Going Right By The Stops

I had some stock of various ETFs that had been doing all right; not fabulous, just all right. I had some stops set, so that if they really dogged, they would automatically be sold. So yesterday one of my favorites starts at 18.00, drops to 6.00, and closes at 17.00 plus.
It was so bizarre that I actually watched one of those Wall Street shows briefly. They said some stocks had gone to zero! That would have been lovely! The stocks I bought at 5.00 in 2008, and which have gone into double digits by yesterday morning would probably have had some stops set somewhere above zero! And they were to be long long-term, not long-term until someone pulls the Wall Street flusher.

Of course, it triggered the stops and the stock was sold, adding to the general selling mania. And I no longer have the stocks, and I really did not want to sell them. However, the stops worked. I had always thought that the stops would kick in after a decline that took a while, and I would be off in Bermuda or something, and not able to check things... I did not really expect this general "colon cleansing" type of day on the Street. (Of course, someone was able to pick up my etf stocks at $6.00 yesterday and now they're at $ 17.00, so a decent one-day profit was made... I wonder if this was a deliberate manipulation... Nah. Wall Street wouldn't do that. )

But, if memory serves, I have been saying and writing that we are rapidly losing control over our systems, our lives, and our futures. In some quarters, where I have as recently as three days ago told some people this, I am going to look like a real nine-day-wonder-prophet.

Imagine:  a couple of days like yesterday in the markets, threats of wars, infrastructure breakdowns, crazy weather and oil spills. Take yesterday and tweak it up to "worse yet". How long do we survive?

We have no stops set to bail out. We have to ride it all the way down. Let's fix it before then. The need is so critical and so compelling, that it is no longer merely a political necessity: it is a religious imperative.