• Is the Fed effectively "stuck" between posturing for higher rates (to appease foreign holders of U.S. debt) and hinting at lower rates (to provide a perceived economic stimuli)?
  
  
• What about the fact that there is inflation in things we need (to feed, educate and power the world) and deflation in things we want (such as cell phones, laptops and plasmas)?
  
  
• If you owned dollar-denominated assets and the basis of valuation diminished 33% in five years, how would you feel?
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• As you likely do (own dollar-denominated assets), why haven't you posited this question before?
  
  
• So, what's it gonna be—asset class deflation or dollar devaluation?
  
  
• When did the FOMC begin targeting asset prices?
  
  
• Was the "specter of accommodation" the catalyst behind yesterday's sharp rally?
  
  
• Didn't Warren Buffett once say that we should sell hope and buy despair?
  
  
• Are you watching Fannie Mae (along with the other financials) as a near-term market "tell"?
  
  
• Where's Franklin Raines?
  
  
• Is S&P 1490 the highest probability short-side set-up?
  
  
• Do you think Alan Greenspan has an adjustable rate mortgage?
  
  
• Did the "flight to quality" (and the attendant drop in rates) offer a respite in the ARMS race?
  
  
• Do you recognize that FOMC days are a tale of two tapes, with 2 :15 PM EST serving as the toggle?
  
  
• Do you really believe that the powers that be didn't see the mortgage malaise on the horizon?
  
  
• Will investors remember that the first rate cut did very little to stem the supply in 2001?
  
  
• If the debt bubble follows the path of the dot.com and real estate bubbles, do we collectively understand that we've got a long and arduous path before us?
  
  
• Don't the sharpest rallies occur in the context of a bear market?
  
  
• Do we need one more lift to fulfill the path of maximum frustration?
  
  
• Do you see that the Fed Fund Futures have priced in one quarter-point rate cut and put the odds of an additional cut at 40%?
  
  
• If you're a secular bull in energy and metals, shouldn't you be licking your chops as supply fills in?
  
  
• Isn't a crude correction down to the mid-60s bullish in the context of a longer-term story?
  
  
• Can we apply historical precedence to a market machination with uniquely distinct structural elements?
  
  
• How long can the powers that be tell us that subprime is "contained" before their credibility comes into question?
  
  
• Did you see that the Hedge Fund Research Index was off over 3% the week of July 27?
  
  
• Is Goldman Sachs' Global Alpha Hedge Fund really down almost 12% in the last two weeks, bringing this year's decline to 16%?
  
  
• When is the last time you revisited the Ten Trading Commandments?
  
  
• Are we having fun yet?

R.P.