Bond money managers are usually glum. Then again, they need to be cautious since they are locking up money at fixed rate of returns. In a volatile world, this can certainly be a risky proposition.

So it should be no surprise that the biggest bond money manager, Bill Gross, is not enthusiastic about 2011. He leads the Pacific Investment Management Co., which has $1.2 trillion under management.

CNNMoney reports that after $150 billion in stimulus spending, tens of thousands of states, cities, and private companies have saved or created 650,000 jobs. At $230,769 per job, is that worth it?

The answer depends on whose side you're on. Those who want the president to fail are not thrilled, those who want to work and/or want him to succeed can feel some satisfaction.

From TheStreet.com Network

• Federal Budget Numbers Now Stratospheric
• New Jobs That Can Save the U.S.: Opinion

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that rather than selling and moving into cash, consider these reasons to hold firm.

Look, the deficit numbers are awful. They are totally daunting. We have to hope they don't come true because they are way too big to cope with no matter what we do with taxes. The dollar will get killed. Our kids will be stuck with some horrifying bills. The disaster that Matt Horween outlined in his multi-part op-ed series a couple of weeks ago will happen.

So, why don't I say you should go into cash because of it? Couple of reasons: First, I have to have some faith that the government will grow up, that they will get serious about spending, that President Obama will get serious about spending. Second, I hope we have much more growth than people realize and therefore we can grow our way out of this jam.

With the recession in full press, federal receipts are falling, adding more pressure to the deficit targets. Going forward into 2010, the price tag is for a deficit of $3.59 trillion.

It is expected that the deficit will run $1.8 trillion in 2009 and drop to $1.4 trillion in 2010. Obama has been criticized for raising the deficit to $9.3 trillion over 10 years. Lawmakers aware of this dropped a signature tax break and approved only vague language on health care reform.

The New York Times reports that some in Washington are using the latest economic catastrophe to push Congress to make tax breaks permanent. What these folks don't recognize is that the tax cuts are a big reason why the economy is in such bad shape to begin with. With unemployment spiking to 5.5%, the worst since 1986, and oil prices up a record $11 yesterday to $138 a barrel, it won't be long before you're paying $5 a gallon for gasoline.

And since oil is traded in dollars, its 70% decline since January 2001 from 92 cents to the Euro to its current $1.56 -- has been accompanied by a 475% rise in the price of oil. The $1.3 trillion worth of tax cuts -- 36% of which went to the top 1% -- are contributing to record deficits. In 2008, we'll have a $410 billion deficit and the 2009 figure looks to top $500 billion. And thanks to $3 trillion worth of wars, the U.S. is borrowing $9.4 trillion -- almost double where we were in 2000.

Thanks to these deficits, the U.S. is borrowing 66% of its $14.2 trillion GDP -- and any country borrowing more than 60% is seen by international investors as a credit risk. You'll hear people trying to convince you that deficits don't matter. But deficits are at the core of all the economic problems we face. Republicans used to be seen as the party of fiscal conservatism. But what they've actually done would terrify a prudent banker.

The Fed's job is to control inflation. But is was established originally to keep financial panics from getting out of control. Since last August, it has reverted to its original role and failed miserably. Since it began cutting its Fed Funds rate 57% from 5.25% to 2.25% the price of a barrel of oil has risen 62% from $71 to $115. Simply put, the weaker the dollar, the higher the price of oil. Bloomberg News proves it -- noting that in the last year, there was a 0.96 correlation -- a correlation of 1.0 would be a completely safe bet -- between the Euro-dollar exchange rate and the price of oil.

If it bothers you to pay $3.66 for a gallon of gasoline you can thank the Fed along with cheerleader, Hank Paulson who brags that he's been talking about the U.S.'s strong dollar policy consistently. Of course saying and doing are two different things. Since January 2001, the dollar has lost 70% to the Euro. And since oil is traded in dollars, a drop in the dollar leads to a rise in price. And lower interest rates erode further the value of the dollar since it pays government bond holders a lower rate of return so they sell the U.S. currency and buy higher yielding ones.

But it's unfair to give the Fed all the blame. After all, we have been running the Federal budget at a deficit -- expected to hit $413 billion this year. Since the Fed has started cutting rates, other factors such as speculation by leveraged traders -- relying on the 0.96 correlation -- and political instability seem to have remained at the same level -- although the degree of speculation seems difficult to measure. And U.S. demand has declined due to the economic slowdown. So it looks like those dollar-weakening rate cuts are the one factor powerful enough to offset the demand slowdown to drive prices up.

Someone might want to explain this to me because it defies nearly all palatable logic that I can apply to it. I read earlier this week that China carries a large debt portfolio and that about 70% of it is American debt. Additionally, China is buying up American debt at break-neck speed, while possibly neglecting their own populace in order to do so.

As I was taught, there are two potentially profitable reasons to buy debt obligations. The first (and best) reason is because there is a reasonable expectation that the debt will be repaid, supported by documentation, collateral security, and research. The second reason is because there is an expectation that the debtor shall default, resulting in the expeditious seizure of pledged security assets that are desired.

I've become aware of an unsettling third scenario regarding the value of buying debt. You can easily use it to buy control of the debtor's assets through their weakness.

Judging by the most recently available statistics from the American Association of Railroads, the trade and productivity numbers currently coming out of Washington appear to be a bunch of bunk. Will someone please tell Ben Bernanke that cold hard facts will supplant pipe dreams any day?

Today's Democratic Party is not the Democratic Party as your grandfather knew it. If you think that the Democrats are all about working peoples' needs and how best to serve them, you may wish to think again. The days when the powerful labor unions were backed by legislation-wielding hot-dogs who were ready to step into the gap to protect the working class in wages, safety, and working conditions have faded away. In fact, I'm of the mind that the decline actually began way back with the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa and the slow ugly death of that empire once known as the American steel industry.