Hey Edgy, Just had a chance to read your response to my post of the other day. Rather interesting reply for a Christmas day. You post part of my post and then write, "Heard and read too often" and proceed to list things you think should be obvious to me or at least wise me up. I gather that was your intent. Did I read you correctly? If so, funny thing is that all the points you list also belong in the "heard and read too often" category even more so than mine. I wonder what I am to make of that.

First of all, In case you didn't get it, that paragraph of mine was just one of several meant to be a simple personal Xmas expression of frustration, feeble as it was, felt by so many of us, especially at this time of year. Of course people have heard it all before. And felt it too. Much of what is written on this board has been written before many, many times, just in different terms.

Your facts are written with such certainty that they lump you into the expert category yourself that you later refer to with "Never mind what "Experts" say. Look at the facts for yourselfs." You ask, "Are any of these statements not agreeing as you see things?" Well, yes, several.

Though I have neither the time nor patience to respond further, suffice to say that such comments as: experts are for advice only, the Plunge Protection Team is mainly responsible if the dollar should rise on occasion, never mind what the experts say, and the like are way off my radar screen and not some advice I would offer as fact to someone else. Far from it. But to each his own.