Last Monday, my mission was to bring home the vital importance of The Great Dichotomy — the unprecedented contrast between the sinking ship of the U.S. economy and the rising tide of emerging markets. Today, my mission is to show you ways to profit from both. And as the events this past Friday clearly illustrate, the timing couldn't be more critical: The record surge in U.S. unemployment — the worst in 22 years — signals a swifter slide into recession than any government indicator we've seen so far. The record surge in crude oil — the biggest of all time — promises to gut household budgets and squeeze the profit margins of thousands of U.S. manufacturers that use petrochemicals to produce their products. The nonstop plunge in home prices promises to deliver ...

Since 1952, when I first left the U.S. at the age of 6, I have lived many years in Latin America and Asia. I have visited every continent except Antarctica. I have studied every major world language except Arabic. I have traveled on cargo planes, by truck, on foot and even by mule. And everywhere I went, I accumulated a vast photographic record of the hard-working people I met. But for many years, there was one thing I did NOT do in those countries: Invest my money. It's not that I didn't believe in their future. Rather, what stopped me was another, far more critical, consideration: I didn't trust their currencies. Throughout the developing world, basic infrastructure was spotty. Domestic banking was shaky. Federal deficits ...

Most of these items can be filed under the heading of "things the market doesn't care about as it races upward, trusting everything will be fine in 6 months" :) Myself, I am fascinated with the dichotomy between the real economy and the stock market economy; I believe in the coming decade the divergence could grow even larger as more money is concentrated in the upper classes of society and less profits are due to the US as each year passes. But to see it so early, is interesting and I think has to do more with the printing fest at the Fed. We'll end this post with a bright spot... if you live in Forth Worth, TX Real economy issues that don't matter to Wall Streeters Credit Crunch Issue #1: GE to Stop Financing Boats, and Motor Homes (ironically 2 things I think are excellent shorts) I went ...