Talk about haircuts, I'm surprised they're not all bald. But at least we can see the long noses. (lol)

General Electric, which owns 100-pct of CNBC and apparently requires their on-air personalities to hold shares of just GE, is a total disaster when it comes to its share price.

On the day the Dow set an all-time closing record high, January 14, 2000, the stocks of the biggest U.S. industrial, consumer, and technology companies were as follows: GE=$43.25; WMT=$61.04; and MSFT=48.63.

Today (last night's close) ADJUSTED FOR DIVIDENDS and splits, those prices are GE=$35.48; WMT=$49.81; and MSFT=27.40.

And, if we adjusted for inflation " probably another -20 pct or more in the past almost 7 years, and the taxes on those dividends, these stocks would be even more of a disaster.

So GE-CNBCTV is not kidding anybody here, nevertheless their own employees. We know it; they know it.

During this extended period of bountiful manure shovelling, you have an opportunity to sell into strength. With the proceeds, I am going to suggest fixed income.

Fixed income does not represent bonds because these too may not be what traders need to hold in their portfolios. By fixed income, I am going to refer to high-dividend yielding equities such as Canadian income trusts.

Now these can be dangerous too. You may have heard ROBTV's Kevin O'Leary talk about the "broken trusts". Those include the ones that dropped in price following their IPO, and/or cut their dividend as business conditions got tough. Moreover, as interest rates went up, there was an alternative in bonds that served to pull money out of some of these trusts.

The bond market has already moved a lot, so I don't think there is much of an opportunity there for the time being.

As you know, I happen not to be a big supporter of trusts. I think it is a quirk of Canadian income tax law that permits slow-growth corporations to return capital in the form of dividends, and in doing so attract the interest of long-term conservative capital owners.

If all corporations were structured as trusts, with high dividend payouts, and secondary offerings required for acquisitions, the playing field would be levelled. Then traders would simply buy shares of the best quality companies, and the so-called "trust" issue would die.

Be that as it may, the broad market today (stocks and bonds) is at ultra-high risk levels, which means that serious owners and managers of capital need to protect their assets more than usual.

So today I am looking at Canadian Income Trusts. There are some " certainly not all " that bear watching and considering as a place of relatively safe haven.

The ones I'll write about later today will be on the recommended list of Canada's major broker-dealers for fundamental reasons given. I respect their research. The value-add I'll try to bring to the table is to filter those many recommended trusts to a smaller list that to me make sense to a conservative account.

For background here, which I'll write up in tomorrow's Week In Review, let me say that I continue to expect very weak economic growth in the U.S. and around the world.

The U.S. trade deficit might decline a modest amount but that is not a resolution of the structural problem. Until that happens, based on greater savings and less spending, I fear a serious recession ahead.

In fact, for 2007 I expect the GDP will average just +1.5 pct, which is significantly less than inflation, which includes two quarters of barely negative growth, and two averaging +3.0 pct.

Where does one hide in such challenging times? Recently I have noted the surge in bonds, telco stocks, and some consumer staples. I started downplaying the economically sensitive stocks like the oils, basic materials (except for metals producers), and industrials.

But the biggest problem is the U.S. housing industry, which soon could become, like Japan for many years, a deflation issue. And without the wealth effect from over-priced houses, it is a fact that U.S. consumers have had to dip into their savings in order to sustain their usual living standard and in many cases to stay afloat.

So, with a slowdown in U.S. consumption, there will be a dip in the international trade balance. But that will lead to the exporting nations, in some cases, dropping their currency rates against the $USD, and the world will fall into an outright currency and trade war.

Less foreign trade and less turnover of money will lead to serious economic problems. Trying to stop and reverse that process is akin to turning about an ocean tanker ship. It is accomplished over a lengthy period of time, based on specific action at the wheel.

I don't see how the United States can stay out of recession if Wall Street and Washington won't even acknowledge a problem. These people seem completely out of touch with Main Street. All day long today CNBC is showing up million-dollar Ferrari automobiles. I think I overheard the Ferrari manager saying that China was a big market for them because the company expected to sell between 100 and 120 cars there next year.

One hundred for 1.7 billion people, and the CNBC "personality" couldn't hide her excitement after asking for a date to drive one. She clearly wanted to "get" hers.

This isn't reality, folks.

It reminds me of the campaign trail for George HW Bush when Clinton beat him. Standing at a Wal-Mart cash register, he said, "My, look at this thing" when referring to a bar-code reader. That innocuous incident burned an impression into my mind that I'll never forget. These people can't relate to you and me.

The Canadian economy, particularly Eastern Canada, has been badly hit by the U.S. slowdown that CNBC refuses to acknowledge. I suspect that European and Asia-Pacific markets are next.

So how do I see this impacting on the Main Street trader? I think traders ought to significantly underweight stocks and overweight cash and short-term bonds. The stocks I'd hold would be a select group of Canadian income trusts, which I'll list this afternoon, plus low beta consumer staples stocks and a USD hedge in a few high cash flow gold and silver miners.

And I'd read all available research reports from Humungous Bank & Broker, reading between the lines, and openly communicating your concerns to your personal financial/investment advisors.