The tangible things that we eat, use and/or buy. Commodities that are traded include Cattle, Cocoa, Coffee, Copper, Corn, Cotton, and Crude Oil, just to cover the Cs. Gold, silver and platinum also are traded on the commodities exchanges as futures contracts.

Inflation is simply an increase in the supply of currency and credit. The rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising, and subsequently, purchasing power is falling is defined by the term "price inflation." Central Banks attempt to stop deflation, a natural phenomenon which occurs in order to correct the prior inflation.

Quantitative easing is central banker speak for creating currency to buy debt or other assets.

The process of quantitative easing is fairly simple—it involves printing currency and buying assets from banks—but it can take many different forms. Central banks can use Q.E. to buy relatively safe treasury securities, pumping cash into their vaults to stimulate lending; or they can buy assets that have lost value (think mortgage-backed securities) in order to make banks whole and attempt to shore up their balance sheets. Central banks can also target certain maturities of the assets they purchase, to push down the cost of short-term, medium-term, or long-term borrowing. 

Simply put, bonds are debt. Bonds basically say: "I owe you (IOU) X-amount of currency, plus X-amount of interest." —Michael Maloney, Guide to Investing In Gold & Silver. But, there is more to it than that. Bonds set the cost of borrowing, determine international currency flows, and play a huge role in determining the value of each nation’s currency. That means bonds have a direct effect on the dollars, euros, pesos or yuan in your wallet or bank account.

A market in which the primary price trend is upwards 

The word “cycle” comes from the Greek word kyklos, meaning cycle or circle. One common definition of cycle is “a periodically repeated sequence of events.”

The idea of a cycle is symbolized by a circle, which, because there is no beginning or end, represents recurrence. The symbolic circle is often divided into segments—often two, such as the Chinese yin and yang or day/night, but more often four segments, like the seasons.

A recognition and understanding of cycles is one way human beings are able to recognize patterns in data. As early humans learned that events in nature recur over and over again with regularity, they developed the ability to plan for the future, which ultimately led to advanced civilizations.

A Speculative bubble is not just about the assets going up in value, but is more about the mentality of the individuals who invest in the asset. Are they struck with euphoria about the asset class or approaching it with a clearer head.

The tangible things that we eat, use and/or buy. Commodities that are traded include Cattle, Cocoa, Coffee, Copper, Corn, Cotton, and Crude Oil, just to cover the Cs. Gold, silver and platinum also are traded on the commodities exchanges as futures contracts.

Deflation is a contraction of the currency supply, which causes prices to fall and the value of currency to rise. When prices fall, a boom becomes a bust, and suddenly a recession becomes a depression.  Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, a scholar of the Great Depression, knows the dangers that deflation poses to a debt-based economy.

Inflation is simply an increase in the supply of currency and credit. The rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising, and subsequently, purchasing power is falling is defined by the term "price inflation." Central Banks attempt to stop deflation, a natural phenomenon which occurs in order to correct the prior inflation.

A market in which the primary price trend is upwards 

The word “cycle” comes from the Greek word kyklos, meaning cycle or circle. One common definition of cycle is “a periodically repeated sequence of events.”

The idea of a cycle is symbolized by a circle, which, because there is no beginning or end, represents recurrence. The symbolic circle is often divided into segments—often two, such as the Chinese yin and yang or day/night, but more often four segments, like the seasons.

A recognition and understanding of cycles is one way human beings are able to recognize patterns in data. As early humans learned that events in nature recur over and over again with regularity, they developed the ability to plan for the future, which ultimately led to advanced civilizations.

Simply put, bonds are debt. Bonds basically say: "I owe you (IOU) X-amount of currency, plus X-amount of interest." —Michael Maloney, Guide to Investing In Gold & Silver. But, there is more to it than that. Bonds set the cost of borrowing, determine international currency flows, and play a huge role in determining the value of each nation’s currency. That means bonds have a direct effect on the dollars, euros, pesos or yuan in your wallet or bank account.

A fiat currency is created by a government decree. The Latin word fiat means “let it be done.” And with the stroke of a pen, or the crank of a printing press, “money” is created. Fiat currency has no inherent value—the paper that a $100 dollar bill is printed on is surely not worth $100. It might have been worth a few cents before the government ruined its utility as scrap paper by printing green words and numbers all over it! Compare this with gold, which is a precious, rare metal that is, in many cases, the only substance on earth that can be used for certain human purposes, including science, medicine, and of course—adornment.

Simply put, bonds are debt. Bonds basically say: "I owe you (IOU) X-amount of currency, plus X-amount of interest." —Michael Maloney, Guide to Investing In Gold & Silver. But, there is more to it than that. Bonds set the cost of borrowing, determine international currency flows, and play a huge role in determining the value of each nation’s currency. That means bonds have a direct effect on the dollars, euros, pesos or yuan in your wallet or bank account.

Simply put, bonds are debt. Bonds basically say: "I owe you (IOU) X-amount of currency, plus X-amount of interest." —Michael Maloney, Guide to Investing In Gold & Silver. But, there is more to it than that. Bonds set the cost of borrowing, determine international currency flows, and play a huge role in determining the value of each nation’s currency. That means bonds have a direct effect on the dollars, euros, pesos or yuan in your wallet or bank account.

Simply put, bonds are debt. Bonds basically say: "I owe you (IOU) X-amount of currency, plus X-amount of interest." —Michael Maloney, Guide to Investing In Gold & Silver. But, there is more to it than that. Bonds set the cost of borrowing, determine international currency flows, and play a huge role in determining the value of each nation’s currency. That means bonds have a direct effect on the dollars, euros, pesos or yuan in your wallet or bank account.

Ben Bernanke is current Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. He succeeded Alan Greenspan as Chairman in 2006, following his nomination by former President George W. Bush. He is an economist and former professor at Princeton University. Nicknames include "the bernank," and "Helicopter Ben."  

Quantitative easing is central banker speak for creating currency to buy debt or other assets.

The process of quantitative easing is fairly simple—it involves printing currency and buying assets from banks—but it can take many different forms. Central banks can use Q.E. to buy relatively safe treasury securities, pumping cash into their vaults to stimulate lending; or they can buy assets that have lost value (think mortgage-backed securities) in order to make banks whole and attempt to shore up their balance sheets. Central banks can also target certain maturities of the assets they purchase, to push down the cost of short-term, medium-term, or long-term borrowing. 

From Wikipedia.org:

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors, not from any actual profit earned by the organization, but from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors. The Ponzi scheme usually entices new investors by offering returns other investments cannot guarantee, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent. The perpetuation of the returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises and pays requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors to keep the scheme going.

A market in which the primary price trend is upwards 

A fiat currency is created by a government decree. The Latin word fiat means “let it be done.” And with the stroke of a pen, or the crank of a printing press, “money” is created. Fiat currency has no inherent value—the paper that a $100 dollar bill is printed on is surely not worth $100. It might have been worth a few cents before the government ruined its utility as scrap paper by printing green words and numbers all over it! Compare this with gold, which is a precious, rare metal that is, in many cases, the only substance on earth that can be used for certain human purposes, including science, medicine, and of course—adornment.

Inflation is simply an increase in the supply of currency and credit. The rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising, and subsequently, purchasing power is falling is defined by the term "price inflation." Central Banks attempt to stop deflation, a natural phenomenon which occurs in order to correct the prior inflation.

Ben Bernanke is current Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. He succeeded Alan Greenspan as Chairman in 2006, following his nomination by former President George W. Bush. He is an economist and former professor at Princeton University. Nicknames include "the bernank," and "Helicopter Ben."  

A fiat currency is created by a government decree. The Latin word fiat means “let it be done.” And with the stroke of a pen, or the crank of a printing press, “money” is created. Fiat currency has no inherent value—the paper that a $100 dollar bill is printed on is surely not worth $100. It might have been worth a few cents before the government ruined its utility as scrap paper by printing green words and numbers all over it! Compare this with gold, which is a precious, rare metal that is, in many cases, the only substance on earth that can be used for certain human purposes, including science, medicine, and of course—adornment.