Recent events only highlight the importance of Risk Management. Late Thursday evening and early Friday morning I spoke by phone to many of the old-timers (some with near 50-year trading careers) in whom I have the highest level of respect. There was a universal consensus – we have never witnessed markets like those experienced over such a brief period of time. Even though I had almost no exposure, I stayed up into the late hours on Thursday evening watching in awe a broad level of volatility exceeding anything I can remember. There was, no doubt, some serious blood-letting. In the weeks ahead we will read and hear about some horror stories. More than one trading firm will announce bankruptcy. We will not hear about the hundreds of individual speculators whose accounts were destroyed.