This week I am in New York, and have a whirlwind of meetings (and I admit, a lot of fun on the side) and not much time to write. I have been saving today's letter for a month or so, for a time such as this. Damien Hoffman of the Wall Street Cheat Sheet interviewed me and posted the transcript on his web site. I thought it was one of the better interviews I have done recently, and so it is this week's Thoughts from the Frontline. In addition to the wide-ranging economic questions, he asks for my thoughts on how one becomes an investment writer. I often demur when asked that question (what do I know?), but did my best to answer this time. I think you will enjoy the letter. (By the way, he does a lot of interesting interviews, which he posts for free on his web site at www.wallstcheatsheet.com .)

But first, a quick commercial. Are you reconsidering your investing strategies for the year ahead?

I am pleased to invite you to join me, together with my US investment partner, Jon Sundt, President and CEO of Altegris Investments, for a special live webinar on Thursday, December 17th, at 11:00 am Dallas time (that's 9:00 am on the West Coast and 12:00 noon on the East Coast).

In this special webinar, we will discuss the forces that are shaping today's economy and their influence on financial markets, as well as the potential impact on your investing decisions. This is an excellent opportunity to learn about alternative investment strategies designed to provide noncorrelated diversification for your portfolio, as Jon and his team are experts on alternatives. We'll set aside time to answer your questions.

Due to regulatory issues, this event is limited to US investors who qualify as "accredited investors" (generally, net worth of $1.5 million or more). It's easy to sign up; just allow yourself a few minutes to complete the steps. First, register online on my Accredited Investor website. From there, if you are a US investor, you'll be directed to register for the webinar.

The markets have closed up for five straight days. So much for my concern that either the economy might be slowing down or that if the economy does not slow down inflation will be a problem forcing the Fed to take action later this fall. Clearly, the majority of investors think we are in a Goldilocks scenario. In fact, Ed Yardeni uses that term in an interview with Mark Gongloff at the Wall Street Journal Online . Mark then contrasts my views with Ed's in an excellent piece called "Soft Landing: Many See a Goldilocks Market, While Others See Stagflation Light."

That interview will be the basis for this week's letter, as it serves to contrast the tension between those who see the markets rising to new heights and those like myself who see problems. I am in the smaller group, at least for now.

But first, there is an interesting pattern developing in the markets, called a "W" formation. While I normally do not talk about technical charts and patterns in this letter, I think this bears (pardon the pun) looking at. This is from good friend Bill King in his daily King Report :

This week I am in La Jolla for my annual Strategic Investment Conference. It is packed, and of course I am quite busy, so not much time to write my regular e-letter. But a few weeks ago, Rich Smith from The Motley Fool did a fairly wide-ranging interview with me that just came out this week, and I thought he did an excellent job in putting together a coherent piece from what was a long conversation covering a lot of topics. So, let's see what Rich found interesting in my musings.

By Rich Smith

Do you have a net worth of $1 million? Own a hedge fund? If the answer to one of those questions is "yes," then chances are that you know John Mauldin -- president of Millennium Wave Advisors, author of the weekly e-letter "Thoughts from the Frontline," and perhaps the leading proponent of the theory that America is in the midst of what he calls a secular bear market. When you need a big-picture view of what's going on in the economy, John Mauldin is the guy to ask. Fool contributor Rich Smith did just that.