[Editor's Note: Thirteen trades. All profitable. Since launching his Geiger Indextrading service late last year, Money Morning Investment Director Keith Fitz-Gerald is a perfect 13 for 13, meaning he's closed every single one of his trades at a profit. And he did this in the face of one of the most-volatile periods since the Great Depression. Fitz-Gerald says the ongoing financial crisis has changed the investing game forever, and has created a completely new set of rules that investors must understand to survive and profit in this new era. Check out our latest insights on these new rules, this new market environment, and this new service, the Geiger Index.]

Two days of talks between U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Chinese officials culminated yesterday (Tuesday) with both parties reaffirming their confidence in the value of the dollar, and the viability of U.S. debt.

Despite this …

Public policy is determined by elected governmental officials and appointees who are responsible to them.  This is the nature of accountability and representative government. As citizens we are all free to criticize and vote for our favorite choices.  One person, one vote. At "A Dash" we are disturbed by recent commentary that suggests that trading in financial markets should dictate public policy decisions.  No one elected the financial managers nor the pundits.  Their interests are not necessarily aligned with the overall economy, the housing market, nor (especially) the GSE's --- Fannie and Freddie. The dividing line is clearly stated in this article by Zac Bissonnette at Blogging Stocks.  He contrasts the opinions of two people whom we admire, Barney Frank and Warren Buffett.  Here is the analysis: In an interview with Money, Frank was asked about Fannie Mae and ...

Article Source How did we get into this mess, and how do we get out of it? First, a little background: Both Freddie and Fannie were initially created by the U.S. Congress with the goal of expanding the residential mortgage market. They are for this reason referred to as "government-sponsored enterprises", or GSEs, even though both eventually were converted into private companies for which there is today no explicit government guarantee of their debt.... After a homeowner has borrowed money to buy a home, the original lender likely resold that loan to Fannie or Freddie. The GSE in turn collected some of those mortgages in a pool which was sold in the form of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) to private investors, for which the GSEs collect a fee in exchange for guaranteeing payment on the MBS. Other mortgages purchased by the GSE are held directly by the GSE for its own investment ...