I've long held during the many months of writing this blog that the forces at work come down to a battle between Evil (Abby Joseph Cohen, Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke, all the i-bank CEOs, etc.) and Good (clearing throat, pointing at self and fellow Slopers). For the moment, it's nice to see the bad guys get smacked around. My faith in this once-great nation will be restored if Congress sends those involved in the conspiracy (led by Paulson) out the door.

One thing I will not be doing any more is announcing "they're out of bullets!" In the past, I would naively think that Washington was out of bullets when they chopped interest rates, opened the discount window, and so forth. But last week I finally got it through my thick skull that there are unlimited bullets, up to and including executing or imprisoning those who sell stock short. They don't do it here, but there have been times in history in some countries where such things were done.

The ban imposed on short selling was desperate, but as the market continues to fall, who is to say what more desperate measures won't be enacted? It's a little nerve-wracking, since I'm not sure whether to take my (gigantic) profits and be safe or just hope they'll continue to grow.

I glanced at the IWM just now, and I am astonished at how volume has shriveled up in the market. I realize the day isn't over yet, but just look at the past ten days or so. There was a huge run up in volume, with explosive peaks on Thursday, and then it has just crumbled. Paulson and company have made people afraid to trade.

Something else I learned that I didn't know is that Hank Paulson has $500,000,000 in Goldman Sachs stock (at current prices; it was a billion bucks before). Ummm, help me understand this. Some poor shchlub in government can lose his job if he has a few thousand bucks in a company that represents a conflict of interest. And yet Paulson is permitted to own half a billion dollars of a stock whose fate he basically has utter control over? Jesus!

I'm somewhat conflicted right now, because the opinions of people I respect (like Gary Savage and Tony Caldaro) are starting to diverge quite a bit from my own. All the same, I have to bow down to my charts more than other individuals, although their opinion definitely factors into my thinking.

Gary has cautioned me on my bearishness toward gold and energy, in addition to equities. I agree that equities are dicey right now, although I have re-entered my NDX puts (at a fine price too, I might add, given this morning's earlier strength!) But I am resolute on my energy shorts. Look at this crude oil graph.

Simply stated, this graph screams "Sell!" to me. So I have positioned myself accordingly.

It seems to me the U.S. dollar is about to get some strength. Don't ask me why; I just look at the charts; it's not my job to explain why. Maybe the bailout plan won't get shoved down our throats after all. Who knows. Anyway…………

Consequently, I am optimistic about my numerous gold and energy shorts. GG is one in which I have a particularly large position.

No, no, no that one! This one!