Worst president ever

Just go, W. Before you do any more damage to our country. Someday (if you aren't already) you will be mentioned in the same breath as Hoover. The damage this man has done, both to our economy and our standing abroad, are incalculable. More and more, I wish I could have traded places with the Iraqi journalist who launched his size-10's at Bush.

The economists finally figured out that our economy is in recession, and has been since the last quarter. Boy, you can't put anything past those guys. Even with all of the doctored economic data, they figured it out. I'm not sure how long this will last, but I do know it will get worse before it gets better. Today's fun topic is...guess the size of this year's budget deficit. We were originally told $1 trillion, but that's just a round number with plenty of room for interpretation. Now they are saying $1.2 trillion this year, and $1.8 trillion next year.

Believe it or not, I would take that. I would be (relatively) happy if that's all it is. I think it will be more, and that's not counting Iraq, Afghanistan, borrowing from Social Security and all the other off-budget stuff. The budget deficit could top $2 trillion this year if/when the recession deepens. President Obama's response is to spend money that we don't have, and probably won't be able to borrow. The only thing holding this house of cards together is that the Chinese need our export markets. They have to keep selling stuff to us, even though we can't afford to pay for it, because their domestic market is still inadequate. So we may be able to muddle through a while longer. But this won't last forever.

I keep hearing the old Will Rogers quote that people are more concerned with return OF captial than return ON capital. For that reason they buy treasury bonds that pay 2% interest. Imagine locking up your money for ten years at 2% interest. This is what is known as return-free risk. Treasury bonds can't appreciate any further because interest rates can't go any lower. T-Bonds are a bubble, just like houses and the Nasdaq. The best investments for the year ahead will be gold, silver, and especially the mining shares because they are trading at such depressed levels, notwithstanding the rally of the past two months. The people who do best in the stock market tend to be people who buy at times like these. Well, actually it's people who did their buying back in October and November, when things really looked bleak. But now is still a good time to buy. Oil and natural gas will also do extremely well, as they have not yet rallied. But that is the nature of markets; everyone wanted oil at $140/bbl and no one wants it at $40/bbl. Except me.