Highly leveraged hedge funds shlould be allowed to fail. These falks have said emphatically over the years that they want no regulation, they are sofisticated, and can afford to lose money.

The credit crunch is an illusion they are trying to spin so the federal reserve will bail them out. They should take this time to reform their industry from within if they are serious about avoiding regualtion.

I'm glad you tried to deconstruct "jittery," Mr. Leonard; certainly the shotgun marriage of "jittery" to "investors" carries the meanings you sought to convey, and more.

I never know what to think about these market forecasts, in the face of 24-hour news and online investing, and a general speeding up of market information awareness and access, like whether this creates a more responsive market, or simply one more prone to panics and fads.

Maybe both? Maybe the responsiveness creates the panics and the fads to begin with, or perhaps the timely reporting of it (coupled with people's ability to act on that information) causes it. Is the market simply overvalued, too finance-driven, and is in need of actual nuts-and-bolts investment, versus just green waves of wealth washing from shore to shore at the flick of keyboards, following the jittery whims of the media market moments?

The Hypothetical Economy seems to have bolstered the ranks of paper millionaires (is that even a good thing?), but how does that translate into real progress for the majority of people? It's almost the opposite of investment, which implies commitment -- it's something else, something more fickle and fleeting, like endless speed-dating instead of marriage! No wonder folks have the jitters.