Big Money Leave A Mighty Wake/Big Money Leave a Bruise

Don't worry, things are looking up up up! If, that is, your well-being is somehow connected with an increase in the money supply. (Which is hardly the case for most of us.) See this somewhat alarming graph of data from the St. Louis Fed, showing a one-month monetary base increase of 11.6 percent in this magical month of September 2008, a month that I hope turns out to be less historically significant than it seems stuck here in the middle of it.

And while we are musing on growth figures, let's contemplate what must be a wild coincidence in a world of absolutely rock solid, nothing-to-worry-about, government-managed paper currency, how's the price of gold gone this month? Since Sept 11, up nearly 19 percent.