It is a gray morning, here in London. We sit in the building with the golden balls, look out the window, and wonder…

…how does it all work?

This recovery is wonderful in every way, except the important ones. It is like a shiny new airplane. It has glossy aluminum wings. It has plush seats in the first class section. Trim stewardesses serve drinks. Movies are available on demand in all sections…

The slump in the U.S. continues, says Bill Bonner in The Daily Reckoning. There’s “blood in the street,” says Barron’s of America’s most famous street, located in lower Manhattan. Fortune tells us that the “next wave of mortgage defaults” is coming.

Financial news as dense as a Russian novel…consumers may be in bigger trouble than we anticipated. The subprime crisis – worse than feared?…the glory days of 2006 are long-gone. One in four houses sold in America today is sold at a loss…foreclosures continue to soar…the persistence of string beans…and more!