Answers I Really Wanna Know: Who's Putting Up the Bailout Cash?

• So, it's been three days since the $100 er, $200 billion bank bailout started making the rounds and I still have to ask—who is putting up the cash?
  
  
• I mean, I understand Hank and the Banks wanna create an arbitrary floor under the collateralized paper market but aren't the details a bit sketchy?
  
  
• And if things are getting better—as is being espoused by every government orifice—why do we need this so bad?
  
  
• Didn't Ben Bernanke say—just yesterday—that credit conditions have improved since the summer "doldrums?"
  
  
• Hey Ben, what's in your wallet?
  
  
• Are the banks and governments—seemingly stuck at the hip—simply buying time?
  
  
• But hasn't this been the case since the back of the tech bubble?
  
  
• And on the heels of 9/11?
  
  
• And into the Iraq War?
  
  
• And after the last election?
  
  
• In a finance-based economy, doesn't it make sense that they would target the world's largest thermometer?
  
  
• Even if the asset class ascent comes at the expense of the greenback?
  
  
• At least until foreign holders of dollar-denominated assets stand up and act out?
  
  
• Isn't the only difference between intervention and manipulation communication?
  
  
• And didn't Hank all but admit that there is a Plunge Protection Team?
  
  
• Only now we call it "The Working Group on Financial Markets?
  
  
• A.K.A. "The Invisible Hand"
  
  
• Now, now, doesn't it feel better now that we've gotten that off our chest?
  
  
• Or should we delve into the behind-the-scenes August calls between the government and top-tier hedge funds?
  
  
• Or should we simply move on?
  
  
• I agree, so how 'bout we talk about earnings?
  
  
• And how the reaction to news is more important than the news itself?
  
  
• Are General Electric (GE) and Citigroup (C), both of which were sold on their earnings releases, a precursor of what's to come?
  
  
• Or simply an excuse to take some profits after a mighty, meaty run?
  
  
• Is Baidu (BIDU) gonna pin $300 on expiration Friday?
  
  
• Has anyone ever seen Shanghai 10,000 and NASDAQ 5000 in the same room at the same time?
  
  
• Why does crude matter now when it didn't matter between $30 to $40, $40 to $50, $50 to $60, $60 to $70, $70 to $80, $80 to $85...?
  
  
• Shouldn't we really worry when it starts to spill hard?
  
  
• Being the week of the crash and all, are you hearing all the "100-year storm analogies?
  
  
• That couldn't happen today, right?
  
  
• I mean, wouldn't that be like an entirely snow free glacier?
  
  
• Or a 100-year drought?
  
  
• And what are the odds that it happens on two continents?
  
  
• Can you tell that, following my 6:00 trainer, I'm a bit hangry this morning?
  
  
• Isn't it time I saw some old friends as it's good for the soul?
  
  
• Are you gonna join us as we celebrate the journey and give something back?
  
  
• While the news is D.R. Horton (DHI) isn't exactly a scoop, how many investors saw the Ericsson (ERIC) news coming?
  
  
• Horton heard a Hoo?
  
  
• Wasn't Cindy Lou the smallest of the Who's?
  
  
• And how bout that news between Jan and Marsha?
  
  
• Will the 25% haircut in ERIC—coupled with less than thrilling reports from LG Electronics, POSCO (PKX), Roche and Genentech (DNA)—put a damper on Santa?
  
  
• Particularly after the Citi, Eaton (ETN) and  Philips Electronics NV (PHG) slippage yesterday?
  
  
• Or is that just what Bonnie wants us to think?
  
  
• Are you watching S&P 1455 as an ursine backstop, if and when?
  
  
• Are you watching PHH Corporation (PHH) as a near-term deal psychology proxy?
  
  
• Would an accounting mess at Goldman Sachs (GS) be a fitting top to the psychology bubble?
  
  
• And there's no societal acrimony?
  
  
• The opening, already?

R.P.