I agree with the author that starting a business is not a bad idea. It is the one thing no one can fire you from although there is financial risk and it is cumbersome and more difficult than many assume. The best way to do this it to team with others, especially younger individuals if you aren't planning on working 60 hours a week.

The sad fact is the recent turn towards socialization in the US is destroying small businesses. So it's in your best interest to try to end governments infatuation for interdicting in the market to help big guys for lobbyist money as soon as possible before your futures are as grim as those in Greece or Russia.

Right now oil companies worst news is more oil discoveries. There is already a clear and present oversupply and it is liable to get worse before it gets better. At least they aren't coal suppliers.

As for the artic, there is little anyone can do about countries bordering it from declaring drilling rights there.

This is well worth watching for its potential. Given the rise in the market it is not faring very well which is worrisome. Apparently even insiders aren't as positive as the author it.

The reason is simple. While the discretion of the Federal Reserve was limited to rates before, now it is allowed QE, Zirp, etc. This widens the selection of the Fed's area of purview thus adding to the number of states that people may otherwise be favorable to.

Simply put, every real economist should absolutely oppose easy money banking over 4 years into a recovery no matter how weak it is. I personally am appalled the discord is not larger save for the fact the Federal Reserve's policies enrich bankers which is their primary goal save keeping their power and positions.

The real discord should be all others that get screwed by this zombified market that enables the Federal Reserve to keep pumping themselves full of free liquidity as the rest of the population is separated from their assets enabling banks to scoop up even more with the liquidity and then dump it on the taxpayer through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Wake up America before you become the USSR.

Indeed, I will be bullish when government and central banks aren't the prime pushers on the economy. However, for that to happen will require Americans to realize our move towards socialization is bad for them. With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac more powerful, not less and the central bank doling out liquidity to their TBTF rich and richer bank execs I don't see any of the problems in the US economy resolving themselves until a downturn stops the madness. It has already prevented a strong rally.

It is good to be optimistic, but it requires it to be based in reality. The sad fact is the US has increasingly been engaging in a love affair with socialism and has not yet paid the price enough to stop. When "increasing stops" there is hope, when socialistic behavior is scorned and rolled back, despite the hurt it will impose initially, I will be all bullish. Just not now.

Certainly not. Even with the recovery it's down from 80 before and is under considerable bad publicity for its behavior regardless of whether or not it is not legitimate. Only buy Herbalife if you're willing to be a salesperson for it, because that's pretty much your only hope of making decent money if you start today (the people on top of the pyramid already made plenty off suckers below). And even then, that's just a gamble.

France indeed is a lost cause. One can only hope their socialist nightmare doesn't get worse. At their level of socialization it is simply those protected by government regulation or unions versus those who aren't and get worse off every day. This is why government protectionism runs so high in France.

To be in a non-protected job is virtually to doom your market sector to plundering and destruction. The free market doesn't operate here. It is just another term for those who get ransacked by those who get favoritism.

They need to learn from Germany, and fast. It is no wonder people vociferously protect their specialized government sanctioned status. It is essentially an inoculation from having to face a broken socialist system.

The real thing to look at is interest rates. I advised a person today to wait putting more money into term bonds because rates keep rising regardless of the fact there is little to support a improving economy and signals that are pointing to quite the opposite.

Be cautious from here on out. The smart money is increasingly turning toward cash while exiting real estate bonds, the stock market, and commodities.

The reason precious metals are weak is currently because central banks are losing and will eventually need to curb their printing as well as raise interest rates. Compound that with weak growth despite the late stimulus and you have a growing scarcity of real sustainable income and liquidity which is what matters in the real economy more than endless printing.

Gold is only a winner in the near term if it either emerges as a tier 1 capital, US dollar reserve currency gets further undermined, or if the US engages in so much QE and government stimulus that they threaten their ability to pay or further erode their credibility.

Needless to say, it's not the end game yet and gold looks weak until it is quite the opposite. Then watch out below. Needless to say, holding some precious metals makes sense if you are concerned about the long term. The problem is, is that the paper game is so levered that owning paper gold will leave you without any of it when it really counts.

It is absurd that pump prices are where they are today and a testament to how successful oil companies have insulated themselves from market forces. Asides from States like California where they have successfully used government to block out any competition by other suppliers, gasoline companies have been successful at blocking the public's access to cheaper oil to gas processing therefore, preventing the public's gasoline station selection from driving prices gradually lower as the price per barrel of oil continues to decline.

If the US wants to fight high gas prices they best look at oligopolistic practices by big oil and lobbying curbs rather than focusing on the middle east. We can only hope oil companies price themselves out of the market so that few besides plastic makers need them eventually.