This is a great topic.

1. I underestimated Paulson's ability to take down commodities. He gave a hint in 2006 that something like this could happen, "What if gold and silver are actually correlated to everything else, and not inversely so?" (Not an exact quiote, but roughly what he said. It stuck with me, and I felt it was somehow important. Now I know why.

2. Underestimated the power of leverage. Good lord, the destructive power of leverage.

3. Underestimated the ability of the PTB to fool the masses with rigged markets after the paper and physical markets disconnected.

4. I'm amazed that the physical market disconnected from the paper markets at all. I thought they had us by the balls, and just needed to squeeze a bit.

5. I'm amazed that they were able to take oil down. I was of the opinion that oil is tougher to manipulate.