Now that the Fed has stopped its quantitative easing who does the Fed expect (hope) will buy US Treasury debt?

Sit back and take a look at the economic & financial situation in the world today and I wouldn't be surprised in the least that you will conclude that it makes sense to own some physical gold and/or silver - and there couldn't be a better time than now, with both down so much in price, to start accumulating some as finances permit.

A true solution to both fiat currencies and the shock of their demise exists right now, if only the leaders of the world’s nations were able to recognize it. Believe it or not, it's the Mexican Libertad. Let me explain its design and usage and how it could easily become the foundation of a new non-fiat international currency.

A temporary period of deflation will result from the end of the Fed's massive asset purchases followed by a period of inflation that will make the '70s seem like an era of hard money. Here's why.

...When the USD starts to rise many assume that this is negative for paper gold ETFs such as GLD as well as physical gold. I'm sure you have heard it before, if the USD goes up then gold goes down, and vice versa...but, in reality, this "rule of thumb" isn't the case and, in actuality, it would be impossible for the USD and gold to trade inversely with each other. Let me explain.

There have been many econoblog posts of the form, "ha, ha, the people predicting inflation have been wrong so far, when will they give up?". Let me try to explain why we know high inflation is coming eventually.

There is an idea floating about to stimulate the economy via providing cash directly to consumers. It may just be a trial balloon at this point, but I expect the idea to gain traction. Here's why.

Frankly, we cannot conceive of a more cataclysmic set of circumstances for both the global economy in general, and the gold Cartel specifically, than currently exist. Act now, before “traders” return from summer vacations next week or you may be locked out of the most important “protection trade” of all time!

You’ve almost certainly seen the chart below over the years – it shows the purchasing power of the US Dollar over time - and it looks terrifying. I call it the "stupid" chart, though, because it is a total misrepresentation of the facts because it isn't telling the full story. Here's why.

The frequency of financial crises and recessions is quite high: on average, there is one crisis every 58 months (using data from the US National Bureau of Economic Research). In other words, statistically speaking, we should expect the beginning of the next crisis in April 2015, which would end by March 2016. There are 8 possible scenarios that could cause the next crisis. Let's take a look at each.