Gretchen Morgenson, Neil Barofsky: Into the Bailout Buzzsaw, July 21, 2012
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
George Orwell, 1984
"I was told point blank by Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, 'Neil, you're a smart guy. You're a young guy. You're a talented guy. You got your whole future in front of you. You've got a young family that's starting out. But you're doing yourself real harm.' And he told me that if I wanted to get a job out on the Street afterwards, it was going to really be hard for me.
And I explained to him that I wasn't really interested in that. And he said, 'Well, maybe a judgeship. Maybe an appointment from the Obama administration for a federal judgeship. If all you do is soften your tone, be a little bit more upbeat, all this stuff can happen for you.'
When I had my incident with the assistant secretary that my deputy, another former federal prosecutor, who did narcotics work, said to me, 'Neil, you were just offered the bullet or the bribe, the gold or the lead.' And what he was referring to was a society just like that, which was Colombia, back in the day when Pablo Escobar and the drug kingpins really controlled society.
And in some ways, it creates this false illusion that there are people out there looking out for the interest of taxpayers, the checks and balances that are built into the system are operational, when in fact they're not. And what you're going to see and what we are seeing is a breakdown of those governmental institutions. And you'll see governments that continue to have policies that feed the interests of — and I don't want to get clichéd, but the one percent or the .1 percent — to the detriment of everyone else."
Neil Barofsky, Moyers & Company, 2012
"Indeed, one can be deceived in many ways; one can be deceived in believing what is untrue, but on the other hand, one is also deceived in not believing what is true."
Søren Kierkegaard, Kjerlighedens Gjerninger, SKS vol.9, 1847
"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. Millions of Americans have awakened to a sobering reality: they live in a plutocracy, where they are disposable. Once again the fate and character of our country are up for grabs. Democracy only works when we claim it as our own."
Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal, 30 April 2010
There will be a Comex futures contract option expiration for the precious metals tomorrow.
Gold is being stopped dead at the overhead resistance.
If it does break through that move might contain some energy.
Silver is weighed down a bit by the big decline in the NDX.
Speaking of the NDX, it set a lower low today, and went out there, which is not constructive for those of the bullish persuasion.
The SP 500 managed to hold up. I have marked the key support in green on the chart. It if breaks that then run, bully, run!
Bitcoin had a bit of a problem getting out of its own way today, despite the big new buy from the true believers favorite strategy stock.
The mainstream media is starting to take note of the big international flows of gold bullion, and its recent price increase.
Perhaps something significant is happening, or rather has been happening, and it is only now being noticed.
The US seems to think it does not need anyone else these days. That is fine when you are riding high. But if you stumble, there will be plenty of people all too glad to kick you on the way down.
How are the mighty fallen, and their weapons of war have perished.
I have spent the last couple of hours watching a guy in upstate NY on Youtube doing work on a cabin in the Adirondacks, and pretty gnarly repairs on an old skidsteer. These are some of my favorite videos. I may be an old dog, but I still like to watch the hunt, even from the porch.
It's the little things that make life worth living.
Have a pleasant evening.
