A random thought popped into my head as my mind was wandering during a school meeting. It has to do with the organization Official Payments Corp., which lets people pay their taxes with their credit card. So let me get this straight:

1. A person who cannot afford their taxes………
2. Can borrow money they don't have at interest rates they can't afford……….
3. To give money to a government that is by any measure insolvent…………
4. To pay for the printing presses to manufacture money……….
5. To send as multi-million dollar bonuses……….
6. To individuals who don't need the money…………
7. Who also enjoy a special 15% tax rate that the person from step (1) does not get to use.

Do I have that right? OK, good. Just want to make sure.

From Big Picture's Peter Boockvar:

Short sellers (SS) didn't get people to buy homes with no money down, SS didn't convince people to buy homes with teaser rates, SS didn't convince people to lie about their income on their mortgage applications, SS didn't tell banks/brokers to lever up to such huge levels, SS didn't tell Greenspan to cut rates to 1% and leave it there, SS didn't invent FNM and FRE, SS didn't tell the OTS, OCC, FDIC, Fed, SEC, FFIEC, FTC, FHFA and all the state regulators to twiddle their thumbs all day, SS didn't tell the rating agencies to rate AAA on anything that moved, SS didn't tell banks to lend to commercial real estate investors on a property where the rent didn't cover the mortgage payment, SS didn't tell the average consumer to spend more money than they make and borrow difference.

Short selling is a legitimate form of speculation that fully enhances market liquidity and price discovery.

Yesterday, just before the close, I mentioned going into a very large long position on USO.

One reader mentioned how I was probably too early, since – – just after the close – – a very bearish report came out about crude oil. I was a little disconcerted to see that, but as a "pure" chartist (or as much as I try to be), I didn't let it faze me.

Good thing too. USO looks super.