Is the government creating another subprime-mortgage bubble?

It was one year ago that Lehman Bros. went to the great investment bank in the sky. But it was also when the feds arranged the shotgun marriage of a failing Merrill Lynch to a moribund Bank of America (NYSE:BAC). And AIG’s collapse into federal hands was taking shape, if not yet a done deal.

Americans should have been in the streets to reclaim the country long ago. Patrick Henry and his fellow patriots are turning over in their graves about the present day USA. The savvy folks I talk to on a regular basis are exceedingly pessimistic that our blessed republic can pull out of this present financial, economic and political tailspin. The US as we have known it is on the ropes.

World stocks rose on Wednesday from the previous day’s six-year lows after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke signaled nationalization of big banks was not at hand, while the yen fell across the board.

Imagine waking up on a sunny Saturday morning to find you can’t use your debit card to buy groceries or pay for gas any longer? You can’t withdraw a single dollar from the ATM. And your bank froze your credit cards.

 For the most part, both gold and silver got sold off early in Thursday trading in the Far East and Europe. Silver showed a little spunk just before the Comex open, but that was it. However, the moment the Comex opened, gold was smacked for about $8…and silver was knocked down about 25 cents.