Those of you that know me will also recall that I spent many years traveling around the world and spent some time in Africa while working for a global security outfit protecting US Embassies and foreign personnel. On one of those trips I recall the story told to me as to how locals would catch monkeys.
"It is very simple my friend" said Babangita..."locate a point in the jungle frequently visited by monkeys. Get a glass water jug with a neck opening thick enough to allow the hand of a monkey through the spout and tie a rope around the neck and secure the jar to the ground with a stake so that the monkey can not get away. Now place a couple of banana's inside the jar and wait."
That's it? I asked. "Yes" he answered. "When the monkey sees the banana's inside the jar his curiosity and hunger will compel him to reach inside and grab the banana. Grasping the banana however will not allow him to extract his closed hand & fist through the neck of the jar. His greed for the banana however will not allow him to let go and release himself from this self-imposed trap. You can now simply untie the jar and take the monkey home!"
***************************************************************************************************************
Well, its been quite a long time since I decided to sit down and blog again. I don't know how many people this blog will actually reach but for those that know me...my comments are usually a bit off the beaten track and usually inspired by something I've been affected by or that I am adamant about.
Having experienced one of the biggest attacks on the US (this one being mostly in the Financial markets, which of course impacted our job markets and our retail markets) I have survived the last 2 years despite being on the first wave of Job eliminations in mid 2008, experiencing an enormous free-fall in loss of personal wealth in both the equities and real property markets, and weathering the painful and tedious recovery and rebuilding of equity slowly one day one trade at a time. I fed on severance, small contracts, and landed a significant project contract which kept me afloat until now, but also from making quick entry and exits using a simple strategy in the stock market.
I choose to speak today a bit about the subject of greed ... as I truly believe that this is clearly the sole root cause leading to todays financial problems being experienced around the world.
Greed is stronger than fear as the monkey in the above story can attest to. But fear moves the markets much more significantly than does greed. The past decade has been a smorgasbord for fear mongers as vast shorting preceeded news blast following vast accumulations of stock targeted for negative news hits despite being strong stocks which of course served well for reinvestment once the standard negative deviation targets were hit, thereby preparing the stage for another cycle.
This has been the case since Sept. 2008 all the way to the bottom in Mar 2009 and once again in the first mini dip in Jan.-Feb. 2010. The number one driver....the greed of the monkies which see the bananas and won't let go until its too late.
So...what's the moral of the story you might ask?
Look for jars with banana's inside ... and steal the monkey before the trapper gets there!
Happy hunting!
