Having received many comments about my American Idol post (American Idol: Are Indian call centers skewing the vote?) and remaining puzzled about how a clearly out-classed contestant, Sanjaya, beat out several more talented contestants round after round to remain among the final twelve, I believe I now have come up with a plausible answer.

The answer can, surprisingly, be found in the stock market trends and the daily closing prices -- no kidding!

American Idol will start the countdown tonight from 12 hopeful singers down to the one happy winner. There will be surprises along the way just like in any kind of market. Voting will be with telephone calls and text messages instead of money, but to avid fans, the stakes for their favorites are high. We are told this is the top-rated show on television.

Remember the often quoted comment by Benjamin Graham? He said, "In the short-term the markets are like voting machines, but over the long-term they are like weighing machines." Well, in the short term strange things can happen but in the long term it should make sense. Not perfect sense, but close!