We are in the land of Schiller and Beethoven, Goethe and Rilke, lieder and Die Lorelei. We are amongst the people who lured the Roman legions deep into the forest only to destroy them.

Outside our hotel window, it is a winter wonderland. The snow is coming down steadily in the Rhineland. Of course, that didn't stop our cab from careening down the autobahn at 80 miles an hour last night, but on that, more later.

Meanwhile, from the television, we learn this morning that Alan Greenspan is shopping for a publisher for his memoirs. He expects to get an advance in the tune of millions. Now, that's how to make money in this market! We can only hope for his sake that the currency is still healthy by then.

But today, we have not much time to expand even on this juicy morsel and will be brief in our observations and ruminations. Doubtless, many long-time readers will thank their lucky stars for the relief.

First, the housing bubble gives up more air. Ruth Simon, of The Wall Street Journal, writes:

"After climbing steadily for a decade, the nation's homeownership rate appears to have leveled off. New data released late last month by the U.S. Census Bureau put the homeownership rate at 69% in the fourth quarter of 2005, down from 69.2% a year earlier."

Simon goes on to say this is "the first time since 1994 that the rate at year-end hasn't increased from the previous year. It's not entirely clear why the homeownership rate seems to have plateaued. Some economists say that the new data could be a sign that declining affordability is finally taking its toll on first-time homebuyers."

Also this morning on CNN comes news that new housing sales in January were the worst in a year.

And stocks fell on "disappointing consumer confidence figures," said the commentator.

But gold rose.

When will gold correct? Will it ever correct? We don't know, but when it does, we will be ready and waiting for it.

And when will the bubble in real estate finally deflate? We don't know that either, but we hope it doesn't happen too soon...we have some property we want to sell! If you happen to know someone looking for a large chateau in the countryside of France, we just happen to have one.

Pity the poor people who get their financial wisdom from television and actually believe the asinine assertions...the pretentious punditry. The economic coverage, especially, is nothing but one long, continuous babble, punctured on and off by deep questions from the babblers, such as: "How can you make money in this market?"

How? We'll give you the answer. Turn off the television for a start.

But, people love their televisions as themselves - just as they love bingeing on fried chips, medicating themselves with Prozac, and campaigning for political office, too. Are they better off for any of it? Not in our opinion.

Television invades the room and quickly takes charge of your time, your energy and your brain. You begin to eat in front of it; you fall asleep at night watching it. It prattles on in your brain subconsciously day and night; the next thing you know, you have begun to think what it tells you to think and care about what it tells you to care about. Before long, if you're not careful, you'll be wondering about J-Lo's new beau, buying more Google, or voting for Hillary.

But wait, Google also had some disappointing news, yesterday. What else to buy now?

Quick, turn on the TV, find out!

Bill Bonner is the President of Agora Publishing.  For more on Bill Bonner, visit The Daily Reckoning.