In the spirit that Quicksilver pointed out recently in his Long Live Linkfest post, I’ll actually do a little linkfesting myself as I’ve spent some time this afternoon reading random stuff…

Mish talks with Mike Morgan about real estate from the front lines in Florida. Holy shit, after reading that I’m scared. Not too scared, mind you, our local real estate never got so frothy or very divorced from natural supply and demand (our population is still growing).

John Hussman writes that his strategic fund is also going long in a risk-controlled way. Hussman tends to lead the pack, so I see this as the beginning of sentiment shifting back to bullish… To be sure, he and I both believe we’re playing a game of the “greater fool” or at least the “slower fool”.

Mauldin’s weekly email mentioned some flow of funds information from TrimTabs Investment Research…

Money is pouring into US mutual funds. Last month saw $2.2 billion, the second highest month of inflows this year. And so far this month, we have seen $2.6 billion, says Trimtabs. Since gold disappointed, investors started to bail last month. They took out $214 million last month in mutual funds that invest in gold and precious metals, as opposed to the previous six months which saw an average of $129 million in additions.

TrimTabs offer a free month’s subscription to their research… I will report back on how useful I find it. (Incidentally, “trim tab” is a sailing term.)

Chart of the Day did a recent chart on the Dow priced in Gold terms. I’ve posted about their relative performance before.

The Big Picture looks at the Dow Reaching a new high (great graphic from NYT), and how small our Defense Budget is compared to historical levels during other, more traditional wars.

Not a big surprise (to me at least), but mutual funds are making more off fees than they are returning to investors in returns.? “The Russell 3000 Investment Management Company Index has gained 15.6% a year over the past five years, outrunning the average stock-fund?s annual return of 10.4%.”

Footnoted.org may have found patient-zero in the options backdating epidemic.

Off topic, but still relevant, Econobrowser points to a map of the expected outcome of the US Senate races…? from gambling website TradeSport’s online data…? in case Electoral-Vote.com wasn’t accurate enough for you.