25 Takes on 2007 Surprises, Part 2

However, I believe Yahoo!(YHOO Quote) is the better bet in 2007.

Kass also believes legislators will question Google's monopoly in 2007. I guess anything can happen, but right now there are many, many choices of online ad platforms, and growing competitors such as Yahoo!'s Panama, Adbrite and even StumbleUpon will force Google to keep being competitive.

20. Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden found dead. Maybe.

21. Corruption scandals in Russia hit emerging markets in 2007. Uh, haven't there been nonstop corruption scandals there already? The government walked in and took over the biggest oil company and sold off all the assets -- and that still didn't scare people out of doing business there.

22. "A large hedge fund lowers its ... fees ... lead[ing] to a 50% reduction in the number of hedge funds." I totally agree with this one. Hedge funds are beginning to resemble large money management firms and even institutions like banks. And, in fact, the bigger funds are getting bought by banks and going public. You can't charge 2 and 20 in an environment like this. Particularly, you can't charge it when firms like WisdomTree are going to introduce actively managed ETFs that consistently outperform the hedge funds.

It's over, guys. I feel bad for the reverse commuters reading The Wall Street Journal on the train to Greenwich, Conn.

23. Ugh, I can't even type about stocks anymore. Kass predicted something about stocks here, but my eyes can't focus anymore.

24. Maria Bartiromo goes to The View. Doug, I hope you're right. I'll start watching it then. If Ellen DeGeneres goes with her, it's a clincher for me.

25. "Mad Money" goes prime-time on CBS in early 2007. I don't know anything about Cramer's contract with CNBC, but I have to think before anything like that happens that Cramer will first do a reality show where he allocates aspiring young hedge fund managers some of his personal money and then drills them, Lightning Round style, on their picks. We follow the contestants while they visit companies and CEOs, talk to analysts, visit some of the great hedge funds and watch them trade, and the eventual winner gets his own hedge fund. I would watch such a show religiously.

Final note to Kass: Try not to worry so much. In March-April 2003, I felt like we were Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, both bullish when everything looked like it was falling apart. What happened, Doug? What happened?!