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US Senator Bernie Sanders, independent from Vermont, is known for his straightforward and unbiased positions.

His new legislative proposal is to break up big banks that are deemed "too big to fail." To quote Mr. Sanders: "if an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. We should break them up so they are no longer in a position to bring down our entire economy."

A few weeks ago the US government slapped import duties on Chinese manufactured tires. China shot back by launching and investigation through the World Trade Organization (WTO) of US car exports to China.

Now we have round two. The US has imposed import duties of up to 99% on $2.6 billion dollars of Chinese pipe imports.

The ruling is temporary, however, US Customs will start collecting cash or bond deposits on imports. A final ruling will be made in March. Meanwhile, President Obama plans his first visit to China within a few weeks.

Sotheby's (NYSE: BID) had a great night this week, tripling the performance of competitor Christie's (OTC: CRUPF). But, it didn't come soon enough to help the company's third quarter results.

The auction house suffered from the art market slump that was exacerbated by the global financial crisis, posting a net loss of $57.8 million (89 cents a share). This is worse than the $47 million loss (73 cents a share) it delivered a year earlier. Three analysts that Bloomberg surveyed expected a loss of 29 cents a share. Revenue was off 41% to $44.9 million for the quarter.

Yesterday it was announced very loudly that "my pal Warren" was going to acquire the 77.4% of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI) railroad, that Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) does not already own, for $100 per share, offering about a $24 premium to Mondays closing price.

Talk about putting your money where your mouth is -- yikes! Buffett has gone all in, betting the economy is healing, and silencing anyone that questioned his integrity or motives for cautious optimism saying it was all talk!

Investors are calling for an inquiry into mutual fund fees, but the Supreme Court is reminding them that it isn't beholden to public opinion. The mutual fund industry is being accused of charging "excessive" fees, which could be particularly harsh on individual investors who use these tools as their primary way to access the market. Currently, the mutual fund industry has more than $10 trillion in assets under management, some of it through retirement and 529 college savings plans.

The Court doesn't seem inclined to step into the fray, saying that regulatory agencies are better equipped to address the situation. Chief Justice John Roberts, for example, said during arguments that "It makes a lot more sense to have the SEC regulate rates than to have courts do it, doesn't it?"

What a week it was and it is starting off with more of the same! The day before Halloween the market gets spooked. The Dow drops 200 one day, rises 200 the next, and falls 250 to close the week. Yes, financial pundits could point to meaningful stories about the dollars rise, consumer spending sagging, the recession ending and so forth to explain market reactions but there is more to it than that.

Even among the 15 positions discussed in Where should granny put $50,000? only the Vanguard Total Bond Market exchange-traded fund (NYSE: BND) and the Kellogg Co (NYSE: K) were up last Friday. Good thing I advised "granny" to put half her funds in the ETF.

Century-old CIT Group Inc filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District Court of New York on Sunday.

According to the terms of the bankruptcy, bondholders will hold new CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) debt worth about 70% of the face value of the old debt. Preferred creditors, including the U.S. government, will get money only after other creditors are paid back. Common shareholders will receive nothing.

In December 2008, the U.S. government invested $2.33 billion dollars in CIT under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is fighting back. The organization has filed a civil lawsuit against the Yes Men, an activist group that announced that the chamber had changed its position on climate change.

The Yes Men told the National Press Club on October 19, 2009 that the Chamber of Commerce would give up lobbying against the Senate's 800-page climate change bill. Reuters, CNBC and Fox Business Network all reported on the story, with the anchors correcting themselves midstream, when they learned that it was false.

Wow! What a difference a few hours makes. At the beginning of trading today stocks and commodities were steady. Then as the morning wore on, the US dollar strengthened and it all broke loose. Let's look at the numbers: (as of 1:29 EDT)

• US dollar December futures contract traded at 76.125, up .525 (the US dollar is based on a basket of currencies.)
• December euro is at 1.4866, down .0134
• The December S & P contract is down 10.60 at 1066.30
• December crude oil is at $78.40 per barrel, down $2.10
• December 30 year bond is at 118.10, down 23.
• December wheat is at 530.6 down 17 cents (each penny equals $50.00)
• December gold is at $1043.40 per ounce, down $13.00 (each $1.00 equals $100.00)

Bernie Madoff is getting used to his new neighbors. Gone are the days of Montauk and Manhattan, and he isn't sharing his space with topless dancers.

Now, he says goodnight to a drug pusher, chills with a former mobster, and hangs with a convicted spy ... and these guys are probably saying, "I hang around with Bernie Madoff." The former financier Ponzi schemer spends his evenings walking laps around the prison track at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex, not far from Raleigh, N.C.

What is the Beige Book and what does it contain? The US Federal Reserve keeps anecdotal reports on the economy in what is called the "Beige Book." Here are some notes on the key topics:

• There was some improvement in two of the hardest hit areas -- residential real estate and manufacturing.
• Gains in economic activity generally outnumbered declines.
• "Grim" was how the Fed described commercial real estate, "with conditions described as either weak or deteriorating across all districts." Regional banks said they did not see improvement in commercial real estate going forward into 2010.

Allen Stanford gets kicked around, but Bernie Madoff can clearly throw down some serious smack. While the former's being moved from one facility to another because he's lost some ground on the cell block, Madoff just earned himself some props.

The engineer of the largest (known) Ponzi scheme in history apparently got into an argument with another geriatric inmate at the Butner, North Carolina federal prison. Of course, it was over the stock market. Does it really make sense to outmaneuver a guy who never needed to know what the market was doing to deliver double-digit returns?

Well, push came to shove, as they say, with the "attacker" stumbling and looking up at a mean, mean Madoff. He got up and ran off.

Every investor knows this bit of math: if you lose 50%, you need a gain of 100% to recover. It sounds odd, but the math is easy. You have a stock worth $100 and take a 50% loss. It's now worth $50. To get back up to $100, you need to double your money -- that's a 100% gain.

This simple rule is painfully apparent to hedge fund managers right now. While we're all celebrating the big gains they've made this year, the funds themselves understand that there's still a long way to go.

We can just about shelve any hopes of banking reform from Congress. Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee said: "I don't think you're going to see that happen" (referring to mandates for financial companies to process their swaps through a clearinghouse).

Frank went on to say that there would be a presumption that standardized contracts would be sent to a clearinghouse but that it would not be an iron clad rule. With the bankers ignoring established rules and doing pretty much what they want, forget about that idea.

A year ago, Manhattan homeowners lived within the firm grasp of the worst recession in 70 years. A skyrocketing real estate market seemed ready to come back to Earth, as carnage in the financial services industry – which spread to just about every other business – decimated incomes and net worths throughout the city.

From the second quarter to the third, this year, the sale of co-ops and apartments spiked between 46% and 69% according to several reports from the real estate business. Sales are still lower than last year, but the recovery has been nothing short of amazing (to the chagrin of those of us who had dreams of one day moving up from the rental class).

Prudential Douglas Elliman reported a price increase of almost 2% from the second quarter, though the median was down 8% to 18% from last year – to the $760,000 to $850,000 range. Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel Inc., a real estate appraisal and consulting firm, calls this good news, but cautions that it doesn't mean we're at the bottom.