The greatest monetary and fiscal stimulus in history has saved the world from deflation. Next stop: inflation.

The Fed's heroic success at making money "free" for the past year--with short-term interest rates near zero--has saved the planet from another Depression. The money supply has exploded; the steepened yield curve has...

The economy continues to worsen: GDP is contracting. Unemployment is at 8.5%. Housing still swoons despite the lowest mortgage rates in recorded history. The horrible realities of a brutal recession -- layoffs, shuttered storefronts, bankruptcies and liquidations--get worse by the day.

Why then would the stock...

The Dow is at 6,547, down 54% from its high of 14,164 back in October, 2007. This terrible bear market now exceeds the market losses of 2000-2002.

It may seem counter-intuitive to make the case for stock investment against such a backdrop, but so much value now resides in...

The Madoff (alleged) mega-scam is ruining lives worldwide. The tales of loss seem too widespread to be caused by one man. Yet, we know from history that it takes only one depraved or greedy sociopath to destroy millions. The individuals, widows and pensioners who lost their money deserve tremendous sympathy....

When Warren Buffett speaks (which is rare outside his annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting), people should listen. Among all the TV pundits, hedge fund traders, economists, journalists and cocktail party guests, not one has as good an investment record.

He may need no introduction, but Buffett is the most successful...

A few republican congressmen are $700 billion wise; several trillion foolish. Voting against the bailout was a sop to the worst brand of envious populism. They didn't know history and now are condemning us to repeat it. They must be hearing the theme to All in the Family in their...

People often ask themselves: "Why didn't I buy X back when ...?"

"X" could be a lot in Brooklyn or a Louisiana oil well --or a Warhol print or a Malibu beach house.

It could also be a share of IBM in 1994 when Big Blue was in the...

Poor corporate governance at U.S. companies is like resistant bacteria: attempts at eradication only strengthen the disease. Despite a few steps in the right direction, the current climate isn't much better than when Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski pickpocketed shareholders to buy his overpriced floral-patterned shower curtain.

The losers are the...

The "quiet facts" are those without buzz or hype, foisted to the last page by their odd misalignment with the themes of the day. Peter Lynch, the legendary former manager of Fidelity's Magellan Fund, coined this term to describe the investment ideas forsaken by Wall Street, usually in favor of...

The definition of a market is a buyer for every seller, so it's not unusual that people view stocks differently. But when two acclaimed investors dig in their well-worn heels on opposite ends of the same position--in a very public way--it makes for a story. Marty Whitman, the no-nonsense, legendary...

Amid the economic gloom of the real estate collapse and the sickly dollar, it's easy to forget that the real crucible of economic growth is the small business, both here and abroad. It's also overlooked that small business creation has never been better.

It's hard to overstate the importance...

The term "hedge fund" has been a misnomer for awhile, given that many hedge funds follow very different strategies than the classic long-short approach that gave the funds their name. But now we know that the term is inadequate for a different reason -- that many of those long-short funds...

"You don't know who's swimming naked 'til the tide goes out," says Warren Buffett. Well, now we know.

The subprime tide has carried the ocean back to its ancestral home. Up and down the coast are the beached naked corpses of the real estate bust, looking downright unpleasant without...

At a hedge fund conference earlier this year, I heard presentations from peers on the state of the business. Appropriately, the location was Las Vegas, a place where the opportunity to lose your shirt runs 24/7 and the house takes it all in the end. The meetings were at one...

Today's giddy stock market is as grounded as Lindsay Lohan on Sunset Boulevard at 4 a.m. Intoxication has set in and the Ketel One keeps flowing.

The Dow stands at 13,507 --a dizzy distance from 7,702 where it bottomed out in 2002. Profits are good, the economy is strong,...