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“The real risk for the euro zone now is not Greece, but France,” says a top French finance boss. Nicolas Baverez, a commentator who foresaw the country’s looming debt problems in a bestselling book of 2003, agrees: “I’m convinced that France will be the centre of the next shock in the euro zone.” [below their views are substantiated with some alarming and disturbing facts about France;s financial situation and how their politicians are failing to address the brewing crisis.] Words:740

Most novice investors don’t understand the fundamentals and so they are puking up the mining stocks because they just want out but...this is when you want to buy, when sentiment is negative and fundamentals are astoundingly positive.

One of the big debates of 2011 was whether the performance discrepancy between physical gold prices and gold equities was going to diverge back to normal. As you may recall, gold equities grossly underperformed gold bullion throughout 2011. For most of the year, gold prices traded anywhere between 15 to 40 percent higher than their equity counterparts. [How will 2012 end up? Here are my views.] Words: 700

Get ready...Save some cash, load up with gold and silver, and be patient...Start by buying top-grade dividend-paying stocks and gold on dips or corrections, and hold your gold. This era will see the catastrophic collapse of all fiat money. Gold should skyrocket. Get ready for crime and violence...

The following charts come straight from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in an attempt to put the benefits and impact of Alberta, Canada's oil sands into proper perspective from their point of view. Take a look and I think you will be favourably impressed. Words: 540

Spain is a catastrophe [of major proportions and] to fully understand [why that is the case] we need to understand Spain in the context of both the EU and the global financial system. [Once you read what I outline below you will more fully understand why] I believe that the EU in its current form is in its final chapters. Whether it's through Spain imploding or Germany ultimately pulling out of the Euro, we've now reached the point of no return: the problems facing the EU (Spain and Italy) are too large to be bailed out! Words: 1345

It was just 6 months ago that Spain enjoyed a credit rating of AA. In early October, 2011, S&P downgraded Spain to an AA- rating with a negative outlook (details below as to why) and then again in January, 2012 from AA- to A for failing to make much in the way of improvements. Then, just last week, having clearly forewarned Spain that it was at risk of having it's credit rating even further downgraded with all the financial implications of such a move, S&P further reduced Spain's credit rating by two levels to BBB+. When you read what S&P said back in October and again in January, Spain has only itself to blame for its amazing mismanagement and sorry state of affairs. Words: 2000

Canada is the largest supplier of oil to the U.S. When the U.S. imports oil from Canada, the spin-off economic benefits are substantial. The interactive map of the U.S. below will let you calculate the economic impact generated in each U.S. state from new oil sands projects in Alberta, Canada. Words: 592

The third largest source of oil in the world is the Canadian oil sands and the United States already imports more of it from there than from anywhere else. With oil prices on the rise, the controversial oil sands are likely to become even more economically viable, despite experts' warnings about environmental risks [and the political and environmental gamesmanship to block the Keystone pipeline project from there to refining facilities in the U.S.]. Below are 12 incredible facts about the oil sands. Words: 408

As long as there have been people, there’s been an attraction to gold. From pharaohs to hedge funds, gold has been an important tool of building and protecting wealth. Take a look at the interactive gold timeline below which carries you through gold's enduring path as a universal symbol of wealth.