Baltimore — (TFN): Did you feel it? Just a couple of hours ago, you went into debt for another $106. You never signed any paperwork or agreed to it – a handful of unelected officials took care of that for you – but you’re now on the hook for at least another Franklin.

Earlier today, the Treasury auctioned off yet another chunk of American debt. This time it offered seven-year bonds to the tune of $32 billion. In all, the nation will go in hock for yet another $118 billion this week.

It may sound like a lot, but it’s just another busy week of financing Washington for Geithner and his crew.

While so many of us in the financial punditry business are worried about a lack of foreign borrowers, it is far from the case today. Yesterday’s $42 billion five-year auction came with a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.81 (alarmingly

Baltimore — (TFN): One good thing about kids is they are predictable. Give them five bucks and say they’ve got just one hour to spend it or it goes into their savings account and can bet another five bucks the cash will be spent by minute 59.

It’s the same way for politicians. Give them some cash and they’ll have it spent in no time flat, even if they can’t find anything worth buying.

Take, for example, the infamous Troubled Asset Relief Program, TARP in informal nomenclature. Passing the $700 billion program was a matter of financial and economic life and death according to Washington.

They gave us the same panicky “must-have” arguments as a six-year-old in the toy aisle.

But once they got what they wanted, their “toy” sits unused in the corner. As I write, TARP has over $140 billion in uncommitted funds and $300 billion that has yet to

Baltimore – (TFN): Hallelujah, the markets work! You have no idea how happy I was this morning when I opened the Wall Street Journal and found an article detailing Goldman Sachs shareholder anger at the recent bonus payouts.

Now, I don’t care who makes what. That’s between bosses and their worker bees. But I do get a little peeved when Uncle Sam tries to tell some worker he can’t get paid per his contract.

Before you go shouting about how Washington saved Wall Street and therefore we, as taxpayers, get a say over pay, let me ask you this. Does your mortgage company tell you what color to paint little Johnnie’s room? Does your car loan provider tell you how fast to drive? Does your health insurance provider tell control your diet?

Didn’t think so.

If some congressman came barging in this office right now, demanding I slash my pay, his goons

Baltimore — (TFN): Some good friends of mine recently took their TV out to their front yard, put two high-brass shells in their 12 gauge and pulled the trigger.  They rendered the hunk of glass and plastic useless. Called it Alaskan waste disposal.

After last night, I’m ready to get out the 00 buckshot, myself.

I’ve got my eye out for good intentions, gone bad after spending the last three editions of Notes discussing the idea of financial regulatory reform.

During 52-mile commute home yesterday, they were all over the place, anything from idiotic signs to a couple of state cops setting a trap and writing tickets for not moving to the left lane when passing a stopped emergency vehicle.

The gung-ho troopers had rush-hour traffic slowed for over a mile.

But my mind really started spinning when I passed an out-of-state big rig. I could not help but notice the federal and state ID

Baltimore — (TFN): How efficient are the markets? It is like asking how smart is the human race We all know the answer, but few of us are willing to suck in our pride and admit there are a few dim bulbs among us.

Judging by the sudden rise in fame of Levi Johnson or Balloon Boy’s antics, the human brain is far feebler than we give credit.

And so are the markets.

If you have taken a basic finance class anytime between 1965 and the present, you have likely studied Eugene Fama and his efficient market hypothesis.

Essentially, the University of Chicago professor created a cult-like following of investors and academicians that believe markets entirely reflect all known information and instantly react to new information.

For example:

When I told my ever-optimistic, ever-“hopeful” colleague, Laura Cadden, the news the majority of Obama’s infrastructure stimulus would finally be doled out sometime early next year

The risk factors surrounding the nation’s oil industry are through the roof. The action is costing unprepared investors a lot of money. For proof, ask Delta Petroleum (NYSE:DPTR) shareholders.

Even a first grader can look at this market and know anything but fundamentals are driving the action. Fortunately for guys like me, few grade-school can figure out why.

These days, it is all about the macro-economy. More specifically, the only thing anybody cares about is the value of the dollar. When the greenback is up, the market is down (like today). When the dollar is weak, the market rallies – like last week.

There are several reasons for the trend: flight to safety, inflation, political risk… you name it.

What matters for us as traders is the pattern is unwaveringly true for the crude markets. With oil settlement denominated in dollars, the ever-important energy source is tied directly to the greenback.

The correlation

The commodity markets are surging today. Are the bulls charging because of investor fear or is something else going on? Here’s the answer.

There is a buzz in the commodities markets this week. Just about anything that can be pulled from the ground is surging in value. Everything, that is, but natural gas.

Most notably, gold is just about ready to reach over the critical $1,000 level, proving that investors are looking for safety. Even without a hint of inflation, the precious metal has surged by over 5% so far this week.

The quick run means the world’s gold miners are surging in value. The more leverage packed into their balance sheets, the higher their prices are going to go.

So far, Yumana Gold (NYSE:AUY) is up by nearly 20% this week, while AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) is up by over 15%.

It is a similar situation for the silver industry.

There is good news filtering through the Street today. It was enough to pull the market into positive territory, but will it keep us there? YRC Worldwide (NYSE:YRCW) and Patrick Industries (NASDAQ:PATK) help illustrate where we are heading.

Could it be? Are the markets actually increasing this morning on solid economic data and not just speculation or political maneuvering? If it’s true, it is certainly a sign of good things to come for the nation’s bulls.

Just after the opening bell, the Institute for Supply Management released its latest measurement of America’s manufacturing sector. With a rating of 52.9 in August, well above the 50.5 analysts were expecting, the vital industry proves to be growing once again.

The growth is already trickling down to the nation’s real estate market. According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales managed to rise for the sixth straight month, to

Natural gas prices are dropping like a rock today, but the bearishness is not preventing a few bulls from taking million-dollar stands. As winter approaches, things are going to get very interesting.

The gap between the crude and natural gas markets continues to expand. The world is concerned with having too little of the former and too much of the latter.

As I write, front-month natural gas futures are selling at a level we have not seen since August of 2002 (when the equities market was claiming a low of its own), just $2.93 per million BTUs.

The contract price has fallen by more than 6% during today’s session.

It is certainly not good news for domestic companies that worked overtime to expand their drilling range during the bullish run we saw over the past several years.

Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and New York all saw companies like Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) and

The commodities market is a popular place these days. For investors not ready to leap into an “optimized” play, the ETF market is filled with opportunities.

If you are in the metals market, your eyes are certainly watching the action out of China. The more the country builds and expands, the higher its demand for anything that is pulled from the ground.

If you have been paying attention, you already know copper prices reached their highest prices since last October early yesterday. Buyers had to shell out $6,258 for a metric ton of the vital base metal.

While it is disappointing to see prices slipping today, it is no surprise. The commodities markets have often moved in lock step with the global equities market. And with mixed economic data coming from Beijing today, it is surprising prices are not down even further today.

Even with a few nuggets of less-than-expected data, China’s economy