This california muni bond action has been going on for days and certainly provides a plausible excuse along with further issues on foreclosure in real esate for the PTB, NY banks and media to bring out the euro crisis card again, china failing card and of course raise margins and hit gold/silver sector while bonds falter, Fed prints, inflation shiows itself in most markets in the world except the US, wonder why?

The games never end because the stakes are so high and traders (meaning the banker boys with endless free pass money in Repo's and Pomo's and bailouts because the average trader is being killed) love the volitility they propagate. This is how the bankers make money every market day for a whole quarter.

A great gig if you can get it. For me I have to find undervalued stories, quality assets, assess managment and upside growth potential (yes I walk mines, have some geo knowledge and some understanding of mining but I also do the same thing in high tech and biotech and energy), make sure I'm in growing markets that are at least in cyclical uptrends or better yet secular uptrends, assess geo-political risk, and then buy correctly overtime so I am insulated from market noise. I want lots of leverage (big positions) in stories of companies I like because all the really rich people I know made their money on a few stories and being right with big positions and my experience is this works fabulously but it requires much more work and time and patience . Then I sit tight and maybe trade the fringes a little and let the market come to me over time. I have always made the most money by doing the above and sitting tight in bull market trends as suggested by highly successful people like Sinclair, Livermore, Sprott, Embry, etc.

Some of my worst mistakes over the years were trading myself out of real good stories because I thought I was some hotshot trader only to leave 70-80% of the money on the table because I zigged when I should have zagged and didn't keep a core at least.

My aim is to be taken out of positions (normally) or adjust as big market trends change. This is what works for me in my main investment stories like an ECU that has big upside but of course it doesn't mean it's for others. Of course I also hold a few small positions in other companies that I consider non-core holdings and I trade them. Ity's hard to have more than 6-8 big stories because of time required.

BTW, I also like private companies as well where the risk reward is very high and these can take 3-5 years to get to market which would be far to frustrating for many especially in this day and age. I have 3 such companies right now and looking at a 4th.