The rivalry between value investing and growth investing is as intense as a Mets-Yankees duel. At any given time, one will outperform the other.

For example, during the Internet era, you got hung out to dry if you were a value investor. People were saying that even Warren Buffett had lost his touch, as his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B), languished while the likes of Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) and Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) racked up double-digit percentage gains weekly -- sometimes daily.

But when the dot-com bubble burst, the trophy returned to the value-investing approach, as good old-fashioned companies like McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) began to sizzle once again.

Care to wager which school of thought is winning today? I don't.

Value plus growth equals investing
Regular readers already know that I have a value-oriented investing approach. However, I apply just one rule to my investing decisions: I'll invest only in businesses that I can understand, and that are selling at an attractive price.

I consider this approach "value investing" only in the sense that any investing decision should be based on the act of seeking out value. After all, if our goal is to realize capital gain, the way to maximize that gain is

With the euro flexing its muscle at a record levels against the dollar, Point View Financial Services president and chief investment strategist David Dietze has three ways to play the currency equation:| U.S. multinationals, foreign fund investments, and commodities.

Among multinationals, he mentions Procter and Gamble (NYSE:PG - News), Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - News), and McDonald's (NYSE:MCD - News), companies that draw at least 50 percent of their revenues from foreign countries.

"The other way to go is go overseas yourself," he told CNBC.| "Buy into, say, a European sector fund...particularly a small-cap European sector fund, where they're getting most of their revenue in the euro, and then, of course, as the euro rises, you have more."

How to play commodities?

"Of course, in the stock market, that basically means your energy companies, because as the dollar

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economy is in turmoil, yet President Bush and Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke say the country will weather the storm. Neither sees a recession on the horizon.

Both Bush and Bernanke are on the front lines of the government's efforts to right an economy that increasing numbers of economists fear is on the verge of its first recession since 2001, if it hasn't fallen into one already.

The housing market's collapse, a credit crisis and galloping energy prices are crimping spending and investing. Those are mighty punches to a teetering economy that nearly stalled at the end of last year.

Bush and Bernanke acknowledged the dangers Thursday. But Bush, at a White House news conference, and Bernanke, in congressional testimony, seemed to strike the same hopeful note that the economy should be able to survive the fallout.

"I don't think we're headed to a recession, but no question we're in a slowdown," Bush said.

The Federal Reserve is not forecasting a recession. It does predict slow growth for this year as well as higher unemployment.

"I realize that my testimony wasn't the most cheerful thing you'll hear today ... but I do very much believe