Answers: Can America Be Great Again?

• Will "What's good for General Motors is good for " work in reverse?
  
  
• I’ve kept Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE), AIG (AIG), Citigroup (C) and General Motors (GRM) on my trading screen despite the fact their price action doesn’t really “matter” anymore, which begs the obvious question: How many “it doesn’t really matter anymore’s” will it take before they collectively matter?
  
  
• Is "950 on the nose" into Turnaround Tuesday too easy?
  
  
• So the Federal Reserve is basically saying that banks must dilute common shareholders before they repay TARP?
  
  
• Do you think JP Morgan (JPM) and American Express (AXP) got the memo (with a TPS cover sheet) before that tidbit hit the tape?
  
  
• Is it bullish (through the lens of complacency) or bearish (the other side of globalization) that Chinese banks are shunning investments in western financial institutions?
  
  
• Or is the United States the complacent counter-party?
  
  
• Dear Mr. Cheney, with so many young lives lost and the potential for upwards of $3 trillion to be spent, is "Oops, I made a mistake" an acceptable mea culpa? 
  
  
• Wasn’t it Lewis Rothschild who said in An American President, “I’m a U.S. citizen and in this country, it’s not only permissible to question our leaders, it’s our responsibility”?
  
  
• When did that dynamic so dramatically shift?
  
  
• After 9/11?
  
  
• Following the invasion of ?
  
  
• With the emergence of moral hazard?
  
  
• When Martial Law was declared on Wall Street?
  
  
• As the socialization of markets began in earnest?
  
  
• Come on now, if I didn’t love baseball, American Pie and my country with a passion, do you really think I would have left my perch as president of a $400 million hedge fund and pile seven figures and eight years into a forum dedicated to affecting positive change through financial understanding?
  
  
• And isn’t there a very positive scenario for the home of the brave and the land of the free?
  
  
• Is there any doubt that the future of media is the intersection of news and opinion?
  
  
• Or has that always been the case, albeit in a masked and bearded way?
  
  
• How come it takes six months to work up to a vacation and one day for it to wear off?
  
  
• Do traders follow technical analysis because it works or does it work because traders follow it?
  
  
• Have you seen Minyanville's sneak peak at Wall Street II?
  
  
• How about a trial to some of our subscription products?
  
  
• Will hyperinflation screw the pooches that saved money and preserved capital?
  
  
• Or will the elasticity of debt—or lack thereof—push that scenario out a few years?
  
  
• Does it freak anyone else out that total credit market debt is roughly 350% of GDP?
  
  
• Is it a coincidence that the Orlando Magic are playing magically?
  
  
• While watching CNBC’s (excellent) Meeting of the Minds last night, was it really accurate for some (not all) of the best and brightest business leaders in the world to opine that nobody saw this financial mess brewing?
  
  
• Even if we don’t do victory laps or big back pats in the ‘Ville, shouldn’t somebody throw a flag on that one?
  
  
• After ten years, are we really only eight days away from the first chapter of Memoirs?
  
  
• Given one of my favorite Rubyisms was “never speak ill of your competitors,” can I please communicate that many stories from my 20-year career were left on the cutting room floor?
  
  
• Do you believe that your name and word still mean something and honesty, trust and respect are the foundational constructs of any successful endeavor?
  
  
• If so, why haven’t you climbed aboard the Minyanville Underground Railroad, which is going to pick up considerable steam in the months ahead?
  
  
• Why are the only available doctor appointments in the middle of the trading day?
  
  
• What if the green shoots are poison ivy?
  
  
• I suppose this is what we meant when we spoke of the inevitable “voluntary thrift” that would manifest a few years ago?
  
  
• Can I start a club Narcissist’s Now if I’m the only member?
  
  
• WWBD?
  
  
• Societal acrimony? What societal acrimony?
  
  
• Are you reading Minyanville’s Buzz & Banter for real-time assimilation, dynamic communication and idea generation each and every trading session?
  
  
• Will you please join us at The Red Lion Thursday night at 9:00 PM for MV CMO Charlie Mangano and MV COO Tom Egger’s centennial celebrations?
  
  
• After all, isn’t the purpose of the journey the journey itself?
  

R.P.