“We have never seen such a foolhardy effort on the part of the world’s governments to prevent a correction,” says Bill Bonner. The market is not being allowed to work as it should. First Wall Street told us we could borrow and spend forever. And now messieurs Bernanke and Paulson tell us they can fix this mess. Bill says all they will succeed in doing is creating the next major monetary crisis.

Keith Fitz-Gerald says the US could face a currency crisis in the next few years. The dollar is being propped up by massive Fed and Treasury intervention. But the long-term damage has already been done. Keith says speculation that markets could be shut down while the global financial rulebook is rewritten might not be too far off the mark…

The Treasury’s plan to inject $250 billion in capital directly into US banks is underway. But William Patalon III says some of these taxpayer funds will be used by big banks to acquire junior competitors. This means the increase in lending that the plan is supposed to spark will be modest at best. And less competition in the banking sector could mean a rise in fees going forward.

Even the government’s fuzzy numbers showed record consumer inflation in June, up 0.8 percent, the most since February 1981.

Gas prices hit another record high. Soaring food prices ignite riots the world over. It should come as no surprise that a 71% increase in food prices since 2006 has the good citizens of South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Mozambique up in arms.

The naivete of Washington’s chosen puppets in Baghdad is touching, just touching.

Folks have three things on their minds this weekend: food prices, gas prices and Kimbo Slice. In other words, consumer sentiment hits 28-year lows and the only relief in sight is pure, unadulterated violence on CBS.

Big Ben signaled to the markets that he was ‘uncomfortable’ with the weakness of the dollar, and the ramifications that a weak dollar has on inflation. He actually blamed the weak dollar on inflation! Whoa there partner! You’re barking up the wrong tree!

Actions taken by the Federal Reserve to calm financial markets and ease the housing crisis are working, a US government official claims.

“Markets appear to be gaining confidence and the availability of credit has improved modestly,” Clay Lowery, the Treasury’s assistant secretary for international affairs, told Bloomberg. More from that story:

The Fed’s interest-rate cuts and a government economic stimulus package have helped to ease market turmoil and support consumer spending, [Lowery] said.

Last week, many of the 280 attendees at our Total Wealth Symposium asked me the same question: They all wanted to know about the possibility of the U.S. government imposing exchange controls.