Resident voice of reason at The Daily Reckoning, Bill Bonner takes a hard look at Goldman Sachs and replaces jealousy with admiration.
“We pick up sword and shield, ready to fight for Goldman, after reading the Financial Times. The FT has devoted a whole page to Goldman bashing. It’s time someone stood up to say a kind word for the firm.”

What’s the best way to get through a debt crisis? Straight through was our advice last week. For at least a thousand years, the business cycle went round and round without help from central bankers or economists. It is only since these geniuses have been on the case that really serious problems have arisen.

Chris Weber: don’t bet your retirement on stocks right now DailyWealth

Porter Stansberry explains the forces behind the current rally The Daily Crux

America is running out of rope The Market Ticker

The world financial system’s Achilles’ heel The Daily Reckoning

Roubini on a U shaped recovery Naked Capitalism

Larry Flynt calls for a national strike The Huffington Post

Look for an X shaped recovery Real Clear Markets

The risk of double dip recession rising Financial Times

What the stress tests didn’t predict NYT

The bear market has taken its toll on hedge funds so far this year. In the first half of ‘08 average hedge fund performance was a negative .75%. This from Bloomberg:

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told the Financial Times today that, “I still believe there is a greater than 50 per cent probability of recession.” But, “that probability has receded a little and I think the probability of a severe recession has come down markedly”.

Never did God give man such a sunny day that the authorities couldn’t make it rain. As near as we can tell, nature favored Argentina as she did few other places.

While communist China is busy smashing protests in occupied Tibet, the country’s currency, the renminbi, is making record gains agains the US dollar.

The real problem with the inflation/deflation battle…when your farthings aren’t worth what you thought… Which way will this tug-of-war go?…the end of a 28-year long road…the trouble with food…Dismembering the financial sector…the loose financial mores of the U.S. financial system…and more!

There is a table in The Financial Times which everyone ought to follow, though it refers to fixed interest securities and moves rather slowly. It is something I regard as a thinking point. It portrays one of the core relationships of global finance, and it is always worth asking oneself why the relationships are what they are, and why they have moved as they have moved.

Gulf energy crisis boosts oil. Why has the oil price stayed above $100, when all other commodity classes have shown larger falls? The gold price has fallen significantly more than the oil price as the dollar gained ground in recent days. There appears to have been a decoupling of the dollar-oil movements that we saw through March.