Retirement, Squeezed
As Traditional Plans Decline, Workers Face a Less Certain Future

By Kathleen Day
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 17, 2006; Page F01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600124.html

Department of Billion-dollar Bungling
How the Interior Department managed to lose about $2 billion of the public's money. Can this mess be cleaned up?
By DOUGLAS WALLER/WASHINGTON

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1535668,00.html

Traded funds may be trend T. Rowe Price can't let pass
Jay Hancock

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/yourmoney/bal-bz.hancock17sep17,0,4659168.column?coll=bal-business-headlines

Stocks may hit new highs if Fed stays put

By Jennifer Coogan
Reuters
Friday, September 15, 2006; 10:16 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/15/AR2006091501314.html

Who Needs the IMF?
The organization is facing serious questions about its makeup, and its purpose.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14870272/site/newsweek/

Corporate overreaction renews 'spirit of inquisition'
Jay Hancock

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/yourmoney/bal-bz.hancock10sep10,0,1447890.column?coll=bal-business-headlines

Paid Bloggers Stoke Senate Battle in Va.
Campaigns Test Limits of Finance Laws

By Michael D. Shear and Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 17, 2006; Page A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600575.html

US joins in taking China to WTO over auto parts
Bob Deans, Washington
September 18, 2006

http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/us-joins-in-taking-china-to-wto-over-auto-parts/2006/09/17/1158431585794.html

Re: "The relationship, though, is lopsided. US consumers bought a record $US243.5 billion worth of computers, clothing, shoes and other products from China in 2005, while American companies sold just $US41.8 billion worth of goods to China.

This year, Americans are on track to purchase $US261 billion worth of goods from China, a 17 per cent increase over last year, according to US Commerce Department figures."

Bob Deans, Washington
September 18, 2006

Americans...want to decrease the rhetoric of the doom-and-gloomers about the coming collapse of the American economy?...Stop consuming and start saving! Whether its Gold, Gold coins, precious metals, paper money, stocks...it matters not...if it can be traded in the marketplace for goods and services, then it ought to be saved.
The moment we Americans stop turning our country into the world's largest junkyard and flea market, other world economies may start collapsing or at least show a modicum of respect for the dollars we circulate abroad.

The above may appear simplistic, a bit naive, even juvenile, however, has America tried it on a grand scale recently?

FUNDWATCH
Payouts from fund scandal proceed, but slowly
Shareholders to get reimbursement, though checks will likely be small
By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch
Last Update: 3:02 PM ET Sep 17, 2006

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B9ECB67A0%2DA73A%2D4C3C%2D8200%2DABF1F34D8A24%7D&siteid=

Myra Saefong's Commodities Corner
Dodged disasters fuel gasoline's downward trek
Analysts predict a $2.50 average by the end of the month
By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
Last Update: 7:37 AM ET Sep 15, 2006

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BF53BEB12%2DD65C%2D4BB0%2DA987%2D2B2A570784F0%7D&siteid=

Europe and Japan in effort to shore up yen??????

How about Japan revising interest rates upwards to anything over .25%.

RW

Push grows to reform the way Congress spends
The House vows to tackle earmark reform as a backlash grows from activists and bloggers.
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0822/p02s01-uspo.html

Dow nudges peak of six years ago
The Dow nearly reached its pre-9/11 highs last week, but many on Wall Street remain cautiously optimistic about further gains.
By Mark Trumbull | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0918/p01s02-usec.html

Paulson said....

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aFAF6uJlVXhQ&refer=us

....Higher wages, ``strong'' company profits and business spending will offset a weaker housing market, Paulson said.....

David Dodge:

'A more rapid yuan appreciation' will be in China's interests as it will 'enable them to deal with demand pressures resurfacing again,' Dodge said at a press briefing after the G7 meeting here.

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2006/09/16/afx3021906.html

more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a3RGiBQOa69A&refer=home

more...
http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story/ROC.20060916.2006-09-16T131216Z_01_SP134840_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESS-IMF-COL/GIStory/

Canadians See China Overshadowing the US as Our Growth Market of the Future (September, 2006)
http://www.asiapacific.ca/analysis/pubs/index.cfm#37

I think you can measure economic growth by the number of cranes you can count on the horizon of a city. Beijing had a lot of cranes last time I was there...

http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/shared-gen/ap/Olympics/OLY_Beijing_Prepares.html

Commodities, they are a-changin'
Commentary: Trendline break suggests bull run may be over

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B0333FF35%2DCF28%2D4226%2D8F23%2D9E16CAC739C8%7D&siteid=

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Reversals can be your friend, too, if you're not afraid to introduce yourself early enough.

But first impressions can be very misleading, so investors tend to be very skeptical of any sign of change in the status quo, especially if they've been rewarded many times in the past for sticking with a prior trend.

There is no question that the commodities market is a lot lower than it was just four months ago. Will they continue to go lower, or return before quickly to the trend it was riding the previous 4 1/2 years?

The charts have been saying what some investors may have felt in their gut but have been afraid to vocalize, much less act on -- the current decline may be more than just short-term correction.

SEC Eying Broker-Dealer, Hedge Fund Ties

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060913/sec_broker_dealers.html?.v=1

"What we're seeing in cases is beyond a blind eye and into aiding and abetting," Thomsen said at a seminar sponsored by the Practising Law Institute.