Economy

Yes, someday the U.S. dollar will essentially be toilet paper but that is not in our immediate future. What is in our immediate future is a “flight to safety” that will push the surging U.S. dollar even higher - and when the U.S. dollar soars the global economy tends to experience a contraction so the fact that the U.S. dollar has been skyrocketing lately is a very, very bad sign.

The unemployment statistics provided by the U.S. Government are bogus... The devil is in the detail and a lot of people don’t properly analyze the information they are being provided with. Here is that detail which explains how those stats have been manipulated downwards to show a supposed unemployment rate of 5.7% rather than the true rate of 11.3%. Yes, 11.3%!

Anti-tax demagoguery in the U.S. has resulted in Americans paying almost four times as much as the citizens of other wealthy countries for things such as retirement security and health care on the private market – 10.6% of our economic output versus an average of just 2.7% among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member states. As the title of this article suggests low taxes in the U.S. come at a very high cost.

For a couple of years the world's central banks fooled the public into believing that perpetual debt was a good way to rejuvenate the markets but, alas, there will be no free lunch. Having a system addicted to perpetual debt is NOT a solution as the following 9 indicators clearly suggest. Again, nothing comes for free in this world.

The Great Quickening has commenced in an alarming fashion. In just the last 3 weeks, 10 significant events have taken place suggesting that 2015 will go down in history as extremely messy, extremely chaotic, and extremely important in the demise of the U.S. dollar. This article identifies each of the 10 events and their enormous implications and fallout.

The U.S. dollar surged in value by 11% in 2014, appreciating against all main currencies in the world in 2014 including gold. The infographic below attempts to answer the obvious question, "What is behind this surge in value for the dollar?"

Dozens (dare I say hundreds?) of "analysts" (should I say alarmists?) are convinced that the U.S. economy (and that of the world for that matter) is going to hell in a hand basket - and soon. How sound are their analyses of the current economic situation? Will they be proven to be very insightful or nothing less than fear mongers looking for attention? Their views are all here. You be the judge.

Economically we are experiencing the birth pangs of the coming Great Depression and, as we get closer to the crisis that is looming on the horizon, they will become even more powerful. The warning signs are all there – we just have to be open to what they are telling us. This article identifies the many parallels between past economic downturns and what is happening right now.

Fasten your seat belts! Below is my forecast of what will unfold in the U.S. in 2015. Forecasts related to geopolitical particulars (covering Russia, China, Japan, USA, Europe & the Islamic State) and financial matters (covering banking & oil) are covered in subsequent posts.

Deflation is often considered a highly unfavorable phenomenon, however there are different types of deflation that have different implications. In other words, the effects of deflation depend to a large extent on the particular context...This article distinguishes between good deflation and bad deflation.