The buzz on Capitol Hill is that Congress could pass an updated version of the bailout bill before the end of the week. But Shah Gilani in Money Morning says taxpayers are being “force-fed a political solution, instead of a sound economic market-based solution to a financial crisis.” He says the the bailout bill has eight key failings.

Former hedge fund manager Shah Gilani says corporate assets can be accounted for in multiple ways, at the discretion of management. And this makes comparative analysis nearly impossible. Shah says understanding these tricks is crucial to finding out the true state of any bank’s finances.

For years, investors have bemoaned the low dividend yield on stocks. But with the market down roughly 20%, the yield on the S&P 500 Index is up to 2.25%. That doesn’t sound terribly rich, I know, but it is only slightly less than the average money market is paying right now.

A true contrarian investor is always looking to own shares of companies that are out of favor with the investing public. And no sector has been more discarded than real estate…