Government inspector general pegs maximum bailout bill… almost double annual U.S. GDP… Marc Faber on the future of the U.S. economy and an outlook for the S&P… A 30-second roundup of the Investment Symposium’s first day… buys, sells and trends you can’t miss… Pension funds in peril… America’s two largest announce $100 billion loss, more to come… Frank Holmes on the three most important value drivers of a gold mining stock…

At 53 years of age, John A. Paulson manages about $30 billion in his hedge funds. Over 2007 and 2008, he pocketed $10 billion in profits after he correctly bet that the subprime-mortgage market would crash.  His Credit Opportunities Fund earned nearly 500% gains in that year.

Alberto Bailleres obviously hopes that 1 and 1 will make not 2, but 3, 4 or even 5! The Mexican billionaire owns the giant diversified mining and chemical group, Penoles. Penoles has floated part of its business on London’s stock market.

The resource-rich Canadian markets rallied on the back of high commodity prices during Tuesday trading, with even the more speculative stocks having a rare up day.