I remember in the summer of 2006 I would face my blank computer screen on a Friday and wonder, what I could write about? The media was all Goldilocks, all the time. Today, there is such a target-rich environment.

The US unemployment rate rose to 5.5% in May, the biggest jump since 1986.

The picture would be even bleaker were it not for controversial changes in statistical methodology at the US Department of Labor, says Dave Gonigam in The Daily Reckoning.

Slowly but surely, awareness is growing that government economic figures are being cooked.

I really should start hanging out with Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB). We’ve got so much in common. Maybe I’ll ask him if he fancies a pint next Friday.

This is getting interesting. The proposition that the government is fudging the major economic figures is starting to go mainstream.

Once again, the entire world tuned in for the Fed-sponsored dog and pony show this week. As usual, the Fed’s meeting managed to slow market activity before the FOMC decision, and then (drum roll please)…

Thomas G. Donlan’s new essay in Barron’s is titled “Lands of Waste and Debt” with the subhead “The states send signals that it will not be a happy Spring”, which makes me ask the obvious question “It won’t be happy for who?”, as I am all in gold, silver and oil, and I am dead-bang sure that I will be VERY happy for a long, long time…

Good day… When I signed off yesterday, several of the currencies were at or near record levels versus the U.S. dollar and the U.S. data that were going to be released didn’t look supportive.

Consumers feeling all the pain of 1982… Bernanke, Paulson prescribe “Doritos” cure…IEA slashes oil demand forecast… Why it still won’t mean a return to $80 oil…As GE goes, so goes the market… What Wall Street is overlooking…A bold gold forecast…and the reason to take it with a grain of salt…Are we in a commodities bubble? Let the debate begin!

After two busy weeks for economic reports, we get a little breather this week.  Well sort of.  Earnings season officially kicks off this week with Alcoa reporting earnings later today.

After a week like the one we just had, “black seems white;” “up seems down,” “conservative seems liberal” and “bearish seems bullish.”