An Inflation of Confusion 
                         (New Commentary of December 19, 2009)

“The Blind Leading the Blind” is the title of the December issue’s cover story. In it, we write of policymakers’ inability to do much more than play financial “Whack-a-Mole” as they frantically lurch from one doomed attempt to rescue the economy to another.

Likewise, most financial pundits don’t know which end is up; and this is especially true on the question of whether INFLATION or DEFLATION will be the dominant force in the days ahead of us.  This whole inflation-deflation debate is one we will be covering in even greater detail as the New Year commences.  Getting this issue right will be CRITICAL to your success as an investor.

Barack, the Magic Loan Officer

                         (New Commentary--posted December 27, 2009)

In a play on an infamous parody of President Obama that occurred during the election campaign, Chris here comments on how a doomed president is trying to use the “magic” of his persona to do what is at the same time both impossible and crazy:  force America’s banks into making even more loans to businesses and consumers who can’t afford them and—in the case of consumers—increasingly don’t want them.  Wow…this is all this supposed channeler of JFK can come up with?

The Last Days of Ben Bernanke
posted January 22, 2010

Bernanke Resurrects the Bond Market Vigilantes--
                                     (Posted October 10, 2009)

The Chairman of the Federal Reserve might know a thing or two about the causes of The Great Depression, but he is oblivious to what caused an historic event of far more recent vintage:  the Great Stock Market Crash of 1987.  That was caused by a rebellion in the Treasury market over (care to guess?) the Fed’s tardiness in defending the U.S. dollar.  Can you say “déjà vu all over again?”

OIL IS THE NEW GOLD…IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE! --
                          A Look at the New “Conspiracy” to Cap Oil Prices (from the August, 2009 issue)

           The looming collapse in the oil price will merely be a function of the markets, due to bets on rising commodities generally and a falling U.S. dollar being overdone, and needing to be unwound some.  What few understand, however—and what Chris explained in this, the cover story of our August issue—is that a lower oil price is now POLICY as well.