From RealMoney.

 ... The value of U.S. manufacturing output in real terms (adjusted for inflation) was a little more than $3 trillion in 2008. That is up from $1.2 trillion in 1972. If the U.S. manufacturing sector were a separate country, it would be the world's fifth-largest economy (behind the rest of the U.S., Japan, China and Germany). The U.S. remains the world's largest manufacturer. Full stop. ...

A great read by Paul Krugman.  Here is an abridged version.

From VoxEU.

Sorry, I have been lax keeping up with items as of late, particularly this insightful quote from several days ago, via Zero Hedge.  It is from Lou Jiwei, Chairman of the China Investment Corp.

I am hearing a lot of chatter about the price of natural gas, particularly the ratio of the price of oil to the price of natural gas.  Historically, the ratio of oil to gas has been 6:1 to 10:1.  This week, that ratio soared as high as 26:1.

People are using this ratio as a reason to jump into natural gas, seeing it as extraordinarily cheap relative to oil.  But is it?  If you look out onto the strip, you will see that the ratio collapses out a few months.

We have followed the travails of Naomi Klein's implausible theories about "The Chicago School's" and neoconservative's penchant for creating or exploiting crisis to advance their ideological agenda.  (Ms.

I have no horse in this race.  However, the debate about Peak Oil goes on, though you hear less about it now that oil is no longer at $147 barrel (for now).

Helping to at least partially explain the rally.  From Carpe Diem

Interesting post from Crossing Wall Street

I was playing around with some data and I came with an interesting stat: All of the stock market’s gain since 1970 has come when the price of gold is below $455.