What Have Our Leaders Learned in 2065 Years? ... and My Gameplan for This Week

“The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled,public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should betempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should becurtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead ofliving on public assistance.” — Cicero , 55 B.C.

Apparently nothing.

And just why would our fate be different from that of Rome?

(this was an email sent to me from a friend who spent 20 years as CEO of Exxon)

It never fails, old people are bummers :).

As I deep dived into the markets this weekend to think about positioning my portfolio, FIVE charts/dat points stood out to me.

1. The talented Jack Damn shows at the very least how dangerous it may be to short stocks this week.

2. From an intermediate time frame, the downturn could just be beginning.

3. Gold is on a mission to prove something.

4. The Government Bond’s are dancing to a wild tune.

5. The Stocktwits50 has only 30 stocks this week that meet the criteria.

The quote from Cicero is ringing true today as our markets pay for the sins of our spending and weak leadership.

There are ways to trade these conditions, but you will have to be nimble.

This week I am trading off Chart 1 which will be to buy some beta if the weakness continues into Monday and Tuesday.