Although there’s a veritable laundry list of obstacles that could blunt the U.S. government’s ongoing economic turnaround efforts, its single-biggest challenge may come from its single-biggest creditor – China.

With every proposed financial fix-up plan for the U.S. banking system, there’s always been one major sticking point: The logjam of hard-to-price – and even “toxic” – assets clogging the balance sheets of banks, investment houses or any other type of company with an involvement in the financial-services sector.

While the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plan to buy more than $1 trillion in debt has helped unfreeze the credit markets, it has also effectively capped U.S. Treasury yields and undermined the dollar.

Although we’re still in the middle of the worst financial crisis in decades, a few select banks are positioned to make a boatload of profits. And if you pick the right ones, gains of 100% or more are easily within reach.

It’s called the “Shadow Fed.” And it’s the next potential hot spot in the ongoing financial crisis. But few outside the Federal Home Loan Bank system, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), the U.S. Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department are remotely aware of the problems that are smoldering.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations, which account for more than 80% of the world economy, promised at a meeting Saturday to do “whatever is necessary” to fix the global economy. 

Congratulations — you just survived Black Swan Month.  And in the process, a persistent and seemingly prescient Internet rumor has been put to rest.

General Motors Corp. (GM) and Chrysler LLC presented their highly anticipated restructuring plans yesterday (Wednesday), but said they would need as much as $22 billion in additional federal aid to keep their turnaround efforts from stalling.

If you think the U.S. economy is descending into a bottomless pit, hold off. But if you’re reasonably optimistic long-term, these banks are well worth considering for income-oriented investors.

U.S. President Barack Obama has decided against naming a “car czar,” and is instead asking U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and White House economic adviser Lawrence H. “Larry” Summers to head a task force on revamping the U.S. auto industry, Bloomberg News reported yesterday (Monday).