The signs are ominous for the U.S. and world economy. Gold continued its sharp rise, especially in dollar terms, and oil seems to have renewed its climb after a brief pause. The dollar continued to fall. This week, however, saw a decrease in the U.S. stock market after it had approached an all-time high. The political crisis in the United States worsened last week as well, with Bush's approval rating falling below 30%; soon he will be the most unpopular president since the beginning of polling. This week may see an indictment of Karl Rove. Significantly, the mainstream media is paying attention to all of these stories. Even cautious establishment outlets like National Public Radio has pundits worrying that Bush's position is so hopeless he will launch an attack on Iran as a desperate, last-ditch attempt to salvage enough popularity to avoid prison (by keeping Congress in Republican hands). Not surprisingly, then, last week also saw the release of some bad consumer sentiment numbers in the United States, showing the sharpest drop in consumer confidence since Hurricane Katrina.

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