Baltimore (TFN): I cannot say with total certainty that duct tape has ever saved my life. But I can say it has saved the day on more than one occasion, like the time I fell feet first into a frigid river, roaring with the power of Alaska’s springtime snowmelt.

In the woods, you have to dry off fast or risk any number of calamities. Living in temperate rainforest, an emergency fire was a challenge. But thanks to duct tape’s inherent desire to burn, I was re-warmed in no time.

But my mundane story has got nothing on the bush pilot that returned to his Piper Cub (the plane, not one of Palin’s kids) to find a pissed off grizzly had utterly destroyed the craft’s ability to fly as the hungry beast searched for the scraps of meat hidden inside.

Just like any savvy outdoorsmen, the pilot’s first thought after seeing the calamity was duct tape.

He used his radio to call for two new tires, two rolls of cellophane and three cases of duct tape.

After some masterful repairs and one nerve-wracking takeoff, the bold pilot was on his way home. True story…

What does this have to do with investing? Think about it.

When the bears come and eat your lifeline, nobody is going to come rescue your plane, especially when it’s a 1958 jalopy. You have to get innovative and do it yourself.

Financially speaking, it is time to get out the duct tape.

Let’s face it. If you subscribe to this newsletter, you go against the crowd. Or at the very least, it’s a notion you are contemplating.

While the Wall Street herd is overpaying for assets that are riskier now –with unemployment over 10% and the dollar losing its worth – than they were twelve months ago, you are looking for the nearest exit.

An investment in Ford, General Electric or even a chunk of gold is not going to cut it. That’s mainstream stuff and the current is going in the wrong direction.

Every day, right around lunchtime, I log onto my screener and search out the day’s biggest movers. Without fail, the majority of the top ten (usually at least eight or nine) winners are from the small- or micro-cap sector.

Stocks with share price of fifty cents, five cents or ninety-five cents – penny stocks – are up by 15%, 60% or even doubling in value, while most of their bigger, “stronger” brethren are moving in lockstep with the overall markets, locked in as dangerous dependent variables to much stronger forces like the value of the dollar or Washington’s latest vote on how to rule the minions.

While penny stocks are not for everybody (thankfully), I am willing to bet they deserve a role in your portfolio. After all, you have already shown tendencies of being an active, intelligent investor just by subscribing to this newsletter.

Here is what is great about penny stock investing these days.

For the nation’s up-and-coming companies, the ones with revolutionary products or breakthrough technology, it does not matter that unemployment is at 10.2%. It does not matter if the dollar is weak against the euro and the yuan. And it most certainly does not matter what Obama, Pelosi and the gang are doing in Washington.

What matters is many of these companies are the duct tape that can rebuild almost any portfolio or, even better, build a brand new one.

It doesn’t matter what the bears did to your plane. All you have to do is call in a few penny-stock winners and you will be soaring once again.

Over at TodaysFinancialNews.com, we have been noticing the disconnect between penny stocks and the overall market ever since things began to collapse last fall. But we had no way of letting our readers in on the situation.

Our sites are so popular that if we even hint at our bullishness for a thinly traded penny stock, share price would soar and very few of our readers would be able to get in on the action.

But we just figured out a way to eliminate that pesky little problem. Chances are, you have already heard about Penny Stock Confidential, our newest, most innovative membership opportunity.

If not, here’s a sneak peak.

If you are as wary of Wall Street as I am, you will do anything to get your portfolio the protection it deserves.

Gold won’t work. The dollar certainly won’t get the job done. And CDs are the equivalent of burning your cash.

Penny stocks, on the other hand, especially the tiny over-the-counter trades, get rid of greedy Wall Street analysts. They get rid of political pay caps and sneaky executives. And best of all, they get rid of all that distracting noise that has filled the investing world of late.

If you want to invest in something tangible, something that you know represents an actual asset, the penny stock market is the place to be.

It is the duct tape that will save your day.

*** And so it begins. Whatever was left of the Fed’s autonomy has been eradicated overnight.

Yesterday, I wrote about Chris Dodd’s latest proposed law that greatly changes the way the nation’s banking system is regulated.

The legislation slams the Fed’s authoritative power. Obviously, it is not something Ben Bernanke wants to deal with. His team is quite comfortable in their current positions, ruling the world’s money and its banks.

In Washington, there is only one way to get what you want. Go political. If Bernanke wants to keep his job, he and his team are going to have to play dirty.

Going political is not new territory for Bernanke.

After all, the politician of politicians, Barney Frank, recently applauded Bernanke’s political prowess. But now the Fed chief gets a chance to do it overtly.

Instead of thinking independently about the nation’s economic path and whether interest rates are optimally tuned, Bernanke will be thinking about guys like Frank and Dodd, two men that would be my absolute last choice to be in control of the country’s economic future.

Washington has always been political. But this is a whole new level. Pretty soon, you won’t need guys like me to help shed light on favorable investments. Barney Frank will make your selections for you.

He’ll  say it helps spread the wealth.