Karim Rahemtulla from the Smart Profits Report says that putting your money in gold mining companies will help you milk your investments, not physical gold.

Gold booms after global strife, Byron King on whether the precious metal is still a buy… Stimulus bill a done deal, details of the final 1,073-page fiasco… States in peril, revenue crash causes budget crisis from California to New Jersey… Wal-Mart surprises Street, Rob Parenteau on retail’s sudden comeback… Stocks dive toward new crisis lows, equity advice from Mayer and Buffett… Plus, have you noticed? One major index quietly up 30% YTD…

Poor Barack. His whole presidency rests on getting this bailout thing right. If he does, he’ll be a hero. If he doesn’t, the economy will go into a Japan-like slump and he’ll spend his entire time in office dealing with people looking for handouts – zombie banks, comatose corporations, and desperate households.

Yesterday in the UK publication, Metro,  Jim Rogers advised investors to move to China if they spoke Chinese. Today, I have my own piece of cultural advice: Tell your children to take French and German in school. And while you’re at it, grab your own Rosetta Stone guide to foreign languages… You might need it sooner than you think.

Markets kick off 2009 with sizable rally… what’s behind the best New Year’s rally since 2003…  Obama bounce back in effect… Rob Parenteau on whether his $1 trillion plan will actually work… Dan Amoss on the difference between shorting in 2008 and 2009… Bullish factors for gold (and gold stocks) for 2009… The second wave cometh… more troublesome commercial real estate ripples on the horizon.

No surprise from the Federal Reserve.  Well, not really. Bernanke & Co. did as everyone expected them to do and slashed U.S. interest rates. But it was the size of the cut – from 1% to a record low of 0.25% that caught some folks off guard.

Mr. Market is on bailout watch. The Dow has been whipsawing wildly since news of the bailout first broke. The index is currently 3,454 points off its 52-week high.

Hard assets aren’t doing much better. Crude oil is selling for about $97 a barrel. Analysts at Merrill Lynch say prices may fall as low as $50 a barrel next year.

Gold prices have also been volatile. Nevertheless, Ed Bugos says, “Gold is the safest asset class to be in right now.” He also says it’s a great time to cherry pick gold assets and pick up “alpha” gold stocks at bargain prices.

It’s a quick task to keep an eye on large-cap gold mining. Just a handful of companies sport market values above $10 billion. Near the top is Goldcorp.