Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Plus ça change

 

Germany, October 1940

The latest is that the Great Man himself now has a mistress, named Eva Braun.  Of course, we all know what the circumstances are, and the lady should really be described as a maitresse en titre. 

A prankish official who eavesdropped on a long-distance telephone conversation between the two of them has reported that Hitler figuratively cried on the blonde bosom of his girlfriend about the huge quantities of hormones and injections of vitamins being put into him.

The average German now registers developments as he would the scores of the Sunday football games, shouts happily over the results and has forgotten all about them by next morning.  He has got into the habit of victory, and takes each successive triumph more and more for granted, which is charmingly simple of him - except that he is becoming more and more brutalized, and the level of his greed is constantly going up.  I can hear the rumbling of a terrible storm in the distance.

Truly, with the Germans it is as I have said: every nation normally puts its demons, its delusions, its impossible desires away into the cellars and vaults and underground prisons of its unconscious; the Germans have reversed the process, and have let them loose.  The contents have escaped like the winds out of Pandora’s box. 

A storm is raging across this long-suffering old earth. Germany, drunk with victory, is sick.  The language one hears, the speech of the war commentators, the talk in the coffee-houses, together with the German of the military, has degenerated into a kind of street jargon that makes the blood run cold. 

And behind it all are the ‘deals’.  People sell stolen paintings and sculptures and wine cellars, which may or may not exist — they ‘deal’ in securities, silk stockings, ownerless French factories - with stolen machines, with soup spoons, toilet soap, and rubber goods. In Berlin, absolutely everybody ‘deals’ — I was there recently, and saw it.  The ladies of noble Prussian families are busy transacting business, and so are waitresses, drugstore clerks, high-school students. 

But what good does it do?  Industry pulls the strings; it has controlled the General Staff since the days of Ludendorff.  The instrument of power is terror, and the industrialists hold tight to it.  They control every means of influencing public opinion, and have thereby stupefied the great unproductive mass-salaried people, office workers, most of the lower ranking government employees - to the point of idiocy. 

The rest is a mixture of business people and nobility come down in the world, melted into a middle-class lump with the newly created officers and quick- turnover fellows.  These people are more materialistic than the Bolshevik Russians, live from day to day, and haven’t the slightest conception of the grim little game that has been begun here.

Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen, Diary of a Man in Despair, 1947

The market today gave me a good chuckle.  While the price of Crude Oil on the Comex Futures were rallying, the market was pricing down the real instruments of energy.

Stocks were in rally mode today starting with the futures soaring in the late Sunday trade.

Gold and silver were meh. 

VIX fell.

The wiseguys are doing their short term, we-can-do-what-we-want-because-we-can boogie woogie. 

Breaking: The US has carried out strikes on Iran's Konarak Naval Base on the southeastern coast, wounding two Iranian soldiers, per Al Jazeera. It is the first US strike on Iran in nearly 7 weeks. Iran will likely retaliate tonight.

This is going to get interesting if you watch your leverage and personal supplies situation.

The theme for 2027 will be 'How are the mighty fallen.' 

As popular TV documentarian A J Benza used to say, 'Fame, ain't it a bitch.' 

I may have to dig out the popcorn hot air popper. 

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - And Who Then Will Be Able to Stand

 

"They will cry out to me but I will not answer; they will search but will not find me.  For they hated knowledge and chose not to respect their Lord.  They refused to accept my commandments and spurned all my warnings.  Therefore they shall eat the bitter fruit of their ways, and be gutted by their schemes.   The foolish turn away from me — to death.  For fools are destroyed by their own pride and self-satisfaction.  But whoever listens to me will be saved, and live in peace without fear of disaster.”

Proverbs 1:28-33

"The head of the beast seemed to have been wounded, but the wound had been healed. The whole earth was amazed and so followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast. They worshiped the beast also, saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who can fight and resist it?' And the beast was allowed to make arrogant claims and boasts which were insulting to God, and he was permitted to exercise power for forty-two months."

Revelation 13:3-5

"Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. It’s the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.”

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1944

"The perpetrators were scholars, doctors, nurses, justice officials, the police and the health and workers’ administration. The victims were poor, desperate, rebellious or in need of help. They came from psychiatric clinics and children's hospitals, from old age homes and welfare institutions, from military hospitals and internment camps. The number of victims is huge, the number of offenders who were sentenced, small."

Commemorative Tablet, Tiergartenstraße 4, Berlin

"And then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, whom the Lord will destroy with the breath of His mouth, and bring to nothing with the brightness of His glory.  The coming of the lawless one is according to Satan’s works, with false miracles, signs, and wonders, and with every unrighteous deception for those who are perishing.  They would not accept the love of truth in order to be saved."

2 Thessalonians 2:8-10

Stocks took a hard dive into the close, as the geopolitical risks shaded the allure of another stock option expiration shell game.

Export Import prices were steaming in this morning's economic news. 

Oil was rising sharply.  Hint, hint.

VIX woke from its slumbers.

Geopolitical risks are sending tremors through the global markets. 

And who then will be able to stand?

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who murder the prophets, and stone those who are sent as messengers to you.  How many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were not willing.  Behold, your house is now yours, but is made desolate."

Have a pleasant weekend. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Power Elite Are Cannibalizing the Great Western Democracies

 

"Some people feel an insatiable hunger for power.  They crave control and dominance over others, and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it, including climbing the political ladder.  Such individuals exhibit high levels of psychopathic and narcissistic traits, and are marked by a profound lack of empathy and remorse, which allows them to exploit and abuse others without hesitation.  Worse still, they tend to believe they are superior to others and therefore entitled to dominate them.

In contrast, highly compassionate, just, and responsible individuals feel genuine concern for others and have little interest in exercising power over them.  Therefore, they tend to avoid positions that elevate them above their fellow humans.

As you can understand, this dynamic leaves positions of power open to ruthless individuals.  Once they seize authority, they have no intention of ever relinquishing it.  On the contrary, they are willing to take any measures necessary to remain in power, including making anti-democratic decisions.

Those individuals hate democracy, although they might pretend to love it.  For democracy is, at its core, about distributing political power among the people, protecting them from rule by a self-serving minority. Perhaps needless to say, our political system fails miserably at this, rewarding — for the most part — the ones who are best at deceiving, exploiting, and outmaneuvering others for their personal gain.

One of the most significant ways power-hungry, yet often highly charismatic. individuals tend to gain power is by leveraging the media to present themselves as confident, decisive, and 'tough' defenders of the people — even though, in reality, they are deeply insecure and driven primarily by a desire for self-importance.

In addition, they attract similarly pathological individuals, forming coalitions that strengthen and consolidate their power.  As a result, what we call democracy is, in practice, a pathocracy  — a term coined by Polish psychologist Andrzej Łobaczewski to describe systems of government dominated by pathological personalities.

This is not to say that all politicians are corrupt.  Some are genuinely kind-hearted and aim to serve society, but sooner or later they tend to exit the political arena — driven out, or simply disgusted with, their malevolent colleagues.  Psychopathic politicians, by contrast, persist to the end.  Even after reaching the top, they feel their power is still insufficient.

At that point, they may begin projecting their ambitions onto the nation itself, seeking to expand its power and prestige on the world stage.  This can trigger financial or military conflicts with other nations, disrupting or devastating the lives of hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of people.

Pathological leaders not only seek to expand their power but also work meticulously to protect what they already hold.  For example, they may scare the public with made-up threats, while portraying their political opponents as the only cause of those threats and themselves as the only solution.  Or, to offer another example, they may attempt to weaken or dismantle democratic institutions that threaten their authority, such as independent media, legislatures, and anti-corruption bodies.

So what can we, ordinary citizens, do to safeguard democracy from such leaders?

First, we must recognize that they hold power only because we collectively permit them to.  It is easy to blame, accuse, or demonize politicians, for it requires no self-reflection.  The uncomfortable truth, however, is that each of us bears some responsibility for the political reality we inhabit, and acknowledging this is the first step toward meaningful change.

Second, we need to understand why so many of us unconsciously gravitate toward pathological leaders.  Humans are drawn to strongman figures who appear capable of protecting and providing for the group.  This tendency is especially pronounced in times of crisis, which helps explain the recent global rise of authoritarianism.  By becoming aware of this instinct, we can consciously evaluate leaders based on their vision, ideas, and proposed policies, rather than being swayed by charisma or fear.

Finally, we must honestly acknowledge that our so-called democracy is deeply flawed — and commit to changing it.  Electing representatives every few years, heavily promoted by corporate media and rarely held to their promises, leaves citizens with very little real power.  A truly democratic system would be participatory, enabling people to shape laws, policies, and community affairs directly through mechanisms such as referendums, citizen initiatives, recall elections, and town hall assemblies."

Sofa Archon, Why Psychopaths Rise to Power

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, and I thought as a child.  But now that I am a man I have put away childish things.  Now we see through a glass, darkly.  But then we will see face to face.  Now I know in part, but then shall I know fully, even as I am fully known.  For now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13:11-13

Here is what is going on in a nutshell in the markets and in Washington.

This is the very heart of an extractive economy that is slowly cannibalizing itself for the sake of a greedy and corrupt elite. 

Gold and silver were hit hard but rebounded some ahead of the stock option expiration tomorrow.

Stocks were hammered led by tech, which is looking very skittish.   

But never fear, the wiseguys bought them back up into the close.

Oil is trying to break out.  

The propaganda smoke and mirrors machine is running at full speed.  

But do not be deceived, for God is not mocked.  

What a man sows, so shall he reap.

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Failure Is an Option: The Extractive Spiral of Kleptocracy

 

"Countries differ in their economic success because of their different institutions, the rules influencing how the economy works, and the incentives that motivate people,” write Acemoglu and Robinson.  Extractive institutions, whether feudalism in medieval Europe or the use of schoolchildren to harvest cotton in contemporary Uzbekistan, transfer wealth from the masses to elites.

In contrast, inclusive institutions—based on property rights, the rule of law, equal provision of public services, and free economic choices—create incentives for citizens to gain skills, make capital investments, and pursue technological innovation, all of which increase productivity and generate wealth.  Economic institutions are themselves the products of political processes, which depend on political institutions.

These can also be extractive, if they enable an elite to maintain its dominance over society, or inclusive, if many groups have access to the political process.  Poverty is not an accident: “Poor countries are poor because those who have power make choices that create poverty.”  Therefore, Acemoglu and Robinson argue, it is ultimately politics that matters.

The logic of extractive and inclusive institutions explains why growth is not foreordained.  Where a cohesive elite can use its political dominance to get rich at the expense of ordinary people, it has no need for markets and free enterprise, which can create political competitors.  

In more fortunate countries, pluralistic political institutions prevent any one group from monopolizing resources for itself, while free markets empower a large class of people with an interest in defending the current system against absolutism."

James Kwak, Failure Is An Option, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Summer 2012

"I have this feeling in my stomach that I felt in other countries, much poorer countries, countries that were headed into really difficult economic situation. When there's a small group of people who got you into a disaster, and who were still powerful. Disaster even made them more powerful. And you know you need to come in and break that power. And you can't. You're stuck.

The powerful people are the insiders. They're the CEOs of these banks. They're the people who run these banks. They're the people who pay themselves the massive bonuses at the end of the last year. Now, those bonuses are not the essence of the problem, but they are a symptom of an arrogance, and a feeling of invincibility, that tells you a lot about the culture of those organizations, and the attitudes of the people who lead them.

But it really shows you the arrogance, and I think these people think that they've won. They think it's over. These people are throughout the system of government. They are very much at the forefront of the Treasury. The Treasury is apparently calling the shots on their economic policies. This is a decisive moment. Either you break the power or we're stuck for a long time with this arrangement."

Bill Moyer's Journal - Interview with Simon Johnson, February, 2009.

 

I think that the problems are well known now, and the the probable course for a revitalization of the economy and the nation are withing the grasp of reasonable informed people.

The difficulty is that so many are paid and otherwise motivated to prevent any reform that might disadvantage the Western kleptocracy.

Why bother then to restate solutions and a call to sensible reforms that favor growth and general prosperity? 

Gold and silver were hammered.  

The dollar bounced.

Oil is threatening to break out along with natural gas.

Inflation is running strong.   Duh. 

Stocks took a pretty stiff hit today, led by the tech concentrated NDX.

Things do not look good.  This has to be the most understated crisis in the US that I have ever seen.  

During the fall of Berlin gangs of ardent Nazi cultists went around hanging their own citizens, lashing out against the innocent as ashes consumed their mad fever dreams.   

We are starting to see some of that here today — the drowning of innocence in madness and the great apostasy from love.  

The wages of sin will be paid, and it will get ugly.

Have a pleasant evening.