The adjusted monetary base is exploding. Bank reserves are literally through the roof. The Fed is flooding money into the system in an effort to get banks to lend. What does this all mean?

This week, John Mauldin looks at two very different views of the euro, and then opposing thoughts on Spain.

While German Chancellor Merkel has indicated a willingness to help, the German finance minister and other politicians are suggesting German cooperation will either not be forthcoming or only be there at a very high price.

Should Greenspan and Bernanke have seen the bubble in housing and other assets and acted, or should we accept their defense that you can't know whether there is a bubble until after the fact? We will look at research that suggests they should have known, and, at the least, policy makers should no longer be allowed to say, "How could I have known?"

When does a potential crisis become an actual crisis, and how and why does it happen?  Why did most everyone believe there were no problems in the US economies in 2006?

Will the government actually increase taxes as much as they say, with unemployment still likely to be at 10%? Or will cooler heads prevail?

What does John Mauldin see for the year ahead?

Are we going to grow at 5-6% or at 1-2% or dip back into recession?  Why such disparity?

We are clearly starting to get some better data points here and there, but it is going to be a recovery in the statistics and not in the things that count, such as income and employment.

This week's article is a transcript of an interview of John Mauldin.