It was late 2008, it was pretty clear that the banks had fucked up and they were fucked. So I decided to buy some puts on the Financial Sector Index $XLF, not much, just a couple of thousands of dollars. It went sideways for a while till Lehman Brothers went belly up; I was sitting on a fat paper gain; then AIG was cooked and I could not believe how much I was gaining. The whole thing was fucked up but I was smiling inside because I had found my golden goose.

Then G.W.Bush decides to pass T.A.R.P. I thought it was a joke, $700,000,000,000 in exchange for a 2-page memo and retroactive immunity in perpetuity. I thought it was a joke.... till it was passed, the banks got bailed out with taxpayers' money and my 7-figure gains vanished overnight.

Lesson learned? We live in a country that has a disdain for the world Socialism, until it's time to preserve the status quo, in which case anything is fair. Fuck Henry Paulson, fuck GW, fuck Edward Lazear; your Socialist move cost me a lot of money!