And, like you, I am sceptical that credit markets re back to normal. As you say, take away the bid offered by the central bank and a very differentview would emerge. In my estimation, we are buying time until banks can earn enough to be fully recapitalized, despite statements to the contrary. Banking in America is still in crisis – and so are our credit markets.

And, like you, I am sceptical that credit markets re back to normal. As you say, take away the bid offered by the central bank and a very differentview would emerge. In my estimation, we are buying time until banks can earn enough to be fully recapitalized, despite statements to the contrary. Banking in America is still in crisis – and so are our credit markets.

Somewhat related, do you buy the meme that the credit markets are that much better? I'm becoming convinced they aren't at all and that the improvement you see in the various metrics just reflects the impact of government guarantees and the validation that some institutions are not going to fail no matter how badly they're impaired.