Risk Assets soar! …  What’s behind this stock rally? … Charts and fundamentals…  Aussie Consumer Confidence Drops…  And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Oh…we are such optimists!  So far, the Crash of ’09 has paralleled the Crash of ’29…and the Crash of 1873.

For Americans struggling to cope with falling home values and rising job insecurity, a shrinking pension plan is the “last straw”. But cashing in your retirement plan now is the worst thing you can do. Mike Caggeso looks at the three best ways to rescue your 401(k).

It is important that we understand that the stock market is not the economy. Even people who are not investors tend to make this mistake. It’s easier to make that mistake if you’re personally invested. On the surface, however, it’s obvious that economies don’t change as dramatically as the market does. Paper losses can be painful, but they don’t translate directly into the destruction of real assets.

Mainstream media is full of ‘Great Depression’ comparisons to today’s credit crisis. But Justice Litle says there are actually many similarities to be found a decade earlier. In 1919, there was a stock market crash, commodity slump, and a major bank bailout. But there is some hope: out of all that misery, the “roaring twenties” were born.

Ben Stein is such a juicy target to beat up when he’s wrong.  Which is frequently.  I’m shocked I’ve done it only once before.  Beating him up is like beating up Kudlow, Cavuto, — heck, all of the Team Bush apologists who wouldn’t recognize genuine free-market capitalism if it bit them in the ass — all at once.