Economy

Anyone that thinks that the U.S. economy can keep going along like this is absolutely crazy. We are in the terminal phase of an unprecedented debt spiral which has allowed us to live far, far beyond our means for the last several decades. Unfortunately, all debt spirals eventually end, and they usually do so in a very disorderly manner.

Little has been done in the past six years to restructure economies and cut debt i.e. learn the lessons of 2008. Because we’ve partially recovered from that traumatic period, that’s led to complacency. All the while, the debt that caused the bust in the first place has compounded and threatens to undo the world again. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

So much has been written about what various authors refer to as the economic (in alphabetical order) abyss, apocalypse, Armageddon, avalanche, catastrophe, chaos, cliff, collapse, crisis, disaster, downturn, endgame, meltdown, pain, reality, risks, situation, train wreck, tsunami, turmoil that faces the nations of the world I thought a source article of what has been said about the situation would be of interest. Have a look.

With stocks at record highs and the U.S. economy improving, the European debt crisis seems like a distant memory....[While] Europe is no longer the market’s focal point, however, that doesn’t mean the euro zone’s financial problems have gone away.

5 years into the official economic “recovery” the labor participation rate is still lower than when the recession was declared over in June 2009 by almost a percentage point. It is still over 4 percentage points lower than when the recession officially began. The Federal Reserve chart of employment as a percentage of working age adults proves the point that sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words - sometimes much more. Words: 388; Charts: 1

This summer we are nearing a possible inflection point in terms of Fed actions. The mere suggestion from the Fed that something is going to change is enough to supercharge markets, either up or down....Will markets go to 20,000 or to 5,000? That depends upon the Fed and how much they debauch the currency.......Stay tuned, this story has hardly begun.

The financial markets were in distress lately because of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's suggestion that the Fed might taper off its quantitative easing programs starting at the end of this year and ending in 2015. Here are five reasons why markets shouldn't worry too much about the Fed leaving the stage:

The Canadian dollar is at its lowest level versus the American greenback in nearly two years and that’s good news for the Canadian economy. Here's why.

It seems that the past few years of falling interest rates have lulled a big part of the global economy into financing with variable-rate debt...[As such,] when interest rates go up (as they did last week), there’s a world-wide reset in interest costs that, best case, amounts to a tax increase on individuals and businesses and, worst-case, threatens to blow up the whole system.

Lately, the dollar has been making a comeback and, as usual, gold is tanking...[That being said,] however, the timing of the dollar’s resurgence is a bit curious. Perhaps not coincidentally, gold began tanking just as the dollar was advancing against the yen. [Why do I say "Perhaps not coincidentally"? Read on.]