Shrink Rap: The Fox Guards the Hen House, Part 2

Voter turnout for last week's poll was comparatively light, in proportion to the multitudes reading the column. Go figure -- maybe a whole bunch of readers didn't want to click the mouse a few more times. It's an enigma wrapped inside a mystery as to why more than twice as many people voted for question No. 1 and then neglected to follow up by voting on the next two questions.

Hanging chads? Pregnant digital chads? I dunno. But I can tell you this: A vocal contingent of readers in Florida has already demanded a hand recount of the ballots.

Also, readers were able to check on the tabulated results before voting, which could have easily biased their own vote, as they then selected the choice most popular with others. The disgruntled Florida readers based their challenge on this flaw in the tabulation mechanism.

This "join the herd" mentality no doubt helped account for the overwhelming majority of votes cast for answer E on the first question ("Burst out laughing, excuse yourself, and head for the closest bar"). This answer received 58% of the vote, by far the highest percentage on any of the three questions.

This "protest" vote reflects investors' frustration -- not only with their losses, but also with their lack of confidence in the guidance received from brokers. It's unclear how much of this vote represents playing along with the lightheartedness of the spirit of the quiz. There's also an implication to be made regarding all that interest in heading for the closest bar. But let's not go there, as some readers who did neglected to stagger back and complete the quiz.

The results of the second question confirmed readers' negative evaluation of their brokerage reps, as about 38% believed that their broker would "look totally baffled" when it came to identifying a 401(k) for a one-person business. This answer was the leading vote-getter for this question. Not exactly a strong vote of confidence.