The US inflation rate has been going down since the early 80's and was cut in half since last year. It now hovers barely above zero.

Guess who was better off at this stage following the beginning of the crisis. The investor in the Great Depression? Or, the investor today?

The point of a correction is to correct.

Let’s see, what happened this summer?  Easy question.  The recovery went missing.

In the US, half a million Americans filed for jobless benefits last week -- the highest number in nine months.  At this point in a typical recovery, job growth should be strong.  Instead, it is shockingly weak.

Investors are waking up. They are wiping the sleep from their eyes. Behold! No recovery.

Eventually, investors are going to realize that the discussion of a "recovery" is nonsense. The economy can never recover the pace and frenzy of the bubble years.

The Fed has already said it will leave its key interest rate at a very low level for a very long time. The US Treasury has already announced a budget with more than $1 trillion of fiscal stimulus in it.

In the next few years, US stocks are not likely to pay off. The stock market entered a bear phase in January 2000. Since then, stock market investors have made some money and lost some money. Some are ahead a little. Some are behind. Most have gotten nowhere.

The Berlin government announced the best results since the wall fell in 1989. From the first quarter to the second one the republic's GDP rose 2.2 percent.