The Wall Street Journal pay survey is a fascinating read. My initial impression was surprise that Steve Jobs was only number five. But the thing that shocked me the most is that Barry Diller, the CEO of IACI, is number two on that list, having made $1.14B over the years 2000-1010.

This is egregious. Not because Barry Diller is incompetent. He's a a smart guy, and a media visionary. It's because it's way out of line with what his company did. If you include Expedia shares, an IACI spinoff, IACI shareholders lost 18% over the decade period in which Dillar's compenstation was measured, according to the Wall Street Journal. In fact, IACI alone stock fell 80% during the time that Barry Diller made $1B.

I read somewhere recently that watching the market these days is like watching a squirrel trying to cross the street. It zigs, it zags, you're not sure if it will make it to the forest or get flattened by a bus. Couldn't think of a better metaphor.

How else to explain a market that gives up 8% one month and gains it all back another, only to sell off when consumer confidence numbers are announced? And by the way, how do you explain the fact that the market is at highs while consumer confidence is at a five-month low? The answer: We are all squirrels, zigging and zagging randomly across a economically screwed up landscape, trying to find our way.

If there's any good news to be had, it's that the cost of debt is approaching an all-time low. Greeaaaattttt!!! Go borrow some money (if anybody will lend it to you). Yes, today, the 30-year mortgage yield hit all-time lows. Can you figure it out? I can't.

Onto more of the news:

• DuPont profits top estimates, raises guidance (Bloomberg). Well, at least we're still selling tons of chemicals.
• So, we're now back to zero (Bloomberg). Is that really something to get excited about?
• Apple has a new "27-inch Cinema Display." (Apple) Translation: Apple is selling TVs.
• Yes, ComScore is cooking Yahoo's numbers (TechCrunch). And Yahoo is pissed.
• BP CEO Tony Hayward -- one of the most popular people in the Gulf States -- is being banished to Sibera (AP).
• Among Hayward's parting words, before he heads of to a Siberia oil-executive slave camp (we wish): BP was 'a model of social corporate responsibility' (The Guardian). Can somebody, uh, shut this guy up?
• Funnest headline of the day: Blagojevich lawyer may be muzzled (Chicago Tribune). Why stop with the lawyer?
• Fannie and Freddie conference to convene (MarketWatch). Lawmakers said to start with a game of "pin the losses on the asshole."
• Home prices show stability after modest gain (CNNMoney). All five people who still have equity in their homes said to be ecstatic.