Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Malignant Narcissists and Their Miserable Ends

 

"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

"As with many personality disorders, those who are severely flawed of character, but especially the narcissist, when they face public disgrace, when they are outed as criminals or for their misbehavior, or when they fail in a very public way—that is when they become metastable, placing us as family, friends, co-workers, corporations, the public, or a nation in greatest danger.  When things begin to sour for the narcissist, here is what we can expect:

1.  They will falsely claim that everything is fine and that there is nothing wrong.  They will try to first misdirect us or claim there is nothing to the allegations or circumstances.

2.   If evidence is presented, they will seek to have it invalidated or claim that it is false, fake, or a product of vague conspiracies, but most certainly not true.

3.   Any evidence presented, and those that present it will be attacked aggressively and vindictively.  The better the evidence, the more aggressive the attack.  Individuals who are doing the right thing by reporting criminal acts, unethical behavior, or failings are to be discredited, humiliated, hounded, and bullied—not even their families are to be spared if need be.  The narcissist will engage supporters or enablers to simultaneously attack those who offer proof or evidence, even if it embarrassingly exposes their poodle-like behavior as that of spineless sycophants.

4.   Foolproof evidence will be portrayed as false and the result of pettiness, jealousies, bad actors, malicious individuals, negativity, haters, enemies, losers, conspirators, opposition, gain seekers, the faithless, or as we are seeing now in American politics, 'fake news' or 'deep state' actors.  There is always a large constellation of people to blame, the narcissist casts wide to see which vacuous claim resonates, especially with their supporters.

5.   As they lash out with vindictiveness, the malignant narcissist will continue to talk about themselves in glowing terms; irrespective of their actual situation, as they are incapable of introspection, much less contriteness.  They will trumpet their greatness, their real or imagined achievements, their faux infallibility, and even portray themselves as worthy of being revered rather than reviled.

6.   They will seek to find someone to blame for their troubles or downfall, preferably someone that cannot defend themselves.  A scapegoat is always useful and when there is not a real one, one will be invented.  If they are not promoted or fired, it is because a cabal at work was against them. If they cheat their business partners, it was because they deserved it. If the wife gets the kids in a divorce settlement, it is because of her dastardly attorney, not his abominable behavior. If they lose an election it is because of campaign managers, unappreciative voters, trickery, fraud, or some other kind of malfeasance on the part of a conspiracy.  Conspiracies are useful to the narcissist because they conveniently require no evidence.  As they are not married to the truth, they will prattle countless baseless reasons that all point away, never at themselves.

7.   As circumstances become dire, the narcissist will not take any responsibility—ever.  Anything that has gone wrong is the responsibility of others.  They will blame spouses as undeserving of their greatness, ignorant colleagues who just don’t measure up, the disloyal, those who abide by rules and laws because ironically, they abide by rules and laws, or those that just clearly did not understand the very specialness of the narcissist.  Everyone, and I mean everyone from people long gone, to the peripherally connected, to the earthly departed will be blamed for the failure or downfall of the narcissist.  Once more it is never their fault.

8.   In the process of casting blame, even the most loyal and stalwart will be discarded and denigrated if needed with reptilian indifference.  For the malignant narcissist, there is only the 'good' — those that provide blind, unwavering loyalty and who are useful, and everyone else who is an enemy, useless, and thus 'bad.'  Whether you are in or out, good or bad, is not determined by history, by friendship, sacrifices, or how well you have performed in the past—it is determined by the capricious and selfish needs of the narcissist, and that can change in a moment.

9.   Expect lies to increase and to be repeated exponentially.  They will, even in light of factual evidence to the contrary, lie more profusely and adamantly.  Lies are and always will be the number one tool of the malignant narcissist.  The only difference now is that in facing failure or public ridicule, the lies must increase in frequency and audacity to the point of incredulity.  The narcissist will expect supporters, the unethical, and enablers to lie for them or even create plausible alibis.  That they imperil others by compelling them to lie is the collateral damage the malignant narcissist does as they thrash in despair when they are failing or caught.

10.   And while lies will increase, so too will be the need to devalue others in order to further value themselves.  They will attack everyone and anyone in the most vicious and vindictive ways.  This is when we see their rage come through.  Not just anger, but unbridled rage.  They will say things that shock the conscience and they expect everyone to swallow what they say, much as their enablers do.  The most decent of persons will be attacked, mocked, ridiculed, and turned into a human chew-toy as the narcissist unleashes untethered rage and hatred.  They will dip down into a bottomless cauldron of antipathy and like an arterial spurt, will spew this toxic brew far and wide with metronomic regularity.

11.   The malignant narcissist, lacking guilt or a conscience, is only concerned with respect and not being publicly shamed.  Any kind of public embarrassment will cause them further anger, further rage, further attacks, further unethical comportment, and unprecedented incivility.

12.   If the narcissist is going to be brought down, they will also seek to bring everyone else around them down to vindictively make them suffer.  How the narcissist vilifies, lashes out, or destroys others (spouse, friends, business partners, workmates, the general public) is up to the morbid creativity and depravity of the malignant narcissist, the viable tools they have available, and of course how dire or desperate the situation.  The internet and social media are certainly useful as lives can be ruined with a single tweet.  But so are guns and rifles, poison, and even assassins for hire.  And if they command a country, they can put the security organs or the military to work on their behalf.

13.   In certain situations, as the end nears, the suffering of others is paramount to the malignant narcissist.  It is their way of elevating themselves—sick as that sounds—by malevolently paying back society with even more suffering.  As they lash out, they will show no concern or empathy because they have none.  If others are suffering because of their actions, the narcissist simply does not care.  Lacking a conscience or any kind of remorse, much like Robert Hare’s psychopath, they sleep very well at night while everyone else is anxious, worried, stressed, physically or psychologically traumatizes all the while nervously and justifiably pondering what further malevolence will take place.

14.   As they face failure, arrest, indictment, or dismissal, they will endlessly air their grievances.  Narcissists are natural wound collectors and as such, they have been collecting and nurturing social slights and perceived wrongs just for this occasion.  They will wallow in victimhood claiming they have been relentlessly and needlessly persecuted.  They, of course, expect their attorneys, followers, or enablers to subserviently echo their flatulent claims.

So, what happens in the end?  Difficult to predict.  Each circumstance is different.  Some will kick and flail and disappear for a while, intentionally or thanks to incarceration—biding their time until they can do it all over again.  Others regroup, plan, scheme, and prepare another triumphant entry into the lives of the unsuspecting to victimize them when the opportunity arises.  

Others, unfortunately, will seek to do harm as they face a breakup, a divorce, are fired from a job, are outed for their crimes, or are removed from office.  Others will hound, stalk, or just make life intolerable for those they deem responsible. Their past can often give us insight as to what they might do, but one can never be sure—humans are terribly complex and as with many afflicted with a personality disorder, sensitive to the smallest of unrecognized but catalytic triggers.

In the case of narcissistic cult leaders, the cult members often pay with their lives as they did in Jonestown Guyana when Jim Jones came under investigation.  In interpersonal relationships, violence is always something to be concerned. "

Joe Navarro, FBI Behavioural Analysis Veteran, When the Narcissist Fails, Psychology Today, 2 January 2024

 

It was risk on all the way today, as stocks rallied sharply into the close.

VIX fell.

The Dollar dropped.

Gold and silver rallied.

Bitcoin bounced.

I have this great image in my mind of Donnie squawking at Bessent, 'can't you get me at least a new high on the Dow?' 

Irresponsible management.

He is going to take a lot of his followers with him, Jim Jones style. 

They don't listen, and never learn. 

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Their Strange Indifference to Atrocity

 

"Through his first year in Germany [1933], Dodd had been struck again and again by the strange indifference to atrocity that had settled over the nation, the willingness of the populace and the moderate elements in the government to accept each new oppressive decree, each new act of violence, without protest.  Dodd continued to hope that the murders would so outrage the German public that the regime would fall, but as the days passed he saw no evidence of any such outpouring of anger. The controlled press, not surprisingly, praised Hitler for his decisive behaviour."

Erik Larson, In The Garden of Beasts, 2011

"It can only be hoped that American democracy will thoroughly realize, before it is too late, that fascism is not confined to any one nation or any one party; and it is to be hoped that it will succeed in overcoming the tendency toward dictatorial forms in the people themselves.  Only time will tell whether the Americans will be able to resist the compulsion of irrationality, or whether they will succumb to it.”

Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psychology of Fascism, 1933

"It’s rather difficult in these noisy, confusing, nerve-racking days to achieve the peace of mind in which to pause for a moment to reflect on what you believe in.  There’s so little time and opportunity to give it much thought—though it is the thing we live by; and without it, without beliefs, human existence today would hardly be bearable.  There are many days in this age of anxiety when a human being feels awfully low and discouraged.  I myself find consolation at such moments by two means: trying to develop a sense of history, and renewing the quest for inner life.

One must be honest with oneself, and that’s not easy.  You have to have patience and understanding.  And, when you can, seek God.  But the reward of having an inner life, which no outside storm or evil turn of fortune can touch, is, it seems to me, a very great one."

William L. Shirer, This I Believe, November 26, 1951

"The demon's target is not the possessed; it is us the observers—everyone in this house.  The point is to make us despair, to reject our humanity, to see ourselves as bestial, vile and putrescent, without dignity, ugly, unworthy."

William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist, May 1971

Stocks slumped.  The rational mind recoils at the governance of our financial markets.

Gold and silver were hit by selling again.   I have seen this more times than I can count in the past 30 years.

China will be celebrating the Lunar New Year on February 15th. 

VIX rose.

Bitcoin has fallen out of its intermediate trading range and is suffering from cascading sales as certain entities are engaged in de-leveraging.

Trump is a destroyer.  And only  an ardent minority will continue to support him as his failures begin to bite more deeply into the day to day lives of the public.  

History suggests that violence and aggression will increase until it meets determined opposition.  

Who and how many will have to die to make this happen? 

You will know the servants of the Beast by their strange indifference to atrocity. 

Hard times without a doubt.  America has been here many times before.  My own parents faced the privations of the Great Depression, and then served in the long years of a World War against fascism.

We will endure.  What is important is to remain standing in the faith, with the love of God.

That is what this is all about.

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - To Achieve a Reverent Understanding

 

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.

All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

"Myth wants power; revelation reveals the true power of God in the most extreme powerlessness.  Myth wants knowledge; the Word of God asks for constant faith and, only within that faith, a growing, reverent understanding.  The revelation of God’s Word is gentle patience amidst the intractable tensions of life.  Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered.  On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself.”

Irenaeus of Lyons, The Scandal of The Incarnation

“We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.

But we are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased."

C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

"Far be it from us thus to fight against God's gracious purposes to man, and to make the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died! Let us acknowledge all to be Christians, who have not by open word or deed renounced their fellowship with us, and let us try to lead them on into all truth.

And for ourselves, let us endeavour to enter more and more fully into the meaning of our own prayers and professions; let us humble ourselves for the very little we do, and the poor advance we make; let us avoid unnecessary display of religion; let us do our duty in that state of life to which God has called us.

Whether rich or poor, learned or unlearned, walking by this rule, we shall become, at length, true saints, sons of God. We shall be upright and perfect, lights in the world, the image of Him who died that we might be conformed to His likeness."

John Henry Newman, Profession Without Hypocrisy

"The power of the world is great, and I am just a sinner. But I know who I love, and that I want to be a part of that love, forever.  And so I have chosen my way, and struggle on to that outcome, one day at a time.  And this is how it is and how it will be for all who have chosen the Way.  Love is our destination, but while we are here on earth it can only be a journey, a continuing way of life, as we struggle on as best we can, to a final holy rest, and peace at the last."

Jesse, Obedience Without Love: The Leaven of the Pharisees, 5 April 2017

"The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world.  It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ.  As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death.  Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

This great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. The Incarnation is the ultimate reason why the service of God cannot be divorced from the service of man.In the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God.  Thereafter, any attack, even on the least of men, is an attack on Christ, who took on the form of man, and in his own Person restored the image of God in all.  Through our relationship with the Incarnation, we recover our true humanity, and at the same time are delivered from that perverse individualism which is the consequence of sin, and recover our solidarity with all mankind."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

The early church did not refer to themselves as 'Christians.'  They were known as the people of 'the Way.'

Redemption is not a singular event.  One makes their initial decision to follow, and then they take up their cross and follow Him, over a period of time, to the end of their lives here.

And so it takes work, and patience, and a willingness to admit that one has fallen, and will ask for and accept the grace to get back up again and continue on,.

Some don't.   Many dry up and fall away as the going gets harder, and periods of 'spiritual dryness' occur.

And some more are choked from the faith by worries, and desires, and envy and pride and worldly idols.

But it is a way, and the ongoing work of repentance and forgiveness will sustain us.

This was a wide ranging day.  The markets are struggling to estimate and price in risk, but there are powerful forces working against genuine price discovery.   They are known as Wall St, Bessent, and Trump.

Gold had an unusually wide trading range again, finishing up nearly to even.  Silver always has a volatile day it seems, but held on to a gain.

The metals go up at night, and then London and NY financial centers come in.

When I was a younger man, one day I had a bit of a shocking revelation.  As I looked at the people around me, I realized that when the oceans dry up, and the stars burn out, and all the works of man are crumbled into the fires of an expanding sun in its death throes, their souls would continue on, radiant and beautiful.

How can we value things more than people if we understand something so basic to what we believe? 

I think C. S. Lewis expresses this well in the first quotation above.  People get lost in the weeds of their divisive speculations, and completely miss the big picture, and the implications of the Incarnation. 

I have to leave early today, to take Princess Daisy for her monthly vet visit and allergy shot, yada yada.

I will adjust for any after hours movements in the charts tomorrow.

Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.  Or not.  The US federal data releases are becoming about as erratic as Trump's foreign policy.

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Little Girl, I Say to You Arise

 

"When they arrived at the house of the elder of the synagogue, Jesus observed a great deal of commotion, with people weeping and wailing loudly. When he entered, he said to them, 'Why all this hysteria and weeping? The child is not dead, she is only sleeping.' And the people began to ridicule him.

After sending them all outside, he took the child’s father and mother with his companions and entered the room where the child lay. He held her by the hand and said, 'Talitha koum' which means: 'Little girl, I say to you, arise.' And the girl of twelve got up and began to walk around. And the people were all amazed."

Mark 5:38-42

"The greedy elite would rather be extremely rich in a suffering nation than modestly rich in a successful nation.  The greater the misery, the greater their power, since power is the difference in wealth and influence between one person and another."

Jesse, Speaking Privately to Wealthy Donors, 18 September 2012

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”

Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds, 1841

"In a week of going all round Caracas [Venezuela], I had yet to see a checkpoint, that nobody had at any stage asked me who I am, what I was doing or prevented me from going anywhere, and that the shops, bars and restaurants are all functioning normally.  Colleen in Minneapolis said that there were checkpoints everywhere, that the streets are full of heavily armed men, that people are frequently stopped, questioned, asked to produce documents, and diverted, and that many shops bars and restaurants are closed because the staff are afraid to venture out into the streets."

Craig Murray, Pirate of the Caribbean, 3 February 2026


Stocks resumed their sell off today, after yesterday's short squeeze.

Gold and silver rebounded.

The Dollar weakened.

Bitcoin fell to a new recent low, but rebounded a bit into the close.

VIX rose.

Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.

Have a pleasant weekend.