I generally shy away from making time-specific economic and stock marketstockcrashimages-1 predictions simply because odds are very low you’ll be correct on both the prediction and the timing. However, there are certain times when the environment is conducive for a prediction that comes along with an expiration date. Today is one of those times.

With the stock market up over 20% since we forecast in July, 2012 that we would see the Dow at 20,000...[by the end of the] decade, our forecast seems less ambitious than back then. US stocks are not overpriced or overleveraged, and remain more attractive than at prior peaks. As such, based on current conditions, we now project that...the Dow will reach 20,000 by late 2018.

In the coming years, Europe appears set to lurch from the frying pan of depression to the fire of high inflation. When it does, the lessons of the Great Inflation [outlined in this article] will suddenly be all too pertinent.

The implications to the gold price when backwardation appears are widely misunderstood so I have prepared this brief note to explain backwardation, of which there are two types – money backwardation and commodity backwardation - and, as I explain below, both apply to gold.

According to some pundits, the market is dangerously close to a repeat performance of 1987. Today, I'm going to show you why they're wrong.

There is very little evidence of high inflation at present, despite what the hyperinflationists say, and a little bit of common sense totally debunks the idea that there is.

There are four main macro issues shaping the investment climate: 1.the tapering anticipation in the U.S.; 2.the stabilization of the Chinese economy; 3.a cyclical recovery in Europe and 4.the long awaited Japanese purchases of foreign bonds.

There is nothing dry and boring about economic and politics when you have a sense of humor, an understanding of the realities of the situation and are prepared to let it all hang out. Peter Schiff did just that recently in a hilarious stand-up comedy routine at the NY's Funniest Reporter Show in which he talked about Bernie Madoff (Ponzi 101), Ben Bernanke (QExit) and using the name Peter Stiff.

The window of opportunity to buy physical gold and silver continues to narrow. Like the housing market top was known to be coming, when it came, those who waited too long regretted it. When the bottom for the physical PMs is known as a certainty, those who waited for a “better price” may also regret that decision. It is all about choice.

There is no escaping the inevitable - if you aggressively debase your currency eventually you are going to have a currency crisis. The first one has now begun. Words: 350; Charts: 2