Quote of the Week 1: “He was born to be a senator. He never said anything important, and he always said it sonorously.” - Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry

Quote of the Week 2: “Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand.” - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

In the currency market, the dollar edged higher against the euro. Late Wednesday, the euro was trading at $1.4619 vs. $1.4645 on Tuesday. Traders were on pins and needles during the second day of Big Ben and Hammerin’ Hank’s hard sell to Congress about their proposed bailout plan.

Bernanke and Paulson have been worn down from the one-off situations they have been dealing with, and finally came to the realization that the problem is much more pervasive than previously thought.  Ahoy thar maties… Yesterday was a very volatile day in what has become an incredibly choppy week.

I know three months remain in 2008 and a lot more market turmoil is ahead of us, but at the risk of jumping the gun I’d like to offer my nominees for Chumps of the Year.

“Some things leave a mark, some leave a welt and some leave a scar. You can safely put the US Department of Interior’s Mineral Management Service into the scar category,” says Andy Carpenter. “As in hee hee hee, ha ha ha… from now on, the words mineral, management and service strung together in series will always evoke a hearty laugh from me.”

Will the Amero, representing, a single currency for the US, Canada and Mexico come into fruition? It would not surprise me in the least. The dollar based monetary system is aging and extremely fragile. Change is in the air and it’s best to be prepared for it.

Chevron Corp. (CVX), the second-largest U.S. oil company, has recently experienced a decimation of its share price: The stock has dropped nearly 20% from its 52-week high of nearly $105 to Friday’s close of $86.05.

If you think the “Lost Decade” Japan endured during the 1990s was deep and painful, stick around: As the global financial crisis that was jump-started by the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market continues to unwind, the U.S. economy is headed for a financial Ice Age that will make Japan’s 10 wasted years seem like a single chilly night.

Washington has dug a trillion-dollar hole. Fortunately, select puts offer traders a million-dollar shovel to dig themselves out. Sometimes it seems that public prominence magnifies our oh-so-human flaws. Bad habits and character defects that we all share become crises that can destroy a company, a market or even an economy.

Gold pushed higher through the first hour of the New York session yesterday, peaking at $981, but then ran into some determined selling that sent it spiraling downward into the Globex, where it flatlined to finish at $959.30/oz., down $17.90. Overnight, gold has fallen further.

Platinum’s long slide was prolonged for another day, as the metal skidded from the last hour of NYMEX trading through the Globex to end at $1900/oz., down $60. Overnight, platinum has been flat.

Silver remained above $19 through the mid-morning hours, but faded from there, closing at $18.76/oz., down 13 cents. Overnight, silver is little changed.
(Click here for charts)

The precious metals took a trip south, as would have been expected as the usual suspects lined up uniformly…