O.K., so the headline isn’t exactly accurate, but it did catch your eye. And if one David Cay Johnston has his perverse way, it would be a statement of fact. Indeed, Johnston seriously calls for a U.S. declaration of war not only on the Cayman Islands, but also Bermuda and other offshore tax havens. His lengthy radical views are set out in an article (”Fiscal Therapy”) in the Jan-Feb 2009 issue of the left-leaning magazine Mother Jones, known for investigative reporting with a decidedly radical slant.

Ordinarily a nutty proposal such as Johnston’s could be laughed off as evidence of a sick sense of humor or an advanced mental problem, but Johnston is not your run of the mill left-wing nut.

Prize Winning Radical

In 2001 Johnston won a Pulitzer Prize “for his penetrating and enterprising reporting that exposed loopholes and inequities in the U.S. tax code.”

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The U.S. unemployment rate, currently at a level of 6.5%, could rise to 8% next year. But it could also find a ceiling sooner than expected, as more companies implement unpaid vacations and four-day workweeks to preserve jobs.

The U.S. recession may just now be entering full swing, but storm clouds have been gathering for more than a year and many companies have already trimmed payrolls. Now, the goal for many companies is to prepare for an economic rebound by finding ways to keep the their skilled productive labor intact.

“More companies are exploring alternatives to layoffs,” John A. Challenger, chief executive of consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, told BusinessWeek. “If they can keep people on until the business turns around, the company would be in much better shape to ramp up quickly.”

Dell Inc. (DELL) employees, for instance, recently received a memo

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Nouriel Roubini, professor at Stern School of Business at New York University and chairman of RGE Monitor, is renowned for having foreseen the current economic malaise a number of years ago. He was scorned at the time by mainstream economists for being a crank, but the same people are now lauding him for his foresight and paying top price for the consulting services of Roubini Global Economics.

Aline van Duyn, US Markets Editor of the Financial Times, has just conducted a three-part video interview with Roubini on topics ranging from the likely duration of the recession to regulation, the demise of more hedge funds and the outlook for stocks, commodities, currencies and bonds.

In Part 1 of the interview, Roubini expects 2009 to be a

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An article in the New York Times last week about careers in solar energy revealed a shocking number - one that would certainly make me look elsewhere for job. As an investor, this particular number would also call into question the true growth of solar energy over the next few years.

The Times’ story cited the Solar Energy Industries Association as reporting that 3,400 companies in the solar energy sector employ only 25,000 to 35,000 workers, including installers, manufacturers, distributors and project developers and materials suppliers. Those numbers are expected to hit more 110,000 employees by 2016, according to the association.

Wait a minute: So seven years from now, this highly touted, save-the-world market will employ only 110,000 people?

From an investor’s perspective, I thought that number was absolutely puny. Let’s put that into perspective…

– Toyota employs 110,000 part-time workers. – That’s the number of foreclosure notices sent to homeowners in California during

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After the big day that gold and silver had on Wednesday, I wasn’t surprised to see them get taken down the moment that Globex trading started in the Far East on Thursday morning. That only lasted until 1:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon in Hong Kong, as the dollar began a serious decline. With that, gold and silver began a steady rise that lasted until moments before the Comex opened. Then they both ran into brick walls…and the highs for the day were in. After that, it made no difference how much the dollar fell, the boyz made sure that the prices went nowhere from that point on.

Then mysteriously, and in unison, the Dow, gold, silver…and their respective shares…headed south while the dollar had a smallish rally. I was speaking with John Embry yesterday while this was going on, and there was no doubt in his mind that the boyz were out

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Stop blaming the unions for Detroit’s shortcomings, says Lynn Carpenter. Of course, jobs have to be cut in a recession. But this is not the silver bullet for businesses. And every job lost is a consumer lost, which is a big deal in a consumer economy. Lynn says we have no hope of an economic recovery until spiraling unemployment is brought under control.

This from Investor’s Daily Edge:

Consumers drive the American economy. Give them confidence in their jobs and they work hard, create value, make money and exchange it gladly.

Take away their jobs, and it all stops.  The flow even stops when people who still have jobs become worried by the trouble they see around them. And that is exactly what is happening today.

This week, the Institute for Supply Management released numbers that should frighten consumers and freeze the economy even more. The ISM’s monthly index of manufacturing

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Every solution has a cost, says Bill Bonner. And trying to solve this credit crisis could cost the government over $2 trillion a year. That why when the Fed says is it “going for broke” to avoid all-out financial collapse, it really means it.

This from The Daily Reckoning:

It’s war, remember. The feds are spending more on this war than on WWII. They’re ‘pulling out all the stops.’ They’re ‘throwing caution to the wind.’ They’re ‘riding hell for leather’ to rescue the US economy. Getting in their way is dangerous.

Investors should check their shorts. A major rally could be very costly. Stocks could easily bounce back half way to where they began. That would put the Dow at about 11,000. If that happens – and it could – don’t forget to sell.

It says in this [Monday] morning’s International Herald Tribune that the feds are “going for broke”

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President-elect Barack Obama is faced with the daunting challenge of fulfilling his campaign promises – promises he actually made, along with those that voters think he made.  Unfortunately, the latter category predominates.

The new president didn’t actually say much on the campaign trail, but he said it well. He invited Americans to dream, actually to fantasize, about an unreal world in which their government will care for them using its own unlimited supply of money – money that comes from some mysterious place that too few people have even thought about, much less understand.

Voters are said to have turned to the left, to liberal candidates, in part out of a desire to change the economy’s direction. Their choices at the polls are said to reflect their concern over the economy’s descent into recession, loss of jobs, and the collapse of their retirement accounts. These are legitimate and understandable concerns. Unfortunately,

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The puke down continued yesterday. The sold them with both hands, well they have been selling them with both hands for ages now haven't they.I read one quick snippet about JP Morgan and Bank America going to mid 90s levels. I find the selling in the financials to be fascinating but also scary (not to imply emotion but for the sake of word economy). BAC closed at $13.06! What would Krazy Eyez Killah from Curb say about that one? I sold BAC recently in the $28s, about ten minutes later they banned short selling and the stock went to about $37. So since then it has fallen by almost 2/3? Another name I sold a long time ago and still follow is Barclays Bank. I sold it after it had fallen a lot and it is down 80% since then.One thing that has to happen ...

.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. “Hank” Paulson Jr. warned former Washington Mutual Inc. (OTC: WAMUQ) Chief Executive Officer Kerry Killinger to sell the thrift to JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) two months before WaMu failed, both The Seattle Times and Bloomberg News reported. According to the published reports, Paulson telephoned Killinger and told him that “you should have sold to JPMorgan Chase in the spring, and you should do so now. Things could get a lot more difficult for you.” The Times report quoted a WaMu executive who was familiar with the incident, but didn’t disclose the source’s name. Sign up below… and we’ll send you a new investment report for free: “Credit ...