Baltimore — (TFN): Did you feel it? Just a couple of hours ago, you went into debt for another $106. You never signed any paperwork or agreed to it – a handful of unelected officials took care of that for you – but you’re now on the hook for at least another Franklin.

Earlier today, the Treasury auctioned off yet another chunk of American debt. This time it offered seven-year bonds to the tune of $32 billion. In all, the nation will go in hock for yet another $118 billion this week.

“Work eight hours and sleep eight hours and make sure that they are not the same hours.”

– T. Boone Pickens

Gold and silver prices climbed to their highest in seven weeks on Monday, as the dollar’s slide to its lowest since mid-December boosted interest in hard assets.

Gold firmed today, Thursday, as weakness in the dollar prompted interest in the precious metal as a currency hedge, with some physical demand after the previous session’s fall also supported prices.

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Federal Reserve policymakers yesterday (Wednesday) reduced the benchmark Federal Funds rate to 1.0%, an aggressive half-percentage-point cut that central bank Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s latest attempt to keep the widening financial crisis from tipping the world into a global recession.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to cut rates tomorrow (Wednesday), possibly in conjunction with central bank counterparts in Europe, as fears of a global recession have intensified. However, the Fed has little room to maneuver as its benchmark Federal Funds rate is already at 2% and analysts remain skeptical that reducing it any further keep the United States from sliding into a prolonged recession.

In 2004, then Treasury Secretary John Snow was traipsing about the globe trying to “talk the dollar down.” Why? In a word: debt. At the time, our debt stood at $7 trillion, with interest payments in fiscal 2003 totaling $318 billion. But now the U.S. national debt stands above $9 trillion, with interest payments in fiscal 2007 adding $1.4 billion a day.

With a wheezing economy that’s struggling with housing and credit problems – as well as a weak dollar – it’s clear the United States won’t be in the investment spotlight this year.

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!