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The average American saved about 9 percent of their after-tax income between 1960 and 1990 according to the Commerce Department. It was less than 1 percent in each of the last three years. That's going to change and it will cause wrenching changes in the economy.

Don't believe what any politician tells you about taxes. Economic reality makes it certain that they will have to raise taxes at some point in their administration.

Most folks in their 30's and early 40's now realize that we have lost everything that we worked so hard for as a result of the excesses of the baby-boomers.

Last week the Fed cut rates by 50 basis points (half a percent) but the average rate paid on a savings account has not dropped significantly. Going back further, savings rates have remained significantly above the Federal Funds rate. What's going on?

Everyone thought GE was the ultimate secure stock. But recent events have shown that the company has taken a severe hit from the financial meltdown, one that could severely impair it going forward.

Think the deficit and debt are bad now - $30,000 for every person in the US. Just wait another year. This is the unspoken story. We're just trading bad bank debt for government debt.

The latest financial rescue package is centered around a direct government investment of $250 billion, half of which will go in 9 major banks.

There is no surprise that the market had its biggest one-day gain in 75 years after its biggest one-week loss in history. Today may feel good, but we have seen this all before.

Apple fell 27 cents and GE fell 7 cents all week. One is a stock that you should buy and the other is one that you should sell.

Who knows if we've hit a bottom, but here's an interesting fact. According to the WSJ, nearly one in 10, or 876 stocks, trade below the value of their per-share holdings of cash.

This the financial failures are just confined to the US and Europe. The cloud has spread to Japan, sucking in Japense insurer Yamato Life.

Nouriel Roubini, an economist who predicted the credit crisis said in a speech yesterday that the world is teetering on the brink of a financial meltdown. He offered several steps that he think should be taken immediately to prevent a severe global depression, including cutting rates by 150 basis points, which for the US would bring the Fed Funds rate to 0.

Today the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and four other central banks lowered their rates with unprecedented coordination. The question is, will it work?

I don't wade often into stock speculation but this article in the WSJ caught my eye. It makes a case for buying XLF, the exchange traded fund for the financial sector. Good idea? I'm not sure it is.

It wasn't long ago (three weeks to be exact) that everyone was talking about the threat of inflation. Now as commodity prices collapse, everyone is talking about deflation. The credit crisis has done the Fed's work on the inflation front. I expect rates are going to drop.