Kass: It's a Sad State of Affairs

This blog post originally appeared on RealMoney Silver on Jan. 15 at 8:31 a.m. EST.

Interest rates and commodities are again turning lower, the world's economy is deteriorating, and we appear to be in a synchronized global recession.

Investor fear is rising, as measured by the VIX, which is trading above the 50 level for the first time in a month.

The availability of credit is extremely limited on all levels. As an acquaintance of mine reminded me last night, the irony is that excessive leverage in the banking industry got us into the current mess, now the deleveraging of the system is prolonging the mess! ...