Google to buy Apple? At what point do rumors stop being rumors and start just being ridiculous statements? At this point.

Google’s market cap currently stands at $158 billion. Apple’s is at $105 billion – but is almost for sure going to go up significantly starting in about 8 days from now… I mean for Google to make a run at Apple what would they do, mortgage AdSense?

Unless M&A goes NBA trade-like and multiple companies start teaming up, unloading contracts and swapping smaller businesses for one superstar, a deal like this simply could not go down. And I mean just look at the last deal – and the only one I can think of off hand – that was this near this size: Time Warner buying AOL. How well did that work out?

The rationale behind this rumor? Speculation on Steve Jobs’ health and wanting to leave Apple in good hands, etc. I definitely expect Apple and Google to move closer and closer going forward, and certainly signs of their growing alliance are popping up every day (just see any of the YouTube/Apple TV/iPhone coverage today) – but to say Google is going to buy Apple is simply an absurd rumor.

This all just kind of feels like a one-upsmanship contest now for the BIGGEST rumor possible. Microsoft/Yahoo, News Corp./Yahoo, Google/Apple…what’s next, the United States to buy Great Britain?