For starters, G.M.’s vision turned into a car that costs $41,000 before relevant tax breaks ... but after billions of dollars of government loans and grants for the Volt’s development and production. And instead of the sleek coupe of 2007, it looks suspiciously similar to a Toyota Prius.

Welcome to the giant sack of FAIL that is Chevy Volt. If there's one thing I appreciate about GM, is that they're consistent. Consistent in their ability to bring nothing of value to the market, at prices that no one wants to pay, at a level of quality that is a fraction of their competitors.

In a desperate attempt to fill a $70 million budget hole, Newark's mayor is taking a chainsaw to the town's budget -- even going so far as to cut toilet paper from the 2010 budget.

But the economy is fine. You just have to bring your own toilet paper to work, that's all.

Several top U.S. asset managers, on being told by John Levin (HSBC Bank's Managing Director, Global Metals and Trading) that HSBC's U.S. vaults had sufficient space available to store bullion, was told that they did not want their gold stored in the U.S.A. but preferably in Europe because they feared that at some stage the U.S. Administration might follow the path set by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 and confiscate all U.S. gold holdings as part of the country's strategy in dealing with the nation's economic problems.

See the original article at mineweb.com.

The U.S. dollar has been viewed as the world's undisputed reserve currency since the Bretton Woods agreement in 1944. Unfortunately investors the world over are now asking themselves if that should continue to be the case. They are instead, on an ever-increasing basis, seeking a more stable form of money in which to park their global savings. That form is gold.

Today's corporate profits reflect an income shift into 2010. These profits will tumble next year, preceded most likely by the stock market.

Update: After following up with the Mint, any shipments and deliveries of American Eagle 2010 edition both gold and silver are TBD and the mint has no idea on when these will be received if at all this year. A small shipment of American Buffalo gold coins will go on sale on June 3 at noon. The mint expects these to sell out promptly.

Um. Wow.

Like many middle-class families, Cortney Munna and her mother began the college selection process with a grim determination. They would do whatever they could to get Cortney into the best possible college, and they maintained a blind faith that the investment would be worth it.

Today, however, Ms. Munna, a 26-year-old graduate of New York University, has nearly $100,000 in student loan debt from her four years in college, and affording the full monthly payments would be a struggle. For much of the time since her 2005 graduation, she's been enrolled in night school, which allows her to defer loan payments.

Just in case you were still under the delusion that a college/university degree is still the best way to make a decent living.

In the first four months of 2010, the Greek central bank sold more than 50,000 sovereigns at its main downtown Athens office.  Bank officials estimate that at least 100,000 other coins changed hands on the black market.  The Bank of Greece has received as much as $409 per coin, which works out to a price of more than $1,700 per ounce of gold!  Prices paid on the black market are reckoned to be even higher.  A popular spot for street vendors to sell their coins is near the Athens Stock Exchange.  There the traders wait for citizens to bring payments received from unloading their paper assets like stocks and bonds.

As shown on our new charts page, average hourly earnings in the U.S. is now at a record nominal high of $18.98; but adjusted for real inflation, hourly earnings in the U.S. is now about half of what it was in the early 1970s.