Why We Should Take a Solutions Approach to the Crisis and Look at Some Things DifferentlyBy Peter Schiff, President of Euro Pacific Capital, Inc. Author of The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear MarketsI don't think we're going to see any light at the end of the tunnel until we have a clear, objective understanding of how we got into this mess in the first place. There is a tendency whenever major problems occur in the economy to place blame on external factors and to assume that the external factors can be prevented from causing similar problems in the future by expanding the government's regulatory powers. The problem I have with this kind of thinking is that it makes government bigger and more intrusive without ever getting at the root of the problem, which is usually the government ...

The election of Barack Obama as the next U.S. president creates plenty of profit plays for investors in the New Year. By Martin Hutchinson Contributing Editor Money Morning/The Money Map Report With his landslide election victory Tuesday - coupled with Democratic gains in the House of Representatives and in the Senate - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will have the ability to pursue more or less any policy he wants. For investors who have been trying to analyze the economic outlook for the New Year, the election of U.S. Sen. Obama (D-Ill.) provides a major piece of the forward-looking jigsaw puzzle that these analysts hope to assemble. That’s because the likely trends of the United States and other economies around the world - and the relative success of different sectors within those economies - depends crucially on who’s in the White House, what policies they have, and ...

Vitaly Churkin, Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations, is extremely pleased that the New York Times has finally come around to reporting Moscow's account (per the OSCE report) of how the war with Georgia started. The letter he sent in to the editors was probably the most fun his office had had since declining to contribute funds to John McCain's campaign. The letter can be read here, and Reuters is also running a piece about it. In all fairness, Churkin should probably also congratulate the BBC.

I think Alexander Golts has got this right: What motivated Medvedev to surprise the world with his Iskander card? Most probably, he was determined to complicate and aggravate Russia's already tense relationship with the United States as much as possible in the days following Obama's election. After all, the siloviki were hoping that John McCain and a neocon Cabinet would come to power because they would guarantee four more years of heated anti-Russia rhetoric, expansionism and unilateralism. This, of course, would be grist for the siloviki mill, which needs the image of an aggressive U.S. enemy to carry out its ambitions political, defense and foreign policy programs.

In talking with some colleagues and reviewing the text of President Dmitry Medvedev's bombastic speech on Nov. 5th, I am struck with the impression that this government sometimes appears to be making its decisions out a ridiculous attention-seeking streak of envy that only a diva could possess. On this one day, just this one day, when the United States rings in a historical moment, completely unprecedented in our times with the election of Barack Obama to the presidency - a moment which seemed at least in some ways visionary and important even to the coldest of hearts and the most battle-hardened cynics (just consider the heart expressed in John McCain's beautiful concession speech), the Kremlin just can't stand it. So eager they were to seize back the spotlight of the international media from this one day in American history, that we hear a series of threats (some new, ...

Obama Link FestBarack Obama Hedge Fund Link Fest(http://HedgeFundBlogger.com) I have received many congratulatory emails over the past day from hedge fund/investment professionals in India, Switzerland, London and Singapore all thankful that Obama was elected. I found that interesting in itself and also saw a flood of articles come out discussing Barack Obama and the hedge fund industry, or Obama and the finance/investment industry in general.Yesterday I published this piece: Barack Obama & Hedge Funds... Here are excerpts and links to many of these discussions:(I never discuss my own political views through this site throwing my opinion around regarding hedge funds is enough. I don't support any of these articles one way or another but simply provide them as an aggregation of what has been put out ...

Today I have been running in and out of meetings in Brussels all day, so I'll have to make these blog posts quick and off-the-cuff. In discussing the election of Barack Obama with some colleagues here, it again occurred to me that many European elections may be powerfully affected - especially those whose central platform had been one of anti-Americanism and confrontation with the Bush White House. Case in point, I think that Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) is going be a much bigger loser than John McCain in their upcoming elections.

Many market observers are warning that after a so-called "Obama Bounce," the sector could be due for a considerable slowdown.

 

Prospects that Barack Obama will become the next U.S. president continued on Tuesday to provide a surge for exchange-traded funds focused on solar energy.

"There are a lot of factors going on in markets right now, but we think there's good evidence that at least with solar ETFs, a lot of this is coming from an Obama bounce," said Christian Magoon, president of Claymore Securities.

He was speaking as the day's session along Wall Street was finishing and right before many polling centers were opening on the East Coast. Later in the night, of course, results were expected in the race between Obama and Sen. John McCain.

The Bush administration has focused more on oil- and transportation-related issues, noted Magoon. "But this presidential campaign has really brought more attention to

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Now that crude has lost 50% (and counting) since July, Andrew Gordon says the political will to develop alternative energy sources may be waning. But election favourite Barack Obama is fully behind clean energy. Andrew says this makes strong companies with new technology in biofuels, alternative energy and clean coal a good speculative buy. Another options is this Global Alternative Energy ETF (NYSE:GEX).

This from Investor’s Daily Edge:

John McCain is a practical guy. He subscribes to the “let’s try anything that works” theory. He’s willing to go with anything that weans the U.S. from Mideast oil. Nuclear, biofuels, ethanol, sun and wind, the traditional oil and gas hydrocarbons, tried and true coal and super-clean thermal and hydro energy – they’re all on table.

Throwing up a dozen tar balls and seeing what sticks isn’t much of a policy. But I see nuclear

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HIDDEN VALUE

Dear Friend,

A new month brings a new batch of depressing headlines from the real economy.

U.S. factory activity fell to its lowest level for 26 years in October. Circuit City says it plans to close 155 stores and slash its workforce by 17%, all before the end of the year. And Fitch says credit card losses will likely surpass historical peaks in 2009.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey Lacker, president of Richmond’s Federal Bank, says the government’s response to problems in financial firms may have added to market turmoil.

Still, that won’t stop it from trying to ‘fix’ things.

There are rumors of a $500 billion guarantee for distressed mortgages. There could even be another economic stimulus package in the pipeline in time for Christmas shopping. The markets are in a hesitant mood today. The leading U.S. indexes have all tiptoed around

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