Gold bugs have suffered one of their worst years in history, says Keith Fitz-Gerald. But the US dollar looks increasingly fragile beyond this period of short-term panic buying. And that means the outlook for gold remains strong. Keith says every investor should ensure gold forms part of their investment strategy for 2009.

This from Money Morning:

If you were counting on gold to boost your returns this year, chances are you’ve been cruelly disappointed. In fact, when it comes to gold-related investments, virtually every category is down, making this one of the worst years in history for gold investors.

So, why is it that the largest of the large futures traders have some of the lowest net short positions in years? And what does this tell us about gold prices in the near future?

I’ll get to that in a minute. But first …

What Went Wrong?

In my analysis, I’ve identified the

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Some not so breaking news for our readers We signaled a few weeks ago [Nov 12: CNBC Europe - USA May Lose its AAA Rating] Minerd doubts that private savings in the U.S. and foreign purchases of Treasury debt will be sufficient to meet those government cash requirements. That leaves the Fed to take up the slack; that is, monetization of the debt. (in English this means when there is no buyer for US Treasuries we will create the buyer in house: the Federal Reserve. So the left hand will be buying from the right hand i.e. desperation... banana republic style) And lo an behold, the great helicopter drop of all time is being hinted at - the actual buying of US Treasuries by the Federal Reserve (since at some point no one ...

Key News• Oil prices fell below $53 to almost a two-year low . (AP)• The yield on two-year US Treasury bonds hit a record low of 1.06 per cent, responding both to the fresh flight to safety and the prospect of lower interest rates. Eurozone government bond futures hit their highest level since March 2006. (FT)

• World stock markets tumbled Thursday, with benchmarks in Tokyo and Seoul losing almost 7 percent each. (AP)• Five years after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke helped stamp out the risk of deflation, the threat is returning as the financial crisis and a worsening economic slump pull inflation lower. (Bloomberg)• The RBA said in a monthly bulletin today that it bought A$3.15 billion ($2 billion) of its own currency last month, the biggest net purchase on record, as the local dollar posted a record monthly decline. • U.S. options

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Deflationary forces are pushing the price of gold lower. However, beyond the short-term price for paper gold, some of the news is surprisingly bullish. I'm putting out an update to my recent gold report today, with some very interesting news on supply and demand. The director of the World Gold Council was on CNBC yesterday talking about it. You can see that video here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=933064521 Some of the bullish news for gold ... * Global demand rose 18% to 1,133.4 metric tonnes from 963.3 tonnes a year earlier.* In dollar terms, the jump in demand was even bigger. Dollar demand for gold reached an all time quarterly record of $32 billion in the third quarter, a whopping 45% higher than the previous record … set in the second quarter.* Identifiable investment, which includes purchases through exchange-traded funds and of bars ...

This week is shaping up to be another active one on the bailout-and-financing front. First and foremost, Congress returns to work this week to consider a once-unthinkable proposal: Put up billions in taxpayer-backed loans so that Detroit’s “Big Three” can be saved. Expect a fight, however, as the bailout debate finally moves past banks to focus on General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F), and Chrysler Corp.

The situation is dire. GM is burning through cash at a pace that could mean bankruptcy, and all three players are struggling with high costs, weak vehicle sales, frozen credit lines and dwindling cash reserves calling into question whether they can survive much longer without government help. The answer, of course, is that they probably can’t.

But it’s here that the debate turns political, the Detroit Free Press reports. Congressional Democrats are pushing for some form

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That's a question I'm seeing more people ask, and for good reason. Bloomberg News has been on a little bit of a crusade to find out what the Fed is doing with our money, for instance, and I for one hope they gain some traction. See the following excerpt:"Members of Congress, taxpayers and investors urged the Federal Reserve to provide details of almost $2 trillion in emergency loans and the collateral it has accepted to protect against losses.At least five Republican members of Congress yesterday called for the Fed to disclose which financial institutions are borrowing taxpayer money and what troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. More than 300 more investors and taxpayers also pressed for more disclosure in e-mails and interviews with Bloomberg News."There cannot be accountability in government and in our financial institutions without transparency,'' Texas Senator John

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The U.S. Treasury Department plans to borrow a record $550 billion in the current quarter, and another $368 billion in the first three months of the New Year – money needed to fund the $700 billion bailout plan the government is using to battle the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Wall Street bond traders estimate that the U.S. government will have to borrow a record $1.4 trillion during the current fiscal year – an unprecedented amount of debt that’s nevertheless needed to cover a federal budget deficit that’s expected to approach $1 trillion for the fiscal year, CNNMoney.com reported.

(The government’s fiscal year differs from the calendar year, and actually began Oct. 1. The $700 billion bailout plan was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Oct. 3, and was signed into law the same day by President George W.

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Banking bailouts are nothing new. Starting with the “panic of 1792″, there have been many examples of government financial rescues. Keith Fitz-Gerald says the success of these past bailouts is mixed. And they nearly always cost far more than originally thought…

This from Money Morning:

Although the ongoing financial crisis has introduced a new word – bailout – into the lexicon of most investors, a quick tour of history shows us that these big-ticket financial rescue plans are actually nothing new.

And that raises the question: Do they work?

A look back at history shows us that – like most government initiatives – the answer is “it depends.” While some investors might find that reassuring, history also suggests that the final tab for a financial-crisis bailout will be well in excess of what it should cost to fix the problems the crisis actually caused.

A Look Back at Bailouts

Take for instance the very

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Banking bailouts are nothing new. Starting with the “panic of 1792″, there have been many examples of government financial rescues. Keith Fitz-Gerald says the success of these past bailouts is mixed. And they nearly always cost far more than originally thought…

This from Money Morning:

Although the ongoing financial crisis has introduced a new word – bailout – into the lexicon of most investors, a quick tour of history shows us that these big-ticket financial rescue plans are actually nothing new.

And that raises the question: Do they work?

A look back at history shows us that – like most government initiatives – the answer is “it depends.” While some investors might find that reassuring, history also suggests that the final tab for a financial-crisis bailout will be well in excess of what it should cost to fix the problems the crisis actually caused.

A Look Back at Bailouts

Take for instance the very

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Come Wednesday morning – after the presidential election tomorrow (Tuesday) – the United States will have a new commander-in-chief. The president-elect will face some significant challenges: A weak economy (okay, a recession, given last week’s gross domestic product (GDP) report, which confirmed just how dire the country’s economic situation had become).

While this week’s data from the manufacturing and housing sectors will be eagerly anticipated, nothing compares to Friday’s reports on unemployment and the picture of the ailing labor market.  After nine consecutive months of job contraction, few analysts hold out much hope for optimism.  In fact, some believe the jobless rate will climb to 7.5% during 2009.

Clearly the new president will have some major problems to solve, perhaps the biggest being that he’ll have to find a way to restore investor confidence.

After all that’s happened in the global economy and in the stock market in recent weeks – with the

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