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On the surface, policy settings around the world look very inflationary with large fiscal deficits and aggressively easy monetary policies yet it is hard to see inflation gaining any traction [with] global activity so weak and the monetary transmission process so impaired in many countries. There is more of a deflationary than inflationary tone to the economic environment and it does not look as if this will change any time soon.

The US Treasury Bond market is the longest unbroken bull market known to the financial world [thanks in large part to the Fed who is] buying up every penny of newly issued government debt. [In doing so] this issuance of debt is following the exact path of the Jean-Paul Rodrigue' "bubble model". Words: 290; Charts: 4; Tables 1

[In a recent] conversation about international banking and the state of the global financial system [with] a senior executive of a large international bank - the ultimate insider - I was floored by what he told me. [Here's what he had to say and, in his opinion,] what basic steps, taken now, will enable you to be one of the few people left standing should the house of cards collapse. Words: 465

People who are saying there is no reason to buy gold now, never understood the reason people were buying it in the first place. People weren’t buying gold because they were worried about a crisis in the Eurozone or weak US stocks. People were buying gold because central banks were printing too much money. It’s inflation that drives the gold train, not political uncertainty.

The stock markets make no sense. They have literally lost touch with reality. Divergences between fundamentals, confidence and the valuation of markets are large [and, as such,] cannot last for long....The only question is how...and how quickly....this correction occurs. Words: 261

Don’t get too worked up over interest on the national debt or what will happen when interest rates rise because, by then, we’ll likely be talking about ways to cool down the economy. [Why?] Because interest rates on US government debt are really a function of economic growth. If the economy is weak the Fed will pin short rates to stimulate the economy and if rates rise it’s going to be a function of better days ahead. Words: 525

Most everything you've heard about investing from the mainstream media, your mutual fund advisor and your tax accountant is a lie. You’ve been told...that the entire point of portfolio diversification is to mitigate downside risk yet when the market experiences the inevitable decline, every sector pushes significantly lower - and your “diversified” portfolio suffers as a result, [right? Well, there IS a better way.] Hear me out. Words: 895

There are literally thousands of economic blogs out there and most don’t have much to offer. One exception is a blog by “Katchum” that is dedicated to monitoring breaking global economic news on a day to day basis and, as such, provides unique insights into, and analysis of, various aspects of the financial markets, commodities and the economies of the world. Take a look in this post at some of his recent analyses.

Busy? No problem. Don't bother taking the time to surf the internet in search of videos on the dire state of the U.S. economy. This post contains descriptions and links to 57 of the best.

With everyone being so very busy these days often a picture is worth a 1000 words so I have collected a series of infographics below for you which do just that. You'll get the picture in half the time you could assimilate it via the written word.