Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Malignant Self-Love: The Cult of Moloch

 

"What is hell? I maintain that it is the inability to love."

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, 1880

"Dictatorship is characterized by having absolute sole power over people, and this power is often used in a cruel way.  However, a dictator disrespects basic, political, socioeconomic, and cultural human rights which are fundamental to mental health.

The glorification of a dictator has been called the cult of personality.  At its heart lies a paradox: the modern dictator must create the illusion of popular support or consent by rigging the electoral system.  He must rely on military forces, a secret police, a praetorian guard, spies, informants, interrogators and torturers.

Many dictators suffer from manic-depressive disorders, paranoia and delusions of omniscience and omnipotence.  They are usually ruthless, intolerant of criticism and indifferent to the suffering of others.  Acutely suspicious of others, they surrounded themselves with flatterers. 

Narcissistic individuals have a 'greatly exaggerated sense of their own importance' and are preoccupied with their own achievements and abilities.  They see themselves as grandiose, have difficulty empathizing with the feelings and needs of others (lack empathy) and tend to be vindictive.  This becomes so serious that it interferes with daily life.

Many believed in the cults of Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Mussolini.  People had to acclaim their leaders and shout party slogans on command.  The purpose of the cult was not to convince or persuade, but to sow confusion, destroy common sense, enforce obedience, isolate individuals and crush their dignity.  People had to self-censor and in turn they monitored others, denouncing those who failed to appear sufficiently sincere in their professions of loyalty."

Francesco Gallo, Psychopathology of Dictatorship, Il Sileno Edizioni, 24 July 2020

“Evil wins through the strength of its splendid dupes; and there has in all ages been a disastrous alliance between abnormal innocence and abnormal sin.”

G. K. Chesterton, Eugenics and Other Evils, 1922

"The narcissist is the guru at the centre of a cult.  Like other gurus, he demands complete obedience from his flock, and feels entitled to adulation and special treatment by his followers.  He punishes the wayward and the straying lambs.  He enforces discipline, adherence to his teachings, and common goals.

Every cult needs a hate figure. Narcissists and cult leaders thrive on hatred and pathological envy. 

Narcissists, and often by contagion their unfortunate victims, don't talk, or communicate: they fend off, hide and evade. They perfect the ability of saying nothing in lengthy speeches. They employ a lack of commitment elevated to an ideology. The narcissist prefers to wait and see what procrastination brings: postponement of the inevitable leads to the inevitability of postponement as a strategy of survival.

The narcissist has to condition his human environment to refrain from expressing criticism and disapproval of him, or of his actions and decisions.  He has to teach people around him that any form of disagreement, however mild and minor, throws him into frightful fits of temper and rage attacks and turn him into a constantly cantankerous and irascible person.

To the narcissist, all other people are cardboard cutouts, two-dimensional animated cartoon characters, or symbols. They exist only in his inner universe. He is startled when they deviate from the script and prove to be complex and autonomous.  Narcissists damage and hurt but they do so offhandedly and naturally, as an afterthought. They are aware of what they are doing to others — but they do not care."

Sam Vaknin, Malignant Self-Love, 2003

“Every idol, however exalted, turns out in the long run to be a Moloch, hungry for human sacrifice.”

Aldous Huxley, The Devils of Loudun, 1952

"The consensus as to Donald Trump’s psychiatric issues is nearly unanimous. 'Textbook narcissistic personality disorder.'

Yet while the various diagnoses with which he has been labeled may accurately describe his actions, attitudes, verbal patterns and mental states, they cannot explain them. As a stressed electorate tries to make sense of a campaign unlike any other, many people are asking themselves, what is the root of Trump’s bizarre displays?

Underneath all psychiatric categories Trump manifests childhood trauma.  His opponent Hillary Clinton evinces her own history of early suffering, even if milder and far more muted in its impact.

The ghostwriter of The Art of the Deal, Tony Schwartz, reports that Trump had no recollection of his youth.  There is always a reason for such amnesia.  People have poor recall of their childhoods when they found reality so painful that their minds had to repress awareness and push memories into the unconscious. 'I don’t like to analyze myself because I might not like what I see,' Trump admitted to a biographer.

What does it say about our society that such deeply troubled individuals frequently rise to the top ruling circles, attaining wealth and power and even the admiration of millions?

People who are anxious, fearful and aggrieved may be unable to recognize the flaws In those seeking power.  They mistake desperate ambition for determination, see grandiosity as authority, paranoia as security, seductiveness as charm, dogmatism as decisiveness, selfishness as economic wisdom, manipulation as political savvy, lack of principles as flexibility. 

The flaws of our leaders perfectly mirror the emotional underdevelopment of the society that elevates them to power."

Gabor Maté, Trump, Clinton and Trauma, Globe and Mail, October 14, 2016

“The world says: 'You have needs — satisfy them. 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

Stocks slumped today as the recognition of what is happening in the Mideast and its economic consequences penetrated the fog of AI bubblemania.

The dollar rose.

Gold and silver fell in the related impulse to increase trading liquidity.

Bitcoin slipped from the top of its trading range. 

The impact of the price of oil is not fully priced into the markets, although it is starting to creep through.

I have included a map of Iran with population density superimposed over a map of continental Europe.

Politicians who say we should just 'bomb the hell out of Iran and let them negotiate from the rubble' should consider the magnitude of what they are suggesting.  Their lack of basic tactical and strategic knowledge, and the limitations of air power, especially in light of their positions, is shocking.  

But considering their basic lack of knowledge and regard for US law and the Constitution it may not be so surprising.  

Let's see how this progresses.

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - A Little Faith Will See You Through

 

"And the historians will ask the question, Why did we, scholars and writers in America, in this time, we who had been warned of our danger not only by explicit threats but by explicit action, why did we not fight this danger while the weapons we used best — the weapons of ideas and words — could still be used against it?"

Archibald Macleish, The Irresponsibles, 1940

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected?  I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us.  It cannot come from abroad.  If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.  As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

I hope I am over wary; but if I am not, there is, even now, something of ill-omen, amongst us.  I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice.  This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny.  Accounts of outrages committed by mobs form the every-day news of the times.  They have pervaded the country, from New England to Louisiana.  Whatever then, their cause may be, it is common to the whole country.

I know the American People are much attached to their Government;--I know they would suffer much for its sake;  I know they would endure evils long and patiently, before they would ever think of exchanging it for another.  Yet, notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the Government is the natural consequence; and to that, sooner or later, it must come.

Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence. Let those materials be moulded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a reverence for the Constitution and laws: and, that we improved to the last; that we remained free to the last; that we revered his name to the last; that, during his long sleep, we permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting place; shall be that which to learn the last trump shall awaken our Washington.

Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.'"

Abraham Lincoln, Lyceum Address, Springfield Illinois, January 27, 1838

"Who can suffer injury by just taxation, impartial laws and the application of the Jeffersonian doctrine of equal rights to all and special privileges to none? Only those whose accumulations are stained with dishonesty and whose immoral methods have given them a distorted view of business, society and government.

Accumulating by conscious frauds more money than they can use upon themselves, wisely distribute or safely leave to their children, these denounce as public enemies all who question their methods or throw a light upon their crimes. Plutocracy is abhorrent to a republic; it is more despotic than monarchy, more heartless than aristocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It preys upon the nation in time of peace and conspires against it in the hour of its calamity."

William Jennings Bryan, Speech at Madison Square Garden, New York, 30 August 1906

“We have always known that heedless self interest was bad morals, we now know that it is bad economics.  The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Address at Madison Square Garden, New York, October 31, 1936

“To know and to serve God, of course, is why we’re here, a clear truth, that, like the nose on your face, is near at hand and easily discernible but can make you dizzy if you try to focus on it hard. But a little faith will see you through. What else will do except faith in such a cynical, corrupt time? When the country goes temporarily to the dogs, cats must learn to be circumspect, walk on fences, sleep in trees, and have faith that all this woofing is not the last word.

What is the last word, then? Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things: through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music and books, raising kids — all the places where the gravy soaks in, and grace shines through. Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people. Lacking any other purpose in life, it would be good enough to live for their sake."

Garrison Keillor, The Meaning of Life, 1989


Knowledge grows by sharing. When you find it, repost and and forward it wherever you can. Little by little, the truth will find a way, but it takes our efforts to set it free from the creeping darkness that smothers it.  Watch as things continue to unfold. All things will be done in their due course. 

Stocks flopped this morning, as the false premise for the rally yesterday quickly dissipated into the false vapors of a negotiated peace.

Every time this Administration and their enablers open their mouths, lies come out.  It is what they do.

Stocks recovered as the day wore on.  Never underestimate how the unscrupulous will pervert and twist every aspect of a system to serve their own ends.  And they will not hesitate to kill their golden goose.

Gold and silver bolted higher, but gave back a bit into the close.   They are rebounding from the selling into the option expiration last week.

VIX of course fell as the mispricing of risk proceeds to their plan.

Bitcoin held up and gained a bit to the top of its intermediate trading range as shown below.

I am afraid that we are heading toward a cliff, blinded to it by a fog of lies and madness in high places.

Hold on to what you know is true, and of enduring value.

There is still time to prepare and stock up. 

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Dancing On a Volcano

 

"If they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, judges and governors shall all become wolves.  Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor."

Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, Paris, 16 January 1787

"Major commercial and investment banks—and the hedge funds that ran alongside them—were the big beneficiaries of the twin housing and equity-market bubbles of this decade, their profits fed by an ever-increasing volume of transactions founded on a relatively small base of actual physical assets.

Our future could be one in which continued tumult feeds the looting of the financial system, and we talk more and more about exactly how our oligarchs became bandits and how the economy just can’t seem to get into gear. Recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform."

Simon Johnson, The Quiet Coup, May 2009

"The American economy increasingly serves only a narrow part of society. Too many of America's elites-among the super-rich, the CEOs, and many of my colleagues in academia-have abandoned a commitment to social responsibility. They chase wealth and power, the rest of society be damned."

Jeffrey Sachs, The Price of Civilization, January 2012

"In all these instances the large multinational bankers were actively supporting both sides. It is a shocking fact that both British and American banks continued to do business with the Nazis even after the War was well underway, even as Germany was invading Europe and bombing London."

BBC, Banking with Hitler, 1998

"The fact is, I think, that my friends really didn't know. They didn't know because they didn't want to know. They could have found out, at the time, only if they had wanted to very badly. I fooled myself. I had to. Everybody has to. But I didn't want to see it, because I would have then had to think about the consequences of seeing it, what followed from seeing it, what I must do to be decent."

Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1955

"The whole town and all its inhabitants are quite drowned in carnival din, masks and confetti. And on top of that the news of the Reichstag fire. Dancing on a volcano."

Alban Berg, Letter from Berlin, September 1, 1933


Stocks rallied as the Don remarked that Iran is calling 'desperate for a deal.'

Most things rallied.

Gold and silver took off from their latest beatdown in observance of the recent option expiration. 

Bitcoin managed to creep up to the top of its trading range.

VIX of course fell, as risks tend to decrease in times of war and looming global crisis.

SpaceX did not rally and actually fell back down again.  Oh well.

I am just amazed at how cynical this age has become.   

Those who pledged themselves to fight evil and promote righteousness have become that which they hate, and are doing the worst of it again, in open defiance of the Law.

So called 'Christians' abandon Christ and His cross, and in their vanity choose to serve the opulent idols of worldly power. 

“You are the salt of the earth.  But if salt loses its savor, with what can it be seasoned?  It is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."

The paragons of American patriotism are breaking every law, violating every Constitutional principle and oath, while abusing and murdering the innocent.

Lying has never been more fashionable among the elite, openly popular among their followers.   

"They have acted disgracefully by committing terrible acts. Yet they are not at all ashamed, and do not even know how to blush.  In the time of their judgement they shall be given over to the fallen."   Jeremiah 6:15

Justice awaits the inevitable dispensation of consequences.

Fiat justitia et ruant coeli. 

Have a pleasant evening.

  

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Truth and the Elite Badge of Deceit

 

“One of my greatest pleasures in writing has come from the thought that perhaps my work might annoy someone of comfortably pretentious position. Then comes the saddening realization that such people rarely read.”

John Kenneth Galbraith, A Life in Our Times, 1981

"Legitimate power always includes attentiveness to justice, When power is not attentive to justice it cannot endure.  This is a summons to us to keep the agenda of justice for the vulnerable alive and front and center to maintain a kind of subversive stance toward power.

Power is the capacity to organize and administer social goods and social access.  Truth is the structure of reality that is in the nature of things that cannot be violated by our capacity to administer it.  Power can sometimes be administered in harmony with such truthfulness, but very often power is seduced so that it runs contradictory to truth.

Truth is not a set of propositions in the Bible, but a cluster of relationships. Those are relationships of dignity, well-being, security and respect. When power violates those, then those who administer such power learn is that they cannot finally withstand the force of truth.  So, the truthfulness of God’s commitment to neighborliness does not give in, in the long run.

Moses is designated at the burning bush to be the carrier of God’s truth, which in that narrative is that God does not want people to be enslaved to the economy of Pharaoh.  God does not want exploitative labor or excessively cheap labor. Pharaoh never catches on as obtuse power usually does not. 

The truth carried by Moses is always coming from below in the cries of the slaves, but it always turns out that power from above never has the capacity to silence the cries from below.  It is the cry from below that is finally generative of the historical possibility.  Pharaoh is very slowly diminished and his power wanes and he does not catch on until it is too late—which I think is probably a right rendering of how that tends to work.

Early on in the gospel traditions, the power elite in Jesus’ society who were colluding with the Roman Empire, recognized him as a threat and began to conspire to kill him.  I think he was presented in the gospel narratives as being a huge threat to the established order of the Roman Empire. 

Whether, in fact, the Roman authorities perceived him that way or not, that is clearly how the gospel writers present him.  There is a passage in the gospel of Luke that summarizes it by saying the leadership tried to find ways to kill him but they could not, because the people were mesmerized by his teaching.   Jesus became a reference point for much of the hostility and resistance to the power of the empire because he refused to accommodate, and told another story of reality that the empire could not co-opt.

It [the pursuit of political power] is very seductive for all of us.  And I suppose it has been the seduction of the Jesus movement since Constantine, when Christians gained access to power and have loved having it.  I think the collusion of the church with political order in almost any society causes the church to lose its edge and have failure of nerve about the gospel that has been entrusted to it.

We labor and labor and labor for stuff that never satisfies us.  The market ideology is now the new form of imperial power and many of us, without any critical reflection, have signed onto that and organized our lives in that way so we do not have any time, energy or capacity for the things that are rightly important to us.  So, I think what I would want a modern congregation to reflect on are the causes of stress, lack of time, and anything that is devouring our human-ness."

Jonathan Meerritt, Walter Brueggemann: Truth Speaks to Power, 26 June 2014

"He has shown you what is good.  The Lord requires you to act justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

Micah 6:8


It seems that the more elaborate the externalities and drama of any sort of devotion, whether it be religion or nationalism or any other secular ideology, the more impoverished and empty is the heart that presents it.  As Paul says so famously, even if one has prophecy, and understanding, and a wide array of other gifts, in the end all that matters is love.  For love is God, and God is love, and the only tragedy is not to have found Him in the end.

But for most of us, and this certainly includes me, a Way has been made and marked out for us, and that path is more certain, less prone to self-delusion and folly.  It is perfect, but alas, those who try to follow it as best as they can are not.  And so going forward is always a struggle, even on this road we have been shown.

And so we must be wary of the grandiose and elaborately ostentatious prayers of the Pharisees, compared to the simple, sincere offerings of the innocent.  If you have all the ritual, all the knowledge, all the pomp of power and influence of the world, all the followers even to a countless multitude, but have no love, you may seem to have the world, but you have nothing.

Last night the usual message came out from the White House that they remain 'open to negotiations with Iran.'   And the stock futures rallied.

So stocks rallied today, early on, as is their custom on Monday mornings.

And they gave up those gains by the end of the day.  That is a bit new.

You can fool some of the people all of the time...

Gold and silver bounced around, largely marking time.

Despite bedazzling the White House with shiny trinkets, there should be little doubt that this Administration is no friend of 'honest money.' 

The Dollar chopped sideways.

 VIX fell at first, and then came back up again.

The wars in the Ukraine and Iran are intensifying.   

Have no doubt about this.  If you are surprised by this, find another source for your news.

Lies are being more generally accepted, what they call 'normalized.'  

It seems as though every time a politician opens their mouth these lies come out.  It is considered normal, almost fashionable.  They often to not even try to hide it.  

But it sets an example for the rest of the power elite that is horribly corrosive not only to the health of the nation but the rest of the world.   

It erodes trust, peace, commerce, and confidence.

There is still time to stock up and prepare for the worst, even as we hope for the best.

What matters the most is your soul, for that is what this is all about. 

Have a pleasant evening.