* U.S. central bank adopting series of policy guidelines * Next on agenda: economic thresholds to guide rate hikes * Bernanke expected to st...

The Federal Reserve is failing to achieve both of its legally mandated goals, full employment and stable prices. And yet it chose on Wednesday to do t...

Last week the Financial Times ran a piece which opened thus: "Greece's banking system is being propped up by an estimated €100 billion provided by the country's central bank -- approved secretly by the European Central Bank." The news barely made it into the U.S. press.

It might not feel that way to you, but we've just lived through one of the greatest bull markets in history. Almost exactly three years ago, the S&P 500 stood at 683, a decline of more than half from its highs of 2007.

If the country is faced with an impending spike in the price of its most important resource, the government's monetary authorities should be seeking to ameliorate or counteract its effect -- yet they're doing the exact opposite.