Read former St. Louis Federal Reserve President William Poole’s speech presented to the CFA Society of San Francisco.

Fed chairman Bernanke is eager to share more of his forecasting acumen.

Once upon a time there lived a vain Central Banker whose only worry in life was to keep the consumers consuming. To finance their consumption, he lowered interest rates almost every hour and loved to show off to his people.

In this exclusive presentation, former Federal Reserve President William Poole and portfolio manager Axel Merk describe the buildup to the Credit Crisis, the Administration’s response and the implications for the individual investor.

In a CNBC interview, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher was asked whether the Fed was\nprinting money to finance government spending.

With gold reaching $1,000 an ounce and posting new highs versus all currencies, are there any hard currencies left? Over the past 100 years, we have moved further and further away from the gold standard. We see no indication for that trend to reverse; if anything, it may accelerate.

In a rare interview with Western media, Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, told the Financial Times (see http://www.ft.com/wen), ‘Confidence is the most important thing, more important than gold or currency’ Why is it that such wisdom comes from the leader of China, but is absent from the leaders of other countries? Do other presidents and prime ministers intentionally play a backstage role, letting their Treasury secretaries or finance ministers communicate with the public to avert blame when policies fail? That suggests that the leadership may not have all that much confidence in the programs they are promoting; or more likely, the leadership does not understand the issues. Investors and entrepreneurs take risks in search of profit opportunities.