This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days (while touring through Switzerland) that you may also enjoy.

• Samuel Brittan (Financial Times): A new guide for the perplexed, July 10, 2009. Attempts to make sense of the financial crisis often lead to even more confusion, writes Samuel Brittan. Here is an attempt to outline the main issues.

• Beat Balzli and Michaela Schiessl (Spiegel): Global banking economist warned of coming crisis, July 8, 2009. William White predicted the approaching financial crisis years before 2007’s subprime meltdown. But central bankers preferred to listen to his great rival Alan Greenspan instead, with devastating consequences for the global economy.

• Janet Morrissey (Time): Advice from an economist who saw 1929, July 9, 2009. The Obama Administration should stop bailing out corporate disasters and

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This post provides links to some thought-provoking articles I have read over the past few days that you may also find of interest.

• Tom Lauricella (The Wall Street Journal): Is this bull cyclical or secular?, June 15, 2009. Many investors are now calling the rebound in stocks since early March the start of a new bull market. But it could be only a temporary respite from a longer-term bear market dating back to the beginning of this decade.

• Andy Xie (Caijing.com.cn): Tight spot for Fed, blind spot for investors, June 8, 2009. If you are a speculator and confident you can get out before it crashes, this is your market. If you think this market is for real, you are making a mistake and should get out as soon as possible. If you lost money during your last three market

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Currencies trade in a tight range…  Another new plan to help homeowners…  RBNZ and Riksbank slash interest rates! The Governorator speaks!… And Now… Today’s Pfennig! It’s going to be a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday in Europe for sure, given the Central Banks of England and the Eurozone are meeting and will probably cut interest rates to levels that haven’t been seen in a while! The automakers are in deep dookie folks, according to them, and are in need of funds / bailout money right now! The head of Ford believes his company can withstand the recession, but fears for GM and Chrysler… The UAW has made some concessions to help the automakers, but it could be a case of too little, too late…

Well… Another day of doldrums in the currencies, with the bias, what little there is, to buy dollars. The stock jockeys received some manna from heaven yesterday when

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Market timing is not a good idea, but standing aside when a global train wreck is happening in proportions that rival the worst periods in modern history is not market timing — it is self-preservation.

Being out of the market makes deciding how to re-enter problematic, and some opportunity could be missed, but far greater opportunity is missed if capital is destroyed.

We are in cash from 80% to 100% in various accounts since mid-summer.

We believe that discretion is the better part of valor in this situation. Nobody really knows what comes next. We are in a Black Swan. The unknown unknowns dominate.

In times of such lack of clarity, we think keeping powder dry is probably a good thing to do.

As Alan Abelson said in his editorial this week in Barron’s:

The climate, in our jaundiced view, remains treacherous. The economy is destined to get worse - much worse, before it gets

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Key News• Euro May Slide to $1.26 as ECB to Cut Rates, Citigroup's Fitzpatrick Says (Bloomberg)• Swiss Exports Fall for First Time Since 2005; Global Slowdown Damps Orders (Bloomberg)• Thaksin Found Guilty of Corruption (WSJ)

Quotable “I think if you have some principles and know what you're doing, the market responds. They see that you have some structure to your actions, that it isn't just ad hoc -- you'll do this today but you'll do something different tomorrow. And the market respects people in supervisory positions who seem to be on top of what's going on. So I think if you're tough about firms that have invested unwisely, the market won't blame you. They'll say, 'Well, yeah, it's your fault. You did this. Nobody else told you to do it. Why should we be saving you at this point if you're stuck with assets you can't sell and liabilities you

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October 20, 2008 Washed-out and undervalued? Or, just oversold? That’s the big question for equity bulls and bears. Some notable veterans [Buffett, Hussman, and Grantham for example] believe the former is the case although they ultimately accept more downside as a possibility [um, who doesn’t?]. Major indexes are down over 40% from their peak which is typical for bear market declines; indexes are much oversold [VIX, weekly RSIs to name two are at extreme readings]; investment advisors are overwhelmingly bearish; the commodity market bloodbath is severe; financial giants have been routed, merged or run out of existence; some US automakers may fold; unprecedented global government actions have been controversial but spectacular and most likely inflationary ultimately; there are still major derivative unwinds to take place [LEH derivatives should settle tomorrow]; credit is still tight although ...