John Mauldin takes a look at a few random subjects in this week's article.

Everyone knows by now that the US is facing difficult choices. Depending on what assumptions you use, the unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare are between $50 and $80 trillion and rising. It really doesn't matter, as there is no way that much money can be found, given the current system, even under the best of assumptions. Things not only must change, they will change.

The stock market is booming. Is this the start of something big?

There is no sign of the Great Correction reaching its conclusion anytime soon.

Can any government in the developed world survive? Will there be enough growth to keep them from going broke?

The US economy has come back to output levels of '07. But this feeble rebound not only holds the title of "weakest post-war recovery ever," it also shows that something else is going on.

John Mauldin looks at the shift in Fed policy, and at the balance sheets of central banks, US GDP, Portugal and the ECB, the LTRO policy, and yes, there's even a tidbit on Greece.

What most traders fail to understand is that the leverage in your account is determined not by any one position, but by the aggregate amount of trades outstanding.