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.
