Abe Mishima

Friday Outlook: Commodities, Global Markets

David, I can see why you are the #1 most followed writer on seekingalpha. Your analysis of each chart is succinct and to the point. As I try to understand what happened to the markets in the past year, I find Fareed Zakaria's article in the most recent issue of Newsweek magazine the most enlightening. We let a bunch of cowboys and speculators nearly destroy our banking system and economy. We had something that worked (or sort of worked) for decades, thanks to the Glass-Steagall act. Now we have to regulate risk. But we should go further than requiring "skin in the game." Anyone in a position of power, whether in government or finance, who makes a life wrecking decision has to pay in lost earnings, higher taxes, or reduced benefits. Examples: Congress should suffer a reduction in pension for the Iraq fiasco. Angelo Mozillo should be fined heavily for actively promoting/marketing subprime mortgages. The trouble with society is that there is no accountability.

Anyway, not to sound overly moral, I have skin in the UNG game, not because I believe that NG prices will go up, but because I sense that the price of UNG is being actively manipulated by hedge funds, and I feel I can piggyback on their moves. Known as trading what I see. The smartest members on Yahoo message boards have been trying to figure out the NG market for weeks. There is nothing divine or esoteric about natural gas. It is a commoditiy and as such it is and always will be subject to manipulation. UNG just throws in rollovers, swaps, and exchange traded volatility into the equation. Everyone and his uncle is in on the action.