The news is saturated with Hank Paulson’s $700 bailout plan. This is diverting attention away from the increasingly bleak outlook for the wider economy.

Rick Pendergraft says no bailout can immediately solve the problems in the housing market. And all indicators suggest these will run well into 2009 at least.

Rick says your portfolio should be all about playing safe for now. He recommends eight inverse ETF plays to hedge against this downside risk.

This from Investor’s Daily Edge:

I can understand the fixation on the bailout, but other economic reports are getting lost as a result.

Last Thursday was a day that the mass distraction was working to its full capabilities. Investors chose to ignore all economic data in order to focus on the progress of Congress.

In case you missed it, durable goods orders for August were down 4.5 percent from July (I guess the stimulus checks ran out), initial jobless claims jumped to …

As in, “get back where you belong!” If you were ever in military service, especially many years ago, you had the delightful Sgt. Hartman experience. But, you can’t shake the dude since he’s now doing business as Mr. Market and he’s as mean as ever, just ask Merrill Lynch! Volume was lighter than average but let’s remember it’s a Monday in the middle of summer. [Pssst! I think Yahoo/Finance actually has the numbers right today. Perhaps our undercover agents have finally helped them see the light!] Meanwhile we’ll revisit the ICU and see how ...