Gold bugs have suffered one of their worst years in history, says Keith Fitz-Gerald. But the US dollar looks increasingly fragile beyond this period of short-term panic buying. And that means the outlook for gold remains strong. Keith says every investor should ensure gold forms part of their investment strategy for 2009.

The government is printing money so fast that even cash isn’t a safe bet any more, says Daniel Zurbrügg. And even though gold has slumped during this crisis, the long-term outlook for gold investing remains attractive.

Banking bailouts are nothing new. Starting with the “panic of 1792?, there have been many examples of government financial rescues. Keith Fitz-Gerald says the success of these past bailouts is mixed. And they nearly always cost far more than originally thought…

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and even the mighty Dubai are getting dragged down by the global economic turmoil. “The global financial storm rolled across the Persian Gulf on Sunday,” reports the WSJ, “as Kuwait’s central bank guaranteed bank deposits and cobbled together a hasty bailout for one of the country’s largest banks.”

Eric Roseman says the Fed will eventually triumph over deflation with by a massive expansion of credit.

These violent market swings can be devastating for the short-term investor. But Jon Herring says market volatility is handing long-term investors a once-in-a-generation chance to buy world-dominating companies at bargain prices.

The US economy shrank in the third quarter, says Bloomberg, and “a further contraction is likely in the next two quarters…which would make the recession the longest since 1981-82.”

Eric Roseman in The Sovereign Society says, “until the deflation […] ceases, commodities will remain vulnerable. Never in the history of capitalism have commodity prices rallied during a severe contraction in bank credit.”

Eric Fry says his investment strategy is based on a simple formula: “Sell the dollar, sell the dollar and sell the dollar.” And as the buck gets whacked, so will American stocks and bonds. On the other hand, foreign assets and commodities should soar…

Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson are planning the biggest bailout of financial markets in history. It could cost the taxpayer somewhere in the region of $1 trillion. But the market will triumph over the interventionists, says Bill Bonner.

The lesson to be learned from Wall Street’s hubris, says Eric Fry at Rude Awakening, is that although stocks can be ruined by over zealous management, commodities cannot. Stupidity is not a risk factor in the commodities sector. And this makes them attractive despite their recent selloff.

Wall Street is on its knees this morning. Lehman Brothers (NYSE:LEH) is out for the count. Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) has been sold for a song. And AIG (NYSE:AIG) is living on borrowed time after its stock was pummeled in Friday’s going.

Worse still, according to William Patalon III the wider US economy is sliding into a deep recession.

Crude oil prices are nudging $100 a barrel today. That’s a long way down from oil’s summer high of $147 a barrel.

“It has been a brutal couple of months for commodities investors,” says Dan Amoss in Rude Awakening.

If you’ve visited Contrarian Profits this week, you’ll know we don’t think highly of the Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) bailout. That doesn’t mean we can’t find a way to profit from the mess.

But by keeping interest rates below the rate of inflation for three straight years starting in 2002, the Fed created a bubble in the housing market. That bubble has now popped, leaving in its wake a severe liquidity crisis.