I am Chief Business Correspondent for U.S.News and author of the regular Flowchart column (http://www.usnews.com/flowchart) at usnews.com (http://usnews.com/). I'm a journalist, obviously, not a financial professional, and I don't take positions on stocks or investment themes. Instead, I try to make the connections between the things consumers care most about and the abstruse workings of the global economy. Oh - and point out the many myths and follies of our hyperbolic media. Busy times for that.