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.