As I have indicated before, I consider that all the paranoia about the Coronavirus stems from the hard wiring we have from the 1600 plus years of eschatological conditioning from the time when Christianity become compulsory in the Roman Empire.
However, I cannot help but notice the effect on my share portfolio. Is someone who remains in the market now and tries to ride it out brave or foolish? I am neither – another part of my hard wiring, as is written in my description, is that I am a Narrow Minded Italian Catholic Conservative Peasant From Footscray. There is nothing in there which makes me a particularly reckless stock trader or financial hotshot.
So, when what I strongly suspected to be a dead cat bounce occurred on Tuesday, I pushed the SELL button on my entire portfolio. [Well, that is not entirely true. About 10 years ago, I bought 2 slabs of Broo beer when they did a share giveaway, and as a result, I still hold 100 shares of Broo, which were worth about 1.2 cents each on Tuesday.]
I could say that I am taking one for the team, for the greater good of Humanity. You see, when I buy usually turns out to be a good time to sell, and vice versa. So, if it turns out that I am wrong, then Coronavirus goes away, and the world economy and markets recover quickly.
If I am right, at least I will not have lost the accumulated savings of the past decade in an awful sharemarket bloodbath.
Things are starting to get a little surreal though. I passed through two supermarkets this evening, and ALL the toilet paper, paper towels, tissues and anything else could be used as a toilet paper substitute was sold out. [As I have indicated in an earlier post, I have kept a six month supply of toilet paper since the days of the Gillard Government.] Now even Bibles seem to be selling out, from what I also observed.
We are conditioned to think eschatologically, even though most of us struggle to understand what that means. Instinctively, like a herd, we are all cautiously heading for the fire exits, so to speak, grabbing sacks of rice, jumbo packs of toilet paper, and a plethora (I hardly ever use that silly word anymore) of other things which might come in handy if we are forced into isolation in our homes for a few weeks.
And that is why I feel very comfortable with having liquidated my share portfolio. I get the feeling that the fear out there is going to get much worse, and that this is going to cause major economic disruption. Exactly one month ago, when I started taking screenshots of the Coronavirus tallies, there were 28,262 infected, 565 dead, and 14 in Australia. As of right now the tally is 98370 cases, 3383 dead, and 63 in Australia, with some schools, shops and offices now closing where the occupants have come into contact with known cases. 2700 people in Queensland have been asked to self-isolate.
Lost For Words! 