I respect your thoughts and opinions. I do not know enough about the nuances of the existing laws so I won't pretend to act like I do. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I am not fighting for a political position, just expressing my gratitude and appreciation for the fact that people are alive and ready to fight oppression by the chosen few. Whether the culprits are republicans or democrats.....I don't care. I don't think there is much difference between the two.......the Republicans have more balls.....so they are testing out extreme policies in Wisconsin as an experiment (according to The Guardian) http://tinyurl.com/4ohoxqp
Just because people in the private sector have been mistreated for so long, it does not mean the public sector should be screwed as well. Rather people should take advantage of this momentum and organize into bigger movements across the nation. This is the power of the people. Pontificating and subscribing to ideologies alone is not going to do anything.
I worked at GM for couple years and came across many people who had been working there for 25+ years. Every day I would hear them bitch and complain about the company or the environment but they did not want to do anything about it......why?? because they doubt their ability to get another job, or they are waiting for the day they will become eligible for pension benefits, or most of them think they need the company more than the company needs them.....there are many reasons.
In my mind this is nothing but manifestation of different kinds of fears. Obviously, the corporate world wants you to remain fearful because it serves their best interests and keeps people relatively suppressed and tamed. I do not have any sympathy for people who do not want to change anything but just want to keep complaining. Its all hollow unless accompanied by action. I personally left GM for an entrepreneurial venture and have enjoyed the freedom and creativity. Of course, there is a price to pay for that......e.g. ~$12K/year out of pocket for my family's health insurance alone.
Yes, we do need to change the constitution. I do not think we need a lot of laws if people learn how to surrender to the bigger mysteries of this universe. At the most, us humans can live for about 100 years, which is a mere blip when you think about geological time scales. We are too arrogant and stupid to think that money is the ultimate metric of progress and ignore the basic tenets of life. The key to unlocking the human potential is not ever increasing quarterly profits. Each of us needs to stop looking outside and blaming external factors. We need to direct our attention inwards......thats where the treasure is. Its not easy since it requires very acute and sharp awareness.
Inspired by Bill's comments on the morning of 11/18/2010, I expressed some of my feelings as well but not a single response, negative or positive. Maybe, now is a good time to revisit that discussion. http://caracommunity.com/content/bill-caras-blog-n...
I thank you for responding to my comments and continuing this discussion. Peace!
I hail from India.......it is a developing nation and there is a long list of negatives associated with it.......political corruption tops the list in my mind. However, the people of India don't hesitate to challenge authority and it doesn't take a lot for thousands to march down the streets.
In contrast to the culture I grew up with, I always thought there is too much apathy in America.....nobody cares about the collective good as long as they have their McMansion. However, the events of the past couple days in Madison, WI changes all of that. It is encouraging and motivating to see people fight for their rights. http://tinyurl.com/4sh7tx3
I am not fighting for a political position.......I am just thrilled to see people marching down the streets and honking horns........we are alive and ready to fight oppression.
It took me all the way back to 1990.....I was in seventh grade and everyone left school to join the protests http://tinyurl.com/4z2tbg8.
I could not agree more with your statements in the morning blog and it inspires me to share some thoughts with folks on this blog. Maybe this will be the start of something bigger.
I personally have been very disillusioned by the way society operates in general. I never used to think in those terms and just like everyone, I wanted to be successful, make a good living, etc. Less than a year ago, my wife and I had a beautiful baby and I believe it has been the catalyst for change in my mindset. I have also taken up yoga and started working on my shadow material, which has been a game changer as well. See the following links for details on shadow and Carl Jung (http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/jung.html , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology))
The foundation of current society is based on greed and excess. What is in it for me?.....How can I screw the other guy for my benefit?.....How to show more earnings per share every quarter?......Excess of everything, including technology. This is where the fundamental problem lies. Whether you go the route of Buddhist meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Zen, psychedelics....you name it......the essence of life is gratitude and appreciation. My brother's benefit is my benefit. That is what eventually leads to happiness.
After a baby is born, for the first couple years, he or she is a ball of energy, pure, no notions, no concept of good or bad......and then as they grow up, they suppress parts of their individuality and purity of thought to gain love from their families and fit in with society in general. We put on this facade of being good all the time and neglect the animal inside us. It is important to make friends with the dark side of human nature as well. Experts believe that man made calamities such as war are a result of such suppressed behavior in individuals. Bush is a good example.
So, how are we going to change all of this and who is going to do that? As you said in your blog, ALL OF US!!
1. We need to find people who cannot be moved by money and material concerns. A lobbyist cannot buy a mansion for them and swing their vote. Individuals such as Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich stand out in this regard.
2. The government-corporate nexus needs to be demolished and you have laid out some suggestions in this regard already.
3. The government needs to promote values of life and not "excess". Nurturing your kids, loving your family, being a responsible individual is more important than blowing a fortune at the mall or the latest gadgets.
4. Election cycles need to be shorter. No ridiculous ad spending.....just old school debates. Come to think of it, the media gets paid an exorbitant amount of money for not adding too much to society. It is the teachers, engineers, doctors, firemen, that need to be rewarded. OK, maybe traders as well :)
5. THE LOGIC PARTY: I suggest a movement called the logic party. The reason we even have to call it a party is because people won't listen to you otherwise. The ideals of this party are based on simple, basic values of life, something that a republican or democrat cannot deny. Love your family, spend time with your kids, education is important, institutions responsible for people should be completely owned by the government, say no to war, etc. The logic party will give a voice to any individual who wants to serve the better interests of their fellow people. Any of us could contest for a government office and the logic party gives us a voice. It is our campaign, our revolution. How many people with a pure conscience must have thought about serving in the government, but they never took the first step because it involves too much money, too much effort. The purpose of the logic party is to enable these people to follow their heart and make a difference to the society.
My biggest fear is the role of media, as Bill pointed out. The media has been abused by a few people who are in control. What should we do about that ? We need media to have our voice heard, so people know what the logic party is but maybe shunning the corporate controlled media is an even better option. I am not sure about that yet. Any thoughts?
I realize a lot of this is just wishful thinking but I have finally decided to at least talk about it. Thanks to all of you for providing this platform :)
Being from Punjab myself, I really got a kick out of 'Sa-crood'/'Suck-rude' :). They say when you speak Urdu it is as if you are showering someone with flowers. Punjabi on the other hand is like throwing stones at someone (especially depending on which part of Punjab you hail from).
Korvus alluded to the possibility of this process being automated if he has minute by minute raw data. Since the objective of this process is speed, I feel like it has to be automated (at least to some extent).
Personally I would use the ACD method as one datapoint. I would like to confirm the signals with RSI/MACD. More the evidence , better it is.
I agree that monitoring Cara 100 stocks is the way to go. For one, a significant amount of work has already been done to come up with a list of quality stocks. Also, because we follow these stocks regularly we are more aware of the rhythm (or dance as Bill calls it) compared to some other random list that the screen might come up with everyday.
Count me in as a volunteer. I am new to this (~ 6 months trading experience) but the motivation to learn is there. Look forward to this group experiment.
Shark, I think that is a great idea. We should have some discussion regarding standardizing the criteria to follow. I am assuming most of this will be TA based (RSI, ATR, MACD). Look forward to hearing your thoughts on this.
I have been a regular reader of this blog for about 6 months and this is my first post. Thanks to everyone in this community for the discourse. I have learnt a lot from you guys and continue to do so. I am starting to get my feet wet with a few trades here and there. Still dont know about options so trying to be smart about my trades with risk management as the first priority (Thanks Bill for hammering this in your book. I keep telling myself the same thing over and over again).
So, today I bought DIG (@31.64), GDX (@28.50) and SRS (@81.00). As of now, I am +24% SRS, -7.7% DIG and -3.13% GDX.
My personal opinion is that I should still hold SRS and see the movement tomorrow before making a decision since the price movement was backed by solid volume. I expect GDX and DIG to move into the positive territory if the Euro appreciates against the USD further tomorrow.
I would appreciate if you guys could provide feedback on my thoughts. As I mentioned, this is a learning process for me and I want to know how the thought process of experienced traders like yourself works.
I agree, its just an illusion anyways.
Grym,
I respect your thoughts and opinions. I do not know enough about the nuances of the existing laws so I won't pretend to act like I do. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I am not fighting for a political position, just expressing my gratitude and appreciation for the fact that people are alive and ready to fight oppression by the chosen few. Whether the culprits are republicans or democrats.....I don't care. I don't think there is much difference between the two.......the Republicans have more balls.....so they are testing out extreme policies in Wisconsin as an experiment (according to The Guardian)
http://tinyurl.com/4ohoxqp
Just because people in the private sector have been mistreated for so long, it does not mean the public sector should be screwed as well. Rather people should take advantage of this momentum and organize into bigger movements across the nation. This is the power of the people. Pontificating and subscribing to ideologies alone is not going to do anything.
I worked at GM for couple years and came across many people who had been working there for 25+ years. Every day I would hear them bitch and complain about the company or the environment but they did not want to do anything about it......why?? because they doubt their ability to get another job, or they are waiting for the day they will become eligible for pension benefits, or most of them think they need the company more than the company needs them.....there are many reasons.
In my mind this is nothing but manifestation of different kinds of fears. Obviously, the corporate world wants you to remain fearful because it serves their best interests and keeps people relatively suppressed and tamed. I do not have any sympathy for people who do not want to change anything but just want to keep complaining. Its all hollow unless accompanied by action. I personally left GM for an entrepreneurial venture and have enjoyed the freedom and creativity. Of course, there is a price to pay for that......e.g. ~$12K/year out of pocket for my family's health insurance alone.
Yes, we do need to change the constitution. I do not think we need a lot of laws if people learn how to surrender to the bigger mysteries of this universe. At the most, us humans can live for about 100 years, which is a mere blip when you think about geological time scales. We are too arrogant and stupid to think that money is the ultimate metric of progress and ignore the basic tenets of life. The key to unlocking the human potential is not ever increasing quarterly profits. Each of us needs to stop looking outside and blaming external factors. We need to direct our attention inwards......thats where the treasure is. Its not easy since it requires very acute and sharp awareness.
Inspired by Bill's comments on the morning of 11/18/2010, I expressed some of my feelings as well but not a single response, negative or positive. Maybe, now is a good time to revisit that discussion.
http://caracommunity.com/content/bill-caras-blog-n...
I thank you for responding to my comments and continuing this discussion. Peace!
I hail from India.......it is a developing nation and there is a long list of negatives associated with it.......political corruption tops the list in my mind. However, the people of India don't hesitate to challenge authority and it doesn't take a lot for thousands to march down the streets.
In contrast to the culture I grew up with, I always thought there is too much apathy in America.....nobody cares about the collective good as long as they have their McMansion. However, the events of the past couple days in Madison, WI changes all of that. It is encouraging and motivating to see people fight for their rights. http://tinyurl.com/4sh7tx3
I am not fighting for a political position.......I am just thrilled to see people marching down the streets and honking horns........we are alive and ready to fight oppression.
It took me all the way back to 1990.....I was in seventh grade and everyone left school to join the protests
http://tinyurl.com/4z2tbg8.
Let the truth prevail.
Bill,
I could not agree more with your statements in the morning blog and it inspires me to share some thoughts with folks on this blog. Maybe this will be the start of something bigger.
I personally have been very disillusioned by the way society operates in general. I never used to think in those terms and just like everyone, I wanted to be successful, make a good living, etc. Less than a year ago, my wife and I had a beautiful baby and I believe it has been the catalyst for change in my mindset. I have also taken up yoga and started working on my shadow material, which has been a game changer as well. See the following links for details on shadow and Carl Jung (http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/jung.html , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology))
The foundation of current society is based on greed and excess. What is in it for me?.....How can I screw the other guy for my benefit?.....How to show more earnings per share every quarter?......Excess of everything, including technology. This is where the fundamental problem lies. Whether you go the route of Buddhist meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Zen, psychedelics....you name it......the essence of life is gratitude and appreciation. My brother's benefit is my benefit. That is what eventually leads to happiness.
After a baby is born, for the first couple years, he or she is a ball of energy, pure, no notions, no concept of good or bad......and then as they grow up, they suppress parts of their individuality and purity of thought to gain love from their families and fit in with society in general. We put on this facade of being good all the time and neglect the animal inside us. It is important to make friends with the dark side of human nature as well. Experts believe that man made calamities such as war are a result of such suppressed behavior in individuals. Bush is a good example.
So, how are we going to change all of this and who is going to do that? As you said in your blog, ALL OF US!!
1. We need to find people who cannot be moved by money and material concerns. A lobbyist cannot buy a mansion for them and swing their vote. Individuals such as Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich stand out in this regard.
2. The government-corporate nexus needs to be demolished and you have laid out some suggestions in this regard already.
3. The government needs to promote values of life and not "excess". Nurturing your kids, loving your family, being a responsible individual is more important than blowing a fortune at the mall or the latest gadgets.
4. Election cycles need to be shorter. No ridiculous ad spending.....just old school debates. Come to think of it, the media gets paid an exorbitant amount of money for not adding too much to society. It is the teachers, engineers, doctors, firemen, that need to be rewarded. OK, maybe traders as well :)
5. THE LOGIC PARTY: I suggest a movement called the logic party. The reason we even have to call it a party is because people won't listen to you otherwise. The ideals of this party are based on simple, basic values of life, something that a republican or democrat cannot deny. Love your family, spend time with your kids, education is important, institutions responsible for people should be completely owned by the government, say no to war, etc. The logic party will give a voice to any individual who wants to serve the better interests of their fellow people. Any of us could contest for a government office and the logic party gives us a voice. It is our campaign, our revolution. How many people with a pure conscience must have thought about serving in the government, but they never took the first step because it involves too much money, too much effort. The purpose of the logic party is to enable these people to follow their heart and make a difference to the society.
My biggest fear is the role of media, as Bill pointed out. The media has been abused by a few people who are in control. What should we do about that ? We need media to have our voice heard, so people know what the logic party is but maybe shunning the corporate controlled media is an even better option. I am not sure about that yet. Any thoughts?
I realize a lot of this is just wishful thinking but I have finally decided to at least talk about it. Thanks to all of you for providing this platform :)
-HSJ (CTA client and blog lurker)
Ron,
Thanks for a wonderful post.
Being from Punjab myself, I really got a kick out of 'Sa-crood'/'Suck-rude' :). They say when you speak Urdu it is as if you are showering someone with flowers. Punjabi on the other hand is like throwing stones at someone (especially depending on which part of Punjab you hail from).
Thanks again and have a wonderful Sunday.
Not sure if this has been posted already. If this moves forward, it should be very interesting to follow.
http://tinyurl.com/lgth2d
http://wallstnation.com/GE-Short-stock-puts-011309...
Any thoughts ?
Bought some @27
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/04/business/re...
Hopefully this will start a discussion on possible trading opportunities down the road.
Bill,
Korvus alluded to the possibility of this process being automated if he has minute by minute raw data. Since the objective of this process is speed, I feel like it has to be automated (at least to some extent).
Personally I would use the ACD method as one datapoint. I would like to confirm the signals with RSI/MACD. More the evidence , better it is.
http://slopeofhope.com/2009/01/04/current_bear_ral...
I agree that monitoring Cara 100 stocks is the way to go. For one, a significant amount of work has already been done to come up with a list of quality stocks. Also, because we follow these stocks regularly we are more aware of the rhythm (or dance as Bill calls it) compared to some other random list that the screen might come up with everyday.
Count me in as a volunteer. I am new to this (~ 6 months trading experience) but the motivation to learn is there. Look forward to this group experiment.
Shark, I think that is a great idea. We should have some discussion regarding standardizing the criteria to follow. I am assuming most of this will be TA based (RSI, ATR, MACD). Look forward to hearing your thoughts on this.
See attached graph
http://tinyurl.com/6ljklg
Most of the gold stocks are down 7+% and GRS is up 4.8%. Can anyone explain this anomaly ? The volume is pretty low.
Like Bill said, GS sure knows how to make money.
http://tinyurl.com/5xxa88
I have been a regular reader of this blog for about 6 months and this is my first post. Thanks to everyone in this community for the discourse. I have learnt a lot from you guys and continue to do so. I am starting to get my feet wet with a few trades here and there. Still dont know about options so trying to be smart about my trades with risk management as the first priority (Thanks Bill for hammering this in your book. I keep telling myself the same thing over and over again).
So, today I bought DIG (@31.64), GDX (@28.50) and SRS (@81.00). As of now, I am +24% SRS, -7.7% DIG and -3.13% GDX.
My personal opinion is that I should still hold SRS and see the movement tomorrow before making a decision since the price movement was backed by solid volume. I expect GDX and DIG to move into the positive territory if the Euro appreciates against the USD further tomorrow.
I would appreciate if you guys could provide feedback on my thoughts. As I mentioned, this is a learning process for me and I want to know how the thought process of experienced traders like yourself works.
Thanks from cold and wintry Wisconsin!