Sort & Cull

When Mike Gmoser, the prosecutor in southwestern Ohio's Butler County, took the trouble to indict Punxsutawney Phil for purposely, and with prior calculation and design, causing the people to believe that spring would come early, it told me more about him than the scheming intent of a stupid ground hog.

First of all, Mr. Gmoser is just not a very busy guy. Either that or the crime rate in Cincinnati has suddenly taken a nosedive, leaving local jails as thinly populated as the Tom Vilsack fan club.

Furthermore, his office is clearly not worried about public layoffs linked to the sequester. I mean, there's a reason why meat inspectors and air traffic controllers have been struggling to suppress their natural inclination to bring the funny.

Having said that, something tells me to set up a defense fund for poor Phil, a fellow prognosticator now angrily besieged by the same shivering mob that only six weeks ago were begging the clueless rodent for advice.

For some reason, there's something about a "shoot the messenger" policy that make me nervous. Go figure.

Sadly, when you think about it, market analysts sometimes seem like nothing more than overeducated ground hogs. If Phil had an MBA in statistical analysis and could skate around charting software, he could move headquarters from Punxsutawney to Wall Street in a heartbeat.

Alas, spring would still be late.

http://www.feelofthemarket.com/…

(AG)