Economics and Investing:

Jonathan H. suggested a piece over at Slate: The Great Global Freakout of 2011 Imagining the worst-case scenario if the United States even comes close to defaulting on its debt.

Loyal content contributor B.B. sent an article by James West of The Midas Letter: $5,000 Gold and $300 Silver are Credible Numbers

Bob Chapman of The International Forecaster outlined the current short squeeze in the silver market in a radio interview with Alex Jones. To summarize Chapman’s remarks: Gold is going to break out here and is going to go to $1,600, $1,650, silver is another situation, the unusual situation is that JP Morgan Chase and HSBC are short 45 to 1, that means for every contract they have in silver they sold 45 (and there is thousands of them), they’re naked short they can’t get out they can’t buy back into silver which keeps on going up. Three things can happen here, they either can tell their clients we do not have silver and we are going to pay you 25 cents on the dollar or they can default totally. Or, the Federal Reserve can step in and cover their losses at $46 dollars a share. Their losses will be about $90 billion.

Bram S. suggested this blog post: Deflation or Hyperinflation?

Tony B. recommended an economics primer, style after Dr. Seuss: The Jubjub Hole

Items from The Economatrix:

Into The Economic Abyss

10 Signs Of An Impending Bust

Brent Crude Rises Over $124 On Unrest In Syria, Yemen

Earnings Drive Stocks to New 2011 Highs

3M:  Signals Of Continued Economic Uncertainty

Consumer Confidence Index Rises in April