Banking has been fundamentally unsound ever since the first central bank was created. That’s when bankers started making promises they couldn’t keep.

In 2008, excess debt pushed the global financial system to the brink. It was a golden opportunity for governments and banks to reform the system. But rather than deal with the problem, they papered over it by issuing more debt. Worldwide debt levels are now $57 trillion higher than in 2008. Even the IMF is waking up to the fact that financial risks are rising.

Doug Casey, Chairman of Casey Research, has a dire warning. He says the ultimate day of reckoning is drawing near and that banks are headed for collapse.

Comparing how the government handles financial problems to how it handles forest fires, Doug said:

“Extinguishing them quickly provides an immediate and visible benefit. But the delayed and forgotten consequence of doing so is that it allows decades of deadwood to accumulate. Then when a fire starts, it can be a once-in-a-century conflagration.”

Doug Casey, by the way, will be speaking at the Sprott/Stansberry Natural Resources Symposium in Vancouver in July. Resource stocks could hardly be more out-of-favor right now. And downtrodden times like these are when savvy resource investors sow the seeds for breathtaking gains. Click here to learn more about the Sprott/Stansberry Natural Resources Symposium.

Oil Bulls vs. Oil Bears: The Facts

Everyone has an opinion on where the price of oil is headed.

Bulls believe that production in the US—the world’s new “swing producer”—has topped out at 9.42 million barrels per day.

Oil bears, on the other hand, point out that inventories are at 80-year highs. They say we’ll need to see significant drawdowns before the outlook for oil turns positive.

If you care at all about the price of oil, Marin Katusa’s latest analysis is required reading. He evaluates, in impressive detail, all of the main bull and bear arguments for oil.

Will Apple’s New Gold Watch Move the Gold Market?

Demand for the new Apple Watch is off the charts. Some analysts predict that it could be Apple’s most profitable product ever.

The high-end model, dubbed the ‘Edition,’ is made, according to Apple, of 18-karat gold. Some forecasts have Apple selling one million of these babies a month. And one journalist estimates that Apple could consume a whopping 30% of the world’s annual gold production if those forecasts prove correct.

Casey Research analyst Adam Crawford was skeptical of that claim. He ran the numbers himself and came up with a wildly different answer.

Blips and Bogeys