Fact #7: As of summer 2012, the federal government’s outstanding debt surpassed $15 trillion. Who are the nation’s creditors?

Renewed leadership by the sectors that stand to benefit most from a stronger economy and profit growth down the road...could be one of the best indications that perhaps the worst is indeed behind us and the rally has more room to run. However, if these cyclical sectors fail to participate more fully, that would be a signal of more potential trouble ahead. [Let me explain.] Words: 840

Nowadays, with the global recession on the tip of everybody's tongue, we point out in this infographic some scary similarities between the Great Depression and what is now commonly referred to as the Great Recession...Are we headed down the path to another Great Depression?

In the face of the now-obvious negative outlook - the corrosive effect of deflation deleveraging, excessive debt, the softening U.S. and global economy, the "fiscal cliff", the implausibility of a European solution, the probability of a hard landing in China and the prospect that corporate earnings estimates were far too high - the question we get most often is why the market has declined so little, and why it seems so resistant to bad news. In our view the reluctance of the market to give up much ground is typical of....Words: 356

In the face of the now-obvious negative outlook - the corrosive effect of deflation deleveraging, excessive debt, the softening U.S. and global economy, the "fiscal cliff", the implausibility of a European solution, the probability of a hard landing in China and the prospect that corporate earnings estimates were far too high - the question we get most often is why the market has declined so little, and why it seems so resistant to bad news. In our view the reluctance of the market to give up much ground is typical of....Words: 356

Harry Dent, the financial newsletter writer and CEO of economic forecasting firm HS Dent, has one of the most bearish calls on stocks we've heard in a while. Appearing on CNBC yesterday, Dent explained the demographics-driven thesis behind his Dow 3000 call.

Harry Dent, the financial newsletter writer and CEO of economic forecasting firm HS Dent, has one of the most bearish calls on stocks we've heard in a while. Appearing on CNBC yesterday, Dent explained the demographics-driven thesis behind his Dow 3000 call.

The conventional view looks at the domestic credit bubble, the trillions in derivatives and the phantom assets propping the whole mess up and concludes that the only way out is to print the U.S. dollar into oblivion, i.e. create enough dollars that the debts can be paid but in doing so, depreciate the dollar's purchasing power to near-zero.This process of extravagant creation of paper money is also called hyper-inflation. While it is compelling to see hyper-inflation as the only way out in terms of the domestic credit/leverage bubble, the dollar has an entirely different dynamic if we look at foreign exchange (FX) and foreign trade. Words: 1675

The conventional view looks at the domestic credit bubble, the trillions in derivatives and the phantom assets propping the whole mess up and concludes that the only way out is to print the U.S. dollar into oblivion, i.e. create enough dollars that the debts can be paid but in doing so, depreciate the dollar's purchasing power to near-zero.This process of extravagant creation of paper money is also called hyper-inflation. While it is compelling to see hyper-inflation as the only way out in terms of the domestic credit/leverage bubble, the dollar has an entirely different dynamic if we look at foreign exchange (FX) and foreign trade. Words: 1675

The U.S. is about two years behind Europe’s pernicious path. We are now over 100% debt to GDP, and if we want to know our future, all we have to do is look across the Atlantic because that’s exactly where we are headed.