April 1st Edition

Good Morning All,

.....and welcome to Financial Fool's Day, you know, the one wherein the G20 leaders all meet to figure out who or what, and is or was, responsible for the mess we are in. Few of these present guys were present at the creation of our collective idiocy but fewer still were alert enough to either speak up or act as the debacle unwound. Either way, it is now up to their collective courage and intellect to solve the current problem and more important still, to put in place, proper and enforceable regulations that will (touch wood or G.W.'s head) prevent a future collapse from occurring....well at least diminish the chances of such.

Although there will be much finger pointing during the days to come, little of this activity will be of consequence; what will be important is the "collective" recognition that there are, and will forever be, people in every generation who believe in the creed so aptly stated in the 1987 movie Wall Street that "greed is good". I use this quote not just because it rings so very well, but also because it wonderfully captures the essence of the much ballyhooed "Reagan Revolution", a time during which the seeds of our crisis were sown. The Reagan legacy was all about smaller government and deregulation....the market place, Republicans believed then and continue to espouse now, is the solution to every problem, as it will level the playing field for all, creating prosperity across the globe. Ah the joys of trickle down economics.. eh !

I continue to abuse myself by spending far too much time watching the ideologues on CNBC, and despite the now famous send up by comedian, cum political commentator Jon Stewart, they remain largely unabashed by such criticism. One of theirs' and Wall Street's most interesting rants seems to surround the concept that Main Street, the Democrats and a number of other newly ordained populists are indulging themselves in a form of class warfare. Wow, what a concept that would be....or come to think of it...isn't that precisely what these guys have been waging against the disappearing middle class, lo these many years.

Markets finally staged my long predicted three week rally and after a Monday pause for recollection, moved up on Tuesday. We may spend a little time in the new trading range but the mid term bias should be upward, despite bad economic news and the coming earnings data. When markets go up in the face of bad news, they are showing a clear sign of seller exhaustion. This may only be a "bear market rally" but as history shows, these events can be both broad ranging and profitable. Intel (under 15) yields 3.8% and has no financial problems while Alcoa at sevenish has many, but trades for nearly nothing at these levels.

There are now web sites that proclaim "let the revolution begin" a sure sign of the times. I will however stick to my more moderate mantra; "let's get on with the renaissance".