There have been rumors that Germany is coming to aid of Greece, but there are some formidable obstacles in such a ploy.

First EU law bars the European Central Bank or national central banks from bailing out EU members through buying their debt or offering loans, according to a German parliament research unit."There are no identifiable grounds for an alternative interpretation."

Sugar is one of the most basic commodities. Countries throughout the world are wanting sugar. Supplies of sugar are reaching a 20 year low this year. The shortage may become especially acute in the third quarter.

Here some supply/demand statistics:

• India the biggest importer may need an extra 2.5 to 3 million tons to meet a 7 million ton deficit.
• China, the biggest consumer after India may have a deficit of 3.3 million tons.

This morning the big news of the day was the drubbing of European stock markets as fear spread throughout the region. Fear was generated by concern that some European countries could default on their sovereign debt. Among them are Greece, Spain, and Portugal.

Greece's budget gap is 12.7% of GDP Greece has to slash spending and may need IMF assistance.

Investors sold investment deemed risky such as commodities, gold and stocks and moved their money into bonds. This started a selling frenzy in commodities with oil falling $3.14 per barrel to $73.14 per barrel. Brent crude fell $3.79 per barrel to $72.13 per barrel.

All swans were thought to be white until someone happened to come across a black one. All Toyota's were thought to be well made until someone discovered, oh, say, maybe two million cars that might not be -- part of a cautionary vehicle recall.

If you are a shareholder of Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) which past GM as the largest automobile manufacturer last year -- oddly, the same year it reported its first losses (along with everyone else) -- then you now have a first hand experience of the inherent problems or uselessness in trying to predict where trouble may arise.

There was a sharp sell off in gold today, down $43.20 per ounce (each $1 equals $100). to $1,068.8 (12:30 EDT)

There were several reason cited for the drop. Among them were concerns about euro zone debt and weaker than expected US jobless figures.

Gold selling intensified and spread to other commodities on worries of sovereign debt default in Greece, Spain and Portugal.

Congress is patting itself on the bank for making a few minor changes in credit card costs, including:

• Starting in February, card statements will include the amount of interest and fees paid for the year to date.
• The statement will include the size of monthly payments needed to become debt free in 36 month.
• Card companies will give cardholders 45 days before changing the interest rate.

Why are these such minor changes? First, according to Kapner writing for Financial Times, the average American household has $10,000 in credit card debt. At a rate of 18%, it would take 48 years to become debt free by just paying the minimum each month.

Here's some real good news! The Institute of Supply Management's Index stands at 58.4, higher than economists had predicted, up from 54.9 in December. A number above 50 signals expansion.

• The ISM's production index rose to 66.2 from 59.7, the highest level since 2004.
• The employment index rose to 53.3 from 50.2 the previous month.
• The supplier index which measures the time to delivery rose to 60.1 from 56.8 the previous month.
• Inventories were reduced by $125 billion
• Stockpiles were depleted by 3.4% vs 5.7% the previous month.

Is the world running on stimulus money or is there real demand for basic commodities?

What has been happening is that underdeveloped countries have been using stimulus money to stockpile raw commodities. Now there is a surplus. This, in turn, has led to a fall-off in commodity prices.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) issued its statement indicating again that interest rates will remain low for an extended period of time. The decision was not unanimous with one dissenting vote.

The Fed continues to avoid any potential language which could disrupt the financial markets. Chairman Bernanke, a student of the Great Depression, does not want to do anything to damage the current stabilization in the economy. This is particularly true with a controversial vote on the Chairman's confirmation coming soon.

President Obama has been under severe pressure to rein in federal spending, both from Americans here at home as well as trading partners like China.

During his State of the Union message on Wednesday, Obama is expected announce a three-year spending freeze for 1/6 of the federal budget.

The proposal will include freezes in discretionary spending in the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Energy, Transportation, Agriculture and Health and Human Services. The freeze would affect $447 billion in spending or 17% of the total federal budget.

Sales of existing homes plunged 17% in December, the sharpest drop since records began in 1968. The sales pace fell to 5.45 million annual rate from 6.54 pace the previous month.

Part of the reason for the drop was attributed to the termination of the first $8,000 tax credit for first time buyers. That kept buyers away from the market. Since then Congress has extended the tax credit. Realtors expect a pick up in sales going into the Spring season.

For the past year, President Obama has turned a deaf ear to Main Street. He has allowed the big banks to take government bailout money and use it for in house trading instead of lending it to businesses. Banks have made exorbitant profits and paid themselves outrageous bonuses.

Finally now, Obama has started listening to Main Street. Americans are angry. They are angry about the 17 million unemployed. They are angry about losing their homes. They are angry because they cannot find work to support their families. They are angry about Congress's refusal to deal with their problems and they see Obama catering to the banking community at the expense of their needs.

Conan O'Brien is to receive $40 million dollars to walk away from NBC. O'Brien's agreement would bar him from bad mouthing his NBC bosses.

There has been a two week battle between NBC and O'Brien over the network's plan to move the comedian to a later 12:00 am time slot. Part of the plan is to reinstate Jay Leno in his old time slot at 11:30 p.m. which he has held for 17 years.

As background information, Japan Airlines Corp. has been bailed out four times by the Japanese government in the past ten years. JAL's 2.3 trillion yen bankruptcy is the fourth largest in Japan and the largest non financial bankruptcy.

The fact that JAL has been allowed to fail, marks a shift in government policy. The four month old Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Yuko Hatoyama, has refused to bail out JAL. However, Hatoyama's government said it would provide the necessary support for JAL.

Now here's an eye opener. Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) has decided to split its shares 50 for 1. This would drop the price of the company's cheapest stock down from about $3,247.00 per share to $65. The class A shares, never split, still trade at about $97,500.