Gold is trading within a secular bull market for metals and all commodities, whereas stocks and the U.S. dollar have been decimated over the past decade with unfathomable losses; investors quietly seek out stores of value, rather than equity ownership returns of capital.

The happenings represent a stark tribute to these uncertain times of warfare, economic misery, and political shenanigans. Alarmingly, the recent actions of the Federal Reserve Bank and Washington leadership have signaled absolutely no intention of reversing this trend. Gold and commodities outperform stocks, bonds, and currency (for now).

The latest saga of this ongoing financial debacle centers around $165 million of American International Group (AIG) bonuses paid out to the very same executives that led the flailing insurer down the road towards ultimate collapse.

The shenanigans have further incited populist outrage directed at a crumbling, free-wheeling culture that has been unceremoniously dismissed as a laissez-faire sham. Recent developments have spiraled out of control, promulgating a circus-like dog-and-pony show of finger pointing, death threats, and open calls for the resignation of the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

Citigroup (C) and the financial supermarket are dead.

Citigroup shareholders have been destroyed by a parade of gaffes that arrived courtesy of a hard driving, arrogant culture seeking to dominate everything. The corporate hubris has been repeated at Bank of America (BAC), American International Group (AIG), and to a lesser extent J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM). All parties have exhibited a desperation to compete with each other merely to merge and acquire the U.S. Banking system, as we knew it - into oblivion. Banks that are "Too Big to Fail" are simply too big.

On Wall Street, the Barack Obama honeymoon has already finished before it even started. The Dow Jones Industrial Average short term high of 9625 was established on November 4, 2008 – Election Day. The stock market has collapsed towards 6800 through spirit-breaking headlines of Citigroup’s (C) imminent collapse, foreclosures, and yet another round of billions of dollars in bailout money for American International Group (AIG). Still, we already knew that.

Partisan wrangling and the New Administration’s failure to communicate have highlighted the downdraft. The surreal happenings are made ever more cryptic by a glad handling media and financial regime reluctant to outwardly present anything short of otherworldly praise for Barack Obama's "Change" at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The players have been smiling on camera, while liquidating behind the scenes – in typical Wall Street fashion.

This economic stimulus package has degenerated into an utter fiasco of political wrangling, classism, and socio economic warfare that has broken down amidst typical Beltway gridlock. All constituents are descending upon Washington, hat-in-hand in search of bailout money.

Although the stimulus package has ballooned from the $300 billion post Obama election estimate to well over $900 billion as the legislation stalls in the Senate – few are happy with the measure. Republicans have united in formation to slam the bill as an irresponsible pork barrel spending bonanza; Democrats retaliate by ridiculing the G.O.P as misguided Bush disciples; and Main Street’s broken Joe Six Pack is left to decipher this charged environment pitting big wig versus big wig amidst a $1 Trillion money grab death match.

We must open by addressing the fact that we support all methods and creative fiscal devices promulgated to jump-start the world economy at this point. We speculate that the ultimate costs of naïve inaction far supersede the present value calculations of bailing out the banking industry, Detroit, and the homeowner. Tax cuts that keep dollars in the pockets of the American citizenry and corporate class have proven to be a more effective means of spurring the economy than merely bankrolling the Federal Government with curious levels of tax legislation.

Inflation will be contained at the moment. The labor market, which is the primary driver behind ramshackle inflation, is obviously weak amidst this recession. Labor has proven to be the last shoe to drop throughout this economic debacle and is currently deteriorating towards the point of hopelessness. December’s job report, released by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, detailed another shocking loss of 524,000 jobs to parallel a U.S. unemployment rate of 7.2%.

The latest version of video game console warfare features the Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) Wii, the Microsoft (MSFT) XBox 360, and Sony's (SNE) Playstation 3. We are set to present and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of a rock-paper-scissors exercise that is defined by hardcore gaming capacity, peripherals, and overall excitement.

In 2006, Nintendo sidestepped the war for technological supremacy with the Wii. This console features a magic wand-like controller that is built for fun. All players, regardless of gaming experience, easily command the system. The Nintendo Wii inspires physical activity and has quickly become a conversation piece.

Let us drill down, pun intended, to the facts concerning the actual sources of United States petroleum products. Of course, Big Oil has served as the all-to-convenient whipping boy of politicians, commentators, and consumers hell-bent upon railing against this 'evil price gouger.'

The outrage reached a fever pitch this past summer, paralleling a relentless march towards $150 oil and $4.50 gasoline. We shall work to proactively expose these greedy purveyors of destruction, mayhem, and outright terror that have embarked upon a coordinated mission to wage warfare and chaos towards Western Civilization:

TO: Barack Obama

FROM: K.B.

RE: Do Something.

Oil is at $50 per barrel and motorists are filling up at $1.70 per gallon.

The United States is broke.

On Friday, December 5, 2008 the U.S. Department of Labor reported a sharp loss of 533,000 jobs in the month of November. The shocking figure calculates as the worst reading since the gruesome 1973-1974 recession and follows revised declines of 403,000 and 320,000 for September and October, respectively.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, today's recession began at December 2007. Friday's report is a significant indicator that this commercial debacle, originating with a housing bust that reverberated through credit markets has now debilitated the able-bodied worker. Indeed, labor and the consumer represent the final shoes to plunge into the abyss.

Shame on you, Search Engine Optimization!

Ironically, Google's (GOOG) "Do No Evil" motto has been turned upside down by its own unparalleled success. The story stock introduced itself to Wall Street with a controversial Dutch auction initial public offering at $85 that spurned the conventional blue blood methods of Lower Manhattan. Investors were treated to spectacular price appreciation, rivaling the late nineties tech boom as Google shares skyrocketed to $725 within three years (GOOG has since retreated to $284).

This is the Expressway to Serfdom. Next exit: Havana.

Apparently, working class whites, southerners, yankee business elite, foreigners, and even blacks themselves have discovered yet another charged epithet to hurl at a leading Black Man and his sympathizers:

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson delivered tough talk directed at Congress rejecting any notion of allocating one penny of his $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program [TARP] towards the relief of the battered U.S. automotive sector. Mr. Paulson's testimony is a death blow to Detroit, Michigan and the Rust Belt at-large. The Heartland, a region decimated by the collapse of U.S. manufacturing, is indeed on life support. Mr. Paulson must reason that America shall function normally while its midsection remains under cardiac arrest.

The Big Three are lobbying Washington for an additional $25 billion from the Treasury - double the original $25 billion package approved to meet environmental directives implemented at the behest of the Energy Department. Says Paulson, "there are other ways" to resuscitate the dying industry - intimating that bailout package dollars shall be exclusive to financial companies. Paulson, a Democrat, has emerged to lead a group of hawkish, free-market Republicans that have dismissed rescuing Detroit from a debacle that is of its own doing.

The Commerce Department's release of October retail sales figures indicates a 2.8% drop in sales to $363.7 billion from September's $374 billion. October 2008, and its corresponding stock market crash, marked new lows for this latest economic debacle. The record plunge in retail sales tops the fallout from the September 11th attacks that effectively decimated November 2001 sales by 2.65%.

The report presents little information that any citizen of average intelligence should be unable to surmise. The raw data simply quantify the collapse of consumer confidence.

The financial industry has unwittingly accepted the baton as the most wretched of sorts. Let us review the recent bearers of this ignominious torch:

Microsoft (MSFT) [1995-2000]

We are revisiting the Case-Shiller index which serves as a barometer of private real estate activity. The statistic, measuring real property values identifies the year 2000 as a baseline. All 20 component markets of the composite began with a value of 100 in the year 2000. We shall list the figures, in descending order:

1. Washington, D.C. - 195.49
2. New York - 192.92
3. Los Angeles - 192.55
4. Miami - 186.84
5. Seattle - 176.51
6. Tampa - 175.07
7. Portland - 174.21
8. San Diego - 172.20
9. Boston - 162.58
10. San Francisco - 156.88
11. Las Vegas - 154.15
12. Chicago - 149.60
13. Phoenix - 149.09
14. Minneapolis - 143.43
15. Charlotte - 133.20
16. Denver - 132.67
17. Atlanta - 125.23
18. Dallas - 123.16
19. Cleveland - 109.35
20. Detroit - 93.21

Although 8 years of data is a limited amount of information; we may still recognize particular patterns from the statistics. All of the top listings feature natural, geographical boundaries restricting the amount of land available for construction purposes. Glamour markets also retain a monopoly over a particular industry.

The Case-Shiller numbers were released Tuesday by Standard and Poors. The Case-Shiller is an index comprised of 20 metropolitan markets that gauges the health of the U.S. real estate market. The statistics are published on the last Tuesday of every month, with information ending 2 months prior to that date. Hence, this latest report contains figures through July 2008. Home prices are negative by 17% over the past year in the aggregate. Property markets have not experienced such carnage since The Great Depression. 

The glamour markets spiked during the boom and have been thoroughly brutalized throughout this bust. The debacle is a consequence of real estate values pricing out all consumers, sans the upper middle class and wealthy. The technology boom and Web 2.0 manufactured Silicon Valley paper millionaires at a fantastic rate. Hence, a $1 million California home is simply "keeping up with the Jones.'" Florida remains a fantasy world for the wealthy, and a perverse economic deathtrap for the downtrodden. Regional glamour markets, where a $1 million homestead is par for the course, will inevitably collapse upon themselves.

Alcoa (AA) is the world's third largest producer of aluminum and the leading producer of alumina, a white granular material that is chemically defined as aluminum oxide. The Pittsburgh corporation's refinery operation in Western Australia is capable of supplying 15% of international demand. The company manufactures thousands of finished products for the aerospace, automotive, defense, and housing industry. This is a cyclical stock; tied to the boom and bust nature of the global economy and commodities markets.

Despite a commodity boom that was to drive oil to $147 / barrel, propel gold towards $1,000, and deliver aluminum at a July record of $3,380.15 per metric ton on the London Metals Exchange, this stock has returned nothing over the past decade. Shares have actually underperformed the Standard and Poors 500, an index being ravaged by today's credit debacle. Long term, I expect this underperformance to continue. This stock is dead money and is to be avoided.