First, I consider Warren Buffet to be a personal hero and an inspiration to all. I have many of his books and have even read some of them.

I should note that I’m NOT a professional stock trader (as my nickname would indicate) although I do play one on here.

>> I have already dumped most of my long stocks and am in a holding pattern for D-day.

My response: If you’re expecting “D-Day” as I am, why not short the market?

I certainly haven’t held any LONG stock positions for over a year. If you are implying that you liquidated your long positions after the markets recently tanked 10% you won’t get any awards from us on your stock market savvy.

You write you’ve dumped most of your long positions and now in a holding pattern. Well, recently I’ve dumped most of my SHORT positions (after I made a good deal of money as the market recently tanked 10%), and I’m in a holding pattern while the markets continue this TEMPORARY minor recovery apparently driven by expected end of month FOMC 1/2 point rate drop. When this minor recovery seems to have run out of steam after estimated 5% (possible) or 10% (doubtful) upswing, I will take those short positions again in a Big Way. We are now entering a very nasty recession. Read Barron’s from this last weekend; see the comments in the roundtable discussion interviews. Those people are a order-of-magnitude smarter than me on the financial markets, and many are expecting the worst.

I continue to hold gold, and am increasing my exposure to gold. Some people talk about $1,000/ounce gold. Since the idiotic FOMC appears to have chosen the “print money” approach to this economic crisis (and to the larger problem of America’s excessive foreign debt), I’m thinking we may see a response in gold markets taking the price to $2,000/ounce, and that may happen within 24-36 months.