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If you really want to see what's happening with stock prices, and take the inflation out of it to find the real value, then you look at stock prices in terms of gold. Right now the Dow is worth about nine ounces of gold. In 2000, the Dow was worth 43 ounces. So even though the Dow is only down slightly in dollar terms for the last decade, it's down 70% in gold terms. I think next year the Dow could fall precipitously in terms of gold. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Dow down to five ounces of gold, which is a significant fall." Treasury uses accounting gimmicks to break debt limit without congressional approval . The law means nothing to Obama, and his administration is the most lawless since FDR. He said he wanted to have a presidency like FDR and Lincoln who presided over the two most destructive periods in US history, so I guess Americans have to suffer like we did under FDR and Lincoln. Three charts comparing the average annual growth in spending under every president between Eisenhower and Bush, inclusive. We talk about the explosion in welfare state spending, but that was reduced dramatically after Ford. On overall spending, Bush the Younger only comes in third behind Ford and LBJ, which surprised me. Only Eisenhower cut spending. The case for catastrophic deflation - nobody wants the dollar no matter how many Bernanke prints. I would say that almost certainly won't happen. The people of Zimbabwe and the Wiemar Republic didn't give up their currency when they were carting it around in wheelbarrows. How come I can't borrow a hundred million from the Fed at zero interest and pay it back whenever, if ever, I feel like it? "The White House Council of Economic Advisers just released a report arguing that the reforms before Congress would reduce the growth in health costs, cut the federal budget deficits and produce thousands of dollars in benefits for the average family. The problem is that just a few days earlier a report from the president's own chief health care...

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