BEIJING, The People’s Republic of China – At a time when the rest of the global auto sales are experiencing their biggest declines in decades – and are set to drop at least 8% globally – the burgeoning China auto market may grow by 10% or more this year.

Not a fan of socialism? Me either. But, if the federal government has to backstop free market excesses with taxpayer dollars, how will it eventually unravel the veil, or tarp of intervention? Or should it? The answers are about to unfold before our eyes.

Hate thy neighbor? Giveth his children money; that will fix them all. Few things are as costly as free money.

Investors are “bloodied and confused,” says Warren Buffett, “much as though they were small birds that had strayed into a badminton game…”

Berkshire’s Armor Cracks; JPMorgan Bags $5 Billion Selling Deriviates; Recordati Proposes Increased Divided; China May Double Stimulus This Week; Homes Sales Continue to Break Down

What happens to the relationship between the small-cap investor and the unemployed consumer during a recession? Greg Gunner of Whiskey and Gunpowder has advice, buy low and sell high.

Jason Simpkins of Money Morning gives us a look of what stocks Warren Buffett is buying into this year. He says that “Buffett didn’t fare much better than anybody else in 2008. But the Oracle of Omaha remains optimistic, convinced that investors who brave today’s fierce financial tempest will be rewarded in the long run.”

MasterCard Posts 4Q Profit; Buffet’s Berkshire Investing in Swiss Re; Rogers Staying Out of Russia; Ford in Volvo Talks with Geely Auto; Louis Vuitton Misses on Earnings; Brown Refuses to Ban Bonuses; Mortgage Rates Jump; Retail Trade Group Wants Tax Holidays

With the U.S. credit markets in lockdown mode, a whipsaw stock market that keeps anyone from getting too comfortable, a banking sector in chaos and a recession that clearly won’t be ending any time soon, U.S. dealmakers are looking at a market for mergers and acquisitions that’s in a virtual deep freeze.

Based off the last news reports, without Steve Jobs, the multi-billion-dollar enterprise that is Apple (NYSE: AAPL) would simply cease to exist. Every new report of his health is followed in the market, and Apple’s stock price takes corresponding hikes and plunges.