Online stock trading for me up to this point had been simple. I checked my portfolio about once per month and that was that. Much of what I was holding was long. Why not? There was a bull market up until last year right about this time.  The pressure downward this year had been part of what I thought was a normal correction.  It was slow but gradual.

The last couple of weeks have made me glad that I am doing online stock trading, as opposed to the old fashioned way, which had me going blind by reading the stock quotes in the paper and calling my broker when I could.

I often missed buying and selling opportunities, because of being unable to call when I needed to.

After Mr. Callahan spoke to our club, I tried to figure out how to salvage what I had. It wasn’t easy. Mr. Callahan was active on the  Chicago Board of Trade during the Panic of 1929. He is probably the only trader alive who can remember that day and the Great Depression that followed. He is 101 years old.

Now,  it was too expensive to buy puts on those companies that I wanted to buy on, with such a short expiration or strike.

I began to think longer term, like what to do after stocks hit bottom and the blood is running in the streets. The answer to the question was not up to me.  Rather, it was up to the US government and the rest of the world governments and central banks.

My fear is that they will make a bad matter worse, by dragging things in the way of having equity positions wiped out and making room for new buyers.

I began to really take a look at some of the sectors in the market. And then at various companies in those sectors.

My first sector, because I haven’t punished myself enough, was the financial and banking sector.

I looked at a number of regional banks. I liked two.  I like Huntington National and TCF. Both had decent P/E ratios and both had stayed away from the sub prime swamp.  So I booked marked both and kept looking.

Echos of Mr. Callahan’s talk was ringing in my ears.  Mr. Callahan had known Benard Berauch, the famous investor and politician, who had shorted the market during the Panic of 1929, and had made a fortune.

One of Benard Berauch’s famous sayings was, “A speculator is a man who sees the future and acts before it occurs.”

Boston Red Sox

were way out of my mind. There was definitely something going on at Mrs. Murphy’s house and I figured that they were probably trying to cheat the old lady in some manner. I was glad she had her tazer to protect her. I decided to go over to her house and check on her to see if I was right. When I walked into the house, everything seemed odd. Mrs. Murphy walked with a strange gait, as if she was under a lot of strain. She led me to the living room where, upon my horror there sat Don and Donna, both tied to a chair, “What is going on?” I said before I lost consciousness. When I awakened, I too was tied to the chair. I was glad, however to see a friendly face. Father Rich had joined the crowd. Noticing he was not yet tied up, I motioned for him to untie me. But he did not make a move. “You young people think you are so smart. Cleaning closets. Making cash deliveries, and doing errands for the elderly,” said Father Rich in a voice that I did not think belonged to him. “You think all old people are helpless and dumb. I want you to meet your Mrs. Murphy. He then put on a wig and some fake contact lenses that made it look as if he had glaucoma. He as not a priest at all. Or he was just a crazy one. “I am sick of how old people are treated! Given a pittance on which to live. Not given enough food. I decided to help at my church, but they defrocked me. So I started taking matters into my own hands and empowering the elderly.” At this moment, into the room walked two people - the old lady who “died” at Wicked and the accountant. Only the accountant was wearing the uniform I saw him in the first time I saw him - one of a paramedic. How was I going to get out of this?