Ian Mathias (The Daily Reckoning):
The U.S. government will finish its historic streak of debt sales today with a record $16 billion offering of 30-year bonds. This will pile on top the $65 billion in 3-year and 10-year paper auctioned earlier this week, both records in their own right.

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.

A debate over the future of the U.S. Federal Reserve is taking place in the halls of Congress.

Being an underground investor means always trying to see past the “groupthink.” And it means trying to spot the man in the ape suit before the crowd does (which is always too late).

Since the Obama administration took office almost 100 days ago, it has repeatedly said the key to an economic recovery is to unfreeze the credit markets and increase bank lending. 

In sports, championship-caliber teams all have at least one characteristic in common: They’re able to focus on the fundamentals.

Actual cash, in the form of bills and coins which some know as “currency in circulation” – and others know as, “Please, daddy! I need twenty dollars!”

While the rest of the global banking system falls apart, Canadian banks are receiving the highest rankings as healthy, competitive stocks. Mark Skousen of Investment U says that superior bank stocks will soar when the markets recover. 

Ben Bernanke – the “Sultan of Spin” himself – came out Wednesday and echoed the misguided hopes of CNBC’s Trillion Dollar Survey from January.  He optimistically believes that the crisis will be resolved before the end of 2009…that 2010 will be a year of recovery.

The snowball that was Obama’s bailout plan rolled downhill this week, gathering to it all manner of trash and stones.