Recently, the U.S. Congress approved of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) selling 400 metric tons of its gold for around $13 billion. Something’s very fishy here. For starters, it’s not clear how much gold the IMF has and where it’s located. Last year, a rationale for the IMF selling its gold was that the IMF should be investing in financial securities with positive yields. But none of these... 

Lawmakers in Congress passed a 106-billion-dollar emergency bill to finance the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, shore up efforts to fight swine flu, and fund US participation in the IMF. By a vote of 226 to 202, the House of Representatives approved a compromise version of the legislation, to reconcile differing House and Senate versions. The measure is to provide funds through September 30 — the...