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

• Andy Kessler (The Wall Street Journal): The Bernanke market, July 16, 2009, We won’t get real growth until Congress and Treasury get policy right.

• Irwin Stelzer (Times Online): American account: Barack Obama’s cures may just kill any recovery, July 12, 2009.

• Paul McCulley (Pimco - Global Central Bank Focus): What if?, So what should Washington do, if and when - and I stress “if and when”; I’m not making a forecast here! - private sector aggregate (nominal) demand growth looks like it’s going to languish in Japan style for the indefinite future? The answer: Take one cup of Krugman’s advice for Japan and two cups of Bernanke’s advice for Japan - responsibly

A long-awaited reversal in the monumental global stock market rally since early March finally arrived last week. As the first-quarter earnings season started winding down and post stress-test capital-raising weighed on some banks, investors were faced with a slew of gloomy economic reports suggesting the recent optimism about a global recovery might have been premature.

“This week, the hard economic data remind us that the global recession is ongoing: exports remain deep in the red; retail sales disappoint; inflation still volatile on food and energy but down on year; and industrial production declines. However, the data are consistent with the story of a slowing economic decline, foretold by several ‘green shoot’ survey reports,” said Rebecca Wilder (News N Economics).

Source: Tom Toles, Washington Post.

“Less bad” economic reports provided investors with little comfort, sparking a reassessment

Welcome to Sopranos USA… Can the “junk-stock” rally last? Credit to get worse before it gets better… Feds’ “hair of the dog” recovery plan… Shockwave coming… Jim Rogers on why he’s not buying stocks… Introducing your new Notes tax expert, Raife Neuman… And more!

*** What kind of men have we entrusted to manage our economy? And whose interests do they serve? Get the answer to either of these questions wrong and you’re in for a rough ride as an investor.

*** Consider the facts surrounding the Bank of America’s takeover of Merrill Lynch.

Thanks to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, we know that former Treasury secretary Hank “The Hammer” Paulson and Fed chief Benny “Two Fingers” Bernanke violated U.S. securities law by keeping the huge losses sustained by