Baltimore (TFN): I cannot say with total certainty that duct tape has ever saved my life. But I can say it has saved the day on more than one occasion, like the time I fell feet first into a frigid river, roaring with the power of Alaska’s springtime snowmelt.

In the woods, you have to dry off fast or risk any number of calamities. Living in temperate rainforest, an emergency fire was a challenge. But thanks to duct tape’s inherent desire to burn, I was re-warmed in no time.

General Electric Co. (GE), yesterday (Thursday) reduced its annual profit forecast for the second time this year and announced plans to reduce dependence on its financial services arm and focus more on the company’s industrial operations, particularly in China.

We all know the U.S. government is in debt up to its eyeballs. Moody’s is already threatening to downgrade the country’s debt rating due to unfunded liabilities for Medicare and Social Security.

Since we started Money Morning last year, there’s been one key theme: The next generation of leading global companies will come from outside U.S. borders.

Dow Enacts Biggest-Ever Price Increase; South Africa Inflation Soars 10.4% in April; GE Closes the Spigot on Water Use; Dollar Tree Sprouts 14% 1Q Profit, Fed Governor Retires; Rockefeller Proposal Defeated; DHL Delivered by UPS; Deceptive Dell.

T. Boone Pickens made his fortune in oil. But now the Dallas oilman and famed former corporate raider is betting $2 billion that he can have the same success with a new source of energy – wind.

It took a sub-prime/credit/derivatives debacle to make it happen, but it’s finally starting to dawn on some people that you can’t build a whole economy on the practice of moving money around.

Stocks surged today (Wednesday), on a round of earnings releases that met or exceeded Wall Street expectations.

For weeks at ContrarianProfits.com we’ve been warning that the Fed-inspired optimism on Wall Street would have to eventually have to face the reality of Corporate America’s earnings.

And today reality has bitten hard. US stocks fell with a loud thud following missed earnings from industrial behemoth General Electric, whose dismal earnings report casting a gloomy light on upcoming profit reports.

According to Dow Jones MarketWatch, the Dow Jones industrials shed 148.59 points to 12,433.39, with 25 of its 30 components trading in the red.