"And the angel lifted up his hand to heaven. And he swore by Him that lives for ever and ever, who created heaven and the earth and the things that are in it, that there should be time no longer."
Revelation 19:5-6
"The historical evidence is overwhelming. Many societies have done well for a while – until powerful people get out of hand. We had strong institutions for a long time in this country — including effective checks on the power of bankers. In recent decades we abandoned the governance mechanisms that previously served us well. Global megabanks have obtained excessive and inappropriate power – the power to take a great deal of risk, with cash for their executives on the upside, and huge damage for the rest of us on the downside."
Simon Johnson, Jamie Dimon and the Fall of Nations, May 31,2012
"A credit crisis [and the unwinding of any overleveraged paper asset such as NY-London precious metals - Jesse] arises when many more promises are made than can possibly be kept, and disputes emerge about how and to whom promises will be broken."
Steve Waldman, Credit Crisis for Kindergartners, Interfluidity, March 20, 2008
"Until this moment I did not fully appreciate the moral vacuum at the core of these elitists. They created a wreckage of devices that led us to the edge of an economic precipice. Now they attempt to justify the results by defining the poor as those who, by their nature, prefer cheap and shoddy goods and a lower standard of life. They are by choice separate but equal to the wealthy, who genetically require the finer things in life.
The famous rebuke of 'at long last, have you no decency', to those who thrive from conflict and injustice, and who will say or do almost anything in their pursuit of the will to power, must surely again apply."
Jesse, Economists Discover 'Separate But Equal', May 20, 2008
"He knew folly like the back of his hand,
And was interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, senators burst with laughter,
And little children died in the streets."
W. H. Auden, Epitaph On a Tyrant (edited), 1939
VIX rose at the end of the day.
Stocks did their usual wash and rinse boogie woogie.
Bessent is trying to keep them pumped to please the boss, but the market will play it for a quick buck, but isn't happy with the risk reward at this level.
Their bullish braying is intended to lure the small specs into the market for the handoff.
The Dollar bounced around, but could not take back the 97 handle.
He-who-must-not-be-named is wrecking the US economy, and its position within the world community.
A second carrier group has been dispatched from the Caribbean to the vicinity of Iran. It will take a week or so to position along with the group already in place.
Trump wants a deal, but the acceptable ask that Benjy wants is something to which no sane government would agree. He wants them to give up their missiles. He now knows he cannot defend against them. But he wants Iran out of the way to give himself a free hand in the region.
The only compelling reason for US to strike is that Washington runs on blackmail and bribes, and the chicken-hawk spirit of the neo-cons these days. Not oaths, not conscience, but money and power, and the escaping of consequences for their crimes are all that matter to them.
Eventually someone is going to lose something that will be missed. So they are trying to set up a scapegoat and fall guy, respectively. These half men have the moral depth of street urchins. And the young shall die as children come of age.
It's an old story, as old as Babylon, and evil as sin.
It is what madman, gripped by the demons of lawlessness, do.
As a reminder, US markets will be closed on Monday for the Presidents' Day holiday.
Have a pleasant weekend.
