Why Are Retail Investors Skeptical?

It's Supposed to Work in the Midwest, at Least

One of the all-time high school pranks growing up -- at least according to urban legend -- was going to the mall and acting like you lost a contact lens.

Step 2: a couple confederates join your "search."

What's supposed to happen next is, clueless passersby join the search while the perpetrators withdraw to the sidelines and watch (and suppress their snide laughs).

The Bernanke Stock Market

Having seen two bubbles -- in tech stocks and then housing -- in the last decade, not to mention the predations of Goldman Sachs, Angelo Mozilo and scores of others, my guess is that "retail investors" (you and me) are now asking themselves two things:

One. Is there really a contact lens in the middle of that growing crowd (read, the now-advancing stock market)?

Two. How expensive is it going to be -- this time -- to find out?

To paraphrase that expression, "fool me twice, shame on you. Fool me three times, shame on me."

P.S.: I can already answer question #3: 'Will anything happen to those responsible?' Answer: 'Nope.'