Some stories just have to be repeated. Like the one from Sweden that tells of a collapsing floor during a Weight Watchers weigh-in. As twenty or so dieters filled the room to measure the fruits of their effort, the floor beneath them rumbled then failed.

Priceless irony.

By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): Maybe it is time we took a lesson from the French. Not the new-age work-fearing, café-going French, but the old-school, take-back-the-country kind of citizens alive during the French Revolution. Those folks knew how to stand up for themselves.

History buffs will be quick to point out the similarities of late-18th century France and modern America. There was a financial meltdown, runaway government spending and a constituency fed up with aristocratic fiscal shenanigans.

The price of gold has had a solid triple since about 2001, when an ounce would set you back a mere $300 or so. (Remember that? Oh, the good old days!) For the past year or so, however, gold has been stuck, trading in the $900-980 range. It goes up a bit, down a bit.

Since the Obama administration took office in January, we’ve seen hundreds of billions pumped into the economy and the U.S. budget deficit now forecast to top the one trillion-dollar mark in the coming years. Many believe it’s only a matter of time before we also see much higher inflation – perhaps even hyper-inflation.

States on the brink… hard numbers on another crisis yet to come… Chris Mayer on a recent energy crossroads, centuries in the making… The end of an impressive streak… popular commodity rises for 54 days in a row… Commodities and stocks sell off… Rob Parenteau on what’s gotten into Mr. Market… Plus, Dan Amoss on the credit crisis: Can the free market be blamed?

I suggest you only purchase companies that have a history of consistently raising their dividends.  These companies will survive and thrive no matter what happens in the economy.

Hugo Salinas Price, at plata.com, really had me going when he wrote, “Several years ago – I don’t remember the date – I read an interesting comment”…

I thought I was still asleep and merely dreaming when I opened up Barron’s and saw that the earnings of the S&P 500 dropped to $28.75, which is down from last week’s $45.95, which is down from last year’s $78.80.

As the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression continues to worsen, decades of deregulation and the growing independence at the state level are being reversed as a deteriorating national economy forces the federal government to increasingly take on responsibilities that no other institution has the power or resources to handle.

A boom is coming, says Ted Peroulakis. Unfortunately, it’s a boom in inflation. It looks increasingly like the Fed will have to print its way out of this economic crisis. And the huge national debt burden will need to be inflated away. Ted says investors can protect themselves against this trend by holding the ultimate currency: gold.