Kass: 20 Questions I Ask Myself

13. Have the markets been negatively impacted and have investors been turned off by the procession of congressional hearings over the past four months, which have uncovered the naiveté and lack of economic knowledge of our legislators, the incoherence and ad hoc nature of our Treasury/Fed officials and the disingenuous attitudes of some of the former leading business executives in the brokerage and financials fields?

14. When will the credit markets really thaw?

15. Will defaults in emerging markets be the next crisis?

On Regulations

16. Will the new SEC Commissioner's first deeds be to re-instate the uptick rule and to amend the mark-to-market rules?

On Financials

17. How long will Bob Rubin remain at Citigroup (C Quote)?

18. Are the rumors of a merger between Morgan Stanley (MS Quote) and Goldman Sachs (GS Quote) accurate?

19. What will be the first major brokerage firm to jettison its research department?

On Surprises

20. Will my surprises list for 2009 be a surprise?

Doug Kass is the author of The Edge, a blog on RealMoney Silver that features real-time shorting opportunities on the market.

---

Know What You Own: At the time of publication, Doug Kass was short Zale, which operates in the jewelry stores industry, and some of the other stocks in its field include Tiffany (TIF Quote), Blue Nile (NILE Quote) and Signet Jewelers (SIG Quote). For more on the value of knowing what you own, visit TheStreet.com's Investing A-to-Z section.