Archives for March 2006

Indeed, since the
development of the political state, human history is incomprehensible
on any hypothesis other than that people hate and fear their freedom.
On the hypothesis that everyone aspires to freedom, it is difficult to
explain why we are continuously subordinated.

…

We want the
government to guarantee our health, deflect hurricanes, educate our
children and license us to drive; we want to be told what to eat, what
to smoke and whom to marry. We are justly proud of the fact that no
enduring society has ever incarcerated more of its people. Noting that
the policeman has a pistol, a club, a stun gun, a can of pepper spray
and a database that includes us, we feel happy and secure.

Our submission is absolute: We want to be operated like puppets and provided for like pets.

(via Radley Balko, who adds a thing or two)

Takes the top spot on the left-side column.

Click on it. If you truly know and understand the philosophy underlying genuine liberty (only about 1 in 10,000 do), you should enjoy it. If you don’t know, that’s fine. Here’s your chance. Review often. Show it to kids.

If you don’t believe in genuine liberty, then I hope you’re dismayed by the fundamental simplicity of it. Then I hope you die young (painfully).

I was laying in bed ’round 6 a.m. this morning when I heard this:

Male voice: "Yeah. Hi. I’m on the 106th floor of the World Trade Center. We just
had an explosion on the, on the like 105th floor … We have smoke and … it’s pretty bad."

911 Operator: "Sit tight. Do not leave, OK?"

I’m not going to get on anyone’s case, here. I’m confident that 911 operators are well trained, professional, and provide generally good, tried & true advice for most situations most of the time.

But people, 911 operators aren’t accustomed to taking calls from exploding skyscrapers. If you called a 911 operator to tell them that there was an explosion in one part of your house and that it was burning, would they tell you not to leave? No, of course not. Naturally, neither the operator, or anyone, had the slightest inkling that the buildings would come down. They probably reasonably thought that the safest place was to stay put. Then again, the guy was there. The operator wasn’t.

I’m just sayin’. You know, even when someone sounds authoritative, it doesn’t necessarily mean they know what they’re talking about, so you’re never really relieved of your responsibility to think and judge for yourself–to make sure the advice you’re getting is sound, and if not, to advise yourself.

It’s particularly necessary to  keep this in mind in today’s shirk responsibility, blame  someone else, tell-me-what-to-do, "CALL THE AUTHORITIES! … WAIT FOR THE AUTHORITIES!" helpless-victim culture.

The Bulls come out at the last minute and suck away most of my profits for the month. Profit $1,598.60. A 3% return on risk for March.

Preliminaries: February Report Card.

Yea, March was a bit disappointing, especially since I was in Vegas for some fun the Wednesday and Thursday before expiration of the March options on the SPX. I ended up monitoring the market pretty closely until 1pm PST each day. But it’s silly to complain. I got a higher return than most investors average in a month, and but for those last two days, it was mostly like watching grass grow for 5-10 minutes each day. Serious. My trading style requires very little time, attention, or stress for over 90% of the trading month.

Those tense times are fun. It’s a love, hate sort of thing. When my positions are attacked, I get all uptight about it. Then, I analyze, and when I act, I do so swiftly and decisively. Thus far, I’ve always come out not only protecting my ass on each roll of a position, but profiting more. Then, I sit back, light a smoke, and reflect on the combat and resolution.

So, here’s the March positions, and I’ve added dates and action from my February format. "STO" means sell to open; "BTO" means by to open; and when there’s a ‘C’ instead of an ‘O,’ we’re closing the position. Those positions that are open, but not closed, end up expiring worthless, i.e., STC and BTC at $0.

(click image for a clearer view)

As you can see, I’d have loved for my situation from 3/02 on to have just continued through to expiration on 3/16, without those two closing trades for large debits (red ink) you see at the top of the chart on the 15th and 16th. Without those, I’d have finished the month with a profit of $9,696 for a 20% return on risk. If if if… The market is never wrong, folks.

As you can see, I wisely shut down the 1300/1310 call on 3/15 for a debit of about $4,900. The SPX March options settled at 1310, so had I not shut down this position, my loss would have been $10,000. Had I not shut it down when I did, it probably would have taken a much higher debit than it did. So, I lost $5k, right? Well, no. Notice that when I opened the position on 2/16, I did so at a net credit of about $3k. So, my loss is $2k then, right? Well, no. As you’ll see below, I just took that maintenance (risk) and rolled it right into an additional 15 contracts of the 1315/1325 April call on 3/16 for a net credit of about $4,800. So, I didn’t lose anything. I simply delayed my profits for another month.

Here’s how April sits, at the moment, with expiration due for 4/19.

(click image for a clearer view)

Finally, here’s the anatomy of a roll, month by month. Notice I’m not only protecting the original profit of $1,000, but tripling it over the three months of rolls.

(click image for a clearer view)

This trade began at the new year, a 1280/1290 Jan call, and within
minutes of getting filled for a $1,000 credit, the market began
shooting up. Finally, when the SPX was at 1285 a week later, $5k into the money, I
rolled out for a debit of $6.5k, so net, I was down about $5.5k. But,
on the same day, 1/09, I rolled that to two positions, the Feb
1285/1295 for the same 10 contracts, and 5 contracts in the Feb
1300/1310. Total credit on both fills was $7.5k, so, I took a $5.5k net
loss and turned it into a $1,000 net gain after keeping my original
$1,000. And so on. See if you can follow. It currently sits for 12
contracts at the Apr 1315/1325. My guess it that I’ll have to roll this
again, but if I do, I intend to make another $1,000 for my trouble.

See you again next month, and we’ll see how April comes out. Do I get to keep my $20k, or do I have to give it back, temporarily, and wait for a May payday?

A comment, from my last post by Dawn Benko.

With all the energy illegals displayed over the weekend during their
rallies to demand rights they cannot claim, I can’t quite understand
why they can’t use that same energy to change things in their own
countries.

The problem is that you’re drawing false distinctions.

If these so-called "rights" cannot legitimately be claimed by
"illegals" (I assume you are referring to certain "entitlements"), then
they can’t legitimately be claimed by "legals" either. Why? Because
they aren’t rights. You have no right, either directly or
through your gun-and-lethal-syrynge-backed agents, the government, to
be "entitled" to anything of mine–not a single cent or second–that I
don’t voluntarily consent to allow you in gift or trade.

Understand: I’m not defending their snuggling up to the public
teat–with its milk a product of the cannibalization of productive
people in bits and pieces–I’m condemning yours, or if you don’t
yourself partake, your advocacy
for others on the arbitrary basis of their having been born here or survived
some gauntlet-maze set up to get in here that hasn’t a thing to do with
me, my property, or my time.

I’ll not dispute that many of them are just as parasitic as that
class of organisms we have in such native abundance here (most
populating government buildings, by the way). But if this, America, can
rightly be claimed as someone’s "own country," as you put it, then such
can rightly be claimed by anyone who wants to claim it. And I’ll tell
you what: some guy crossing the Rio Grande to work his butt off to
support his family has one helluva lot higher moral right to claim it
than does some bloodsucker bureaubot in some nameless g-office, or one
of those G.I. Joe Stormtroopers who regularly knock down the doors of
innocent people who aren’t hurting anyone.

"America" is a spirit, a culture, an ideal, and most of all, a particular ethic, and it exists all over the world.