by Richard Moran
How many times have you been surprised by how much you charged on your credit card in the past month? Well that is what the banks want to happen. When you use that cards very few people keep good track of their total spending.

Banks are businesses, big businesses at that, and they count on you losing track of your balances and spending during the month. They actually love you to go (slightly) over your change limits so they can tack on that over-limit fee. This little slight-of-hand can be controlled with a little effort on your part.

This can be called the Bank “Money Machine”

There are a few different ways that banks make the money that they need to operate. The first is though overdraft/overlimit fees. Many people have to deal with this kind of fee because they lose track of what they are spending. They might …

By Shah Gilani It’s the end of the "American Dream." It’s the story of how the inevitable bailout of insolvent housing giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) - with the Federal Housing Administration soon to follow - will ultimately lead to such sorrowful sequels as "TheDeath of the Dollar," "The Downgrading of U.S. Government Debt" and, yes, "The Depression." Let’s be very clear on one point, however: There’s no question about it - Freddie and Fannie have to be supported. If the doctrine of "too big to fail" didn’t already exist, it would have to be invented - immediately. Although many are arguing against a "bailout," those "experts" never seem to address the fallout that would emanate from such a strategy. Nor do they ever discuss the sad series of events that brought us to ...

By Keith Fitz-Gerald Investment Director Money Morning/The Money Map Report Congress is talking about going after oil speculators in an effort to lower prices by limiting the amount of money flowing into oil contracts. We realize that they’re upset, but they’re going about this the wrong way. What’s more, they’re demonstrating a near complete ignorance as to how financial markets actually work. It doesn’t help that they’ve got energy analysts from some of the top firms telling them the price of oil could drop as low as $65 to $75 per barrel, bringing gas down to around $2 per gallon within 30 days of legislation that puts limits on speculation. While we normally wouldn’t give a darn about the ignorance of elected officials, the bad news is that, judging from the solutions on the table, Congress is just crazy enough, and the vast majority of ...

By Keith Fitz-Gerald Investment Director Money Morning/The Money Map Report First it called for a meeting of oil producers and oil consumers. Now Saudi Arabia has proposed a boost in oil production. At the end of the day, however, neither of these moves will have any real impact on the ongoing escalation in oil prices. Let me explain … The Saudi Spin When Saudi Arabia called for a summit on high oil prices recently, it said there was “no justification for the current rise in prices” - and used the opportunity to express concern that high oil prices could harm the global economy. That’s why Saudi Arabia also wants to work with its cartel compatriots in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to “guarantee the availability of oil supplies now and in the future,” said Iyad Madani, the country’s minister of information and culture. Madani made his comments ...