Welcome again TheStreet.com readers. Seems that Jim Rogers is becoming a regular collaborator with The Curious Investor. It seems that people who have found this blog through my references on TheStreet.com come in two flavors.

People who think that I’m an Apple expert. Mac fanboys upset that I haven’t given a 100% Buy! Buy! Buy! comment on Apple.

For those in group 1, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but this isn’t an Apple blog. I don’t purport to have any particular insight on Apple and its products other than through my interest as an Apple investor. But, I have written a few articles on my view of Apple’s stock and business strategy (follow the link to find the full collection).

For group 2, let me address my viewpoint on the rumored Apple tablet as

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Housing Numbers: The Truth Behind It All

Ryan Cole, The Investment U Research Team

Continuing our series looking at the truth behind current economic data, today we turn to housing numbers.

Housing has been in the news lately, with a few “green shoots” of news. Most recently, home prices ticked upward last month, even though they’re down compared with a year ago. Many analysts are reading this as a sign that the worst is behind us, and we could be in for a quick recovery.

Don’t be so sure.

We Won’t Foreclose… For Now

First, there’s one important fact that most analysts have forgotten, or at least aren’t revealing.

That is, the six largest lenders – businesses like Citibank, Bank of America, etc – and Fannie and Freddie got together earlier this year and declared a three-month moratorium on foreclosures.

They all agreed,

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A couple of names of note reporting this morning, Eaton Corp. and Johnson Controls Inc.br /br /EATON (a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSTRE56J1ZE20090720"via Reuters/a)br /br /-Diversified manufacturer Eaton Corp, a maker of hydraulics, electrical control systems and truck transmissions, reported higher-than-expected quarterly profits on Monday, but slashed its earnings forecast, citing weakness across its markets.br /br /-Eaton cited weak truck production, steep declines in European electrical markets and shutdowns at U.S. automakers. It said it expected its end-markets to decline at a faster rate than it had forecast in April.br /br /-But the company said span style="font-weight: bold;"cost cuts made it possible to deliver second-quarter earnings/span per share close to its original forecast.br /br /-Net earnings fell to $31 million, or 17 cents a share, from $337 million, or $2.03 per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 32 percent to $2.9 billion, compared with Wall Street forecasts of $3 billion.br /br /-Eaton said ...

Mid-East Violence Drives Crude Higher; IndyMac to be Sold by Year’s end; Retailers in for Tough Start to 2009; Six-month Treasury Rate Hits Record Low; Commercial Banks Report $6 Billion in 3Q Revenue

Crude prices rose back above $40 a barrel yesterday (Monday), as Israel and Palestinian forces exchanged fire and casualties mounted in the region. Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $2.31 cents to settle at $40.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A group of investment firms that includes J.C. Flowers & Co., Dune Capital Management, and Paulson & Co., is set to purchase IndyMac Bank, one of the nation’s largest failed banks, from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) according to CNNMoney. Neither the FDIC nor any of ...

Steve McDonald looks ahead to the investment climate in the new year. He sees a bounce in the Dow reaching as high as 11,000. But an economic recovery will depend on whether the Obama administration can restore confidence in the public. For 2009’s top money-makers, Steve picks six high-dividend stocks and two corporate bond plays.

This from Investor’s Daily Edge:

So, for what it’s worth, here are my predictions for 2009, please adjust the time frame as necessary.

The bailouts will work. The banking/credit crisis will ease in early 2009, and with it businesses should be able to start borrowing again.  Once the money flows open up we should see some relief from the recession.

Ford (NYSE:F) will survive, I’m not sure about General Motors (NYSE:GM). Chrysler has been dead for a long time.

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As negative as I am, I am not on the bandwagon for a "Depression" - while I think unemployment is mightily understated by our government [Nov 7: October's Unemployment Rate Reaches "6.5%"] and probably will reach levels (in real terms, not government terms) that will be debilitating in the next 18 months, it is hard to take much credence in the 1930s figures because how accurate was "25% unemployment" then? Many women were also not in the work force so it is very hard to make comparisons. But the 2 keys on how bad this is going to be are (a) availability of credit and (b) availability of jobs. I do think there are some very serious structural changes that have been going on quietly under the surface that "good times" (i.e. cheap credit) of the past 7-10 years were ...