Today

The Wall St. Journal had a piece asking the question of when does this recession become Obama's recession? I ask the question, how is it not?

To be fair, I was never a Bush fan. But the Democrats scared me so much I couldn't bring myself to vote for them. I was ok with Obama getting elected at first and I am starting to become very nervous about the path he is putting this country on.

The spending bill that was lightly disguised as a stimulus bill was sold on fear. Obama continued to use the words "catastrophe" and "failure" to scare the American people into the political will to pass the bill. Obama's man in the Treasury has only been seen in public a precious few times. At least when Paulson was wasting our money with the TARP, he would hold a press conference. At least we knew how we were getting screwed. Geithner has only held one meaningful press confrence (which was hyped by Obama the night before) and Timmy said absolutely nothing. Obama spends all this time in front of the cameras yet tells the market nothing. They "save" more of AIG (mistake) and tell us nothing about why they are doing it other than "potential systemic failure".

This leaves the market with uncertainties all over the place. We are kind of sure the banks won't be nationalized. We think. We have a spending bill that is loaded with pork and we are not really sure that any of it is going to work and actually stimulate the economy. We have a budget that raises taxes and reduces motivation for home ownership. I thought we wanted to have a bottom in housing. Maybe not.

None of this has happened under Bush's watch. Not to say that the Bush administration is not to blame. Believe me. But to just point the finger at Bush is absolutely unfair. Maybe Obama should fairly remove the "inherited recession" talk and take a little responsibility.

OK on to making money. See my previous post on (FSLR). I have a small position and I am not adding at this point. If I can get the profit in the range of 10% soon I will take profits. 10% in such a short period of time needs to be taken off. Especially on the long side. This market is too sick to just let profits run. The quicker you can take profits and be in cash the better. 10% per trade would make most investors drool. I will take it.

I did add to my (DIA) position yesterday. That was the 3rd of 5 potential buys I am placing on this one. My average price is a little under $73. I am still under water at this point but I believe that there will be a sharp bear market rally coming soon. A bear market rally is just that, a rally in a bear market. The market is still fundamentally broken. That doesn't mean there are not trades out there. The (DIA) trade is just a trade to make money. Not an investment.

I am waiting for earnings before I do anything with my (URBN) hedged options trade. That one will sit there for a couple days before I unwind it.

The Gold (GLD) trade is starting to wane. I will watch it closely to see if it can go farther. If the volume continues to slow and we see Gold getting close to $900, I am just going to take the rest of the profits. I can get back in if it gets hot.