10 years ago yesterday, my best friend and my hero, my father, Samuel Willard Monroe passed away in my arms. Here’s to you Dad – I miss you more every day… And in rememberance of Ann Coulter’s mom – Nell Husbands Martin Coulter, who passed away yesterday – I wish I had known you. Ann’s mom sounds like she was one hell of a woman. No wonder Ann comes from such good stock.

U.S. Federal Government ~ A TOTAL FRAUD?

IMF: World economy in severe recession

GM TO CLOSE MOST FACTORIES FOR SUMMER

UK Govt hikes top income tax rate to 50%

Merkel Rejects Expanding German Stimulus Program; Economic Data Worsens

GM Plans to Skip $1 Billion Debt Payment

Top exec says economic crisis resetting capitalism

Freddie Mac Acting CFO David Kellermann Found Dead (Update6)

IMF: World Economy in Severe Recession, Sees 1.3% Contraction

If you pay people to be poor, you’ll never run out of poor people

Stimulus money includes spruce-up of National Mall

Don’t own property? City’s new property taxes will still cost you; Con Edison allowed to hike rates

Gold rush in the suburbs as shine disappears from economy

Why the bank stress tests are bunk; The Obama team has put banks under the microscope and plans to release the results. If the findings are bad, expect more market turmoil. If they’re rosy, who’ll believe them?

I.M.F. Puts Bank Losses From Global Financial Crisis at $4.1 Trillion

Leading Economist Decries Power of Wall Street “Oligarchs”

Five Reasons Why House Prices May Never Recover

Bank Profits Appear Out of Thin Air

Yuan Trade Move “Far Reaching”

Pay Up or Get Out

From SurvivalBlog.com:

“The bulls will buy stocks believing that we have another bull market on our hands. After having lost 50% of their money since 2007, they’ll lose another 20% – 30% when this rally collapses.

The bears, meanwhile, are convinced that there is worse to come. They think the stimulus spending programs will cause inflation. So they’re buying gold and commodity stocks sure that when inflation comes, it will cause mining and oil stocks to soar. Maybe it will eventually. But the first big move will probably be down. They, too, will lose big.

That could be the Big Surprise of this depression. It will kill the stock market bulls when the bear market rally collapses… then it will kill the stock market bears when the mining and commodity stocks collapse… and then it will wipe out the middle-class savers when inflation increases and the dollar collapses.” – Bill Bonner, writing in the Fleet Street Invest newsletter