Rail has a powerful tenfold advantage over trucking when fuel costs are high. Heavy Trucks require 3,357 BTU per short ton mile while Class 1 Railroads use only 341 BTU per short ton mile.

There’s one thing you can almost always count on with the government: Coming late to the party.

We’ve got a lot to remember and a lot to reckon with on this Memorial Day…the richest man in the world travels to Europe to seek out better investments…The Oracle of Omaha could write for The Daily Reckoning…putting the squeeze on the American family… Checking in on Cuba…and more!

The surest sign of a civilization in decline is inflation. Governments throughout history have resorted to debasing their currencies to meet their expenditures beyond tax receipts. We hardly think twice about inflation anymore. After 70 years of this kind of cheating, we’ve come to expect it.

“Time to sell oil and buy shares,” pronounces The Sunday Times headline. Merrill Lynch reckons the commodities sector is the most overheated it has been since ‘73. All things farming is trendy too. Fertiliser stocks are the new dotcom and farmers are busy planting all available land.

It is the best of times…it is the worst of times. This morning, oil is over $120…and the price of gold is pushing back up to $875. That’s good news, say the headlines.

The papers have kept us in stitches today…a ‘Gas Tax Holiday’? Really? Waiting for the showdown between Hillary and Obama…the Fed has created bubble-like conditions in the commodities markets - but Kevin Kerr tells us all is not lost. Buffett tells it like it is…the art world’s big test…and more!

From 1982 until the first half of 2007, global bank stocks led the secular long-term bull market in company profits. Long-term interest rates plunged from over 21% in 1981 to a low of just 3.5% in 2004. As a result, earnings at the majority of banks were literally stupendous, including huge dividend increases and massive shareholder buybacks.

It’s a good time to run an oil business. Reuters reports: “Shell profit beats forecast on record oil…” “BP profit beats forecast on record oil.” Not such a good time to run an airline.

The good thing about not following the herd, is that in the long run, it delivers you opportunities that no one else can take advantage of. Warren Buffett, largely seen as one of the world’s top investors, spent most of the credit boom sitting on his hands.