Bill Bonner (Daily Reckoning) – In 1949, the Soviets and the Allies divided Germany into two parts. One part followed a traditional capitalistic path to reconstruction. The other part took the socialist road. Remarkably, they kept this test going for 40 years.

Of course it was misery for many of the test subjects.

Gold and oil both traded down about 2.5% overnight in New York. The Fed is meeting in Washington, D.C. We’ll know soon what, if anything, it plans to do. But does it really matter?