Economy

When was the last time you saw someone pick up a penny off the street? A nickel? A dime? Nowadays, even bums often can’t be bothered to pick up anything less than a quarter. The U.S. dollar has become so debased that these coins are essentially pieces of rubbish. They have little to no practical value.

There's a big difference between a recession and a depression. Here's everything you need to know about the two economic conditions.

In basic terms, in the bigger picture, the United States is going broke. We’re heading for a sovereign debt crisis. I don’t say that for effect. I’m not looking to scare people or to make a splash. That’s just an honest assessment based on the numbers.

A vicious upward debt spiral is gaining momentum. The budgets of most advanced economies, excluding interest payments, need 20 consecutive years of surpluses exceeding 2% of gross domestic product – starting now – just to bring the debt-to-GDP ratio back to its pre-crisis level.

A recession is the scariest creature in the average investor's closet of anxieties...because they can mean lower home prices, lower stock prices and, of course, higher unemployment [but] if you're prepared for the next one, there will be plenty of opportunities when that downturn ends. [That being said,] the more you know about recessions, the better, so here are 8 must-know facts about them.

What I outline below is not a forecast but a potential scenario which I sincerely hope won’t come to pass but the risk of going down the road to political and financial system collapse, social unrest and even civil war, and eventual hyperinflation, is certainly there.

The illusion that the global economy could effortlessly add trillions in debt to fund living large forever was based on a brief historical anomaly of zero interest rates enabled by low inflation that was never sustainable and the eventual consequences on supply, demand, risk and price discovery are finally visible.

The Fed rate hikes will bring an end to inflation quickly and even bring about some deflation and they will quickly reverse their actions and, by that time, the market will be 25% to 50% higher.

The US dollar has been on a major surge against major global currencies in the past year, recently hitting levels not seen in 20 years and, as the world’s reserve currency, such changes in its value have implications for the entire global economy. Below are five of the main ones.

The U.S. has the highest inflation in 40 years, and yet it also has the strongest dollar in 20 years. How can that be? How can the dollar be so weak and yet be so strong at the exact same time? [This article] tries to make sense of this tale of two dollars.