《股票作手回忆录·第六章·旧金山地震·做空联合太平洋》第9节
I was short five thousand shares. The blow had fallen, but my stock hadn’t. My hunch was of the first water, but my bank account wasn’t growing; not even on paper. The friend who had been in Atlantic City with me when I put out my short line in UP. was glad and sad about it. He told me: “That was some hunch, kid. But, say, when the talent and the money are all on the bull side what’s the use of bucking against them? They are bound to win out.” “Give them time,” I said. I meant prices. I wouldn’t cover because I knew the damage was enormous and the Union Pacific would be one of the worst sufferers. But it was exasperating to see the blindness of the Street. “Give ’em time and your skin will be where all the other bear hides are stretched out in the sun, drying,” he assured me. “What would you do?” I asked him. “Buy UP. on the strength of the millions of dollars of damage suffered by the Southern Pacific and other lines? Where are the earnings for dividends going to come from after they pay for all they’ve lost? The best you can say is that the trouble may not be as bad as it is painted. But is that a reason for buying the stocks of the roads chiefly affected? Answer me that.”
注释摘要
这段文字发生在1906年旧金山大地震的第二天。要理解利弗莫尔当时的处境，先要明白一个历史背景：1906年4月18日清晨旧金山发生里氏7.9级地震，随后引发全城大火，摧毁了超过两万八千栋建筑，死者逾三千人。这是美国历史上伤亡最惨重的自然灾害之一。联合太平洋铁路公司虽然名字里带“联合太平洋”，但它通过控股的南太平洋铁路实际运营着旧金山及加州大部分铁路网，所以它…