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2016 is looking like the year in which all economic policies fail as they play out in an environment where all the other major economies are also rolling over and the U.S. Fed has just begun a tightening cycle. That makes 2016 a uniquely scary year.

In a dynamite interview, Richard Fisher, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve of Dallas, gave what may be the biggest confession you’ll ever see and hear from a Federal Reserve insider:

When the Federal Reserve decided to lift interest rates, they made a colossal error. You don’t raise interest rates when a global financial crisis has already started. That is absolutely suicidal...Surely the “experts” at the Federal Reserve can see what is happening:

China’s slowdown in its GDP growth rate will definitely lead to a global meltdown. Here's why supported by a number of charts and some well reasoned rationale.

The Pew Research Center’s recent report says that 49% of adults are members of the Great American Middle Class. My more qualitative analysis suggests that no more than 33% of U.S. households qualify as middle class. Claiming that 49% of the nation’s households are still middle class is a gross exaggeration and I substantiate my contention in this most interesting and revealing article.

I am convinced that trouble is coming in 2016 that could poison your returns if you are not careful. Here are 6 possibilities.

The following comments may not be what one wants to hear, but charts tell what the reality is behind any market, and we are just the messenger delivering the chart-driven message so let's take a look at the most recent charts for gold and silver are conveying.

It’s clear AirBnB is quickly becoming a known entity among travelers and a more established mainstream brand and is poised to become more valuable than Marriott, Starwood, and Expedia. At first glance, the valuation looks rich, but the data suggests it might be right.

For Canadians, with their weak domestic currency, gold has been behaving just fine. It’s up 17% in C$ terms over the past two years and looks ready to rally from here.

On January 1st, 2016, a new bail-in system will go into effect for all European banks which means that, if you have more than 100,000 euros in a European bank right now, you are potentially on the hook should that bank go under. In the U.S. the Federal Reserve recently adopted a new rule that limits its ability to lend emergency money to banks. Is that the first step to European style bank "bail-in" legislation being enacted in America?