Chris Martenson PhD. "We have entered some truly treacherous investing waters, where we must question everything and accept nothing, even (and especially) the base assumption that any given currency, be that the US dollar or euro or Yen, will retain its value. Is a 'double-dip' recession coming? Nobody knows for certain, but all the warning signs are there. Our view is that it’s best to start thinking about preserving and protecting your wealth now, while you still have that opportunity. The bottom line here is that you should not be taking your cues from what your neighbors seem to be doing, but instead being sure that your own house is in order."

Jennifer Barry. "When you think of ghost towns, you probably imagine a mining settlement abandoned once the resource was depleted, like Bannock, Montana or Kolmanskop, Namibia. You may think of tumbleweeds blowing down vacant streets, or sand dunes covering vacant shops."

Barry Ferguson. "To borrow from Johnny Carson’s character, Carnac – the Magnificent, the answer to the question is, ‘Swamp people, capitalism, and regulation’. The question sealed in the envelope is, ‘Name an inspiration, an innovation, and constipation.’"

David Urban. "Historically, the argument against Gold was that it provided no yield to investors. Stocks, bonds, and cash all provide some sort of yield so Gold as an investment has no merit. But that view appears to be changing, with volatility in the equity markets, bonds now providing little or no yield (witness the US treasury yield curve and IBM's latest offering), and money markets and cd's providing scant yields Gold is looking much more attractive as a place to park cash."

Kieran Osborne CFA. "In an environment with historically low interest rates, fixed income investors have been pouring money into longer-duration securities, substituting 3 and 6 month T-Bills with 10-year Treasures or bond funds. To an extent, this should not be so surprising: the Federal Reserve’s (the Fed) extraordinary monetary policies have resulted in extremely low yields at the short end of the yield curve."

Gordon T Long. "I gave President Barrack Obama six months to roll-out his doomed Keynesian policies, twelve months to discover they were flawed and eighteen months to realize that the solution to America’s problems must lie within a different economic framework."

Ronald Griess. "The following chart compares Moody’s Aaa bond yields with the dividend yield of the S&P Composite. Notice that stock yields remained above bond yields from 1929 until the mid 1950’s."

Justice Litle. "Blue chip companies are borrowing from investors at insanely low interest rates. This is not a good sign. It's back again, and the drumbeats are growing louder... the dreaded "D" word. Not doom or death or destruction, but deflation. Investors by all rights should be scared silly by the prospect of deflation, based on what it did to Japan. During Japan's long march into the abyss from 1990 onward, the Nikkei lost more than 75% of its value... and still has not gained it back. Japanese equities – and investors who held on for the ride – were absolutely destroyed."

Stewart Thomson. "How do you spell “party”? I spell it, “ringing the cash register”. The greatest danger in markets is believing you have the situation all figured out. For many decades, the “banksters” have controlled the gold market, and many other markets. When the OTC derivatives were marked to market (a small portion of them) in 2007, the losing side of the trade said “we don’t have the money, we’re bankrupt!”."

Axel G Merk. "In what the Wall Street Journal hails as “one of his most dramatic gestures to business,” President Obama is proposing companies be allowed to write off 100% of their new investment in plant and equipment through 2011. Democrats are lukewarm to the idea as it doesn’t “stimulate demand”; Republicans are shooting down the idea, too. Few seem to realize is that allowing businesses to expense their investments may be the single most effective policy tool available to promote sustainable economic growth."

Ron Paul. "Last week, in the wake of another uptick in the official unemployment rate, the administration continued to claim that their economic policies were working, just not fast enough. This administration inherited an unemployment rate of 7.7% and promised a peak of no higher than 8% if their policies were followed. Not only does the administration have a funny way of ending a war, but now they claim their economic policies are successful. For whom, I wonder?"

Frank Holmes. "“Global” is part of our company name, and we take it seriously. This week two members of our investment team are in Hong Kong for a CLSA conference, another is just back from China, a fourth will be there later this month and I’ve spent a fair bit of time in Colombia in recent months."

Captain Hook. "The title a quantum physics enigma likely best captures (as opposed to ‘A Parallel Universe, etc.’) the essence of describing two things occupying the same space at the same time, as is the case with both inflation and deflation within the matrix of our sordid economies. Because this topic is of growing interest at present with deflation spreading into increasing sectors, it does in fact appear timely to take a good look at the condition our condition is in, where parallels in central bank policy compared to the 30’s can be made in the sense it might be a ‘Fed mistake’ (lack of inflation) that sparks the next Great Depression."

Paul Nolte. "Seasonally the weakest part of the year, especially during mid-term elections, put on show after a weak start on more “better than expected” news, especially from the much analyzed employment report. Adjusting for the reduction in census workers, the economy showed modest job growth – more than expected – giving investors reasons to cheer and economy that may be coming out of its summer torpor"

Richard Mills. "Investors are starting to realize that gold is a storehouse of value and a safe haven in times of turmoil. Gold’s price has risen because of the abuse and mismanagement of our monetary and currency systems - throughout history, gold has always shone the brightest when trust breaks down, confidence falls and fear climbs."

Monty Guild & Tony Danaher. "Recent research by UBS economist Jon Anderson illustrates how trade is being reshaped in the developing world. It will probably not surprise you to learn that between 1998 and 2008 six developing nations recorded an increase in exports (as measured by manufacturing & GDP) of more than 25 percent. What will surprise you are the names of these countries. The emerging market countries that grew their exports by the largest percentage were not the big countries one might expect, such as China, Brazil or India. Instead, they were smaller countries, with less celebrated economies. They were Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam in South East Asia and the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Hungary in Eastern Europe."

Julian Phillips. "We ask the question, will a recovery help the U.S. Dollar? One of the factors that U.S. investors have looked at in the past, but has broken down this year is the belief that if the Dollar falls gold will rise and vice versa. Cast your mind back to the pre-credit crunch time and what did we see?"

Tim W Wood CPA. "Of late there has been a lot of attention on the Hindenburg Omen and the excessive number of 90% volume days. I’ve been receiving e-mails and phone calls asking me about this and how it affects my work. In short, it doesn’t. Here’s why."

Frank Holmes. "I’ve done a number of interviews on gold recently and the number one question I get most from reporters is—can gold prices go higher? My answer is yes."

Sy Harding. "The stock market this week is saying I was wrong in warning in last week’s column that we might already be back in recession in this, the third quarter of the year. I have to agree that the alarming trend of worsening economic reports since May seemed to turn a bit more mixed with this week’s reports."