The Protracted Conflict

THE QUESTION OF TIMING

The millions of us who, for better or worse, trade on the stock market learn sooner or later that the most difficult trick of the trader’s art is judging when to “take a loss”; not merely judging when, but taking it. Acting on analysis, tip or hunch, I buy a few shares of Ecology Unlimited. A little later I find that EcUn, as stocks so often do soon after I buy them, has dropped several points instead of soaring into the wild blue yonder. What to do? Maybe it’s just a temporary market fluctuation, but maybe EcUn is dropping in the direction it deserves, and I was conned into the purchase by rumor, or greed. If I’m too timid I will sell out at the first cold breeze, and end up losing my shirt over the years. I will lose it no less certainly if I am too stubborn. What is needed is a cool head and the Aristotelian mean between timidity and stubbornness that the medieval philosophers called “prudence.”

JB

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James Burnham

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THE QUESTION OF TIMING

The millions of us who, for better or worse, trade on the stock market learn sooner or later that the most difficult trick of the trader’s art is judging when to “take a loss”; not merely judging when, but taking it. Acting on analysis, tip or hunch, I buy a few shares of Ecology Unlimited. A little later I find that EcUn, as stocks so often do soon after I buy them, has dropped several points instead of soaring into the wild blue yonder. What to do? Maybe it’s just a temporary market fluctuation, but maybe EcUn is dropping in the direction it deserves, and I was conned into the purchase by rumor, or greed. If I’m too timid I will sell out at the first cold breeze, and end up losing my shirt over the years. I will lose it no less certainly if I am too stubborn. What is needed is a cool head and the Aristotelian mean between timidity and stubbornness that the medieval philosophers called “prudence.”