“'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
"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’.”
Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861
"Even the tyrant never rules by force alone; but mostly by fairy tales. And so it is with the modern tyrant, the great employer. The sight of a millionaire is seldom, in the ordinary sense, an enchanting sight: nevertheless, he is in his way an enchanter. As they say in the gushing articles about him in the magazines, he is a fascinating personality. So is a snake. At least he is fascinating to rabbits; and so is the millionaire to the rabbit-witted sort of people that ladies and gentlemen have allowed themselves to become."
G. K. Chesterton, Utopia of Usurers, 1917
"Their own strength has betrayed them. They have pulled down Deep Heaven on their heads. Therefore, they will die."
C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength, 1945
"This unnatural power corrupts both the heart and the understanding. And to prevent the least hope of amendment, a king is ever surrounded by a crowd of infamous flatterers, who find their account in keeping him from the least light of reason, till all ideas of rectitude and justice are utterly erased from his mind."
Edmund Burke, A Vindication of Natural Society, 1756
"Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must also be your servant. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:27-28
The Dollar fell.
Gold and silver rallied in the morning, but were pushed back down to 'non-threatening' levels in the afternoon after the rest of the world had gone home.
The gold chart formation has morphed from a symmetrical triangle to a 'slanted W' which is mostly a technicality since both have approximately the same minimum measuring objective.
Silver price is being 'actively managed' in NY and London.
Stocks traded weakly after their recent gains.
VIX is supine.
The young man is off to Asia to be with his new bride. Their progress with a green card creeps along at a snail's pace.
Daisy and I abide.
Have a pleasant weekend.
