Drawing on a pool of more than 30 measures spanning financial data, surveys and political insights, the BlackRock Sovereign Risk Index below provides investors with a framework for tracking sovereign credit risk in 50 countries.

It’s quarterly report time for US stocks and companies continue to beat expectations even as earnings are falling? Their apparent success is explained partly by the fact that earnings reporting is a shell game, partly by the fact that not all businesses and industries are doing equally well, and partly by really bad earnings forecasting by the “experts.” This insightful article reviews just how crazy the whole earnings game is.

As of the end of 2015, there were over 15,600 mutual funds, 11,000 hedge funds and 2,100 ETFs...[which] account for almost 50% more...than there are individual stocks and bonds. The paradox of choice makes it extremely difficult for investors to wade through this sea of complexity, but it also increases the temptation to make changes to a portfolio. People have a hard time sitting still in the face of this sheer number of choices, even when there are proven benefits from inaction with your investments. [Let me explain.]

35% of all Americans have debt in collections and this is happening during the current supposed “economic recovery”. It begs the question: "What are things going to look like when the economy becomes extremely unstable once again?"

Supporters of helicopter money argue that it is a necessary option to revive economic growth and generate inflation, while opponents consider it a fancy name for printing money and monetizing fiscal deficits. Who is right, and what does it imply for the gold market?

This article analyzes 3 new ways to get inflation on a national and global scale that have not been tried yet but you can see them coming a mile away if you understand elite jargon and the elite message system.

The spike in gold/silver mining stocks convinced a lot of people that a new bull market had begun but last week's brutal smack-down scared the hell out of many of the same folks. The latest commitment of traders (COT) report, however, implies that we should all relax. Things are playing out pretty much according to a script that's been in place for decades - and which points to happy times by early next year. Let me be more explicit.

Some analysts argue that the Fed would be out of ammunition to deal with any future economic crisis but that is not the case. This article analyzes what monetary weapons the Fed could use and what each would mean for the price of gold as a result.

The more I think about where the “monetary policy community” of academic elites has brought us, the angrier I get. It has been a long time since I have been this passionately upset about something - and not merely because the policies are stupid - but what the Fed has done is to destroy the retirement hopes and dreams of multiple tens of millions of my fellow U.S. boomers (and when we include the effects of the destructive policies of the rest of the world’s central banks, the number becomes hundreds of millions). This article looks at the FOMC’s decision-making process for monetary policy and surveys the unpalatable future that our leaders are cooking up for us.

Just as the amount of outstanding debt has spiraled uncontrollably higher, so too will inflation. The hubris of central bankers who somehow believe they will know the precise time to alter easy money policies in order to prevent a monetary disaster is only exceeded by the foolishness of Congressional oversight in granting that authority. Word count: 1139