Sunday, March 1, 2009

So You Have Two Choices

The day has finally come.

Whether you agree with it or not, the $787 billion stimulus is now law, and will spend no less than $104 billion on clean technology.

So you have two choices.

You can oppose it, probably with little, if any, success. Or you can accept it and choose to profit.

It seems like an easy enough decision to make.

You see, the stimulus will guarantee demand for all types of renewable energy and related infrastructure by creating billions of dollars worth of tax breaks and incentives for the industry.

It's all on the taxpayers' dime anyway, so why not use the outcome of the stimulus to send a few dollars back your way?

The sectors from which you can reap profits are many, as billions are slated for solar, wind, energy efficiency, transmission, and even clean water.

And to get the most out of this rare opportunity for government-backed profits you should take a stake in each of those sectors.

The strategy outlined in the report below will help you do just that. It outlines 10 companies -- across the entire cleantech spectrum -- that investors will flock to when the stimulus money starts flowing.

That could be as soon as March 3rd, when federal agencies must begin reporting how they'll use the stimulus funds.

You'll want to establish your positions before then, when the rest of the Wall Street masses rush to take part in this easy profit taking.

America is - quite literally - falling apart.

Consider this recent example - one that could've come straight from a Hollywood disaster flick:

On December 23, 2008 at about 8 a.m., a 60-inch water main burst along a major road in Bethesda, MD, hurtling 135 million gallons of water per minute over streets and lawns.

Without a second to prepare, drivers in this sprawling D.C. suburb were stricken with terror as a 5-foot wave of icy water - 60 feet wide in some areas - barreled down, trapping them in their cars...

Boulders, trees, and even cars were suddenly swept up in the flood. Cell phone calls from panicked motorists overwhelmed even the 911 dispatchers.

The street called River Road turned into an actual river.

But here's what's truly horrific...

This was just one of 1,357 water main breaks in Montgomery County, Maryland in 2008 (down from 2007's record 2,129 breaks)... In many of these cases, homeowners were left without water or electricity.

In fact, another pipe recently burst there, closing over 800 restaurants and leaving tens of thousands of people hunting for water clean enough to drink.

And water main breaks just like the ones above attack roughly 255,500 locations every single year across the U.S.

What if the same road you've driven thousands of times over... was the next one to cave in?

Truth is, it's all part of...

America's Underground Epidemic

... And we have no choice but to fix it. Here's why:

The oldest pipes in our nation's infrastructure date all the way back to the late 1800s, are made of cast iron, and typically last about 120 years.

During the Roaring '20s, more pipes were laid to accommodate our expanding population. But these pipes normally start to crumble long before their 100th birthday.

The last major installation of pipes came during the boom after World War II. These pipes are scheduled to last 75 years.

A quick look at the following table will tell you just how real this scenario is:

Installed

Durability

Replacement

1890s

120 years

2010-2020

1920s

100 years

2020-2030

1940s

75 years

2015-2025


By all measures, we've reached critical mass when it comes to having to replace the bulk of the country's water pipes.

On average, 700 water main breaks happen every day in North America, and the results are often disastrous...

On December 26, 2006, a several-ton Portland city truck nose-dived into a massive sinkhole, injuring two workers, rupturing a water line, and causing a natural gas leak...

On May 2, 2007, a broken water main in Seattle caused a 10-foot deep and 20-foot wide sinkhole that swallowed a car and a minivan, and flooded a neighboring district with water and mud...

A Hollywood water main break this New Year's Eve damaged the roofs of two apartments and left 60 to 70 residents without water...

Last April, 294,000 gallons of untreated sewage flowed into Seattle's Lake Washington after a pump failure went undetected for 3 days...

And just this month, a million-dollar court case was settled involving a misplaced sewer line in Milwaukee drained groundwater and rotted wood pilings beneath an office building during a construction project.

But within America's monstrous infrastructure problem lies a billion-dollar "shovel-ready" solution... one that's virtually guaranteed to make informed investors like you exceedingly wealthy.

How so?

Just imagine how much money you could make, knowing which specific companies will be hired to fix this rapidly expanding problem... before they're called to do it.

Even better, imagine also knowing the specific date that a national project to fix them all starts.

Timing it right, you'd be setting yourself up to collect an absolute fortune!

And it all starts with...

The $2.2 Trillion Problem

The money about to flow into infrastructure projects is going to dwarf the amount spent on some of the biggest events in U.S. history (adjusted for today's dollars).

Today, the Louisiana Purchase would cost a mere $217 billion. And we could go to the moon and back 4 times with the gobs of dough about to be spent on transmission lines and sewer pipes alone.

Bringing the country's fundamental support systems up-to-date will be recorded in the history books, along with The New Deal, as one of America's greatest moments.

The profits made from it will be equally legendary. And you can be a part of it all.

You see, our nation's infrastructure is in need of a drastic overhaul.

Take the Seattle sinkhole I just mentioned... the water main at fault was installed in 1912. And the pipe behind the Bethesda flood was installed in 1964.

But frankly, that's just the norm.

(In fact, some of the water pipes running under our streets here in Baltimore date back to the 19th century. Some of them are even wooden.)

But the U.S. government has ignored the problem for so long that water - the most essential substance on earth - has now become a multi-billion dollar dilemma.

The EPA estimates that the necessary upgrades to wastewater treatment and collection, sewage, and storm water management systems will cost a bare minimum of $202.5 billion over the next 20 years... And that's not including the $276.8 billion investment we'll need to upgrade our drinking water systems.

But these inadequate water systems aren't the only symptom of our crumbling infrastructure...

It would take 40 cents a gallon more in gas taxes over the next five years to keep our nation's highways in their current condition... and even still, they'd be subpar...

One quarter of U.S. bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, and bringing them up to code will cost $140 billion...

The Texas Transportation Institute says highway congestion costs us $78 billion each year due to the 4.2 billion hours and 2.9 billion gallons of gas we waste being stuck in traffic...

Even our telecommunications system is far slower than the broadband speeds of competing countries.

The problems are so bad the American Society of Civil Engineers says it'll take $2.2 trillion to fix them.

As Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio, put it, "We're basically sliding toward Third World status. It's pathetic."

And the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) couldn't agree more...

The United States Is a D-List Country

That's because America is nearly last in line to take the infrastructure bull by the horns. But now that the Federal government has acted you can make an absolute fortune.

China, for instance, is constructing a new 53,000-mile national highway system, while our own roads are checkered with potholes, cracks, and uneven pavement...

In fact, according to Pennsylvania's transportation secretary Allen D. Biehler, "China is spending 9% of its GDP on infrastructure, and we're spending something like 1% or 2%."

Plus, Japan, Taiwan, and 17 other nations have already beaten us in broadband deployment.

And for America to play catch up, the ASCE estimates we'll need $2.2 trillion in government and private investment over the next 5 years...

But with foreign nations making these major infrastructure investments first, more and more U.S. jobs could be moved overseas... in what could be a punishing blow to our already-unstable economy.

Infrastructure, as it turns out, is...

America's Defining Crisis. And It's the New Way to Build a Massive Fortune.

All told, failing infrastructure could be the crisis that defines the U.S. Its impact on our country could overshadow the effects of both peak oil and climate change...

But the lucrative investment opportunities to emerge from this crisis will assuredly be plentiful.

You see, behind the scenes, billions of dollars are already pouring into solving this national epidemic...

And just as savvy investment minds took advantage of skyrocketing oil prices not long ago...

I want to show you how you can personally benefit from...

The $787 Billion "Green Infrastructure Stimulus"

As you know, Congress has passed a new $787 billion stimulus that was signed into law this February.

That bill sets aside billions for infrastructure and clean technology projects, and creates incentives to lure private capital to those industries.

It'll be an investment that will more than dwarf Dwight Eisenhower's interstate highway system launch of the 1950s.

And as you can plainly see, this investment is long overdue.

In fact, history has proven that now is the time for an infrastructure overhaul...

President Roosevelt invested $11.4 billion in the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression (that's about $175 billion in today's dollars)...

And despite the 25% unemployment rate, that WPA investment created 8.5 million jobs between 1935 and 1943.

That means President Obama's $787 billion "green infrastructure stimulus" is really just history repeating...

But solving modern problems means investing in modern solutions. Which is why Obama is putting such a major emphasis on renewable energy and infrastructure with his stimulus package...

In fact, Obama's plan is set to double clean energy generating capacity over the next three years. That's enough to power 6 million American homes...

More importantly, it's 3 years of easy profits for those who know where to get in now...

Just look at the shear volume of money coming to these sectors. . . .

The bill allocates $47 billion just for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and smart grid technologies.

Another $20 billion will be set aside for tax incentives that will lure wary investors back into financing major cleantech infrastructure projects, thereby stimulating demand and causing stock prices for involved companies to rise.

Yet another $20 billion will be dedicated to spending initiatives for clean water.

And $17 billion is slated for mass transit improvements like high-speed rail lines and the purchase of buses that use clean technology.

That $104 billion will certainly help fix our failing infrastructure. . .

... But the really good news is you can take a direct cut of this massive stimulus fund for your own private portfolio.

All you have to do is invest in the public companies that will be executing billions of dollars worth of infrastructure and cleantech projects.

Word from the White House is that Federal agencies will start reporting how they'll use the billions by March 3rd.

And I've already singled out 10 companies that will deliver blockbuster gains once the projects are announced.

That's precisely why I'm writing to you today.

So, let me show you exactly how to land a...

302% gain in Less Than 5 Months There's No Better Time to Load up Than Right Now

I'm sure you know by now: things always begin brewing behind the scenes long before the mainstream media breaks the story.

This "green infrastructure stimulus" is no exception...

Those in the know have already booked some impressive gains in the infrastructure sector.

Why, in the water industry alone, you could've made:

65% in 7.5 months on Tetra Tech

302% in less than 5 months on Lindsay Corp.

273% in 8 months on Calgon Carbon Corp.

185% in 7 months on Flowserve Corp.

129% in 7 months on Badger Meter

And all that was before the added help of billions of federal dollars.

The perfect storm has been created to leverage the stimulus and our infrastructure needs into legendary market profits. . .

Stock prices are low compared to just six months ago, so any future gains will be even more magnified.

To put it simply, it's a sure bet.

And I'll prove it to you...

The Alternative Energy Speculator

My name is Nick Hodge. And I'm the managing editor of the Alternative Energy Speculator.

All through 2008 - even during one of the absolute worst markets in recorded history - I've helped investors like you avoid the pitfalls of this full-blown market meltdown, while successfully leading them to double- and triple-digit gains in the alternative energy and infrastructure sectors.

From a 121% gain on a Canadian marine energy play to a 262% gain on a tiny thin-film solar company (not to mention all 5 of the water-industry winners I just told you about), Alternative Energy Speculators were cashing in while the Dow nose-dived into oblivion... and Wall Street ran for cover.

And because we've been so successful this year, I decided to put together two brand-new special reports - Infrastructure Investing: Sky-High Underground Profits and Water: Profiting from the Disappearance of the World's Most Valuable Resource - to help my readers get off to the best possible start in 2009.

With these reports, my readers will be able to strategically position themselves to get as much out of this $787 billion government investment as they can...

You see, I've found 10 specific water and electric infrastructure top stocks that will deliver the quick boost your portfolio surely needs after one of the worst years in market history.

In fact, I've put together two additional special reports that spell out specifically...

Which 10 water and electric infrastructure hot stocks will deliver the biggest (and fastest) gains...

How you can turn the "Clean Water Atlanta" program into 9 months of steady profits...

How to boost your portfolio with the company that powers both the water and energy industries from behind the scenes...

Which innovative power-systems supplier will be leading the renewable energy charge for the largest municipal utility in the country...

And much, much more.

My readers will know how to profit from every angle of the infrastructure boom, from bridges to bandwidth...

And I want you to join them.

So to get you started, I'm giving you access to both of my special reports absolutely FREE.

You'll learn how to use all this information to your advantage - pouncing at just the right time, and riding the best stocks for a very long and profitable run.

Of course, this is nothing new for us.

Just take a look at some of the gains the Alternative Energy Speculator portfolio saw in 2008:

Arise Technologies (TSX: APV) - 262%

Solarfun Power Holdings (NASDAQ: SOLF) - 182%

Emcore Corporation (NASDAQ: EMKR) - 156%

Xantrex Technologies (TSX: XTX) - 25%

Sierra Geothermal (TSX-V: SRA) - 90%

And there's more to come in 2009.

I promise you, the 10 infrastructure picks I'm going to reveal to you in my free special reports are just the beginning...

I've got my sights on a whole year's worth of money-making infrastructure plays... because with Barack Obama's backing, this is sure to be one of the most exciting - and one of the most profitable - years in the history of alternative energy.

In fact, at this very moment we have new stocks market in our queue.

That means at any moment, we're going to issue as many as 14 new recommendations...

And that's why I want to send you both free reports right away - so you can claim each and every one of these upcoming gains, starting NOW.

With these reports to guide you, you'll have the chance to join us as we continue exploiting every opportunity afforded to us by the ongoing alternative energy revolution and Obama's $787 billion "green infrastructure stimulus."

And all you have to do to claim your place in this growing market today is accept a no-risk charter membership to the Alternative Energy Speculator.

Not only will you have access to these special reports immediately...

But you'll also receive a username and password for the Alternative Energy Speculator web site. This will give you unlimited access to past issues, help you keep track of the top stocks in our portfolio, and allow you to read all of our other reports...

And in addition to these reports, every week you'll also receive detailed updates on the companies in the Alternative Energy Speculator's portfolio... including the 7 solar energy stocks investing that are currently making our subscribers a mint.

You'll learn how these and all our open positions are doing, the latest in their research, and any breakthroughs that come in the sector.

Plus, the second we decide to add or sell a company, I'll contact you - instantly.

You'll know at what price to get in, how much you should expect to make and, most importantly, when to sell.

These instant alerts are simply too important for the weekly issue.

But that's still not all!

Because this is a charter membership offer, I want to extend a one-time deal to you...

You see, with all the time that goes into uncovering these little-known energy plays found in the Alternative Energy Speculator, and the substantially larger gains involved, we had no choice but to make it somewhat pricier than our flagship Green Chip Stocks service.

In other words, we had to cover our own cost of unearthing these gems. Since we do a great deal of travel, meet with CEOs, and inspect many of the companies with our own eyes, it tends to get pricey... especially when you consider how many opportunities we turn down before we actually find one worth getting excited about.

That's why the membership fee to the Alternative Energy Speculator is $499 a year...

But if that's too heavy a lump sum, you can register for our quarterly auto-renewal service for only $139! Your membership will be automatically updated every quarter for the life of your subscription. That means you won't miss a single pick or buy/sell recommendation. And even better: no annoying renewal notices.

Now, there's no way I can keep an offer like this on the table for too long...

In fact, after March 3rd, I'll have to bump the price back to its normal level...

That's the date Obama himself has set for the launch of his stimulus plan, and that's when the starter pistol will go off for these infrastructure companies... and once they're off, the profits will go to the investors who got in early.

But if you sign-up now, you'll be ready to claim every penny of profit from Obama's $787 billion infrastructure boost.

And whichever subscription plan you choose, you'll still get your two free reports, weekly emails, urgent buy and sell updates, and full access to the Alternative Energy Speculator website...

And there's still more...

I'll even throw in a copy of my newly-released book: Investing in Renewable Energy: Making Money on Green Chip Stocks, which I co-authored with energy experts Jeff Siegel and Chris Nelder (a $27.95 value).

So, here's the final tally:

Membership in the Alternative Energy Speculator

Access to our 2 latest reports

Instant updates and recommendations

And a FREE copy of my new book...

All for just $139 if you accept this offer today!

And here's my promise to you:

I will give you 30 days to examine our top-notch research and investment philosophy. If you decide that the Alternative Energy Speculator is not for you at any time during this trial period, simply let me know, and I'll completely reimburse you every penny. That's right - every penny.

You can even keep the book. It's my gift to you.

So if you're ready to join this elite group of infrastructure and alternative energy insiders, just click the subscribe button below.

But I urge you to act fast.

March 3rd is just days away. So time is not a luxury if you want to make the most of your portfolio in 2009.

The Only Media Company with 40% Upside

The Philadelphia Inquirer officially buckled this weekend when it filed for bankruptcy...

And a friend of mine in the online advertising field says big East Coast newspaper titans are paying through the nose for subscriptions they get through web ads. They're in a deep hole, desperate to get out.

A few media companies, though, played smart and stayed ahead of the new media curve.

South Africa's Naspers Ltd. is one of them, and it looks set not only to survive, but even to be one of the world's top stocks between now and 2011.

Naspers Isn't Married to Newsprint

Naspers started out as a newspaper nearly a century ago...

But within just a few years the founders branched out into books and magazines.

By the 1980s, it and a few other South African media companies started a pay-TV company.

In 2001, Naspers picked up nearly half of Tencent Holdings, a Chinese instant messaging company. That gave Naspers a foothold in China's recent economic boom as well as a best stock with technology used by hundreds of millions of web surfers around the world.

Hong-Kong shares of Tencent (HK:0700) turned out to be a blockbuster pickup for Naspers, gaining over 1200% since 2004.

Other ventures outside the home market put Naspers in Greece, Brazil, Russia, India, and even the U.S.

Now, with the 2010 World Cup coming to South Africa (tickets went on sale Feb. 20), soccer seems to be helping Naspers achieve its profit goals in more ways than one.

Sponsored Links:

Kicking Off Profits for Years to Come

A subsidiary of Naspers just won the rights to broadcast English Premier League games to satellite TV customers across sub-Saharan Africa.

As the world's biggest sporting event approaches and Naspers gets ready for prime ad placement that will reach billions, the company's balance sheet will be boosted by hordes of new customers.

Tapping the Premier League's worldwide fan base and signing African soccer nuts up for satellite service packages is enough to give Naspers a 40% upside boost over the next 2 years, David Shapiro of Johannesburg's Sasfin Holdings said recently. "The Africa kicker makes a big difference," Shapiro added (pun probably intended).

And Naspers is just one part of a broader trend of South African companies extending their reach and business model across the continent.

The iShares MSCI South Africa Index ETF (NYSE:EZA) and SPDR S&P Emerging Middle East & Africa ETF (AMEX:GAF) both count Naspers as a top holding.

So even though Naspers shares trade over the counter here in the U.S. (OTC:NPSNY), it's better to pick them up as a package of South African hot stocks that will benefit from the World Cup's exposure and southern Africa's expected 5% growth through the developed world's downturn.

David Shapiro says the Johannesburg Stock Exchange All Share Index should pop by just over 10% in 2009, versus what will almost certainly be a losing year for the Dow.

No wonder African stocks market may be the best gainers, as satellite TV and mobile phones make up the base of a "leapfrog" economy where people are brought into the 21st century economy directly, without retrofitting old infrastructure.

As far as media stocks are concerned, companies that still gear their business model to how many words fit on a page, or how many newspapers one city buys, simply won't be around much longer.

There's a new model for international business, and the best strategies are increasingly coming from outside the U.S.

Look for a new crop of global growth top stocks like Naspers to emerge out of this recession.



A Best Stock Market Research Report: Who's Going to Bail YOU Out?

Bailouts are all the rage right now. With estimates for the bank bailout nearing $2.5 trillion and the flailing auto industry getting over $100 billion when all is said and done, the United States will be broke before the year is out.

And, unfortunately, no one's paying attention to the people footing the bill: the hardworking U.S. taxpayers.

Since you clearly can't count on the government to look out for you, you're going to have to look out for yourself...which is why we've put together our "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle." In it, you'll receive the 'personal bailout' strategy report, which will teach you how to rescue your retirement and salvage your family's financial security. It's certainly worth checking out.

$7.2 trillion is a lot of money.

That's what D.C. has poured into "our" bailout so far.

With even more to come, if Obama has his way.

And how much of that will you see personally?

And how much for your children... your grandchildren... or even their children?

Not a dime.

Every penny is going to the banks... the business owners... the over-stretched lenders... the special interests... basically everybody who helped create this crisis in the first place.

But I'm not writing you to rile you up.

In fact, and this is going to surprise you...

I'm not writing you to talk today about the "Wall Street Panic of '08" at all. Or the elections. Or Obama and the next new era.

Except for how all of those are just pieces and players in a much bigger event... something far more dangerous to you and your money... and to America itself... than anybody in Washington or Wall Street wants you to realize.

How big?

Even today's credit crisis — the one Alan Greenspan himself just referred to as a "once in a century 'Credit Tsunami'" — is nothing by comparison.

No, this much larger, little talked-about calamity is a full on four-pronged attack on just about everything you hold dear... a massive financial catastrophe that could not only wipe you out, personally, but bring America itself to its knees.

Perhaps permanently.

Fail to resolve this, and the idea of America itself could... end. Just like that. I'm not exaggerating in the least.

Here's the crazy part — as big as I can prove to you that this is, not one of today's White House staffers, Congressional elite, or even President Obama himself have proved willing to talk about this event, at length, in public.

They won't touch it. Not with a 20-foot pole.

Even though, short of a terrorist with a nuke in downtown Manhattan, there is no greater threat to you, your money, or this nation as a whole... than the one I reveal below.

When this devastating "four-prong timebomb" implodes, it will make today's stock market blowout look like an afternoon picnic at Disneyland. And at that point, I highly doubt there's anything Obama or anyone else in Washington can do to stop it.

What could I possibly be talking about?

The fact is, America is in deep, deep trouble. Much deeper than anyone is willing to tell you. Thanks to a four-part calamity that casts a shadow on our future much larger than the property bust, the banking crisis, or even the recent $819 billion Obama wants to tack onto the bailout.

Before I go into detail, let me just tell you a little bit about my background. My name is Addison Wiggin. And I've spent the last two years of my life doing almost nothing else but researching this crisis I'll describe below.

I've written about it, I've gone on record with the media about it,

I've even toured America to talk about it. I even co-authored two Bestsellers that warn about this coming calamity in explicit detail.

But by far, the biggest thing I've done related to this is create an award-winning documentary about it — the Critics Choice-Nominated film I.O.U.S.A.

I feel this message is so important, I want to send you a copy of this full-length feature film FREE on DVD. At my own personal expense.

Because I believe this is that important.

In fact, this is quite possibly the biggest event in modern U.S. history. You might think I'm going for melodrama — but see how you feel after you have a chance to hear the proof for yourself. I'm not just worried. I've made it a true life mission to get the word out on this.

Already, in fact, I've given away over 11,500 "pre-release" copies of the I.O.U.S.A. DVD. And while I still have free copies to give away, I intend to give away more.

Along with the powerful 262-page companion I.O.U.S.A. book... plus a new free strategy report that shows you how to forget about the bungled government bailout — and start generating your own stream of "personal bailout" cash, including up to 78 checks you can receive on a frequent, reliable schedule, over the 24 months ahead.

How does all this work? It's all part of a new crisis solution package I've put together for you, called the "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle." And it's yours free...

First, your "bailout bundle" shows you what's happened and how we got into this mess. You'll see exactly how and when the America we once knew was first betrayed. And then, the bundle helps you take the next step, by carefully laying down a plan that includes a direct and personal cash "bailout" strategy... plus up to a year's worth of free "post-crash" stock research.

Altogether, it took well over two years to make the documentary and write the book I'll include. And countless hours to draft the "bailout paycheck" strategy I'll include. Yet, I'm going to send this "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" to you at the rare low price of... free.

For you. For your family. For anyone you care about.

I'll explain everything you need to do to get it in a moment.

Here's a full rundown of what you'll find inside...

FREE, our award-winning documentary, I.O.U.S.A. — Was there Oscar buzz? Yes. Our theater-length expose shows exactly how today's scandalous money crisis took shape in the hands of Washington and Wall Street elite. And I've secured a free copy of the just-released DVD to send you — three months before it's available to the general public — absolutely free

FREE, our new 262-page I.O.U.S.A. companion book — This full book covers not only the back-story behind everything you'll find in the movie, but includes 12 full interviews with the top financial minds who have the courage to address this crisis. We just sent copies of this book to every member of Congress — and I'm ready to pay all costs to send it to you, at no charge whatsoever

FREE, a personal "bailout" plan that shows you how you could get up to 78 cash payouts — Protect yourself, protect your family. And do it without depending on the U.S. government for help, with this "rubber-meets-the-road" personal "bailout" strategy. Not only can it put as many as 78 cash "paychecks" into your account over the next 24 months... it could also set you up with income for life. And this strategy is also yours free.

You'll also receive...

FREE, up to 12 free months of highly successful "post-crash" best stock research — For up to a full year, get free "post crash" best stock research from one of the safest, smartest, and most trusted market researchers in the industry. Plus, he'll send you portfolio updates every week... and you can have full private-password access to his members-only website, at no charge.

Again, I've created this "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" specifically for right now. And I'm going to send it to you at my own expense. I even made a special deal to secure the copies of the DVD. Plus another deal with Amazon.com so I could cover the cost of shipping myself.

All just to make sure you have this "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" available to you so you can protect yourself and your loved ones from the massive shakeout ahead.

Inside the bundle, you'll hear not just what my colleagues and I have to say... but what some of the most powerful and immediately recognizable figures in finance and politics told me in exclusive one-on-one interviews.

Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan, Steve Forbes, Robert Rubin, Paul Volcker... they and others you'll know sat down with me personally to answer my questions about this crisis. And all you have to do to hear what they're saying about this new crisis... as well as to claim a free "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" for yourself... is explained at the end of this letter.

At Least "25 Times Bigger" Than Today's Total Crash on Wall Street

Former U.S. Comptroller General, David Walker looked me straight in the eye and said this danger you're about to face isn't just big... it's at least "25 times bigger" than the bust that's now drained some trillions of dollars from the U.S. stock market.

And he's not alone.

Billionaire Warren Buffett thinks at least one aspect of this coming crisis is so serious, that when we went to his offices to interview him, he graciously cleared the rest of his schedule and spent nearly two hours talking with me privately about this in his company boardroom.

My friend and bestselling author William Bonner sat down with us too, and told us — on camera — that our failure so far to fix this isn't just foolish... it's "downright mean" and "immoral," as we prepare instead to pass it along to our children and their children.

We met up with former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker in his offices. He talked about how difficult it was to save the U.S. from the "stagflation" hangover of the late 1970s. And then he told me, face to face, "the earlier we take action [on this crisis], the better..."

We also met up with Peter G. Peterson, the investor who made $2.5 billion on the sale of his Blackstone Group. He's so worried about this that not only did he grant us an interview... he put up $1 billion of his own money to start a foundation to help raise awareness. And then his foundation paid $2.5 million to back the filming of our documentary on the matter, I.O.U.S.A.

I'm sure you've guessed by now that the gorilla in the room... the looming crisis nobody wants to talk about, but nobody can afford to ignore any longer... the U.S. National Debt Bomb.

Let me clarify... the $53 trillion national debt time bomb.

Yes, $53 trillion.

I know, that's a very big number.

Almost too big to get your head around.

Maybe even too big to be believed or understood. Which is why I'm going to rush you the "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" so you can see the evidence for yourself.

Your free copy of the I.O.U.S.A. DVD shows you how we've gotten to that number. And the 262-page companion book, also called I.O.U.S.A., gives you the full interviews with the experts that reveal why this might not even be as bad as it gets.

Consider, just the part of that number that we're used to hearing about — the "official" National Debt without our future Social Security and Medicare obligations included — just crossed into $10 trillion territory.

Worse, just in the first 16 days of this fiscal year that figure grew $300 billion — that's an annual rate of 75%. At that pace, the U.S. government would owe $17 trillion by this time next year!

Think subprime is serious? Try imagining how these numbers effectively add up to the biggest adjustable rate mortgage in history... and as taxpayers, we're being forced by Washington to cover the bills.

So far in today's Wall Street wipeout, trillions of dollars have disappeared from world markets... hundreds of thousands of jobs are gone... pension funds have seized up... state governments are slashing budgets and withholding basic services...

Can you imagine the gaping hole this $53 trillion debt bomb will blow through the bottom of the financial markets? Can you imagine the aftermath for the world economy?

In Manhattan alone, we're already seeing unemployment rocket to levels not seen since just after 9-11... in St. Louis, they just canceled plans to fix their airport and rebuild collapsing bridges... in Connecticut, they scrapped plans to build new schools... in Utah, they just cancelled health benefits for nearly 20,000 people...

All from what's just happening right now.

This is tiny by comparison to what this much bigger fallout could levy. You'll see for yourself when you let me send you a free copy of the new I.O.U.S.A. DVD — over a month before it will be available to the general public — plus the complete and accessible 262-page companion book by the same name.

And I'd love to put both in your hands immediately, with your permission...

My New Life Mission

Look, I can understand if this is the first time you're hearing about just how serious this has gotten. Once, I was in the same boat as you.

This just isn't something Wall Street or Washington wants you to know or think all that much about. But frankly, maybe if I share a little more of my background... you'll see how I came to care so much about this myself.

And why I'm urging you to let me share this research with you too.

See, you may know me from my years of working with the popular advisory e-letter, The Daily Reckoning. Or possibly from the three bestsellers I co-authored, Financial Reckoning Day, Empire of Debt, and The Demise of the Dollar.

You might even know already that, for the last 15 years, I've worked hard to help warn my fellow Americans about financial threats much like the one you're witnessing today.

I've also worked just as hard to guide them to new and alternative opportunities.

And I've spent many hours giving interviews on all these important trends... on Fox, CBS, NBC, and MSNBC... to The New York Times and The Washington Times... to NPR... on Bloomberg.com and TheStreet.com...

It's a list so long even I start to lose track.

But it wasn't until I started working on the I.O.U.S.A. documentary that I understood the full scope of the $53 trillion crisis you and I face right now.

And believe me, from what I've already seen — and what you'll see in the free copy of the documentary and the stunning companion I.O.U.S.A. book — I'm convinced this is the greatest danger facing the future of America today.

I also believe that we can no longer wait for our political leaders, new or old, to own up to this situation... we can no longer wait for Wall Street to address these risks responsibly... and we can no longer afford to sit back and wish this would go away by itself.

As I said, the two and a half years I spent working on this documentary had one goal, which was to expose the truth about the debt crisis America faces.

We accomplished that.

And now I want you to see the result.

So much that I've arranged to send you a full, feature-length FREE copy of the film, I.O.U.S.A. And again, that's just part of a comprehensive "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" I'd love to send your way.

What you'll find on the DVD and in the rest of your "bailout bundle" are direct and personal interviews with other concerned Americans... like Dr. Alan Greenspan, former commerce secretaries Paul O'Neill and Robert Rubin, Congressman Ron Paul, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, and many more.

The consensus was unanimous...

This is a threat that cannot be ignored.

I've made it my personal mission to warn you and anybody else who will listen. And sending you my free "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" is part of that effort.

As long as I hear from you while I still have copies left, I'll send this bundle and everything it includes to you gratis. No charge. At my expense. You can find the details at the end of this letter.

First, the "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" shows you what happened and how we got here. Then it shows you what we have to do to steer clear of a complete financial unraveling in the future... including a way for you, personally, to collect as many as 78 personal "bailout" checks of your own over the coming two years.

But before you race ahead, let me just give you a sense of the gory details...

The U.S. "deficit" is the amount our government spends above what it collects in taxes. Washington says we'll need $438 billion "extra" to cover our bills in the coming year. That's a new record.

Every time we don't have the money to cover our bills, it has to come from somewhere. Either new taxes, more swiped Social Security funds... or more borrowing. From anybody willing to cover the loan.

During World War II, the U.S. spent a lot of money it didn't have. But they borrowed most of it directly from Americans, as War Bonds. Today, nearly half of all the money we owe is owed to exactly the countries you wouldn't want in charge of our future — China, Japan, Saudi Arabia... even Venezuela, Russia, Iran, and Iraq!

If you own a house and you can't pay on your loan, you know what happens — the bank takes over your property. What happens when the U.S. government can't cover its debts? Political analysts call it the "nuclear option," which foreign lenders could use to destroy our economy overnight.

At the same time we also buy more stuff than we make, and most of what we buy we get from those same countries, whether it's energy from the Middle East or just about everything else from India and China. That's the "trade deficit" and it's also hitting record levels.

The more money we send there means less money here. For two recent years, the U.S. had back-to-back negative savings rates. The last time that happened was during the Great Depression. Meanwhile, credit-card debt has soared, eating up 5% of the average U.S. family's income.

Getting most Americans to cut back on spending is like trying to talk a cat into taking an ice-bath in a fireworks factory. Yet just by following Washington's shameful example, U.S. families have piled up nearly $1 trillion just in consumer credit debt.

And all this while politicians slather on promises of fat tax cuts and huge, expensive new programs. It took 207 years to add the first $1 trillion to the total U.S. debt. Now we're adding, on average, about $2 trillion to $3 trillion... per year!

With what we'll add to the bailouts this year, we've crossed the $8 trillion mark, total... and not including the $10 trillion the U.S. already owed creditors. Tack on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid promises to Baby Boomers, the total is more like $53 trillion.

Under current rules, the Social Security trust alone will run out of money in less than 10 years from right now. And Medicare and Medicaid? Don't even think about it. It's a problem that's much larger and almost completely ignored by politicians.

By 2012, the National Center for Policy Analysis estimates, the federal government will be forced to stop doing 1 in 10 of the things it does for you today. By 2020, it stops doing 1 in 4. By 2050, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid alone will eat up the entire federal budget.

If you "own" America as a citizen, what's your personal share of the National Debt? About $176,000 and climbing... even faster now, thanks to the bailout. Get out your checkbook please.

And of course, none of this even includes the interest piling up on the unpaid debt, that's added on to the tally around the clock. So far, about $53.9 million in the time it's taken you to read this letter.

Meanwhile, over 50% of the stocks held on the New York Stock Exchange are held by people 60 or older. How big will the "bailout" have to be when they all take the cash to pay for retirement?

You see my point.

The danger isn't just a little bit of vaporized retirement security... it's the very real risk that the entire U.S. economy will collapse, with a "hard landing" for the dollar, third-world levels of unemployment, and government retirement programs that disappear overnight.

And this isn't just tomorrow's problem.

Have you ever wondered why you pay so much more for a gallon of milk than you did just a few years ago? Or why you pay so much more for a gallon of gasoline... health care... or college tuition?

The housing bubble... disappearing jobs... the banking bust... the collapsing dollar... they all have their complex causes, but if there's one thread that runs through all of them, it's the connection they have to America's wasteful, shameful, exploding national debt.

Take a look at this chart...

The facts are clear.

Washington policy makers are mortgaging your future... our future... and our children's future. It's unsound, unsustainable, and indefensible. Touch choices have to be made. Preferably now, while there still might be time.

Think about it like this. If nothing else changes, Washington will owe over 240% more than every business in the U.S. makes each year... and it will happen in less time than it takes a child born this morning to reach age 35.

Can you imagine how long you could live if every year your bills added up to more than two and a half times your salary? Not very long. A couple years... a year... six months. But that's where we're headed, if nothing changes.

You don't want to wait for the politicians to figure it out... you don't want to wait for Wall Street to figure it out... because clearly they're not even close to getting this.

This is why I hope... and even urge... you to take me up on my offer.

Let me send you the "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" I've been telling you about. You pay nothing — I'll explain it all at the end of the letter. I give it to you, because I'm that worried about where all this is going. As I said, your "bundle" will do two key things.

First it answers the question nobody else seems to be answering clearly, which is — put plainly — what happened? How did we get in this mess and where did the good life in America disappear to.

Second, your bundle takes you to the next level... showing you exactly how to get out of this mess. As an American but also on a very personal level. Including steps you can take, right now, to start enough regular personal "bailout" checks so that you never have to rely on the U.S. government for your own future again.

Here's a close look at what you'll receive...

"Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" Tool #1: Your FREE DVD of the Award-winning Documentary, I.O.U.S.A.

It's absolutely key that you understand how we got where we are now... and as quickly as possible.

And I know of no faster way to do that than to see a very important documentary that's just now coming out on DVD.

It's called I.O.U.S.A.

And I guarantee that it will make you smarter than anyone you know about this crisis.

Why am I so sure?

Because I made this movie myself, along with an award-winning director and a "cast" of some of the biggest minds and best known names in finance and politics.

It took us more than two years... with over 500,000 air miles traveled between us... as well as far too many nights away from my young family... and many around-the-clock writing and editing sessions... but I can tell you right now, it was worth it.

I've never believed in any mission more in my life.

And I've never worked so closely with something this important.

When you see the film for yourself, I'm confident you'll agree.

But to tell the truth, when I first got the idea to do this... on a snowy weekend in a New Hampshire cabin... I had no idea it would go as far or become as big a phenomenon as it has.

Nor did I have any way of knowing how timely this movie's message would be. See, this all started with a bestseller that I co-wrote in 2005, called Empire of Debt.

The book was a big hit. And I spent time talking to press, radio and TV pundits about it, across the nation — including CNN, Fox Business News, and The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Times.

You're not going to believe some of the people we managed to get on film... and all of them so fed up with how America had mortgaged off its future, they've decided they just can't afford to keep quiet anymore.

People like Congressman Ron Paul, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, and former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil, for instance... who all play "starring" roles in the movie.

And of course, David Walker, the former head of the U.S. General Accounting Office... who walks you through the crisis start to finish, as we follow him across the country — along with the head of the famous Concord Coalition, Bob Bixby — on his controversial "Fiscal Wake Up Tour."

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who helped rescue America from inflation in the early 1980s, also steps in, urging action.

So does more recently retired Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, who says more in this movie about how we got where we are than perhaps in the many days of testimony he gave Congress during his tenure.

Then there's Clinton's former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who oversaw the only years of balanced budgets in the last three decades... along with Peter Peterson, the billionaire founder of the Blackstone Group... who has gotten so worried about the world we're handing off to our grandchildren, he's put up $1 billion of his own money to get this message out... including a direct $2.5 million investment in the film itself. The list goes on...

You might recognize some of these names. Others might be new to you. But be certain, the handful of people desperately waging this "unsung" war against government waste are out there. In the free I.O.U.S.A. DVD I'll send you, you'll hear what they have to say.

Including why this battle against government waste is so important, that losing it could literally mean losing the "republic" our founding fathers sought to create.

As I said, it's free — yours as part of the "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" I want to send you. You can claim it right now, as long as I hear from you while I still have copies left. If this information is so important for everyone to see, why such a strict limit on my invitation?

The First Crisis Our New President MUST Address

I'm sure you can understand... I've come to care about this message. Maybe more than any other I've worked with or written about in my lifetime. And to me, it's not just another news story.

It's the most important crisis in America right now.

See the film and judge for yourself.

I'm sure you'll agree that, now that the election is over and the next White House agenda is already taking shape, we cannot let up on this. We must demand a solution now... or risk watching the whole situation get MUCH worse.

How much worse?

The ticking debt bomb you'll see detailed in your free copy of I.O.U.S.A. will make today's stock market blowout look like a wet firecracker. Next up, much more than the banks will go down.

We stand to lose our entire way of life.

Even saying that, you must think I'm some kind of alarmist. And that's okay. Just promise me you'll send for your free copy of the new I.O.U.S.A. DVD... and watch it for yourself... before you make up your own mind.

And promise me this too... when you watch it, don't watch it alone. Watch it with your family, your friends, and anybody else you even remotely care about.

This is that important.

And yes, as I said, I am sending you this movie at my own expense. Yours free. I cover all the costs, including shipping and handling. As if that weren't reason enough for you to watch this, let me just tell you how other viewers have reacted.

For instance, when I.O.U.S.A. debuted earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, every seat was filled. I almost couldn't get tickets to see my own movie. And when it was over, the crowd gave it a standing ovation. What's more, the judges nominated I.O.U.S.A. for the festival's Grand Jury Prize.

It happened again just recently, at the New Hampshire Film Festival — my home state — where I.O.U.S.A. just won first prize as the "Best Documentary." And in the reviews too, where both The Economist and the New York Times recommended I.O.U.S.A. as critical viewing for every American.

Meanwhile, the Hollywood industry paper, Variety, lovingly called our little film a "stat-studded geekfest" and "an alternately amusing and alarming primer on America's off-the-charts fiscal irresponsibility"...

"This film is no wallow in wonkiness," says the Los Angeles Times, "but a surprisingly sprightly tough-love lesson in fiscal responsibility.

Even top film critic Roger Ebert gives I.O.U.S.A. 3½ stars out of four and says, "... it accomplishes an amazing thing. It explains the national debt..."

Still need to hear more? The list goes on.

The Kansas City Star writes, "Future generations may regard I.O.U.S.A. as the most important film of 2008." Even the Huffington Post says, "Stop what you're doing... go see this movie! This is the single most important film you will see this year..."

During the early release this summer, Canadians crossed the boarder, driving hours to the closest theaters... civic groups in U.S. cities snapped up tickets... politicians bought out theaters in their home towns... and MTV, CBS' 60 Minutes and even the trendy Colbert Report ran stories.

I'm proud. I'm hopeful. But I know we're not even close to done.

Not until I can get this movie and this message into the hands of everybody who has the smarts to understand just how critically dangerous this crisis has become. That's why I want you to have your own free copy of the film.

So you can get up to speed... so you can get inspired... so you know how to protect yourself... and so you can help us spread the message too. Sending you this free copy of the new I.O.U.S.A. DVD is the best way, by far, to make sure all this happens. And happens in time that we can get this on the desk of the next leader of the free world, come January.

Look, this is very simple. Every single financial decision you make personally is about to change. Don't you want to have a say in how those changes unfold?

The bureaucrats won't start talking about this on their own. And the world's power brokers don't want them to. But that's because they're not the ones who will have to pay the price.

You are.

So are your children.

And your grandchildren.

The housing bust... the banking collapse... high energy prices... soaring health care costs... the collapse of Social Security... and trillions in lost retirement savings... they're all tied to what you'll see in your copy of the movie. In ways you never imagined possible.

Let me send you the free copy of the new DVD, at no charge to you, and you can discover exactly what it is I'm talking about. Others who've already seen I.O.U.S.A. are just as deeply moved about this as I am. And I'd like nothing more if we can show you this and bring you on board, as well.

Says R. Einhorn, one of our own Agora Financial readers...

"I saw I.O.U.S.A. last night... Kudos... I have only one thing to say - the film was absolutely the most important film I have seen in my life. It should be mandatory viewing by everyone in the United States... Congratulations. "

And E. Spann, another reader, wrote me directly to tell me...

"I drove two hours each way to see I.O.U.S.A... it was top notch... very well produced and the facts delivered were truly eye-opening... Everyone needs to see this! Excellent movie — well worth the drive!"

Yes, of course I know that we could easily sell these just-released copies of I.O.U.S.A. on Amazon.com. And we will, too. And on that site and others like it, top documentary releases go for as much as $26.95. Personally, I think that's even too little to charge.

Yet, for a limited time... you can get your copy of this award-winning movie... absolutely free. Gratis. No charge. As one of the tools I'm including in the "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" my team and I just put together. And I'll tell you how to get it in a moment.

I have secured these copies by special contract, just for you.

But only if I hear back from you while I still have copies left to give away.

After that, this window closes and you'll have to pay for your copy just like everybody else. But, of course, getting a free copy of the new I.O.U.S.A. DVD is just the beginning of what you get with your free "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle"...

"Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" Tool #2: Your FREE I.O.U.S.A. Companion Book, With Personal Interviews From The Top Financial Minds in America

Imagine if you could sit down and talk markets with the most successful investor in history, Warren Buffett.

Imagine if you could get solo time in a room with Alan Greenspan or financial magazine giant, Steve Forbes.

Imagine Paul O'Neil, the Treasury Secretary Bush fired for saying deficits DO matter, telling you how he saw this coming... and why he couldn't get the White House to listen.

What if you could ask Paul Volcker, the Fed Chairman who helped end America's last inflation crisis under Reagan, to answer the question, "What's next?"

That's exactly the experience I had while making the documentary I'm about to send.

While we filmed I.O.U.S.A., we met with and interviewed some of the heaviest hitters from both Wall Street and Washington. Robert Rubin... Ron Paul... billionaire Blackstone Group founder Pete Peterson... Arthur Laffer... and our own favorite bestselling author, William Bonner.

I got to sit across the table from all of them.

What would you do if you had the same chance? Well, today you have just that same chance...

Of course you'd want their behind-the-scenes perspective on what's happened to America... and what they see happening next. You'd also want to know what answers they have to offer.

And you'll find all this in the second "tool" in your "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle," the companion book to the I.O.U.S.A. movie. Inside, you'll find the full text of all these expert interviews.

All of these giants are convinced, as I am, we face a much more serious situation than the politicians and Wall Street pros are willing to tell you. And that there's no way to wish it away without taking action, both personally and on a bigger scale.

Listen as...

Warren Buffett tells me what he really thinks of gold as an investment... and he's convinced there's still plenty of hope for America and for investors, if a few very basic things happen (pg.175)

Dr. Alan Greenspan tells me what he still feels he did right during his time at the Fed, along with what will have to change if our way of life as a nation is going to last (pg. 169)

Paul Volcker, who helped oversee the bull market of the 1980s, reveals the one greatest danger the next president faces, plus how he hopes Washington will go about it (pg. 161)

Congressman Ron Paul reveals the Big Lie behind the "surplus" of the late 1990s, shows how America got into this mess, and names exactly what we need to do to get back on track (pg. 147)

Fired Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill gives the blow-by-blow conversation he had with Dick Cheney that cost him his job, as well as the one question you had to ask yourself on Nov. 4, 2008 (pg. 205)

Robert Rubin, who topped the Treasury Department during the 1990s boom, names the one thing that could guarantee America a recovery and years of economic boom.

Plus more....

I recently got a message from the chief editor of a trade magazine for financial planners. In a feature article, he told his 125,000 readers — all of them financial planners themselves — to buy the I.O.U.S.A. companion book and share it with their children.

And he had done the same himself, sharing copies with his two teenagers... because, he told me, he wanted them to "learn by example" how important it is to live sensibly with your money.

Already the book sales have hit #1 on Amazon.com. Not to brag, but the book has even swept right past Barack Obama's book! I expect the copies I have access to, to go quickly — and that doesn't count the 535 copies we've already sent to every Senator and Representative in Congress (all 535 of them).

The book is listing for as much as $19.95 online. But I've arranged a very special deal, direct with Amazon.com, where I will cover all the costs of ordering the book — including shipping — so I can send it to you directly as my gift, absolutely free.

As the second key part of your "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle."

The book and the DVD work very closely together to get you up to speed on the crisis and how we got here... not in a way that's written or shown for economists, but as entertainingly and accessibly as possible.

You'll read the interviews. You'll see these experts talking plainly and candidly on camera. And then, once the book and the movie together make plain the problems we all face... the rest of your "bailout bundle" actually shows you what to do.

Specifically, it shows you how to recover your retirement security without having to count on the so-called government bailout... with checks you can pay directly to your account. As many as 78 over the next 24 months.

Here's how it works...

"Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" Tool #3: Lock in as Many Personal "Bailout" Checks as You Need, Right Now and for the Rest of Your Life

If the free copy of the I.O.U.S.A. DVD and the companion book are yours to bring you up to speed on the broad crisis, this next "weapon" against financial wipeout shows you how to protect yourself at a much more personal level.

Namely, with as many as 78 cash "bailout" checks you could deposit in your bank account over the next 24 months ahead.

Not to mention, as many more of these checks as you decide you'll need... for the rest of your life.

Let me explain.

And I'll start by asking you this: exactly how much of that $7.2 trillion dumped into the government bailouts so far has actually ended up in your personal account?

In case you're under any delusions, I'll just tell you: zero.

Not a penny of that is for bailing out Americans at the personal level.

It goes to the banks. The fat cats. The punk hedge fund managers who, just a year ago, were drinking $10,000 bottles of wine and eating Kobe sirloin in "bottle bars" and restaurants in Manhattan.

Even if you get a government check, don't be fooled.

Because every penny of it came directly from the taxpayers — that's you — already. Politicians put money in your hand... after pulling it right out of your own back pocket. I don't know how you feel about that, but if you ask me it's a raw deal.

Which is why I think you might like this third "tool" in our new "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" even more than you like my movie. Because this is where you'll find the specific action plan we put together that can help bail you out of this filthy mess.

That is, this is where one of my most trusted analysts, former commercial banker Chris Mayer, shows you directly how to collect as many as 78 personal "bailout" paychecks over the next 24 months.

You can even mark the dates these checks will arrive on your calendar.

(The next payout date is March 15 — see the chart to the right for details).

Worried about rising energy costs... higher health care... your grandchild's college tuition expenses... or shrinking retirement options? This "personal bailout" plan gives you a way to make all that worry go away.

Included in your free "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" is a brand new special report, The Ultimate "Paycheck" Portfolio: Double-Digit Yields... Even in Flat Markets.

It details this entire plan... in simple, easy-to-follow terms.

No more depending on bureaucrats... no more fears about the future of "Social Insecurity" or other doomed government programs... no more worries about whether you'll run out of money before your time.

The Single Best Way to Make Sure You'll Never Run Out of Money

This is "get paid while you sleep" money.

You don't work for it.

You don't qualify for it with some government agency.

And there are no age requirements or income requirements. All this strategy does is show you how to tap into an endless stream of income, starting right now.

It lasts as long as you need it. And starts as soon as a few weeks from when you send for this report, with your first check. As many as 78 checks follow, all sent automatically to your account.

As I write this, the next payout dates for this strategy are right around the corner...

March 15, 2009 (two checks)

March 30, 2009

April 1, 2009

April 15, 2009 (two checks)

You can spend them, cash them, save them... whatever you want.

Some people who do this retire early. Others pile the money on top of what they've already socked away, speeding up the growth of their nest egg.

Either way, you start getting paid.

Use the money to help put your grandchildren through school... or go back to school yourself and study something you love... make a fat donation toward a cause you believe in... or just leave the automatic deposits untouched, while you enjoy the security of knowing they will be there when you need them.

Just in 2009 alone, you'll find another 39 cash payout dates already on the schedule. Your copy of The Ultimate Paycheck Portfolio: Double-Digit Yields... Even in Flat Markets shows you how to get started.

One of the best aspects of this is how easy it is to set up.

It takes only about five minutes on the phone with a broker.

And then, that's it. The rest is automatic. No need to keep running to your computer screen to track every market blip. No need to get a ball in your throat as you watch the nightly financial news.

One of the best parts about this — other than the steady cash payouts — is the simplicity and security of doing this. Chris Mayer, who put this whole strategy together, is one of the most safety-minded analysts in my network of experts.

Simply do what he shows you in your free copy of this report, The Ultimate "Paycheck" Portfolio: Double-Digit Yields... Even in Flat Markets, and the rest will take care of itself.

Yes, it's a strategy that can work for you even right now.

This may even be the best opportunity for you to do this in a long time.

The "personal bailout paycheck" strategy works in a recession too. During market volatility. And it should keep on working for you exceptionally well during a market recovery, too.

Just like it's already working for the many Americans who've discovered how this works...

Just this past spring, Richard M. collected two passive "paychecks" worth $3,314 each. He's collected many more just like them. And he'll collect more, on top of that, over the weeks and months ahead

Steve R. got paid $3,600 on April 9... collected another check for $4,200 less than a month later... and took another $3,481 two weeks after that. Without lifting a finger

Former chauffer Vern J. used to drive rich people around to make money. He just got a check recently for $7,700 — money he "earned" in his sleep

Gary C. almost died on Sept. 11. Today, not only is he doing fine, but he just received an automatic passive "paycheck" worth $25,610 — with more just like it on the way

What would you do with an extra $8,809 windfall? That's what Daniel F. got paid in the check he automatically received on June 6, 2008. He'll have gotten more just like it by the time you read this

Jeff E.'s passive "paycheck" deposits are worth an estimated $27,636 each. And he's eligible to get several of those checks sent to him automatically, each year

50-year-old Marty M. doesn't really need extra cash. But that won't stop him from banking his next passive "paycheck," for an estimated $53,331, just weeks from the day you read this letter

Ian R.'s most recent passive "payday" topped $88,719

Then there's Jeff K. His passive "paycheck" on April 8, 2008, totaled around $98,057. That's just one of many passive "paychecks" he'll collect this year.

Once you let me send you a free copy of this report, The Ultimate "Paycheck" Portfolio: Double-Digit Yields... Even in Flat Markets, you'll see how simple and sensible this is.

Once you get the ball rolling on this strategy, the checks can start rolling in pretty fast. A few hundred dollars each month. Thousands of dollars. Even hundreds of thousands of dollars over a year's time, piling up in your account.

Almost regardless of the scandals and shakeouts taking place on Wall Street.

You can get started with very little, and take this to whatever level you need.

Imagine $1,500 to $2,000 extra per month... early on... with that amount growing by as much as $5,000... $8,000... $10,000 or even $15,000 extra.

Just doing what you'll find in the report.

Think of it like an extra "safety net" or think of it like a whole "lifestyle upgrade."

Either way, here's a quick glimpse at what you'll find in the free report...

Automatic "Paycheck" #1: An $838.4 Million Giveaway You Can Still
Tap This Year
This first move pays you back a fat 9% return on the value of the shares you hold in this company. That's already nearly three times what some people collect on CD accounts. And I expect it to jump over 10%, based on estimated distributions for next year.

Automatic "Paycheck" #2: Every Month, a Juicy 12.4% "Paycheck" on One of Wall Street's Safest Bets
This company has paid shareholders at least 12.25% gains automatically on the value of its shares since the company first opened its doors in March 2001. That means it's held true on its promise to take care of income first for 87 payouts in a row. With energy still hitting record highs, this could easily be a long-haul income stream for you, too.

Automatic "Paycheck" #3: The Family Business That Spews Out Billionaires
Insiders have just snapped up 392,000 of their own shares. While still paying a handsome 7% automatic return to shareholders, in the form of cash "paychecks." That's double what it doled out in 2005. And it says nothing about how much your money could grow just in the value of the shares themselves. This could be the best combined growth and income stock you'll come across anywhere. Including an April 2010 law that could double your money.

Automatic "Paycheck" #4: The Safest Double-Digit Payout In America
Right now, this doles out automatic "paychecks" worth 5.3% of anything you put in, which you can leave there untouched. But here's an extra bonus: Even as I write, this solid company has grown shareholder money by a handsome 26.3%. Tie together the payouts and the growth and you could be looking at making a safe, solid 10 — 15% per year, on this one move alone.

Automatic "Paycheck" #5: What Could Be Better Than Making a
"Tax Free" 280%...?
Anything that pays better than 10% automatically, year in and year out, is already a great return. But this one move has also beefed up its payouts by 10.4% every year for the last five years. So you could be looking for a lot more with this one move, with each "paycheck" that's deposited in your account. And the tax benefits make it all the juicier.

You can imagine, it's pretty hard to put a value on a strategy that could give you a steady, non-working income for the rest of your life. Income which, in fact, can grow over time.

I could certainly offer this by itself. It would be a bargain, at any price.

But again, it's also included in the "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" I'll send you, along with your free copy of the I.O.U.S.A. DVD and companion book.

And then, there's one more thing...

PLUS: Around the Clock Coverage of the Top Stocks You Should Own as the Economy Crawls Out of This Hole

Just in case you've got the wrong idea, let me just say...

Long term, I'm not at all gloom and doom.

I firmly believe we'll come out of this crisis. The answers are out there. And getting them across with the help of the "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" I'll send you can only help.

But I also believe that future will look a lot different from what you're used to today.

And that includes the way millions of Americans invest on Wall Street.

See, the hot stocks that dominated headlines in the recent past... the high fliers without clear road maps... the debt-loaded juggernauts who crash and burn with flare... the "cut and run" companies that take shareholder money and disappear the minute the economy turns sour...

They're finished. At least for now.

And hopefully forever.

Forget the buckaroo hedge fund managers. Forget the pump-and-dump brokers. Forget the fat cat CEOs who bailed out with their multi-million dollar "golden" parachute pensions.

In the near future and for the long-term, the companies that will pull you out of this financial quagmire... are the companies that practice the same principles of financial discipline you and I wish our government would adopt.

I'm talking, of course, about the savers and innovators, the cash-and-asset rich companies with a roadmap for profits and top management that's as committed to the shareholder as they are to the future of the company itself.

These companies aren't always easy to find.

Which is why the crown jewel I'll give you, also as part of your free "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle," is a special, sought-after stock market research service called Capital & Crisis.

I'm including up to 12 free months of this service with your "bundle."

I don't know if you've heard of this service.

Or if you've heard of the genius who created it.

His name is Chris Mayer. And he's not your average analyst. He's no broker or Wall Street refuge either. Instead, he's a hard-nosed ex-banker and financial officer... the former vice president of one of America's oldest and prestigious lenders, Provident Bank.

This has a lot to do with why you're going to want to turn to Chris to find out which opportunities in the market are set to recover... and which are set to give up the ghost.

See, Chris is what you might call a serious "money geek."

He reads Austrian economists during breakfast. He sends me email messages, fired up about footnotes in company quarterly reports. Every year, he's one of those guys who goes out to Omaha for the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting (Chris owns shares).

But here's what really sets his analysis apart.

Most brokers usually have your money on the line, but not theirs. Not so for Chris. During his tenure as a banker, he managed over $200 million of the bank's own money. What's more, it was up to Chris to make the call on commercial loans to companies worth as much as $400 million and more.

You can imagine, where brokers might barely glance at a company's annual report before recommending shares to buy, Chris didn't have that luxury then. And he doesn't take it now.

I don't know of anybody who burrows deeper into the numbers... digging out hidden liabilities... delving past price-to-earnings ratios and the other standard smoke-and-mirrors stock-picking myths perpetrated by Wall Street.

His analysis is so thorough, it could make even an IRS auditor blush.

And he's always looking for the same thing: Companies that own what he calls "assets that sweat." And lots of them. That simply means, he's looking only for companies caught up in a powerful self-renewing cycle of wealth.

There's never been a great American family legacy of wealth without it.

The Rockefellers. The Carnegies. The Kennedys. Sam Walton's empire. They've all made fortunes building their businesses this way. Chris applies the same theory to building a winning portfolio.

Already, Chris has won plenty of attention with his brilliant approach. Maybe you've seen him on financial shows like Fox's "Bulls & Bears"... Forbes on Fox... and the CNBC financial reports. Or maybe you've read his book, Invest Like a Dealmaker: Secrets From a Former Banking Insider.

About four years ago, he got my attention too.

That's when I asked him to leave his job behind and join our team. Since then, he's lead a group of like-minded, safety and quality oriented market watchers — using what's become one of our flagship services, the monthly research advisory letter Capital & Crisis I mentioned to you earlier.

And he's done it with a steady hand... and impressive track record, cramming the pipeline with one winner after another. Take a look at these closed positions from the Capital & Crisis portfolio and see for yourself...

Leucadia National 109%
Brookfield Asset Management 115%
CNX Gas Corp. 44%
ABX Air 38%
Walter Industries 44%
AVX Corp. 12.4%
Ameriprise Financial 77%
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste SA 100.3%
Agrium 232%
Plum Creek Timber 28%
Goldkist 39%
Arch Capital Group 45%
Presidential Life Corp. 65%
Rosetta Resources 11.2%

Intrawest Corp. 72%
Orient-Express Hotels 109%
Companhia Paranaense 121%
Imperial Sugar Co. 145%
Catellus Development Corp. 24%
FEMSA 29%
Chiquita Brands Intl. 52%
Bandag 18.3%
Industrias Bachoco 19.75%
Questar 113%
San Juan Basin Royalty Trust 144%
Guitar Center 151%
Sovran Self Storage 155%
Popular Inc. 165%

And just listen to what some of his 47,000 subscribers are saying...

"The Best Newsletter I've Found So Far" "I just want to say that I have subscribed to quite a few investment newsletters before, and this is the best one that I have found so far. You have turned me from a trader into an investor with your investment insights. I would just like to thank you for this newsletter. Keep up the good work."
— R.D.

"Chris Has Grown My Investment by Fivefold in a Month" "You recommended a short sale of Japanese bonds through Chris Foster at Friedberg Mercantile in Toronto. I followed your recommendation, and through careful and constant attention, my small $5,000 investment has grown by over fivefold in a month... I enjoy and look forward to your monthly communiqués. Keep up the good work!"
— J. Redmond

"I Will Be a Long-Term Subscriber" "I just subscribed to Capital & Crisis this month. I've been reading through the back issues of your newsletter, and I just wanted to tell you how impressed I am with your writing style and content (and your track record too, of course). Reading through the archives is like getting a university-level education on sound investing principles. I am very much impressed with your letter and think it is very likely I will be a long-term subscriber."
— L. Prokop

"I Wish I Had Been Reading Such Thoughtful Analysis 24 Years Ago" "After spending 24 years in the investment business (and building assets under management to $350 million), your insights are probably the best I have seen. Your study of the great money managers, past and present, and your ability to succinctly distill, explain and relate their philosophies to your specific recommendations is a true talent. I only wish I had been reading such thoughtful analysis 24 years ago."
— S. Ostlund

"It's Probably the Smartest Letter I've Ever Seen" "I'm quite a new subscriber, but I must say that I really love it. It's probably the smartest letter I've ever seen, and believe me, I've seen a lot of them in more than 10 years. Congratulations for the good job."
— M. Dejolier

I'm telling you this because — especially in the markets my team and I see ahead — I want you to know you're covered, with only the best financial research at your fingertips.

Which is why I'd like to start sending you — with your permission — up to 12 months of Chris' Capital & Crisis, absolutely free. Gratis for up to a full year, along with your free "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle."

It's that important to me that you move ahead in these rough-and-tumble times without taking risks you don't need to take... but without sacrificing performance in the name of quality.

I know of no better way for you to do this right now than with the help of Chris Mayer and Capital & Crisis, delivered direct to your mailbox — and your email inbox, if you like — like clockwork every month.

Of course, you'll get all the same benefits his other subscribers get... including Chris' direct weekly email updates on the markets and his portfolio... plus your own password-protected access to the members-only Capital & Crisis website.

The undiscovered bargains... the rock-solid "lifetime best stock" performers... the shockingly safe big growth opportunities... heavy-hitting income producers... you'll find them all in one issue and update after another...

You'll find it all in your issues.

And like I said, this subscription could be yours free for up to 12 months.

Let me know when you're ready to get started.

Just don't wait too long.

I've already given away over 11,500 copies of the DVD and companion text alone. I'd hate for the rest of the copies to run out before I hear from you.

What's more, if you act soon enough, you can receive your first work-free "paycheck" within days!

Unlike Any Offer I've Ever Made (or Will Ever Make Again)

Counting on our leaders to fix this crisis hasn't worked in the past.

It's not likely we'll be able to count on them in the future.

Unless you and I know as much as we can about how they got us here, where we are right now, and what we can demand they do about it — immediately — while there's still time.

I must hear from while I still have FREE copies of the I.O.U.S.A movie and book to give away. After that, your chance to get this "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" FREE could expire forever.

As I said, it doesn't have to cost you a dime.

Simply follow the order instructions at the end of this letter. And that's all you need to do to receive your "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" immediately.

It's that simple.

If you're still on the fence, then let me just put it to you this way...

Look around you to see where we are now. With their homes, most Americans are in a hole. On Wall Street, most Americans are in a hole. And in Washington, we're in a very deep hole — the deepest in history.

Trillions of dollars are already gone. Vanished. Trillions more, in future security, are now on the line. Think ill-conceived bailouts and modest rallies can bring back that sense of security you had not so long ago? Think again. We have crossed a bridge. And it has collapsed behind us.

Do you want to wait to find out where we're headed next?

Or would you rather know right now, while there's still something you can do about it... both to protect yourself and your loved ones... and maybe do something to help change the course for America.

If what you'll see in the movie I'm sending you is any indication, our destiny is still in flux. The outcome could be ugly... but it could also be miraculously positive.

And it can all depend on the step you choose to take... or not take...

Right now.

My Strictly Limited Invitation

As I said, I only have a limited number of the just-released I.O.U.S.A. DVDs that I can give away. And I've already given away 11,500 copies so far — not including the 535 copies we rushed to each member of Congress.

If the remaining supply of DVDs and companion texts runs out, you're out of luck — you'll have to wait until the movie goes up for sale to the general public on Amazon.com.

But I'm hoping that won't be the case.

I'd much rather send it to you now free of charge.

So let's just run through all this again quickly. Send for the FREE "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" I've put together and...

You'll immediately go on the rush delivery list for a full copy of the new I.O.U.S.A. DVD, the award-winning documentary that won a standing ovation at Sundance... and that lays bare the "unmentionable" crisis about to knock America off its feet. Other films like this list on Amazon.com for $26.95, but your copy of this DVD is absolutely free.

I'll also rush you the companion book to the I.O.U.S.A. movie, which comes complete with full personal interviews on the crisis — with Warren Buffett, Congressman Ron Paul, Dr. Alan Greenspan, Paul Volcker, Steve Forbes, former Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Paul O'Neill, William Bonner, and more. This book already hit #1 on Amazon and lists for $19.95. Your copy, as part of the "bailout bundle," is also free.

You'll also immediately discover how to line up your own personal "bailout" checks, with the help of the brand new special report I'll include, The Ultimate "Paycheck" Portfolio: Double-Digit Yields... Even in Flat Markets. The simple strategy inside can help you line up as many as 78 cash paychecks over the next 24 months... plus more of these income paychecks, for as long as you need them. To put a price tag on this strategy is impossible, but your copy of the report that explains how it works is also yours completely free of charge.

Along with your package deal, you'll also get up to a full year FREE of Chris Mayer's highly acclaimed stock-market research letter Capital & Crisis. It's one of the most successful and best loved services I publish, and normally lists at $159 per year. But you'll get up to 12 issues — a full year's worth — free when you accept my invitation below.

And of course, everybody who receives Chris' Capital & Crisis letter also gets Chris' weekly portfolio updates — sent directly to your email inbox — and a private password to Chris' members-only Capital & Crisis website.

Can I just say, about Capital & Crisis, it's easily the one research letter in my stable that makes me consistently proud. And Chris' current readers definitely agree.

His reader retention rates — that's the number we look at to see how many subscribers stick around to hear more of what Chris has to say — are among the highest in the business.

This is why I normally list Chris' letter and all of these bonuses for $159 per year — a price we've already had to raise once because this special deal has already been so popular. But I believe so much in this message, I've decided to keep it simple for just a little longer.

Today, you can get up to a full year free, along with the rest of your deal.

But here's the thing. I don't just want to give away my limited I.O.U.S.A. copies or Chris' letter to anybody who isn't as serious about today's situation as I am.

So I'm asking you to make a small gesture to show you're committed.

It's simply this... as you accept your free gifts — the book, the DVD, and the special "Paycheck Portfolio" lifetime income report — simply agree to also try Chris' Capital & Crisis letter for up to two years. That's all.

If you agree to sign up for Chris' Capital & Crisis for two years, I'll throw in the second year absolutely free. That is, you'll get a full 24 issues — two years worth — while paying just $129 for everything. That's actually better than half off.

Quite a deal.

However, if you'd rather take a smaller step, that's okay too.

Just agree to sign up for Capital & Crisis one year. And again, I'll cut the new $159 per year price in half to just $79 — that's like paying only for the first six months... and then getting the second six months absolutely free.

Also a very good deal.

And of course, remember you're getting all those free months worth of "re-bound" best stock research included with your free copy of the new I.O.U.S.A. DVD... plus the just-printed, 262-page I.O.U.S.A. companion book... and the special personal "bailout" cash stream strategy you'll find in your free copy of Chris' newest report, The Ultimate "Paycheck" Portfolio: Double-Digit Yields... Even in Flat Markets.

All in one "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" — yours free today.

But Didn't I Say "No Catch?"

But wait... didn't I say, early in this letter, you could get everything in your "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle" with no strings attached?

I certainly did. And I'm going to stick to that promise.

So here's how the last and most important part of this invitation works...

If at any time whatsoever in the first 90 days of your membership you decide that Chris' 100% trial subscription isn't for you, you can cancel for a full refund of your initial subscription deal. And by 100%, I mean a full cash refund check sent directly to you... that covers every penny you originally paid to subscribe. No questions asked. And, if you decide to cancel after that initial 90 days, you will receive a full refund for all of your unsent issues.

And by the way, I don't care if you call me on this deal on the 89th day of your subscription. The refund is yours to claim, if you don't like everything I send.

And yes, you still get to keep everything. Including the DVD, the book and the special report. In case you don't want to do the math, let me just add this up for you...

Everything included in the "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundle," from the DVD (worth at least $26.95), the special companion book (lists for $19.95), the special income stream strategy report ($59), and up to a year's worth of Capital & Crisis at today's published price ($159)... adds up to just under $265.

That's $265 worth of market insight, protection, and strategy... at a time when millions of Americans need it most... and that doesn't even include the $21 in shipping charges I'm going to eat on my end, just for the book and DVD... or the costs of producing and mailing your issues and the special report, which we also cover.

Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of air miles and other travel expenses we wracked up while making the film... or the cost of keeping a guy as high-level as Chris Mayer on our team.

Yet, I'm making it all available to you today... free.

No charge if you accept my invitation to join Capital & Crisis.

Like I said, however, I don't have millions of "Emergency 'Personal Bailout' Bundles" to give away. It's a limited number of copies. And then your only alternative is to go to the web or a bookstore and pay for a copy out of your own pocket.

I've already given away over 11,500 of these free copies... I have some more left, but that supply won't last forever.

When they're gone, that's it. You're out of luck.



Here Come the Commies

A quote ascribed to Karl Marx has been popping up a lot lately:

"Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism."

― Karl Marx, 1867, Das Kapital

That quote is almost assuredly bogus. We haven't tormented ourselves by re-reading sections of Das Kapital. Once in college was enough. This quote, though, has been making the rounds on the Internet, as if Marx and his minions somehow knew all this was coming.

Whether the analysis is accurate is a separate question from whether Marx ever wrote it. German is a torturous language to read in translation, full of compound sentences and words. And it's highly unlikely, writing in the late 19th century, that Marx would have referred to the working class buying houses and technology. The horseless carriage hadn't even been invented yet, much less the iPod, the BlueRay, or the George Foreman grill.

Nope. This is a clever bit of revisionism by some unemployed Marxist student or tenured professor trying to discredit the free market while rehabilitating the Marxist playbook. Marx did indeed say capitalism would eventually evolve into socialism and finally communism. He claimed it was riddled by contradictions which made the system inherently unstable.

But his theory was evolutionary, based on his views of human nature and a rational "homo economicus." Like Adam Smith, Marx was a materialist who defined wealth in terms of physical goods. Thus, his view of human nature is rather material too, which explains his atheism.

In any event, the Austrians (especially Rothbard) would point out that the boom-bust feature of capitalist economies is not inherent in the system, but is actually a product of the government's manipulation of interest rates. This changes the price of money and causes risk-taking entrepreneurs to miscalculate the underlying demand for their production.

Thus, you get a massive, credit-induced production bubble, global in scale with resources devoted to supplying a fictional demand. It happened with residential real estate in the U.S. and Europe. It's happened with commercial real estate in China. And it probably happened all along the commodity supply chain, as raw material demand increased for the production of finished goods made in China for Americans who bought on credit.

That isn't to say you wouldn't have normal cycles of growth and recession in an economy with natural interest rates. But in an economy with natural interest rates, the cost of capital would go up during a recession. Bankers would get more prudent with their lending as the market place sorted out which lending resulted in productive new enterprise and which businesses failed.

The bad investments would be written down and eventually new demand for capital from entrepreneurs would resume. At least, that's how the Austrians drew it up. Today, of course, we are engaged in the great global project of trying to prop up investments gone bad, whether they be in residential American real estate or the collateralised bonds based on that real estate that currently reside like dead weight on balance sheets all over the globe.

No amount of rearranging is going to improve the quality of those debts. But that won't keep political busy bodies from trying ― and wasting even more time and capital.

Stocks market in the U.S. were up overnight. Here in Australia, the blind are following where the deaf boldly lead. But is anyone listening? Or is everyone too busy hoping?

What we're talking about are Ben Bernanke's comments. The news headlines read that he predicted the recession will end later this year and the American economy will recover in 2010. But that's not exactly what he said.

Here exactly is what he said, "If actions taken by the Administration, the Congress, and the Federal Reserve are successful in restoring some measure of financial stabilityand only if that is the case, in my viewthere is a reasonable prospect that the current recession will end in 2009 and that 2010 will be a year of recovery."

If you wanted to put it another way, it might go like this: If our plan is successful to solve all the problems, then all the problems will have been successfully solved according to the plan.

How inspiring is that? Does it give you confidence that these guys have any idea what they're doing?

What the system needs is more instability, not less. That is, prices and asset values need to fall to their real level to restore confidence. In this sense, a proper recession is the cure for uncertainty and instability.

Yes, we know this is in direct contradiction to what elected officials are telling you. But think for a moment of a man who's done nothing but eat greasy and fatty foods for a year. He's on his deathbed. His arteries are clogged with fat and cholesterol.

Now you couldn't improve the man's health by telling him to feel better about himself. "C'mon big fella. Buck up! Have another cheeseburger. With bacon. And avocado. This whole being morbidly obese and killing yourself thing is all in your head. You gotta get your mind right!"

You could tell him all that. But it would be bad medical advice. In the same way, our financial mal-practitioners have mis-diagnosed the economy. Confidence is not the problem. Bad credits and loans are the problem.

You restore confidence when you directly address the problem. Investors get out of cash and back into shares or property when they have demonstrable proof that the banks aren't hiding/lying any longer.

Or, as Murray Rothbard puts it in America's Great Depression, "The completion of liquidation removes the uncertainties of impending bankruptcy and ends the borrowers' scramble for cash. A rapid unhampered fall in prices, both in general, and particularly in goods of higher orders (adjusting to the mal-investments of the boom) will speedily end the realignment processes and remove expectations of further declines."

But instead of realigning with economic reality, our policy makers are acting as if it is possible to sustain all the bad investments made during the credit boom. They want to save homeowners, shareholders, bondholders, and pretty much anyone who stands to lose from the risks gone bad.

That is not possible. Someone has to pay for the bad bets made in subprime loans, Eastern Europe, or the developing world. That someone is probably a) the guy who took out the mortgage he can't repay, b) the bank who made the loan to the guy who took out the mortgage he can't repay, c) the investor who bought the bond sold by the bank who made the loan to the guy who took out the mortgage he can't repay.

Evading responsibility for one's actions doesn't solve anything. Making other people pay for them doesn't help much either. Of course we're all going to pay for it one way or another, through more bailouts or the general contraction in credit and growth that has to come during the "realignment process."

But those appear to be the two choices: allow failure, which allocates resources from the bad debts and losers to those who can produce real wealth. Or, try to "stabilize" any inherently unstable situation (perpetuating asset values after the credit spigot has been turned off).

Not that we're absolving market institutions for getting us into the problem. The credit ratings agencies essentially sold investment grade ratings on issues they didn't or couldn't understand. AIG sold default insurance on CDOs to make an easy buck. It's now become a black hole for taxpayer capital.

But that is fictitious financial capitalism at work, or at waste if you prefer. That kind of financial capitalism is dead, and good riddance. But don't mistake that episode of mismanagement and theft for conclusive proof that "capitalism" has failed. That would be a big mistake.

Why You Shouldn’t Move to Bonds

Most investors like to put their money in something that has done well. Most don't put their money in something that has done poorly. The last 10 years gives us a stark portrait of what's done well and what hasn't. And we're starting to see a major psychological shift in where investors want to put their money as a result.

In short, people seem to have had enough of stocks. They're moving into bonds. Oddly, and as strange as it sounds, this inflection point just might be the turning point for stocks. Put another way, investors as a group just got the last 10 years wrong. Thinking in contrary fashion, they may get the next 10 years wrong as well.

Stocks, as a group, have not done well now for 10 years. As of yesterday, if you had put $10,000 in the S&P 500 10 years ago, you would now have about $6,200 ― a loss of 38%. And it's worse than that considering the effects of inflation.

If you look at bonds, they've done much better. The Merrill Lynch U.S. Corporate Master index, a measure of high-grade debt, for instance, has gained 58% in the last 10 years.

You can hear the gears turning. Stocks have not done well, investors reason, and bonds have done much better. Therefore, buy bonds.

That's what they are doing in large numbers. Here are some telling quotes from a recent Wall Street Journal article. From a manager of $185 million in individual accounts:"I think a lot of investors have just had it with the equity markets… The baby boomers are saying, 'I'm too old to make up these losses… I'm not going to risk it."

Another, who has $414 million in assets under management:"The credit markets are the market, and the stock market is a sideshow, period."

One more, from a money manager of $900 million in assets:

"The debt markets seem pretty well understood, while the outlook for equities is still murky."

Even the Journal itself waxes on about the simplicities of bonds. You only have to figure out if the company can meet the minimum payments of the bonds. You don't have to worry about figuring out growth rates or what earnings per share may be. "With no end to the recession in sight," the Journal sighs, "logic for buying equities is wavering."

(If you're like me, you're probably suspicious of someone who repeatedly says "equities" when the plain-old word "stocks" suffices.)

So the stock market has been cut in half…and NOW these advisers are all cheerleaders for the bond market. Already this year, bond funds have added some $15 billion to their assets. Last year, investors took out nearly $200 billion from their stock mutual funds.

Going with what's worked well in the past sounds reasonable, but investing is an odd thing. It's not like many other areas of life.

If you get a bad haircut after going to the same barber for a few times, you stop going to that barber and find another. You don't stick with bad barbers and you don't go looking for bad barbers.

And if you get a good meal at a restaurant, you keep going back. You don't worry about the restaurant getting too popular. You don't look for a dive where hardly anyone goes, thinking you'll get a better meal.

Investing is almost the exact opposite ― which is one of the things that make it so hard. The best way to make a lot of money in stocks is to buy something good that few people seem to want. Then you sit on it, and when people get excited about buying it again, you gladly sell at a premium price and make some multiple on your initial investment.

All the greats made most of their hay in just this fashion ― John Templeton buying up small-cap stocks in the Great Depression… Warren Buffett picking up The Washington Post and adding shares of GEICO in the depths after the 1973 market tank…and on and on…

The best deals become available during times like now. That much is a fact. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm not saying all stocks will rise. Some of them are going to go to zero. Some of them are never going to come back. But some of them are great businesses and have great assets that will certainly come back at some point.

I know it can be tough when stocks you own are down so much. But looking ahead, I can't help but be more optimistic…