By Dan Ferris in Extreme Value:

Something I haven't seen in the press much is that, the more fixing the government does, the worse the ultimate result will be.

The size of the bailout so far is absolutely unprecedented in all of history. Last November, ace researcher James Bianco did some math and found bailout spending at that time was equal to the inflation-adjusted cost of the Marshall Plan, Louisiana Purchase, Race to the Moon, S&L Crisis, Korean War, New Deal, Iraq invasion, Vietnam, and NASA – combined. Only World War II rivaled the bailout. And that was back in November.

All that spending originates as borrowing, and there's no way it'll ever be repaid. It'll be inflated away by the Federal Reserve's monopoly on money creation. That will erode the value of the money in your pocket, in your bank account, and, yes, in your stock portfolio, too.

That's why gold is pushing $1,000…

Crux note: Dan Ferris is the editor of Extreme Value. To learn his top recommendation right now – what he calls "Gold-Backed Annuities" – click here.

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