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Wednesday, May 3, 2017

The Writer's Life 5/3 - Money to Burn

The Washington swamp continues to thrive. In the budget battle Democrats are getting just about every item they desire. It's business as usual. And the second round of health care reform is in jeopardy, as middle of the road Republicans are balking in fear of blowback from their constituents. They would rather be re-elected than do right. The largest sticking point is coverage for pre-existing conditions, which Betsy McCaughey addressed in an op-ed piece in today's NY Post. She cites a separate measure that would create a pool that would cover people with such problems. It would be paid for by all tax payers, not just those enrolled in private plans, which is the case now and one of the main reasons for skyrocketing premiums..

Yahoos have been stealing signs supporting Trump from people's front yards. One home owner foiled an attempt in a unique way. I hope he's started a trend. Here's a 30-second clip of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVKC0egDBpk

Fearful of the market bubble, I've sold another stock - Comcast. I just about doubled my original stake. My thanks to Pete Columbia, a former trader at the Commodity Exchange, who recommended it. Two of the three tips he gave me were winners, the other being Excalibur, which has morphed to something else since I took my handsome profit. The other is still in play, having divided into several parts, two of which I sold. The remainder is Conduet. I'm less than a hundred in the hole on it and should probably sell right now, but it's hard to accept losing, so I'll probably stick with it, which is a mistake many make. It did in many at the Exchange who refused to get out of a bad trade. Hoping for a reversal, they hung on and crapped out. In trading commodity futures, there is, theoretically, no bottom or top to the market. The stake is determined following the trade. For instance, if one buys one lot of gold at $50 and the price goes down to $49, the trader is $100 in the hole. If it goes down to $25, he's down $2500. If the money in his account is wiped out, he loses his guarantee and trading privileges. It is speculation, not investment. In stock trading the stake is fixed. The most I can lose on Conduet is $834, so it's not that big a deal.

Here's another blast from the past, mid '50s. My dad is furthest left, flanked by my brother in law, my mom furthest right, flanked by my sis, me in front:



My Tuesday benefactress showed up a day late, bringing several beautiful pictorials and works of fiction and non. My thanks, and also to the elderly gentleman who donated a cache of Russian books. The inventory has grown to even more ridiculous proportions. I had to store even more in the back seat of the old Hyundai. Donations outdid sales by a margin of about fifty to two today. My thanks to the elderly Russian gentleman who bought a sci-fi novel in his native tongue, and to the elderly woman who purchased The Second Time Around by Mary Higgins Clark. I had a brief visit from Political Man, who believes Trump has dementia.
Vic's Sixth novel: http://tinyurl.com/zpuhucj 
Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc
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