We’ll start with a bit of levity, to temper all the recent bad news: The Monster Crash [1]. (Kudos to Richard at KT Ordnance [2] for sending the link.)
I’ve added 90-Day and 5-Year price charts for silver and gold to the bottom of my Investing page [3].
Reader M.H. sent a reminder that anyone in the US that is expecting a tax refund on their state income tax should file their tax returns as early as possible this year. As states increasingly run into budget crises, some taxpayers that wait until April 15th to send in their tax forms may end up out of luck–and end up waiting for many extra months to get their tax refund checks.
Robert B. sent us this: New Gulf currency ‘Khaleeji’ poised to be Gold backed to remove ‘Riba’ [4]
From Ben H.: US Federal 2008 deficit was really about $5 trillion [5]
RSR spotted this: Beer No Longer Recession-Proof [6]
Items from The Economatrix:
US Economy: Housing Starts, Factory Output Plunge [7]
The Crash of 2009 is Coming to YOU! [8]
1 in 5 California Public Workers to be Fired [9]
BofE Seeks Power to Inject More Money into Economy to Fight Recession [10]
Britain’s AAA Credit Rating Threatened by Scale of Bail-Out, Says S&P [11]
Fed Says Economy Even Worse than Thought [12]
Growing Stocks of Unsold Cars [13]
HUD: The Mortgage Crisis is a Jobs Crisis [14]
Nearly 5 Million Americans Receiving Unemployment Benefits [15]
California Legislators Finally Approve Budget [16]
Public Fears about Troubled Economy Growing [17]
Gold Primed to be “Mania Asset” [18]
It’s Getting Ugly: Economist Says Hoard Gold and Scotch [19]
The Burning Platform [20] Here is a quote:”When I see Senator Charles Schumer of New York make a speech on the floor of the Senate saying, ‘And let me say this to all of the chattering class that so much focuses on those little, tiny, yes, porky amendments, the American people really don’t care’, I want to throttle him.”
It Will Happen [21] (The Mogambo Guru)