The clean technology wave just got a little bigger. This tends to be a side-effect of interest from billionaire investor George Soros. And, as usual, it's more than just money; it's more than just a return. Soros, yet again, is trying to save the world. Interestingly, the bold move was announced at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate – an international association consisting of 430 newspapers from 150 countries (and thus with clear ties to the past, rather than future).

The investor and founder of Soros Fund Management LLC is planning to put $1 billion into clean-tech opportunities using what he calls "rather stringent criteria," which involves being "profitable but should also actually make a contribution to solving the problem [i.e., of clean technology adoption and proliferation]." Soros didn't provide any other details on the nature or scope of his investments.

Summertime....and the livin' ain't easy. The economy's in worse shape than the administration thought, even after pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into it. More people are losing their jobs. Unemployment's at 8.5% and according to many economists will go higher, maybe above 10% before the layoffs stop. Gas at the pump has gone above $3 again, even with the price of oil starting to show some weakness. Home prices are still going down and foreclosures continue to rise. Defaults on consumer credit is at all-time highs. When will it ever end?

Don't know. No one does. But that isn't a reason to stop investing, to quit preparing your portfolio for the next big upward move that will surely come. You doubt that? Just look at a price chart for the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the last 100 years. It's full of periods where the line is going down, only to be followed by large increases on the upside. Unless the whole capitalist system is gone forever, history will repeat. There will be an upward swing to this market, and it's more likely sooner rather than later.

The U.S. financial markets have soared over the past month, but one of the few people who has gotten extremely rich timing the markets says that we shouldn't get too excited just yet.

Hedge fund guru George Soros told Bloomberg that "It's a bear-market rally because we have not yet turned the economy around. This isn't a financial crisis like all the other financial crises that we have experienced in our lifetime."

Mr. Soros had generally kind words for President Obama's performance but was cautious on housing: "There are some signs of hitting bottom, but we are not there yet. A lot has been done to forestall foreclosures."

When financier George Soros makes a play, traders stand up and take notice. In 1992, Soros made $1 billion by selling the British pound.

Recently, he used the same strategy of betting against the pound. However, when the pound traded below $1.40 last Wednesday, Soros decided to cover his short position. The pound has traded up to $1.4256 against the dollar on Friday. As demand for the pound rose, it had the effect of putting pressure on the U.S. dollar.

Yesterday, the market had a swing of over 900 points as indexes hit new lows for the year and then pushed upward to close 6% or so higher. Overnight, markets in Asia and Europe staged rallies of their own.

The stock market may march up for a while, but that can't be sustained and the odds are likely that it will crash and make new lows again before year's end.

The fiction is that the markets trade based on what they see six months into the future. Perhaps they see GDP recovering by then. Not a chance.

George Soros said yesterday that there is some chance that the world economy will enter a depression next year. That may be extreme, but a majority of business leaders and economists who want to be heard on the subject say that this is the most significant downturn of their lifetimes.

There is a view that falling housing prices are at the core of the disaster that has overwhelmed the financial structure of the country and is now hurting everything from retail sales to tech company revenue. Housing may be helped by government programs, but if unemployment hits 8% or better next year, the number of people who have to give up their homes could rise sharply. Lower interest rates do not help people out of work.

Another misconception about the future is that oil prices will continue to fall. With some OPEC nation's facing budget deficits due to crude dropping from over $140 to $55, the cartel will have to cut production to meet demand. That may mean a huge cut, but OPEC can match the drop in the global need for oil with a paltry supply.

The stock market has not stopped going down.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Congress will bring in a bunch of big hedge fund managers like George Soros and ask them why they make so much money. It will also try to figure out if they control too much of the trading on Wall Street and borrow too much money from banks putting them at risk if the hedge funds default.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Already, momentum is building to monitor hedge-fund activities more closely and curtail some trading activities, through greater regulatory oversight and lower borrowing limits, industry insiders said."

The government may be going a little too far here. For starters, hedge funds are private institutions with the exception of a couple which have gone public. To a large extent what they pay their traders is based on a formula which their customers accept. These fees are not forced on anyone. It is not an odd analogy to say that a farmer who makes $100 million because he owns 50,000 acres of corn has reaped what he deserves for his labor. But, he is not going to be in front of Congress testifying about what he made. Free enterprise has given him his reward.

On the issue of whether hedge funds borrow too much money and then put it as risk by making aggressive trades, that can be regulated from the side of the banks. If the government thinks banks take too many risks in lending, it can curtail that through actions by the FDIC or the Fed.

The great majority of hedge funds make their profits fair and square. Regulating risk in private enterprise takes the incentives out of making money for hedge fund clients. And, that damages the economy's ability to create wealth, and through that, demand for goods and services.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

The latest trend among pundits who want to look like they know what they're talking about is to assert boldly that the Fed's $700 billion purchase of dodgy mortgage assets no one understands or wants poses no risk to taxpayers and will surely make us money!

In an op-ed piece (subscription required) for The Wall Street Journal, Andy Kessler asserts that "My analysis suggests that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (a former investment banker, no less, not a trader) may pull off the mother of all trades, which could net a trillion dollars and maybe as much as $2.2 trillion -- yes, with a "t" -- for the United States Treasury."

I don't understand why, if that's true, Warren Buffett, George Soros, Wilbur Ross and Carlos Slim aren't diving in to make a bailout unnecessary. Warren's a nice guy, but I don't think he's passing on all those profits to taxpayers out of the goodness of his heart. Take the hint: taxpayers are not going to get rich paying artificially high prices for assets that the best investors in the world won't touch with a ten-foot pole.

Another thing to remember: we're buying the $700 billion in crap securities on the margin. We're borrowing the money because our federal government doesn't have enough cash to bail out a Subway franchisee without hitting up the debt markets. So any calculation about what kind of return we'll earn needs to include the hundreds of billions of dollars in interest we'll be paying for the privilege of buying those assets.

Wilbur Ross, the world's most famous buyer of bankrupt companies, who is a sage in his own right, attacked the government''s bank bailout plan. Like Warren Buffett and George Soros, the media hangs on his comments. He has made a billion dollar fortune and is, therefore, considered smarter than most people, whether that is true of not.

Ross has a simple message. Savings banks will do nothing if mortgage-holders are not saved in the process. If the mortgage mess gets worse, banks will continue to have trouble over time, even if the Treasury does put $700 billion into the market.

Ross's comment was straight-forward. He told Reuters that "none of the recent actions to stabilize the financial system addressed the root of the problem -- helping Americans make their mortgage payments."

So, why is the government attacking the crisis from the wrong end of the system? The answer probably is that it is easier to save a small number of banks than it is to salvage hundreds of thousand of mortgages. Renegotiating all of those loans, resetting interest rates, and keeping some homes from foreclosure is simply too difficult a task. Many members of Congress do not view it that way. They want mortgage assistance programs added to the bailout bill.

Not matter what the level of challenge, the federal government has to give banks direct incentives to help the mortgage holder. Nothing can save the economy if hundreds of thousands of more home loans go into default. At that point, the real estate market could collapse and not recover for years.

The $700 billion rescue package would only be a drop in the bucket.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH) Chief Executive Richard Fuld is running out of rabbits to pull out of his hat.

The troubled Wall Street bank, which reportedly is set to take a $4 billion write down in the third quarter, is desperate to raise capital. The Wall Street Journal says it's shopping around its investment management business, which includes Neuberger Berman. During the second quarter, the business reported net revenue of $800 million, down from $1 billion a year earlier. Its assets under management were $277 billion. Though these results were hardly spectacular, they stood in contrast to the Capital Markets business, which reported negative revenue of $2.4 billion.

Selling the asset management business would bring in between $8 billion and $10 billion, according to analysts cited by the Journal. Lehman's market capitalization now stands at about $10.4 billion thanks to the 77% decline in the stock price this year.

"Any change in the unit's ownership structure would be bittersweet for Lehman," according to the Journal. "The division has been a strong performer ever since Lehman bought it in 2003, holding up well despite the mortgage crisis. While a sale would give Lehman a cash infusion, the investment bank would lose a steady source of revenue."

Lehman acquired Neuberger for $2.6 billion in 2003, and some unhappy Neuberger executives are eager to dump their shares, the paper said.

Not all investors, however, believe that all hope is lost. Lehman's shares rose Friday on a report that billionaire George Soros boosted his stake in the company.

If the sale goes through, there is no way that Lehman will be able to remain independent.

"While most funds have been dumping stocks in India's sliding market, billionaire global investor George Soros has turned contrarian on India," says international expert Nick Vardy who now suggests "bottom fishing" in India.

In his Global Bull Market Alert, he explains, "One of the best ways to follow in his footsteps are by purchasing the WisdomTree India Earnings ETF (NYSE: EPI)."

"According to the Times of India, the Hungarian born Soros -- who since last August is again actively managing his famed Quantum fund -- recently went on a buying spree in India making investments valued at $140 million in a wide range of Indian companies.

"In many ways, Soros' call is a vintage contrarian bet. India has been one of the worst performers in the global markets this year.

"Institutional investors have pulled out more than $7 billion from Indian equities as the BSE Sensex crashed 7,400 points, or 35%, from its peak of 20,873 back on Jan. 8 amid concerns over a weak global markets, soaring global oil prices and spiraling inflation in India.

"Brokerages and investment banks are uniformly gloomy about India. Inflation has accelerated to just under 12%, a 13-year high. Industrial output in May 2008 rose 3.8%, the slowest in six years. Manufacturing growth slowed to 3.9% in May, while capital goods output growth slowed to 2.5% vs. a robust 22.4% last year.

Warren Buffett has been pretty vocal about how bad the current downturn will be. The same holds true for billionaire money manager George Soros. He has even testified before Congress to make his concerns known.

Now, Eli Broad, one of the richest men in America, or anywhere else for that matter, says this is the worst economic period of his lifetime. Broad will be 80 soon.

Broad told Bloomberg,``This is worse than any recession we've had since World War II." He does not think the housing market will recover for years and sees a sharp rise in unemployment.

The "billionaire boys clubs" now seems to have formed a consensus, and almost all of it is based on the problems in the housing market. It home sales keep dropping, most of the equity people in the US have built over the last twenty years goes away. If some of these people lose jobs, defaults rise and the matter becomes worse.

You can bet against the very rich, but it is probably not a good idea. They did not become fabulously wealthy by being stupid.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Ever wonder why conventional wisdom is so conventional? It's because it's the same people repeating it over and over.

The reason why this happens is mostly laziness. Reporters and TV producers call on the same people to render their opinions because they are the ones who return calls and show up when they are needed. I have done it myself so I know the drill well. Yes, Woody Allen's claim that 80% of success is showing up continues to be proven right. These people can be summed up in several categories: wisemen -- they almost always are male -- whose every utterance is treated as if it was etched in stone tablets by the almighty, and insta-pundits -- who are able to give quotes on every topic imaginable. Finally, there are the personal finance gurus whose message is that by helping me make money, I can help you save money.

Below are my choices for the most overexposed business pundits and media personalities. They are in no particular order.

Wisemen: Alan Greenspan -- Don't you miss the days when no one understood what the former Fed Chairman was talking about? Now, his message is pretty clear: buy my book and the subprime mortgage crisis was not my fault. Honorable mentions: former General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Chief Executive Jack Welch, billionaire George Soros, and oilman Boone Pickens.

Hedge Fund guru George Soros warned over the weekend, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, that " the crude oil market had been significantly affected by speculation." Because of all the speculators driving the price of crude higher and higher, Soros went on to say, "Speculation... is increasingly affecting the price, the price has this parabolic shape which is characteristic of bubbles."

While I tend to disagree with Soros when he predicts that we are headed for a very deep recession, I do think that there isn't much justification to $130+ per barrel of crude. After all, the continuing cry of increasing demand falls short, when the big consumers of oil, are experiencing slower economic growth. After the Olympics, I wouldn't be surprised to see Chinese growth take a sharp fall as well, as many of the public works projects come to an end.

I think that potentially, we will see crude oil fall back to the $50-60 per barrel level.

Aaron Katsman is Senior Portfolio Manager of the Israel Growth Portfolio, of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer's fund has no position in any stock mentioned, as of 5/27/08

Alan Greenspan gives an interview about every two weeks, and headlines appear saying what he thinks the odds are of a recession in the US. His most recent opinion, as he makes his book tours and speaking engagements, is that America is facing a downturn, but it will not be as bad as it could have been.

According to the FT, The former chairman of the Federal Reserve said: "I still believe there is a greater than 50 per cent probability of recession." He believes that housing holds the key to how bad things will get.

Greenspan joins Warren Buffett and George Soros as the famous financiers who enjoying visiting regularly with the press about the economy. None of them need the exposure to make money, so being in the paper must just make them feel important.

At least Greenspan's view of how things are going is not as dark as those of his peers.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.