Burning Money

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When paper money has been in circulation for about 18 months, it is usually too worn-out to be of use, so the Treasury burns it. I'm starting to think the same way about the past four months – – I have made and given back the same wad of cash so many times, I'm expecting the Treasury to request those funds for incineration.

I'm still up quite nicely for the year, but the overall amount of "up" hasn't changed for four months now, since it's just zig-zagged up and down. A day like yesterday can nuke many days of accumulated paper profits very quickly.

But I recall in the Broke movie I watched last night that one of the poker players they interviewed said that what counted was "the method, not the result." (I'm paraphrasing, but that was the idea). The general notion being that if a person loses $1 nine times in a row, and then wins $50 in the tenth instance, it is better than a person who wins $1 nine times in a row and loses $50 in the end, provided that the method being used (in the first case) is consistent. Putting it another way, if you are consistent with a method which provides you an advantage, in the end, you will win, even though waiting to get there can be miserable at times.

Having said all that, I offer DUG, which I think has a good chance of pushing to the tinted area I've highlighted. I remain short OIH, although it's a little painful this morning being so.

0714-dug