History clearly shows that stocks don't fall during periods of rising interest rates. Sure, they might fall a little when a rate hike is announced - maybe for a week or so - but they usually bounce back quickly - and then they go higher.

Never before has the world faced such a serious debt crisis. Yes, in the past there have certainly been nations that have gotten into trouble with debt, but we have never had a situation where virtually all of the major powers around the globe were all drowning in debt at the same time. Right now, confidence is being shaken as debt levels skyrocket to extremely dangerous levels. Many are openly wondering how much longer this can possibly go on. [Here's my take on the situation.]

Anyone that thinks that the U.S. economy can keep going along like this is absolutely crazy. We are in the terminal phase of an unprecedented debt spiral which has allowed us to live far, far beyond our means for the last several decades. Unfortunately, all debt spirals eventually end, and they usually do so in a very disorderly manner.

Little has been done in the past six years to restructure economies and cut debt i.e. learn the lessons of 2008. Because we’ve partially recovered from that traumatic period, that’s led to complacency. All the while, the debt that caused the bust in the first place has compounded and threatens to undo the world again. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

So much has been written about what various authors refer to as the economic (in alphabetical order) abyss, apocalypse, Armageddon, avalanche, catastrophe, chaos, cliff, collapse, crisis, disaster, downturn, endgame, meltdown, pain, reality, risks, situation, train wreck, tsunami, turmoil that faces the nations of the world I thought a source article of what has been said about the situation would be of interest. Have a look.

Are the big banks really as powerful as some people say that they are? Do they really control the global economy? If you asked most people, they would tell you that governments control the global economy but the fact is that the campaigns of our politicians are funded by the ultra-wealthy, the big banks and the large corporations that they control. Others would tell you that the Federal Reserve and the rest of the central banks around the world control the global economy but the truth is that the Federal Reserve was established by the bankers and for the benefit of the bankers. As you will see below, at the very core of the global economy there exists a "super-entity" of financial institutions that control an almost unimaginable amount of wealth and power. These financial institutions, and the ultra-wealthy individuals behind them, are really the ones that are pulling all the strings.

From the onset of the global financial crisis, the price of gold has often been portrayed as a barometer of global economic insecurity (in principle, holding gold is a form of insurance against war, financial Armageddon, and wholesale currency debasement) so does the collapse in gold prices - from a peak of $1,900 per ounce in August 2011 to under $1,250 at the beginning of July 2013 - represent a vote of confidence in the global economy?

The financial markets were in distress lately because of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's suggestion that the Fed might taper off its quantitative easing programs starting at the end of this year and ending in 2015. Here are five reasons why markets shouldn't worry too much about the Fed leaving the stage:

It seems that the past few years of falling interest rates have lulled a big part of the global economy into financing with variable-rate debt...[As such,] when interest rates go up (as they did last week), there’s a world-wide reset in interest costs that, best case, amounts to a tax increase on individuals and businesses and, worst-case, threatens to blow up the whole system.

A more aggressive devaluation of paper currencies is on the horizon thus the whole PM Complex is completely underpriced. Averaging in from this point on seems warranted. Below is a full explanation as to why that is the case.