Economic Overviews

The Gold/Copper price ratio is a way to examine the state of the economy through the relative performance of the "pro-growth" copper price and the "anti-growth" gold price. This filters out the distorting effect of currency inflation/deflation, and allows us to focus only on gold and copper themselves. In 2016 we have a historically high Gold/Copper ratio, the likes of which we have only seen before in the Great Depression, the "stagflation" of the 1970s, and the 2008 Great Recession. This is a clear sign of a slowing, weakening global economy. Below are the details.

Alan Greenspan, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve has warned that Brexit was a “terrible outcome in all respects” and that we are in the “early days of a crisis.”

Brexit is a return to inefficiency and trade wars and will spike inflation throughout the whole world. It will trigger a rise in unemployment mainly in Europe, but will also hurt the rest of the world through contagion. [Let me explain further.]

Brexit could be the beginning of a brave new world, in which trade becomes freer and business becomes less burdened by taxes and regulations. The only politician here who is talking about such "radical" ideas is Trump, but he is gaining traction, as did the "leavers" in the UK. There is room for hope.

Might Brexit be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of long-run consequences as it gives vital ammunition to groups that are seeking their own referendums for independence?

Below is an infographic illustrating the outsourcing industry in the U.S. that provides everything you need to know but were afraid to ask.

Every year, the Cato Institute publishes a list of the world’s most “miserable countries” by using a simple economic formula to calculate the scores. Described as a Misery Index, the tally for each country can be found by adding the unemployment rate, inflation, and lending rate together, and then subtracting the change in real GDP per capita. The infographic below visualizes the 10 "most miserable" countries in the world.

If history is testament, then the above charts indubitably suggest the global economy is edging toward another recession which eventually may plunge into another 1930s like Great Depression.

Every year, the World Economic Forum releases an updated list of the top risks to business based on its survey to 750 members of the organization’s global multi-stakeholder community. Today’s charts and graphics from Raconteur sum up the essentials of this year’s Global Risks report to provide a neat and tidy introduction to the potential pitfalls that could impact markets around the globe.

The situation the world finds itself in is not one of growth and prosperity, but one of uncertainty and doubt, and it has the financial elite running for the doors, scared and worried. So what is going on behind the scenes? Do they know something that the rest of the general public does not? Do they think that a system collapse is just over the horizon?