We now live in a world where governments print worthless pieces of paper to buy other worthless pieces of paper that combined with worthless derivatives, finance assets whose values are totally dependent on all these worthless debt instruments. Thus most of these assets are also worth-less and the world financial system is a house of cards where each instrument’s false value is artificially supported by another instrument’s false value. The fuse of the world financial market time bomb has been lit. There is no longer a question of IF it will happen but only WHEN and HOW. Words: 1650

While growth of the global economy is sluggish and the outlook for meaningful improvements looks bleak, in a world with few options, muddling along doesn’t look so bad - and the U.S. is doing just that, due in large part from the aggressive stimulus policies. The question is, however, whether or not it will continue. Words: 761

In Europe, they were able to come up with a clever moniker, PIGS, to succinctly represent [and name the countries in dire financial straights - Portugal, Iceland, Ireland, Greece and Spain] the most boorish animals on the farm, and [I have taken it upon myself to call the U.S. state budget crises] the story of CAIN (California, Arizona, Alaska, Illinois, New York and New Jersey), the seven most rotten pillars of our union, and (Un)Abel, the country as a whole, which is (Un)Abel, i.e. unable, to do anything about the impending crises. Given the current political climate and implicit anti-bailout mandate of the new Congress, the Federal government might be powerless to do anything but accept painful state defaults. Before we know it, we could all be ancestors of evil... 2011 could be the year that CAIN starts to face some serious trouble, and may need some serious help to avoid killing his brother (Un)Abel! Words: 1529

A major crisis is coming in the first half of 2011 and it could cause a worldwide financial disaster, global market crashes and the destruction of wealth that will make the popping of the dot-com and housing bubbles feel like a mild inconvenience! Why? Because, quite simply, America is playing a dangerous game of “chicken” with its national debt - and the ramifications are extraordinary. Words: 1475

The U.S. economy is in an intensifying inflationary recession that eventually will evolve into a hyperinflationary great depression... [at which time] a $100 bill in the United States will become worth more as functional toilet paper/tissue than as currency. The U.S. government and Federal Reserve already have committed the system to this course through the easy politics of a bottomless pocketbook, the servicing of big-moneyed special interests, and gross mismanagement. The article is long but well worth the read. Words: 3565

While the average amateur investor may be excellent in their own career field, it doesn't mean they know what to invest in, or how to pick stocks. In fact being very good at your field can give you the false sense that whatever stocks you pick or your broker picks for you must be good, because after all, you picked them and you picked your broker — and you're smart so, no doubt, those stock prices will go up. Unfortunately, the smart and talented stock-picking neophyte is not investing at all but speculating. Words: 924

Some analysts suggest that the U.S. is heading into a long period of stagnant growth, in large part because of high unemployment and an overhang of debts that will restrain consumer spending which tends to hold down wages, putting more downward pressure on prices and once deflation sets in, consumers may hoard cash or try to pay off their debts faster, fueling the downward spiral of spending and growth. words: 1105

Many market participants and commentators are obviously having a hard time distinguishing between a bull market and a bubble. More and more articles are referring to the imminent burst of the “gold bubble” and to an alleged “crowded trade” but the facts quickly put such fear-mongering into perspective. Words: 1787

The U.S. caused the 1930s deflationary depression and is again the cause of the current contraction. Although similarities exist between the two, the differences between them insure a far more consequential outcome today than in the 1930s. [Indeed, the world] now finds itself on the edge of a growing deflationary sinkhole created by the sequential collapse of two large U.S. bubbles, the dot.com and U.S. real estate bubbles. Words: 1549

The next decade will surely be especially turbulent, because that's when markets and politics will sort out what the inevitable train wreck in the US entitlement programs will look like. Words: 713