Economic Overviews

Most of the hundreds of financial articles posted every week are just "financial entertainment" - unfounded forecasts, fear mongering or cheerleading. That being said, there are a number of articles that are absolutely MUST READS if you want to become an informed investor and be in position to understand what is evolving in the financial environment and be in a position act accordingly. Here they are.

The infographic below shows the difference in living costs around the world using CPI data as a relative indicator of a country's living costs compared to New York (for example, if a country has a CPI of 70, on average, it enjoys 30% cheaper living costs compared to New York).

This infographic shows the difference in Monthly Personal Disposable Income around the world using data from 2014. In this context personal disposable income refers to the income per person after all taxes have been paid.

If you believe that ignorance is bliss, you might not want to read this article. [Why? Because] I am going to dispel the notion that there has been any sort of “economic recovery”, and I am going to show that we are much worse off than we were just prior to the last economic crisis. [Ready to become informed? Then, read on!]

Just because something has happened in the past does not mean that it will happen in the future but the fact that so many red flags are appearing all at once has got to give any rational person reason for concern. What red flags, you ask? Read on!

Anti-tax demagoguery in the U.S. has resulted in Americans paying almost four times as much as the citizens of other wealthy countries for things such as retirement security and health care on the private market – 10.6% of our economic output versus an average of just 2.7% among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member states. As the title of this article suggests low taxes in the U.S. come at a very high cost.

Dozens (dare I say hundreds?) of "analysts" (should I say alarmists?) are convinced that the U.S. economy (and that of the world for that matter) is going to hell in a hand basket - and soon. How sound are their analyses of the current economic situation? Will they be proven to be very insightful or nothing less than fear mongers looking for attention? Their views are all here. You be the judge.

Economically we are experiencing the birth pangs of the coming Great Depression and, as we get closer to the crisis that is looming on the horizon, they will become even more powerful. The warning signs are all there – we just have to be open to what they are telling us. This article identifies the many parallels between past economic downturns and what is happening right now.

Fasten your seat belts! Below is my forecast of what will unfold in the U.S. in 2015. Forecasts related to geopolitical particulars (covering Russia, China, Japan, USA, Europe & the Islamic State) and financial matters (covering banking & oil) are covered in subsequent posts.

Will 2015 be a year of financial crashes, economic chaos and the start of the next worldwide depression? Personally, I am entirely convinced that the financial markets are more primed for a financial collapse now than they have been at any other time since the last crisis happened nearly seven years ago and I am certainly not alone.