Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Here Ya Go, Peace With The taliban

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Just saw this today.  And they're opening an office in Qatar for negotiations Money Laundering.

It's time to leave Afghanistan.  All else aside, when the commitment to win is gone, then it is time to leave and stop offering up our folks for target practice.

Update:  Ok, here's some really smooth guitar to ease the subject a little.  Do you think she was thinking that the guitar player stole the show?



Update2:  Market up today, Gold up. Dollar down big. See UUP chart. Oil and all else reacting to the dollar, not so much Iran - or the economic numbers, as the idiot media would have you thinking.  The dollar action will tell you all you need to know.  This may change but since the 2008 crash and until further notice, it's all been about the dollar value.
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14 comments :

  1. Hey Kid - Amen - if victory is not the commitment then YES - do not offer up our precious folks. Much of America has adopted the philosophy that "half-hearted effort" is OK. Just look at the job place. Mom always said, usually as she was clubbing me for something I did poorly, "do it right the first time and you won't have to do it again...Dean, are you listening?"

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  2. DeanO, you struck a chord with "Much of America has adopted the philosophy that "half-hearted effort" is OK."

    I'd say that explains much about obama supporters. They're not successful themselves, have few talents, and therefore cannot relate to success and achievement. They relate to their own world, and because of that they see obama as a success. Because they perceive "he is trying". Needs "More time", etc etc, every lame excuse in the book that frankly fills their own lives.


    And thank you. Afghanistan reminds me of what I know about Vietnam. Never given the will or commitment to win, yet the Last people who were there were running helicopters pulling people's kids mostly off of roofs in Saigon from the arms of mothers who knew the slaughter by the NVA was coming and was actually only blocks away.
    Damn Sam...
    Our military will go through hell and not ask for a glass of water, which is why leadership needs to recognize and pull them out.

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  3. what a fiasco this alleged war on terror truly was..I feel sick for the family of our Military..................Happy New Year!:)

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  4. I is time to get out of the endless involvements -militarily- the founders warned us about that - George Washington was very specific about staying out of the affairs of Europe- and he would say - today- out of the affairs that do not directly affect the US -
    and -DRILL OUR OWN OIL!!!!

    C-CS

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  5. Carol-CS. Agreed!

    We can't fix the world, much as the 'best of us' would like to.

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  6. Kid:

    For what it's worth coming out of my evil, hate spewing keyboard, the market is a lagging indicator of what's going on in the world.

    These dopey talking heads linking market movement with current events may seem reasonable, but the market is looking way, WAY down the road.

    Commodities can't be looked at daily, with any logical trends associated with their up and down movements, although day traders love the stuff.

    I just love the way the talking heads tell us about why 'the market' did this or that.

    Just like 'the man,' 'the market' is a nebulous collection of all of us, and the movement of money in and out of equities and commodoties really is meaningless on a day to day basis if you look for trends in the very long run.

    Gold is too high. The price will return to earth after the election, a year or two from now when President Romney gets rid of Obamacare, Dodd Frank and a few other liberal programs that will kill us.

    Oil is probably too low. Too much demand for the stuff and no end in sight to increasing demand, and no alternative (despite the green moonbats' dreams) to its use into the foreseeable future, either.

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  7. Fredd, Technically, I'm not a day trader, but as stated earlier, I have no patience. I sold half the NUGT yesterday when the dollar was down big (Gold up big) and the other half this morning on the early pop.

    Waiting to see what the dollar does as it's right up against the trend line it broke down through couple days ago.

    If you have a stock watchlist, put UUP on there. It is the ETF for the Dollar. Uncanny how it's down when the market is up and up when the market is down. ;-] 98% of the time. It's all that matters outside of some company that really reports blowout numbers or something and gets repriced.

    Yea, I have no idea why those 17 yr old girls tapping news into their word processors feel the need to 'explain the market'.

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  8. My dad used to say "Do it right or don't do it at all." I used to piss him off that way when I was young. Now I am all over my kids the same way. My middle kid just thanked me for being that way; she has her own hair stylist business and is doing pretty well because she does it right the first time.

    Kid what do you recommend as far as getting out of my stock oriented IRA? This is killing me.

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  9. Sig, "doing it right 1st time" yes. Man, it sure seems we've taken some huge strides backwards as a country in that regard. oblabber sure has had the bar lowered.

    Stock IRA no good? Hmmm. The S&P500 is flat for 2011. Started at 1258, ended at 1258.

    Stock funds should be also flat on the year if they're halfway decent. Sounds like the funds your IRA are in are no good. How much flexibility do you have to move stuff around? Vanguard funds are good for example.

    If the dollar keeps heading down, having it in cash or a money market fund will keep you walking backwards too.

    The market is all about the dollar value. Dollar up, market down, dollar down, market up. I swear that's all you gotta know to understand the day to day, but for a longer term investment strategy, that info doesn't help much.

    I personally have my 401 as 50% money market earning 0, and 50% in a S&P500 Index fund thru Fidelity.

    I'm thinking the first quarter of the year will allow me to profit a little on that, and if true, I'll be looking to pull that back to the money market 0% ROI fund if I get spooked from March forward. (I'm required to leave the money in for 90 days or suffer a penalty and a trading restriction with Fidelity so that is the main reason I'm playing that money so close to the vest.)

    If I had more flexibility I'd do some different things, so it depends on what options you have for same. Lemme know.

    I will say the guys I read at Minyanville.com like Todd Harrison who has an excellent track record for being ahead of the curve going back the 5-6 years I've been reading them thinks we've got another 5 years or so of muck, but after that some fantastic opportunities will open up. I certainly share that view and shy of any other information, I'd consider putting very small amounts into real estate based things like REITS (would have to research which ones), and maybe a little in some banks like Citibank, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo. If I did that Today, I wouldn't have more than 10% of the account into them. Putting small amounts in every year when they look extremely weak. Technology always leads a bull market so I'd put small amounts there also, cost averaging in. Lastly, a little into emerging markets, since banana countries aren't very exposed to the financial crisis stuff.

    I would consider this a good short easy read summary for this conversation

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  10. If I had money to play with--it would be for Day Trading! Now and back as 2009!
    Some swing trading (2 or 4 months at a time).
    This environment is ripe for pickings for day trading.
    If I had more money---4EX, the Dollar is jumping against foreign money up and down--there has to be tell signs of a pattern.
    Of course I'm an old craps player, and the Old ones at the tables told me Stocks are just a step above Craps.

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  11. They Say, I can't argue with any of that. I wouldn't call myself a day trader, but I also don't hold positions long.

    I find trend lines, and support resistance zones and the MACD to be (simplistically) very valuable as indicators of when to move.

    Check UUP for the dollar. It broke a 2 month uptrend a couple days ago hard, then today it 'rallied' back to just underneath that trend line. A failed test. I'm thinking it heads back down tomorrow or soon which means everything else goes up. But I'm going to wait and see which way before placing a bet.

    The Biggest mistake people make in the market is their "Need" to be right. They research the hell out of it, come to a conclusion and make their bet. They need to be right. I make no such emotional investment.
    I realize I know very little of what the big money knows and therefore, I am willing to change direction on a dime. Not based on emotion though. Emotion is the main enemy in the market. Based on information, technical analysis of the charts, etc. I have no need to be 'right' I only want to make money.

    It is what is commonly referred to as dancing between the elephants.

    But yes, now is a great time for day and swing trading. The Market is very ADD last year and I see no reason for it to change anytime soon. With Europe, there is a very rich environment for big moves in the dollar that if you can get in the groove can be profitable. Trend lines seem most valuable there.

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  12. Yea, emotional trading is the downfall of most investors.
    Make money---pennies and a nichol and dime is all you need to make, in quantity.
    I learned soooo much from the dice tables. Buy, split, take down to half after a hit, when to take down; and so on and so on. Numbers that hit after a couple of other numbers. There is always a trend if you keep concentration and eyes open. Oh, and eyes open to the Main Stream Media-gives a lot away. Current events are the investors best friend. Must be a way of signals to the big money peoples friends.

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  13. They Say, it is possible to learn enough about the markets and trading to be able to make some fairly high percentage bets.

    Long Term Investing? Total crap shoot. Individuals can't be Warren Buffet because they can't get the deals and the protections he gets when he buys into a company.

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