Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Remembering Who We Are

 

"In 1789 the Federalists adopted Alien and Sedition Acts in a shabby political effort to isolate the Republic from the world and to punish political criticism as seditious libel.  In the 1920's the Attorney General of the United States degraded his office by hunting political radicals as if they were Salem witches.  The Nation's only gain from his efforts were the classic dissents of Holmes and Brandeis in Olmstead v. United States.

The architects of fear have converted a wholesome law against conspiracy into an instrument for making association a crime.  Pretending to fear government they have asked government to outlaw private protest. They glorify 'togetherness' when it is theirs, and call it conspiracy when it is that of others.

In listing these abuses I do not mean to condemn our central effort to protect the Nation's security.  The dangers that surround us have been very great, and many of our measures of vigilance have ample justification.  Yet there are few among us who do not share a portion of the blame for not recognizing soon enough the dark tendency towards an excess of caution.”

John F. Kennedy, Speech, New York, September 14, 1960

"Decency, security and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen.  In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously.  Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher.  For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example.

Crime is contagious.  If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means — to declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal — would bring terrible retribution.  Against that pernicious doctrine this Court should resolutely set its face."

Louis Brandeis, dissenting, Olmstead v. United States, 1928

"Many a man has overcome cowardice, or lust, or ill-temper, by learning to think that they are beneath his dignity — that is, by Pride.  The devil laughs.  He is perfectly content to see you becoming chaste and brave and self-controlled provided, all the time, he is setting up in you the Dictatorship of Pride — just as he would be quite content to see your chilblains cured if he was allowed, in return, to give you cancer.  For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense."

C.S. Lewis, The Great Sin, Mere Christianity, 1943

"Successful totalitarian rule is precisely that because it allows little variation in its subjects’ intentions—and the Nazi regime was a totalitarian regime par excellence.  When Hitler spoke of the German ‘Volk’ he did not make a suggestion, but a demand: 'if a German, you are a Nazi or a traitor'.

It is crudely general to suggest collective responsibility for the German populace.  It is, however, fair to suggest that those who continued to defend the idea of Germanhood publicly as the war went on — when this had become synonymous with barbarity — were in fact renouncing their humanity for the sake of individual survival and peace of mind."

Panayiotis Demopoulos, Götterdämmerung: Suicide Music and the National Self, May 2014


Because of the Memorial Day Holiday on the 25^th this will be a three day weekend.

Stocks continued their rally despite the unsatisfactory economic and corporate news.

They fell back into the close.

Trump canceled his golf outing and will not be going to his son's wedding this weekend, staying in Washington instead for the holiday.

Israeli media is saying that the course of the Israel-Iran conflict will be decided soon.

It's hard to tell with this crew, as they are given to bluffing, bluster, and lying about even ordinary things.

This could also just be a prelude to an assault on Cuba, to serve as a distraction to the failing strategy with Iran.  The words about Iran may just be the usual fruitless, sociopathic jawboning.

Tulsi Gabbard has resigned today as the US Director of National Intelligence.   One of her highly placed deputies and relative of RFK Jr. has also resigned, in addition to the headline resignation of Joe Kent.  

I am only surprised that she waited so long to resign, given the differences in assessments between US intelligence and the Trump Administration and neocons in the deep state. 

Gold and silver were hit, and then recovered.

These markets are now less than capital allocation with risk and price discovery, and more like a street game of three card monte.

We have fallen into the moral hazard of lawlessness, where financial crimes are overlooked and pardoned, and even murder can be committed by those in power without regard to justice. 

US consumer confidence has fallen to the lowest level since I was in third grade.  And that's a long time. 

Monday is Memorial Day.  I can remember when it was called 'Decoration Day.'  

It started shortly after the Civil War in 1868.  It was expanded after WW I to include all those who died in military service.  

It was formalized as the federal holiday we have today in 1968.

As we remember those who sacrificed so much for the freedom that we have had in this country, it is a fitting time to remember who we are, the oaths we have taken, and how we have been called to serve, not ourselves, not any man or class, but the loving commandments of He who has laid the foundations of the world.

Need little, want less, love more.  For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

He died for us, so we can live with Him. 

¡Viva Cristo Rey!

Have a pleasant weekend.   

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Miserable Consequence of Obsessive Greed

 

"Dishonor waits on perfidy.  A man should blush to think a falsehood; 'tis the crime of cowards."

Charles Johnson,The Sultaness, 1723

"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.  The Government will not assail you.  You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors.  You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend it.'

I am loath to close.  We are not enemies, but friends.  We must not be enemies.  Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.  The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861

“The commercial world is very frequently put into confusion by the bankruptcy of merchants, that assumed the splendour of wealth only to obtain the privilege of trading with the stock of other men, and of contracting debts which nothing but lucky casualties could enable them to pay; till after having supported their appearance a while by tumultuary magnificence of boundless traffic, they sink at once, and drag down into poverty those whom their equipages had induced to trust them."

Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, January 7, 1752

“It was not curiosity that killed the goose who laid the golden egg, but an insatiable greed that devoured common sense.”

E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly, May 2011

"Risk is once again being spread from the financial sector to the public, which is what Fed Chairman Greenspan had said was one of the objectives of the Fed in their positions on the regulation of complex financial products.  We were assured that the markets were sound, no additional regulation was required, the pensions were adequately funded.  And finally when disaster struck and the facade fell away, that a generation's ransom was required by the banks, in order to heal themselves and avert disaster.

And then they took the money for themselves."

Jesse, A Run On the Funds, 30 August 2009

"But there is a sort of  'Ok guys, you're mad, but how are you going to stop me' mentality at the top."

Robert Johnson, Oligarchy, Impact 2012

“'The world says: "You have needs — satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty.  Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more.'  This is the worldly doctrine of today.  And they believe that this is freedom.  The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, 1880

"They want you to own nothing. They want you to rent your car, your house, your entire life from them, from a billionaire class that owns everything around you. That's their ideal future, and we can't let them have it."

Graham Platner, Candidate for Senate, May 21, 2026


Stocks slumped today early, and then recovered and closed with a gain. 

This is becoming the signature move of Trump's crooked markets.

Gold and silver were hit early on, and then came back again in the afternoon.

Bitcoin is holding on to support, not going down but not able to lift off of it again.

VIX has fallen down to a level that has been marking a low water mark for complacency of late.

The Dollar is chopping around sideways at 99.

Trading markets in which official lies and front-running prices have become a regular thing are a bit of a challenge.

We should be ashamed of such corruption in the highest places of power in the land.  Even moreso those in professional positions and the media who aid and abet this perfidy.

And for what?  What is worth your soul?  

The surprise is not that it is given away, but that it is given away so cheaply. 

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Wages of Sin

 

"The issue isn't just jobs.  Even slaves had jobs.  The issue is income, wages, and middle-class opportunities.  Ask a waitress at any café or bar whether she's aware that Bush has been creating new jobs, and she'll say: 'Yeah, I know, I have three of them.'"

Jim Hightower, Bush's Economic Nostrum, August 30, 2006

"Starting around 1980, American society began to undergo a series of deep shifts.  Deregulation, weakened antitrust enforcement.  Money began to play a larger and more corrupting role in politics. America fell behind other nations in education, in infrastructure, and in the performance of many of its major industries.  Inequality increased.  As a result of these and other changes, America was turning into a rigged game—a society that denies opportunity to those who are not born into wealthy families, one that resembles a third-world dictatorship more than an advanced democracy."

Charles Ferguson, Predator Nation, 2012

"The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy."

Alex Carey, Taking the Risk out of Democracy, 1995

"Why are people so reluctant to believe that sociopaths and narcissists can use the power of the pen to prey on people?  Because they are well spoken and organized?  These are the most dangerous of the emotionally warped with a need to acquire, dominate and control, because they are smarter and more calculating than the impulse murderers, burglars, rapists, thieves, and pedophiles.

The notion that people become naturally good, rational and well-adjusted because they are wearing a suit is ludicrous, especially to anyone who has worked with many of those who move in the upper echelons of money and power.  There will always be those at the extremes.  But for most of us, restoring a sense of justice and order and putting the nation back into some kind of working balance will be high on the priority list, if not for ourselves, then for our families.  The sooner we start, the sooner it will be over.

Jesse, Predator Class, 26 December 2008

“The Senator was vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected, and in his 'ideas' almost idiotic, while his celebrated piety was that of a traveling salesman for church furniture. Certainly there was nothing exhilarating in the actual words of his speeches, nor anything convincing in his philosophy.”

Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here, 1935

“Anyone who has ever lived or worked in a corrupt dictatorship knows what happens. When the system is rigged, when ordinary citizens are powerless, and when whistle-blowers are pariahs at best, three things happen. First, the worst people rise to the top. They behave appallingly, and they wreak havoc. Second, people who could make productive contributions to society are incented to become destructive, because corruption is far more lucrative than honest work.  And third, everyone else pays, both economically and emotionally; people become cynical, selfish, and fatalistic. Often they go along with the system, but they hate themselves for it.”

Charles H. Ferguson, Inside Job, 2010


Stocks rallied today, founded in part by news of another 'breakthrough' in discussions with Iran.

Gold and silver bounced.

Bitcoin held its ground at support and managed to bounce a bit.

We have earnings on deck, which may have some influence on the market at the extremes.

But all in all, the looming global recession and oil shortage is barely given its appropriate risk weighting.

I have seen some very ugly and awful things in my life.  I was a child of the 50's and 60's after all, But the current level of open corruption and hypocrisy in Washington is a disgraceful stain on the country.  

Those who fail to uphold their oaths to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution from enemies, foreign and domestic bear a heavy responsibility.

History will not be kind.  And it ought not to be.  There is no excuse for this.

People of faith must bear witness to the terrible sins against the Spirit being committed by those who cloak themselves in a gospel soaked in money and blood.  They will be reaping the wages of sin.

"You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.” 
William Wilberforce, Speech to Parliament, 1791

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - A Mighty Bubble of Stolen Wealth

 

“A mighty bubble of wealth is blown before our eyes, as empty, as transient, as contradictory to the laws of solid material, as confuted by every circumstance of actual condition, as any other bubble which man or child ever blew before.”

Edward Chancellor, Devil Take the Hindmost, 1999

"Over the past 30 years the plutocrats have used their vastly increased wealth to capture the flag and assure the government does their bidding. This marriage of money and politics has produced an America of gross inequality at the top and low social mobility at the bottom, with little but anxiety and dread in between, as middle class Americans feel the ground falling out from under their feet.

Like those populists of that earlier era, millions of Americans have awakened to a sobering reality: they live in a plutocracy, where they are disposable. Then, the remedy was a popular insurgency that ignited the spark of democracy. Now we have come to another parting of the ways, and once again the fate and character of our country are up for grabs."

Bill Moyers, last episode of Bill Moyers Journal, 30 April 2010

"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."

Mike Lofgren, The Deep State, 5 January 2016

"Special privileges and the use of the taxing power for private gain, these are the twin pillars upon which plutocracy rests. Accumulating by conscious frauds more money than they can use upon themselves, wisely distribute or safely leave to their children, these denounce as public enemies all who question their methods or throw a light upon their crimes.

Plutocracy is abhorrent to a republic; it is more despotic than monarchy, more heartless than aristocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It preys upon the nation in time of peace and conspires against it in the hour of its calamity. Conscienceless, compassionless and devoid of wisdom, it enervates its votaries while it impoverishes its victims."

William Jennings Bryan, Speech at Madison Square Garden, 30 August 1906

"For they sanctify the power of markets in the name of economic efficiency, which requires the elimination of administrative or political barriers capable of inconveniencing the owners of capital in their individual quest for the maximisation of individual profit, which has been turned into a model of rationality. They want independent central banks.

And they preach the subordination of nation-states to the requirements of economic freedom for the masters of the economy, with the suppression of any regulation of any market, beginning with the labour market, the prohibition of deficits and inflation, the general privatisation of public services, and the reduction of public and social expenses.

And yet the world is there, with the immediately visible effects of the implementation of the great neoliberal utopia: not only the poverty of an increasingly large segment of the most economically advanced societies, the extraordinary growth in income differences, the progressive disappearance of autonomous universes of cultural production, such as film, publishing, etc. through the intrusive imposition of commercial values, but also and above all two major trends.

First is the destruction of all the collective institutions capable of counteracting the effects of the infernal machine, primarily those of the state, repository of all of the universal values associated with the idea of the public realm. Second is the imposition everywhere, in the upper spheres of the economy and the state as at the heart of corporations, of that sort of moral Darwinism that, with the cult of the winner, schooled in higher mathematics and bungee jumping, institutes the struggle of all against all and cynicism as the norm of all action and behaviour."

Pierre Bourdieu, L’essence du néolibéralisme, (en français), December 1998

Stocks slumped again today despite an early afternoon attempt to take the major indices green.

Gold and silver were slammed lower.

The Dollar grabbed the 99 handle.  It is still chopping within a relatively narrow range however.

VIX wallowed in near complacency, as it is often wont to do.

Bitcoin is hanging on to support a little north of 76k.

The markets seem quiet.   Not in a peaceful way, but in anticipation of an outbreak of uncertainty.

Have a pleasant evening.