One of our favorite underground investors Porter Stansberry of Stansberry & Associates Investment Research has picked up on a chart from the Wall Street Journal that will make your hair stand on end.

Banks aren’t getting out of the TARP as easy as they got in. According to Bloomberg, the feds have demanded that banks “raise specific amounts of new capital before repaying taxpayer funds, applying a more stringent assessment than the stress tests in May.”

What’s the true cause of inflation? Jimmy Carter underrated? Really? And what makes Von Mises right after all these years? Read on to find out…Thank you (once again) for all your excellent responses on the Obama-Carter connection. When your thoughts and comments roll in, my only lament is a lack of space in which to reply.

One of the problems with orthodox economics is it misses the point on human behavior. Orthodox economists build their models around the assumption of rational behavior of large groups of people. There is therefore always a gulf between this type of economic theory and the real world.

There’s a lot of anger towards President Obama. Most of it is misplaced. Obama is a slick young politician with high approval ratings. He replaced a president who had 90% approval ratings at one point – the highest of any president in history. Both have sacrificed the free-market principles America was founded on. Partisan politics mean nothing when both parties insist on spending the country into oblivion.

“GM burns through $10 billion” reads the headline. Surprising no one, “Government Motors” continues to destroy wealth at a record pace.

Economy got you down? Never fear, Ben Bernanke’s here…Why bear market rally might still have room to run… 1 in 5 homeowners “underwater”… 2 data points suggest the worst is yet to come…As stocks climb, dollar falls… one currency that will continue to outperform the greenback…Chris Mayer on China’s fuel of the future: “It may surprise you”…

I heard comedian Drew Hastings on the radio the other morning.  Actually, I should say I heard Drew’s alter ego Jack Freeman on the radio the other morning.  Drew does a parody of success gurus with the character of Jack Freeman. 

The dogs in the street know Washington is going to have to come up with more cash to plug the gaping holes in banks’ balance sheets. Of course, our Orwellian government doesn’t want us to think that major banks such as Citigroup and Bank of America are insolvent.

Bill is traveling for the rest of the week, but fear not – we will muddle through without him. A good bit of activity in the markets since yesterday.