Last week, President Obama outlined a new energy policy that aims to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. How can patient investors capitalize on his vision?

We know some of the reasons oil currently costs over $100 a barrel -- growing Asian markets and Mideast turmoil. But a significant premium in the price of oil stems from speculation, which has recently skyrocketed as traders and fund managers seek out commodity and global growth plays.

The European debt crisis is back: Portugal is in political turmoil, and may need a major bailout, and Spain may too. But the E.U.'s strong healthy are rebelling against propping up their weaker neighbors. The real issue, though, is that the E.U. hasn't yet addressed the fundamental flaw built into it at the euro's creation.

New regulations limiting mortgage brokers' compensation go into effect on April 1. While they're meant to protect mortgage borrowers from unscrupulous brokers, they could have an adverse impact on the nation's struggling housing market.

Markets hate uncertainty more than bad news, which is one reason they've swooned recently. But technical analysis looks at the patterns deeper than the daily news, and charts suggest a real bear ahead.

The economy has had more than its share of trouble lately: Japan's earthquake comes on top of rising oil and food prices, political turmoil in the Middle East and a crop of government austerity measures. But investing opportunities lie hidden behind the bad news.

The technical signs suggest we're at a crucial point for stocks: Either a decisive rise or a dramatic fall is coming. And if you're the type to dismiss technical analysis as unscientific voodoo, you're missing the point: It's not about pattern matching, it's about human psychology.

In most respects, China is a world away from the oil-dominated autocracies in the Mideast now seething with anti-government unrest. But it faces similar issues: high inflation and a troubling wealth gap that could fuel social upheavals, if Beijing doesn't make some big changes soon.

Let's take the politics out of the debate over public sector unions and their benefits, and look strictly at the figures. When you strip away the rhetoric, you can chart two macroeconomic trends and two patterns of fiscally foolish assumptions that have put both states and unions into this mess.

You probably have heard that the U.S. is the world's largest consumer of oil. But did you know that we're also the third-largest producer of oil? And yes, the U.S. imports more than half its oil. But our two biggest suppliers are our nearest neighbors.