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An old friend of mine stopped by the office a few weeks ago and he unwittingly reinforced my complete confidence that you can still do very well in the markets. This is saying quite a bit given the frustrating state of the markets where government decree drives nearly all of daily trading activity.

Now, he wasn't overly bullish or bearish. He wasn't betting big on a rally with banks. And he didn't just make a huge score on some triple-leverage ETF or anything like that. He's simply running his business and, in the midst of the worst economic downturn decades, it's doing exceptionally well.

On Tuesday, Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) introduced a bill that would enable newspapers to operate as nonprofit institutions. The “Newspaper Revitalization Act” would give papers 501 (c)(3) status, a tax-exempt classification that is usually reserved for educational organizations.

This move comes on the tail of numerous newspaper bankruptcies and shutterings. Last Tuesday, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer moved its operation online after declining advertising revenues forced it to stop printing a hard copy edition. In April, The Christian Science Monitor plans to follow suit. At the same time, other news organizations, from the Tribune company to McClatchy are struggling with lower advertising revenues and reduced circulation.

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