The wiseguys were raising cash to participate in the Alibaba IPO tomorrow.
It should price tonight by about 5 PM Eastern US. The mid range pricing is $66 to $68 per share.
So there was little surprise that we saw a pump in stocks today and a big drop in volatility.
The metals held up well but that is not saying much after the multi-day smacking they have taken.
The vote on Scotland's Independence is today and the results should be announced this evening. The polls, for what they are worth, are 'too close to call' although they show the 'no' votes with the lead. Whatever the results I wish the Scottish people well.
There is an impulse to freedom in the world these days, that seems to have certain select parties very nervous. They do not care for independent thinking, and individual liberty. They dislike groups that question authority or attempt to hold it to account. And they certainly shrink at the thought of gold and silver.
These are the cadres of would-be professional rulers and managers, for whom oligarchy seems to be the natural form of governance. They wish for the ascendancy of the State, the bigger and more comprehensive the better, as long as they are within the circles of its power.
Not that I am all that concerned about their motives per se, or willing to speculate upon them. But any group that believes that they have been pre-selected, whether by birth or by talent, to rule strikes me as one group that ought never to have access to an exceptional power over others. They are certainly most likely to continue on a foolhardy path of their own, despite all other evidence to the contrary. God help the common people and soldiers led by such a one as these.
One of the greatest features of the American independence movement of 1776 was that it was founded on the assertion, however unfortunately and incompletely implemented, that 'all men are created equal. And that they are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'
From our own privileged vantage point we tend to take such a bold assertion for granted. But it was a truly revolutionary idea given that it was uttered in a milieu which was still very much ordered by class distinctions, and the divine right of kings, and the presumed natural superiority of the few. In many ways it turned the world-that-had-been upside down. As you may recall, this is the tune that the British army under Cornwallis played as they surrendered at Yorktown: The World Turned Upside Down.
And that message reverberated around the world, and was echoed by the Scotsman Robbie Burns in his wonderful song written in 1791, A Man's a Man For All That.'
Have a pleasant evening.
