The inflation/deflation debate is hot… It crackles and pops like a pine fire. But it gives off little helpful light. Abe Lincoln may have read by the light of an open fire. But when we tried it, we singed our eyebrows. It made us suspicious of Old Abe; maybe he wasn’t quite as truthful as he pretended to be. Later, we realized he was a mountebank. But that’s another story…

The dollar fell to $1.42 per euro yesterday. Many believe it is the Achilles Heel of the entire world financial system – including Warren Buffett.

Having last month addressed concerns about inflation by outlining a stimulus “exit strategy,” U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may turn his attention to the growing threat posed by commercial real estate at the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) two-day meeting taking place tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday.

Last Tuesday the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by my friend Gary Shilling and Richard LeFrak. They offer a simple solution for the housing crisis: give foreigners who will come to the US and buy a home resident status, green cards).

FOMC Brainstorms; Dimon and Lewis Bet Big on Financials; Former BofA CEO Thain Reinvents Self; Yahoo! Posts Fourth-Quarter Loss; Consumer Confidence Hits Record Low; S&P/Case-Schiller Housing Index Plunges 18%

Whip Inflation Now…Where Can We Get Help on Inflation?…The Patient Died Anyway…Inflation in Asia and Europe…There Are No Good Solutions

A new report by Paris-based economic think tank the OECD warns of a severe house price crash in the UK.

The report predicts that UK house prices will crash by 10% by 2010 and that, with consumer spending slowing, the Bank of England will eventually need to cut interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point to 4.25% next year.

Ben Traynor in The Daily Reckoning explains how a house price crash in the UK will affect the country’s economy…