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Blogs by Joseph T. Manzo
Losers in the Market and in Congress 9/30/2008 7:38:52 AM
"Let the stock market go!" I started on-line trading last week (anyone can with a minimum $500.00 deposit) and I find it rather exciting. I can buy and sell in real time and when the stocks I bet on start to tank I can cut my losses and dump them. From watching the market the last two weeks I definitely would not invest if I was not able to trade in real time.
I was in the market ten years ago because the union I belonged to forced the members too place money into an investment fund. A year before the market tanked in the last business cycle I wanted to pull my money out of the fund. I was disabled and unable to work, but the government and union created a pact that would not let you take your money out unless you were retired. I watched over the next few years, as the Clinton boom went into the bust mode and I lost over $60,000 dollars from the fund.
Last week I played the market and I invested in all the losers. They didn’t disappoint; I lost. However, I didn’t lose a lot because when the stocks started to dive I dumped them. One good thing I did was to cash out at the end of the day. Not all business is conducted during business hours, and if I had held on to the losers like Washington Mutual and Wachovia I would have lost the stock overnight. In life if you hang with losers you become a loser and in the stock market if you bet on losers you lose.
After I reevaluated my strategy from last week I started out Monday September 29, 2008 picking two winners. They went up while all the other stocks were taking a dive. I figured all the other stocks would probably go up if the house passed the rescue plan. You got it; I started to bet on the losers again. Good old San Fran Nancy started to shoot her mouth off, and the bill didn’t pass; and the rest is business history. A feckless Congress combined with people taking their money out of the market because of the extended Jewish Holidays caused record one day point loses. My modest $200 gain quickly took a dive and I bailed out.
As I finish this letter the stock market is once again on the raise. If only the government would stay out of our lives things would be a lot better.
