Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Dispatches From Occupied Territory

 

"I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race.  Why should we not form a secret society with but one object — for the making the Anglo-Saxon race but one Empire.  

It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory and we should keep this one idea steadily before our eyes that more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race more of the best the most human, most honourable race the world possesses."

Cecil John Rhodes, Confession of Faith, 1877

"Our plutocracy, whether the hedge fund managers in Greenwich, Connecticut, or the Internet moguls in Palo Alto, now lives like the British did in colonial India: ruling the place, but not of it.  To the person fortunate enough to own a Gulfstream jet, viable public transportation doesn’t even compute.  With private doctors on call and a chartered plane to get to the Mayo Clinic, why worry about Medicare?”

Mike Lofgren, The Deep State and the Rise of a Shadow Government, 5 January 2016

"'The undeserving maintain power by promoting hysteria," Moneo said. Duncan Idaho pushed back and heaved himself to his feet.  'When has your damned God Emperor ever been responsible for anything?'  Moneo looked down at his cluttered table and spoke without looking up.  'He is responsible for what he has done to himself.'"

Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune, 1981

"The present war crisis is something we have made entirely for and by ourselves.  There is in reality not the slightest logical reason for war, and yet the whole world is plunging headlong into frightful destruction, and doing so with the purpose of avoiding war and preserving peace!  This is a true war-madness, an illness of the mind and the spirit that is spreading with a furious and subtle contagion all over the world."

Thomas Merton, The Root of War, The Catholic Worker, October 1961

"Our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts.  Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread, if still contested, franchise (right to vote).  But we believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America’s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened."

Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens, Princeton 2014

“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, 1973

Stocks slumped today and went out on the lows.

The Dollar chopped sideways and was mostly unchanged.

Gold was just hammered.   Silver sold off a bit.

I don't have a good handle on what is driving the gold selling yet.   Some have speculated that this is a sign of a liquidity crunch.   I think it might be so, but there may also be an element of a carry trade.

It will be interesting to see how the SpaceX IPO comes out this Friday.

VIX rose.

The Consumer Inflation YoY number came in hot this morning.

The wheels are falling off the Trump Administration's foreign policy.

Rough seas ahead, mateys. 

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Before the Gates of Hell

 

“An enthusiastic philosopher, of whose name we are not informed, had constructed a very satisfactory theory on some subject or other, and was not a little proud of it. 'But the facts, my dear fellow,' said his friend, 'the facts do not agree with your theory.' 'Don't they?' replied the philosopher, shrugging his shoulders, 'then, tant pis pour les faits' — so much the worse for the facts!'”

Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, 1841

"The inability to identify with others was unquestionably the most important psychological condition for the fact that something like Auschwitz could have occurred in the midst of more or less civilised and innocent people.  The silence under the terror was only its consequence.  The coldness of the societal mindset, the isolated competitor, was the precondition, as indifference to the fate of others, for the fact that only very few people reacted.  

The torturers know this, and they put it to test ever anew.  One must come to know the mechanisms that render people capable of such deeds, must reveal these mechanisms to them, and strive, by awakening a general awareness of those mechanisms, to prevent people from becoming so again."

Theodor Adorno, Education After Auschwitz, 18 April 1966

"Foolishness is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. Against such foolishness we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed — in such moments the foolish person even becomes critical — and when facts are irrefutable, they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental.  In all this the foolish person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. 

This much is certain, that it is in essence not an intellectual defect but a human one. There are human beings who are of remarkably agile intellect yet foolish, and others who are intellectually quite dull yet anything but foolish."

Dietreich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Paper From Prison, 1945

"The gates of Hell are terrible to behold, are they not? The lofty mind of man can be imprisoned by the artifices of its own making. If there are damned souls in Hell, it is because men blind themselves."

E.A. Bucchianeri, Faust: My Soul Be Damned for the World, 2008

Stocks dumped hard today, after an overnight attempt to rally the futures.

They recovered a bit during the day.  A record breaking IPO is due out later this week.  The second chart below puts it in perspective.

They will try to defend the markets until they squeeze this one out.

The first chart shows the extreme concentration of wealth in the US, which is the direct results of crony capitalism and the corruption of the political process by big money.

Gold and silver were hit hard again.

Bitcoin failed in its attempt to recover its trading range.

Trump's 'peace deal' turns out again to be a false narrative for a Monday market pump and dump.

VIX is starting to wake up.  It will have to wait for Mr. Musk's Wild Ride.

Best to remain cautious.   This is hardly over.  The consequences of recklessness and pride are still waiting to be delivered.

Here is a speech which Thomas Massie delivered on the floor of the House the other day.  Not many people have been aware of this disgraceful episode in American history, which continues to be shamefully covered up even until today. Thomas Massie shines like a bright light in a room filled with craven servants to power.

"You are the very cause of your ignorance, yourselves. You put away the light, yourselves; you first pluck out both your own eyes, yourselves; and after that other men’s too, so that the blind may lead the blind, until you both fall into the pit.”

Thomas More, The Sadness of Christ at Gethsemane, Tower of London, 1535

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Sickness of the World - Lies and Lawlessness

 

"I told you once that I was searching for the nature of evil.  I think I've come close to defining it: a lack of empathy.  It's the one characteristic that connects all the defendants.  A genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow man.  Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy."

G. M. Gilbert, Nuremberg Diary, 1947

"Narcissistic personalities care only for themselves, their needs, and their priorities.  While you and I appreciate attention, the narcissist craves it and manipulates people and situations to get it.  While you and I work hard to be successful, the narcissistic personality connives to succeed and may cheat, lie, embellish the truth, or scheme to get ahead, uncaring of how others are affected. 

These personalities can be found in every level of our society, right up to the top, where history's grim record shows that they've started wars and exterminated populations.  But they're also found in the cubicle or on the bar stool next to you, at home, on the team, in the classroom, and even in your spiritual community.

Some narcissistic personalities present themselves as being very accomplished, but in fact they've accomplished little — which doesn't stop them from acting superior and seeing themselves as a great inventor, artist, musician, thinker, leader, or singer.  When things don't go their way, they blame everyone but themselves.  Maybe these individuals made mistakes, are incompetent, or just aren't well liked, but you'll never hear that from them.  No, the system, society, the boss, the professor, the electorate, the world is against them.  We simply fail to see how great they are.

When others don't treat narcissists as the special person they deem themselves to be, their reaction is infantile rage that ranges from sulking to whining to seething and, sometimes, to violence.  They can berate and blame with impunity, hold grudges, and be vengeful — that is their nature.

Because they see themselves as special and unique, narcissistic personalities tend to see everyone else as either marginal or inferior.  They become masters at putting others down in order to elevate themselves — they are the bullies of the world.  A person who feels superior to others will have limited ability to empathize. 

The most dangerous narcissists are those whose utter lack of empathy and high levels of grandiosity verge on psychopathy: the ability to do harm without remorse. They have no conscience and will exploit others emotionally, financially, and sometimes physically.  If you please them, you are convenient; if you displease them, you're more than an inconvenience — you're something they must debase or perhaps destroy.

Because they feel entitled, narcissistic personalities may feel they don't have to work as hard as others, that they can take shortcuts to get what they want, or that the rules don't apply to them.  This is how you end up with politicians who have affairs, father children, and attempt to deny their paternity; turn public funds into their own private piggy bank; or are willing to sell political favors for a price."

Joe Navarro, Destructive Personalities, 2014

"Love is a medicine for the sickness of the world; a prescription often given, too rarely taken.”

Karl A. Menninger, Love Against Hate, 1942

The astounding rise of flat out craziness in the world and its markets is striking. 

Stocks rallied today on the usual statement from the White House that Iran and the US et al. are on the imminent verge of a peace deal.

That sentiment faded as the day wore on.

Note:  Late in the day Iran flat out denies that there are any ongoing moves towards a peace deal. 

Another Monday morning market-pumping smoke screen that sidetracked the selling on Friday from the Gaslighting Gang.

Mission accomplished - for now. 

Gold and silver fluctuated.

The Dollar went many places but ended up where it left off on Friday.

VIX fell.

Bitcoin managed to bounce off its recent low and come back to challenge prior support which had failed.

The next steps will be important.

Risk is greatly undervalued, almost to a shocking level of willing misinterpretation.  

This is the hallmark of autocratic regimes that are failing.

Things have the potential to become exponentially worse, and quickly. 

The sickness of the world is being spread like a pandemic of lawlessness by a small but powerful crowd of well-funded sociopaths.  Those who are easily seduced by money and power are quickly falling in line with it.

It will be hard for future generations to understand this, just as we have struggled to understand the middle of the last century and the madness that overtook it.

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Is This Our Minsky Moment?

 

"In particular, over a protracted period of good times, capitalist economies tend to move from a financial structure dominated by hedge finance units to a structure in which there is large weight to units engaged in speculative and Ponzi finance."

Hyman Minsky, The Financial Instability Hypothesis

"Twenty-five years ago, when most economists were extolling the virtues of financial deregulation and innovation, a maverick named Hyman P. Minsky maintained a more negative view of Wall Street; in fact, he noted that bankers, traders, and other financiers periodically played the role of arsonists, setting the entire economy ablaze. Wall Street encouraged businesses and individuals to take on too much risk, he believed, generating ruinous boom-and-bust cycles. The only way to break this pattern was for the government to step in and regulate the moneymen.

Many of Minsky’s colleagues regarded his 'financial-instability hypothesis,' which he first developed in the nineteen-sixties, as radical, if not crackpot. Today, with the subprime crisis seemingly on the verge of metamorphosing into a recession, references to it have become commonplace on financial web sites and in the reports of Wall Street analysts. Minsky’s hypothesis is well worth revisiting."

John Cassidy, The Minsky Moment, The New Yorker, 4 February 2008.

"The period of financial distress is a gradual decline after the peak of a speculative bubble that precedes the final and massive panic and crash, driven by the insiders having exited but the sucker outsiders hanging on hoping for a revival, but finally giving up in the final collapse."

Charles Kindelberger, Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises

"The barbarian hopes — and that is the mark of him, that he can have his cake and eat it too. He will consume what civilization has slowly produced after generations of selection and effort, but he will not be at pains to replace such goods, nor indeed has he a comprehension of the virtue that has brought them into being. We sit by and watch the barbarian. We tolerate him in the long stretches of peace, we are not afraid. We are tickled by his irreverence; his comic inversion of our old certitudes; we laugh. But as we laugh we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond, and on these faces there are no smiles.”

Hilaire Belloc, This and That and the Other, 1912


Stocks went lower in a big way today, and failed to bounce into the close. 

The refusal of the SP 500 to change the rules and allow the new SpaceX IPO join the SP 500 without any of the 'seasoning' measures deflated the balloon of the some of the insider wiseguys.  

It's inclusion would have compelled the SP 500 index funds to buy it, while it had a very limited float, driving up the price.

Nice scam.  It failed.

It may still carry through on the NDX/QQQ but they may look very bad in the process by comparison.

And of course, Trump's never-ending stream of market pumping lies and whoppers have faltered.

Gold and silver were hammered.  

It must have been another Non-Farm Payrolls Report day.

I doubt a correction this mild was driving liquidation selling.  Maybe later.

I have marked the 20 percent decline levels on my stock index charts.

Need little, want less, love more.

Because the only real tragedy is not to have been a saint.

Have a pleasant weekend.