By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): You don’t believe all the hype do you? As we close out another year and another decade, the pundits are busy rehashing the action of the past ten years.

The political types are discussing the rise and fall of the Bush administration, a couple of wars and the nation’s first black president. The Hollywood folks are talking about the end of the sitcom, the death of an icon and the phenomenon that is American Idol.

Baltimore — (TFN): Do you think Rupert Murdoch and his multi-billion-dollar buggy whip factory is getting nervous? Unless the prince of print media single-handedly transforms an industry, his empire will come crashing down.

This story goes well beyond Murdoch’s decision to start charging for his company’s online news content.

Baltimore — (TFN): It’s like pulling off a Band-Aid. We can do it quick and get the pain over with, or we can torture ourselves with slow, steady, hair-ripping pulls that make us want to gouge our eyes out in pain.

Since I first scraped my knee chasing the neighbor’s cat across the street dozens of years ago, I have been a fan of the get-it-over-fast strategy. Rip the stitches, dry the tears and move on. Dilly-dallying is for sissies and I’m no sissy.

Keith Fitz-gerald (Whiskey & Gunpowder):
Everything we know about classic economic theory suggests the U.S. economy should be experiencing Zimbabwe-like hyperinflation right now, thanks to the nearly $2.2 trillion the U.S. Federal Reserve has pumped into the system.

Keith Fitz-Gerald (Money Morning):
With all the financial woes in the global economy, the worst thing an investor can do is to “freeze up.” With all the ups and downs in the market, it’s all too easy for investors to allow their emotions to take control. That’s when the smallest mistakes turn into the biggest mistakes.

David Rosenberg, chief economist for Gluskin-Sheff, is a contrarian with a superior intellect than our own. That’s why we hang on most every word he says.

Most Americans will view China’s effort to dethrone the U.S. dollar as the world’s main reserve currency as one of the biggest economic threats that this country will have to face.

Say what? Geithner begs for higher debt ceiling, says it will restore world confidence… Deficit now three times last year’s record… so Congress buys 8 private jets… A currency sea change? Bill Jenkins on the dollar’s surprise rally… Jim Nelson on the best sectors for income investing… John Williams digs deeper into Friday’ jobs report… four data distortions you need to know…

The cat let out of the bag last week — a frazzled, flaming, rabid, death-dealing cat — was the news that Goldman Sachs announced impressive second-quarter profits, and set aside $18 billion or so for employee bonuses averaging $600,000 per head (though, of course, not evenly distributed among them).

With a deadline looming for financial firms that received government bailout funds to submit their 2009 compensation plans to Treasury Department’s pay czar, there’s a possibility that Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) will lose the head of its secretive and extremely profitable energy trading arm.