50% crash.

The tables below provide an update of where the current S&P 500 bull market stands in comparison to prior bull markets in terms of duration and magnitude

Investors generally assign higher multiples to many Nasdaq firms, as they expect significant future growth, but if volatility ensues and growth, which is already priced in, isn't realized by these firms a violent reaction to broken promises will ensue just as happened in 2000. For that matter there are a number of similarities between the current level of the Nasdaq index and back then that strongly suggest that the bubble is here. Let me explain why I believe that is the case.