"The most important issue in this year's election is the economy. Unfortunately, this topic has now been "politicized," which means that you can't talk about it without being instantly cheered or jeered by fans of each respective political team...[the truth of the matter, however, is that] the economy is much more important than this year's election or either political team....The first step is getting past the political blame-game and understanding what's wrong.... Let's go to the charts."

Global consumption of natural graphite has doubled in the last 10 years and will increase even more so in the next decade due to a) the continuing modernization of China, India and other emerging economies given the strong demand from traditional end uses such as the steel and automotive industries and b) the advent of new applications for graphite such as lithium-ion batteries, fuel cells, and nuclear and solar power. As a result of such increased demand prices for large flake, high purity graphite (+80 mesh, 94-97%C) have more than doubled making the mining of such a minerals increasingly profitable. Learn even more by viewing the infographic below.

Tens of billions of dollars per year are being spent worldwide on graphene research. Why? Because graphene could have a dramatic impact on our future by changing the fields of computing, energy, materials and optics. How? By making everything smaller, stronger and more ecologically sustainable. Below is an infographic that provides all the details.

It’s incredible that the Mayans forecast 2012 would be the end of a major era. It looks, today, like we are standing on the eve of massive changes in the world that will have consequences for a long, long time to come. The scene is already set....the euro will collapse, and...other major currencies will collapse. The consequences of these (eventual) collapses will be horrible because we will have a hyperinflationary depression.

We’re coming to the end of government’s ability to borrow money to fund current spending that’s beyond the growth of their economy....and I actually find that massively bullish because that government funding misallocates capital. It’s going to end in the next 2 or 3 years, Europe first, then Japan, then the US....

The Citigroup economics team...made some noise late last week when they wrote that Greece would exit the euro on January 1, 2013 [and,] despite the results of this weekend's Greek elections which favors bailouts, austerity, and the euro, Citigroup continues to believe Greece is likely to exit the euro. Here's why. Words: 950

We all know that the true cost of a car doesn't end at it's purchase price but most people don't really know what the annual cost will actually amount to. The next time you are shopping for a car consider these additional costs.

Dark...financial and economic clouds are, it seems, rolling in from every direction: the eurozone, the United States, China, and elsewhere. Indeed, the global economy in 2013 could be a very difficult environment in which to find shelter.

"Either you take the debt clean-out right away, and that means a very hard deflationary depression, or you do what I suspect they will try to do and that is keep pumping money into the system to keep the whole banking (system), derivatives and economies afloat [and] that will lead to some sort of monetary distress that could end in hyperinflation. I think that’s the worst outcome, but there is no good outcome.”

On the heels of Spain asking for $125 billion to bail out their collapsing banking system...there will be a massive worldwide package coming out between the Fed, the ECB, the IMF and other central banks. The money printing is imminent. As I see things, we are on the road to perdition,...there is no exit strategy for the world (to get) out of these problems. There is no solution. If you look at what happened in 2008, people thought that was bad, but what’s going to happen, starting this year and in the next few years, will make 2008 look like a small rehearsal because the real collapse is going to start now.