Monday, March 14, 2011

Key Moment for Long Term Confidence

Stock Blocked
I had a few plays I was ready to run with this morning. As it turned out, the sector a couple of the ideas were in got red hot right at the open and I was "stock blocked" by a huge run up! I missed a huge move and I did not want to chase at that point. Ugh, so annoying.

I did open a position in KCG (Knight Capital) due to a nice reversal look on the chart and some interesting PPT screen results.

Key Moment for Long Term Confidence
News is breaking as I type of another explosion at reactor 2 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. I don't really have any details and the situation is fluid. This fits in with what I wanted to write tonight.

What is happening in Japan has major long term consequences for all developed nations going forward. I am not talking about economic plans or debt sales here. The bedrock of any system is confidence and how Japan handles the disaster will be important.

Looking back just a few years we were shown that the US government is totally incapable of handling a disaster (Katrina, Gulf Oil Spill) and is given over to saving the banking system instead of applying the rule of law (financial crisis, ongoing). While this clearly showed the true self of the US government, at least it could be argued that they were basically honest about their incompetence and up front about why they were saving the banking system.

The nuclear issues in Japan must be open and honest. I know things are a mess right now and Japanese officials may not have complete information. If nuclear reactor explosions are causing widespread contamination, this must be discussed and communicated to the public. If there is contamination and it is being kept quiet I think the damage to long term confidence in developed nation governments will be damaged beyond repair. This is not the old Soviet Union or North Korea.

Social Media Viewed from Science Fiction
For all you Facebook and Twitter lovers, here is an article worth a read:
How Social Media Is Science Fiction

Have a good night.

9 comments:

David Batista said...

Intersting article. I do believe that social networking will change our near future selves in interesting, as yet to be determined, ways. However, I don't believe in the doom-and-gloom outlook a lot of older people have about the whole thing.

I'm actually playing around with the idea for a novel where future society revolves around avatar-based rewards and social media-like stats. Almost like a real-life RPG game.

Hey, you never know . . .

CT-Hilltopper said...

The people who are working in the reactors, especially the ones that are leaking radiation, are martyrs. They have kept on working for the "public good".

They are heroes, and should be considered as such.

EconomicDisconnect said...

David,
I am only kind of old but I just don't get the social media revolution. Maybe I am older than I think?

C-T,
the courage involved is amazing and beyond the call of duty.

David Batista said...

LOL, my comment wasn't to say that ALL older people (meaning older than me, but not "old" per se) think that social media is dooming society. But that people who do think so, tend to be older. See what I mean?

Not wanting to be on Facebook is one thing. I would never fault someone for that choice, as it is a pretty useless fad of late. But saying that it's going to ruin society is another thing altogether. The article kind of addresses this, though -- this fear throughout history whenever a new and potential paradigm shift in sociological norms develops.

GawainsGhost said...

In chaos theory, there is a saying. "On the West Coast of Africa, a butterfly flaps its wings and thunder clouds clap in LA."

Anyone who thinks the unfolding disaster in Japan is not going to have major repercussions throughout the global economy is fooling himself.

EconomicDisconnect said...

Gawains,
I will have a post up on that idea in a bit.

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