Baltimore (TFN): The Fed is meeting today. And I ask who cares? At this point, Bernanke and his troupe of politicians masquerading as economists are in so far over their heads, no matter what they do or say, you can bet the move is designed to protect their butts, not yours.

The U.S. dollar slid to a 1-year low against the euro on Tuesday near $1.48 as deteriorating sentiment on the U.S. currency encouraged selling ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting and Group of 20 summit this week.

The press attributed this week’s rise in gold to benign causes. The end of the world seems to have been postponed – indefinitely. Bloomberg reported that a clear majority of those polled thought the world economy was recovering.

U.S. crude oil fell over 3 percent to below $70 a barrel on Friday as U.S. equities struggled for traction and raised fears about the economy and a recovery in energy demand.

The dollar edged up against the euro and yen on Monday in extremely thin trade as Wall Street surrendered earlier gains and traders repositioned themselves ahead of U.S. consumer and housing data due this week.

Two years into our “Great Recession” (or “Greater Depression,” depending on who you talk to) gold is selling for $944 an ounce. But back in 1980 – against the backdrop of double-digit inflation in America and a prolonged economic stagnation – gold reached a peak of $850. That’s the equivalent to about $1,900 in today’s money.

Commodities prices are surging. World white sugar prices reached record levels on Aug. 10, largely because of booming demand in India where the government has lifted a ban on imports.

On Wednesday we warned readers of a coming blow-up of the Chinese economy, calling it a “tinderbox waiting to catch a fire.” The problem, of course, is that the US is not the only country hell bent on ‘stimulating’ its economy back to life. Communist China is at it too!

Here it comes, slowly but surely: “We sincerely hope the U.S. fiscal deficit will be reduced, year after year,” China’s Assistant Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said overnight after talks with Treasury Secretary Geithner. Could he lay it out any more clearly than this?

You can’t go back. So don’t assume that as the U.S. and the West recovers, they’ll attract foreign capital just like they did before the recession. It’s a far different landscape now. The easy-credit bubbles are gone. And they’ve left us with a hellacious debt burden.