Rep. Jane Harman exchanged favors for power-aided Israeli lobbyists accused of espionage, top government investigator says that bank bailouts are open to fraud, Obama tells Cabinet to cut spending by 0.02%, U.S. Treasury estimates it has lost $900 million of taxpayer money from holding $301 billion in Citigroup junk assets, Russian tariffs take toll on U.S. companies, and could the U.S. be headed for a Russian-style economic collapse circa 1998? Read the full story

HUD program turns out to benefit contractors and not the poor…go figure! China cranks up its printing presses-expect global inflation, Peter Schiff (“Dr. Doom”) discusses his book “Crash Proof”, Goldman Sachs plans to sell billions in stock to pay off government aid ASAP, gas prices up 5% in 3 weeks…inflation? Top U.S. general says we’ll be out of Iraq by 2011, and 75% of Americans want to lift Cuba embargo… Read the full story

2008 was one of the best years on record for U.S. Treasury bonds. The ishares Lehman 20+ Year ETF-a good proxy for 30-Year Treasuries-gained 23% over the year. However, Treasuries seem to be winding down an unprecedented bull rally, with rates retracting from historical lows. The big question on traders’ minds is when the Treasury “bubble” will burst? It is still too early to tell, but TLT has taken a big dip over the last two trading sessions, down 4.55%. It should be noted that this occured over low volume holiday trading, but with general equity market volatility, as measured by the VIX, subsiding, this could be the start of a broader bond bust. Read the full story