Here's a question for American taxpayers:

What will you be doing with your economic stimulus check? Mine arrived on Saturday, and I just deposited it.

(Please answer in the comments.)

What I was thinking of doing with that $600:

As a personal vote of confidence in the strength and soundness of the American economy in general, and of the dollar in particular, I was going to buy about 2/3 of an ounce of gold.

But given my belief that some of the current price of gold is probably commodity bubble froth, I decided being that much of a smartass was going to end up costing me money.

(If I'd had the foresight to buy gold in '01 at $275/oz., well...but then again, with that kind of foresight, I'd have been flipping houses in '03 and '04.)