It is estimated that the collective cost of tax evasion over the last decade in the U.S. is $3.09 trillion and that $5 billion a year is lost from fraudulent tax refund claims. Below are more eye-popping numbers in infographic form.

Markets around the globe are all facing key resistance levels at the same time. Can they pull a “Great Escape” and bust through? Yes they can and if they do, it would be very bullish for equity markets around the world [and if they don't, then watch out below!].

It now seems like the U.S. might be getting closer to acknowledging that it has a serious fiscal problem; or at least this is what one might infer from the strong support from Congressmen and Senators from both sides of the aisle, thousands of business leaders and economists from all stripes, as well as from fifteen Nobel Laureates in Economics, for a new bill called the Intergenerational Financial Obligations Reform Act or “Inform Act” - in spite of the fact that the proposal is being totally ignored by the mainstream media and, as evidenced by the case of Detroit, the longer we wait, the worse it gets.

The unelected central planners at the Federal Reserve have decided that the time has come to slightly taper the amount of quantitative easing that it has been doing....The monthly purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds will be reduced from $45 billion to $40 billion, and monthly purchases of mortgage-backed securities will be reduced from $35 billion to $30 billion. Below are 8 ways "the taper" is going to adversely affect you and your family.

An inevitable economic collapse has been warned about since this website began over four years ago.based on the following 3 key economic points that have been consistent since its beginning. Here they are:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a fabricated number that has little relation to the actual average performance of the stock market as a whole. For sure, it is not industrial in nature, and by no means is it an average. It's like creating an all-star team of the very best-performing companies and broadcasting to the world that this is the average of all companies out there.

Current macro conditions indicate that we are in a sweet spot for equity returns...that global growth is continuing and there is little or no tail risk in the immediate future. It's time to get long equities...but I have this nagging feeling that these market conditions are too good to be true. If you look, there are a number of technical and fundamental clouds on the horizon.

The Baltic Dry Index is often looked at as a leading indicator of the global economy as higher shipping rates indicate stronger demand for shipping and healthier global trade. Year to date, the index is up 234% and is now at its highest level in more than three years (November 2010). This would indicate that the global economy is picking up steam.

According to the charts, the price of silver is not ready to reverse its trend. [In fact,] the monthly chart, and the lower time frames, clearly indicate the trend as down....The probability is high (80%) that the last swing low (in June) to $18 will be exceeded.

There’s no fear anymore - anywhere - and I’m talking about the type of fear that overwhelms investors – and, in turn, the market. The surest indication of this can be found in the following chart.