My opinion about "Occupy"

Bear with me cause this is a very touchy subject. I'd just like to give some food for thought.

I don't agree with the Occupy crowd. I think if you protest, you have an agenda and you attempt to accomplish something. This is the most disorganized mess I've ever seen for a protest, and it has turned into a "protest the police" protest. My friends on facebook have given me many reasons why they back the protesters and tell me what agenda the group, as a whole group, have. Unfortunately, I have not heard any of it from the group itself.

But, that's not the reason I want to give my opinion. The reason is from the recent events where the police have used force. Many people have made the police the bad people and called the use of force "chilling." So here goes:

You can protest peacefully and nobody will stop you. As a matter of fact, it is encouraged in our society. But, you gotta follow the rules.

The protesters at UC Davis, Berkeley, Oakland, etc. knew the rules going in and decided on civil disobedience. If that's the decision you make, here's what happens.

First, you are asked to leave. Not by the police, but in front of the police by those in control of the property that has the rules. Even on public proerty and public places, there are rules. These rules are passed by owners of private property. By Commissions, Boards, Cities, States, or the Federal Government, or by "the People" for public property.

If you do not leave, you are now trespassing. That means you have now committed a crime. You are no longer a peaceful protester, you are now a suspected criminal. This is not about your right to free speech. You have moved past that and on to purposeful criminal actions.

You are then told you are under arrest. This arrest can be as simple as a "ticket" or you can be taken into custody. You will get your day in court. But you still have to leave.

Instead, you lock arms sitting down or other so called passive resistance (some call it "peaceful" resistance in an attempt to make it seem less criminal. Whatever.) You are now committing another crime, resisting arrest. Like it or not, the police now have to decide how to take you into custody.

Use of force experts decided a couple decades ago that oleoresin capsicum (pepper spray) was a good non-violent compliance tool for passive resistance.

Under the FBI's nationally recognized "use of force continuum," and in Supreme Court cases (Graham vs Connor being the most important so far), the amount force necessary is what the "reasonable officer on the scene" feels is needed to effect the arrest. If batons are needed to disperse a crowd, it is authorized. After it's done the lawyers, media, and we can take all the time wanted to disect it.

That being said, I often preach "risk management." Think out the risk, before taking the action. If you are someplace you're not supposed to be, doing something you're not supposed to be doing, don't be suprised when bad things happen. I believe each of these incidents could have very easily been avoided by following the rules. Some absolutely hate the comparison, but the Tea Party protests are a good example. Some occupiers know this and did it anyway, because they knew what would happen. They also knew that the media and the liberals would use it to their favor in redirecting the blame to the big bad "authorities."

I've always been told that when you complain, try to have a solution. If you think the police used excessive force, give a viable alternative method that you feel would work better. Ignoring the law breakers is not a viable option. Email me.

Oh, What A Voice….

In late 2000, early 2001, while downloading a few songs on Napster, I accidently ran across a song called "I Thought About You.”“ The singer was a female artist named Susannah McCorkle. Upon hearing her sing, I thought “this is someone I could listen to.” Her voice was sultry and jazzy like Cassandra Wilson or Diana Ross. I then started looking for other Sussannah McCorkle songs.

Susannah sang many Billy Holliday tunes and others that I classified as nightclub music. I liked her singing so much, I decided that I would watch and hoped she would do a concert in Southern California. So I started checking the internet. Much to my shock and disappointment, I found that she had passed away in May 2001.
It was reported that Miss McCorkle had been fighting depression for years and it finally got the best of her. She died from suicide. She jumped from the balcony to the street below at her 16th floor Manhattan apartment. She left a detailed suicide note and it is rumored that there was a note in her pocket asking that someone check on her cat.
There was a nice article about her in the NY Times May 24, 2001

I heard she had recorded over 3000 songs. So, my question was why hadn’t I heard of her? Seems most of her work was done in Europe. Too bad, because as you’ll hear…. Oh, What A Voice!

Here's one of my favorites: Waters of March

Day Trading Follow Up

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So, it’s been about 7 months since I last wrote about Day Trading. Since then, I have read more than 15 books on the subject and countless internet articles. I opened an account with Trade Station who let me trade on a real-time simulator for practically free this entire time. I have yet to make a real live trade.

So, here’s the deal. To become a pattern day trader, I must fund my account with $35,000.00. I can trade futures for much less, but the trading will be pretty much the same.

Have I determined if I think I can make money. Yes I have, and yes, I believe I can. BUT, do I think I can make enough money to make it worth it. By “it”, I mean my time, my efforts, and my well being. Hmmm. I can see where I possibly could become a successful trader. But, for now, No!
Right now the market is soooo volatile that it is crazy to think a long term trade is worthwhile. That same volatility makes short and “active” trading very unpredictable. One day the trades win and do exactly what I think only to be slapped back down the next day.

Let’s say I did fund the account to $35k. I would only have to make an average of about $8.75 a day to make more than what I currently get on that money (fixed rate account.) But, is that worth sitting in front of that computer 5 days a week from 05:30 (gotta do pre and post-market) to 13:30 every day of the week?

At this point, I have to say no, it is not. I mean the thing is, that’s why I retired so I wouldn’t have to put in those hours.

My friend (and mentor) has been trading for several years now and he, along with everyone else I’ve talked to tell me that it’ll take a good year or more to become proficient enough to be consistently successful.

The thing is that if I worked at minimum wage for those same hours, with no investment (and possible losses,) I could make the wage and still make what I’m currently making on that fixed account.

Dam, I was hoping this may be my “lottery.” Maybe it still will be, but for now, it’s not.

Later,
Non-Day-Trading- Uncle R

Milk Cartons to the Rescue

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I don’t know where I read it, or maybe someone told me about it.  The theory is that to save energy cost, keep your refridgerator full.  The refridgerator is one of the highest users of electricity, next to the air conditioner.  I remember reading to fill up unused space with newspapers.  This would give the fridge/freezer less space to keep cool.  Then I heard this idea.  Fill up milk cartons and make ice.  It serves the fill the freezer idea plus it keeps it cold.  If you lose power, you’ve got it covered.  I then use the ice whenever I fill up the cooler.  Haven’t bought ice forever.  You can use both the plastic containers or the wax ones.  I prefer the wax.  That way when I need ice, I just bang one on the ground a few times to break it up and pour the ice in the cooler.  It destroys the carton but since we drink dairy products here at Uncle Ron’s, there’s always plenty.  If you use the plastic, bang it til it breaks up, then cut it open.  Be careful, it can be tricky.

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Day Trader

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Just a little over a month ago (Jan 2011), I ran into a former coworker/ friend. He was looking at a house in my neighborhood. We got to talking and I ask what he’d been up to. He said he had become a Day Trader and had been day trading stocks now for a couple years. All the sudden it hit me, I had no idea what he was talking about. None. I knew a day trader traded stocks but other than that I didn’t have a clue.

He had me over to his house and showed me his home office. He had four monitors on his desk. One was a tv screen with CNBC on it. The other three had charts and graphs and looked like Christmas with red and green graphs with yellow, white, and blue lines running every which direction through the graphs. He explained some of it to me, but I was lost.

One thing that we talked about was that he was making a comfortable living being a day trader. Now, like most people, he didn’t talk actual figures and I didn’t pry. I know he has a public service retirement, so a comfortable living I assume can be anywhere between 25 and 100 thousand smackeroonies a year. In our talk that day and numerous talks since then, I’m guessing it’s beyond the high end of my estimates.

So, now my curiosity is peaked and I want to know what I don’t know. I love to learn, especially if I believe it will benefit me later. He invited me over to watch him work, but asked that I didn’t ask any questions until he was ready to talk because he needed to concentrate. He talked as he worked and walked me through what he was doing. He had CNBC on the TV again and they were showing the opening bell and the usual morning shows that I usually ignored, preferring more traditional news.

My friend told me that the first thing he did before I got there was check the news to see if there was anything that would affect the stock market in general and the stocks that he traded. The stocks he was paying close attention to were a technology stock, a precious metals mining company, a Las Vegas casino, and a few others. He also had charts showing the S&P, the Dow, and the NYSE.

After the opening bell, he just watched and kept changing the size of his graphs, drawing more lines on them, and talked about support and resistance. After about 20 minutes of this, he starts clicking the mouse on a spreadsheet type screens saying he’s shorting and has to put his stop here and his target is there. Within a minute it was all over and he announced that it didn’t do as well as he thought it should have and he got “stopped” out. He said after commissions, he made about $30 on that trade.

I watched him do this for the next few hours. He made several more trades saying that he made money on some but lost a few bucks on others. Finally, he said, “that’s it for today, it’s too choppy.” Now he was ready to talk.

I still had no idea what he had done. He explained that he uses a trading “platform” to make his trades directly to the stock market and doesn’t use a broker. That muddied the waters even further. How does he do this? I asked the only question I knew to ask. “Where did you learn how to do this?”

He said he got into trading a couple years ago because one of his friends did it. He said he had no idea what he was doing when he got into it. He said when he retired, he had a deferred compensation plan and knew it wasn’t making him much interest. His friend told him to “roll it over” into a trading account. So he did. Said his friend showed him how to avoid the risk with a four to one profit loss ratio. He said the first year, he thinks he lost more than he gained but it was mostly because of the commissions. Then he took a class. It was a full seven day class and cost him $6000. He said since then, he has been making more and more money. His goal this year is to make 100% of his “bank.”

I left his house confused but with this thought of “I wonder if I could do that?”

So back home and on the world wide net to see what I could find. There’s lot’s of stuff but nothing makes sense. I called my friend. What books should I read to decide if I should take the class. He knew I was seeking knowledge but also knew I wasn’t ready to shell out six g’s for a seven day class.

We’ve talked to great lengths since then. My wife calls him my new best friend. I also read a book called “Strategies for the Online Day Trader.” It is designed for someone who has already been trading, so although it gave me a lot of info, I didn’t understand what I was learning. Now, I’m reading the “Beginners guide to Day Trading OnLine.” It makes a lot more sense and I’m slowly learning more and more. I’ve already got a few more books in the wings.

So far, I’m really enjoying what I’m learning. It’s all so new, and the thought of making a few extra dollars to add to my income is exciting.

I figure in about six months, I’ll have enough information to decide if this is something that I want to do. The best part of it is that even if I don’t do it, I’ll have enough information that I’ll be able to make better decisions on my current investments. I’ll keep you informed.