in my book. Not batting 1,000, but I will take you on my All Star Team.

10. Home run!

9. Base on balls--this is a Mr. Obvious statement, but you had the courage to take that walk with a full count.

8. Bernanke is not Tall Paul or Greenspan, but then again, how many Tigers or Michaels are there? Solid single up the gap.

7. Strike out on called third strike. (Hey, even Ruth struck out 1,000 times). No, your 401k is not insured, but leaving your money in insured instruments means the principle gets eroded by inflation. If you're gonna score runs (Peter Lynch used to refer to an investment that tripled in value a "three bagger"--another baseball analogy for you) you need to reach out past CD's and T bills. So swing away.

6. Another "K"--you chased a bad ball on this one. The reason to insure banks is to provide liquidity--a "run" on the bank feeds panic and forces institutions to close even if they might be able to cover their deposits. This is the lesson from the bank closures in the 30's.
What we might do, however, is LOWER the 100k that is covered--this would force people to spread their savings/CD's around--diversification not in asset class but at least who is managing your money.

5. They call this "moral hazard" in the insurance biz, stand up double.

4. Another homer! Old Wall Street saying, bears make money, bulls make money, pigs get slaughtered. The oil options market is useful to those industries who use a lot of fuel--airlines, trucking companies, etc.

3. Long fly ball that drops in the corner for another double. Hell, yes, increase the margin requirements. Prior to the Great Depression, stocks could be bought for 10 cents on the dollar. I think it's 17 cents on the dollar for oil options. As for selling mutual funds to cover the margin calls, I don't know what percentage of the options are held by small traders, but I would suggest we increase the size of the contracts, too. It shouldn't bother American Airlines too much, but it might chase some of the day traders out of the business.

2. Don't know about this one, don't know the legalities of the contract that you had (probably specifies in the fine print you didn't read when you signed for your equity loan.) You and the ump are arguing about whether or not the "brush back" pitch actually hit you or not. League office (Congress) might come to your aid, but temporary, you're ejected! (Hey, at least you didn't question his paternity or sexual preferences!)

1. I think you just hit an RBI, though you're out at first. Market always goes down faster than it goes up, and you cannot win by market timing. The good thing about bear markets is that you can buy equities, etc., more cheaply. Buy and hold.

Know I am treating you like an Oriole rather than a Aureole...