From the Year End Wrap up on the Solari Report, Catherine revisits the major events and trends of the past year and maps out the Risks, Wildcards & Opportunities on what she is calling the slow burn on the prairie for 2011.

Despite the many shocks in the global economy last year, one of the strongest investments turned out to be in the gold and silver markets. As always Catherine spoke with Franklin Sanders of the Money Changer for a lively precious metals market report to discuss what happened 2010, and their predictions for the coming year.

And in the ongoing series of top 10 dates in the history of silver and gold, Franklin Sanders addressed President Nixon’s cancellation in 1971 of the direct convertibility of the U.S. dollar to gold. This policy commonly referred to as the Nixon Shock, ended the Bretton Woods system of international financial exchange which designed to govern monetary relations among nations.

Whether you agree with them or not, polls are often a useful indicator of what people are thinking and feeling about the people, policies and issues that affect us all. They’re also a good indicator of how the mood of the people affects politicians and policy at state and federal levels.

This month Catherine spoke with Scott Rasmussen, founder of Rasmussen Reports, the leading independent public polling site in America. Scott is also author of two books including In Search of Self Governance. They discuss the issue of Self Governance and what the polls are saying about "we the people."