We apologize for the length of today’s post.  We are not sure if it is market conditions or the post-holiday effect but we found a large number of link-worthy posts today.

The re-test of the November lows is here.  (Bespoke, FT Alphaville)

Doug Kass’ current take on the market.  (TheStreet.com)

“In investing, Hope is a four letter word.”  (Big Picture)

Prime brokers are thinning the herd of hedge funds they are willing to support.  (WSJ.com, naked capitalism, Dealbreaker, Clusterstock)

Add Stanford Financial Group to the list of post-bubble frauds.  (NYTimes.com)

Very few people are making money now. I have almost stopped trying.”  (Howard Lindzon)

Individual investors are pouring money into high yield bond funds.  (WSJ.com)

How to structure an El-Erian style portfolio using ETFs.  (TheStreet.com)

What does the narrowing of the Treasury-Muni bond spread mean for the markets?  (Marketwatch.com)

How one big hedge fund, Viking Global Investors, broke even for 2008.  (DealBook)

The Yen and the US Dollar are too strong.  (Gregor.us also Bespoke)

13 unexpected consequences of the financial crisis.  (Foreign Policy)

Bankruptcies loom as a big problem for collateralized loan obligations or CLOs.  (naked capitalism)

Three strikes and you are out.  Trump Entertainment (TRMP) enters bankruptcy for the third time.   (DealBook, Clusterstock)

Automaker bankruptcies one step closer to reality.  (WSJ.com, Dealbreaker)

While Sirius XM (SIRI) saves itself for the time being.  (DealBook, Digital Daily, Silicon Alley Insider)

Why Geithner’s plan bombed.  In part because he changed it at the last minute.  (WashingtonPost.com also Clusterstock)

Mr Paulson effectively nationalized the liabilities of major banks without putting in place any effective supervision of banks’ operations.  This is not a winning combination.”  (Baseline Scenario)

Bankruptcy, not bailout, is the free market solution to the bank crisis.  (Marginal Revolution)

Don’t expect our “Sears-like” institutions to spend stimulus cash well.  (Jeff Matthews)

The situation in central Europe is frightening.  (FT Alphaville, Zero Hedge)

Where are all those China bank loans going?  (FT Alphaville)

The Age of Upheaval starts now.  (Foreign Policy via Ideas Blog)

What James Altucher learned hanging out with Howard Lindzon for a day.  (FT.com)

Watching the Twitter Ecosystem evolve.  (GigaOm)

Alien life may already exist among us.  We just need to look for it.  (BBC News)

25 best (and 5 overrated) blogs of 2009.  (Time.com)

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