Sunday, November 23, 2008

Comedy and the market sell-off

The best comedy or irony have a high degree of truth. The current market sell-off harkens back to the movie Trading Places. The market is falling like a stone and one of the main characters who is new to trading is asked for a explanation. The following dialogue fits the current circumstances as we move closer to the holidays.


-->
Randolph Duke: "Exactly why do you think the price of pork bellies is going to keep going down, William?"
Billy Ray Valentine: "Okay, pork belly prices have been dropping all morning, which means that everybody is waiting for it to hit rock bottom, so they can buy low. Which means that the people who own the pork belly contracts are saying, 'Hey, we're losing all our damn money, and Christmas is around the corner, and I ain't gonna have no money to buy my son the G.I. Joe with the kung-fu grip! And my wife ain't gonna fu ... my wife ain't gonna make love to me if I got no money!' So they're panicking right now, they're screaming 'SELL! SELL!' to get out before the price keeps dropping. They're panicking out there right now, I can feel it."
Randolph Duke: "He's right, Mortimer! My God, look at it!"

— Trading Places

We hope that Billy Ray has it wrong.

No comments: