"There is felt today very widely the inconsistency in this condition of political democracy and industrial absolutism. The people are beginning to doubt whether in the long run democracy and absolutism can coexist in the same community; beginning to doubt whether there is a justification for the great inequalities in the distribution of wealth, for the rapid creation of fortunes, more mysterious than the deeds of Aladdin’s lamp...
The government is the potent omnipresent teacher. For good or ill it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy."
Louis D. Brandeis
"It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes.
...when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society-the farmers, mechanics, and laborers-who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government. There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses."
Andrew Jackson
“Woe to the shepherds, who have been feeding only themselves. You eat the fat, you take the wool, and you slaughter the fattest animal, but you do not feed the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bandaged the injured or brought back the strays or looked for the lost; rather, you have ruled them with harshness and tyranny. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; they were scattered and became prey for every wild beast of the field." Ezekiel 34:1-5
The markets were roiled today by comments from the Trump Administration. The first was that the weaker dollar is good for trade, which sent the US Dollar into a tailspin, falling down on the DX level to a new recent low of 89. And the second was some comments on the unfairness of trade with China, which fanned fresh concerns about a 'hot trade war.'
The Donald will be addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday, and will be arriving there tomorrow.
But to waive a secret memo in the air, or make up stories about secret knowledge, while using them to justify all sorts of serious charges against an institution that is investigating some of their own for a different type of corruption, while maintaining it as secret, is questionable to say the least. And unworthy of a high official of the public trust. And they should be ashamed.
And on the other hand, there are the histrionics of the Democrats and their courtiers in the media, sounding the alarm about 'Russian collusion' attempting to subvert the recent election, without producing any real proof that such a thing had even occurred in any substantial manner. And if one notes that the evidence has not be produced, they themselves are attacked as disloyal, and under the influence of a foreign power.
As I suggested long ago, if there is a crime here it is probably money-laundering having its roots in NY real estate deals over a long period of time involving Russian oligarchs. And ironically, Hillary and her significant other had their same paws in similar purses.
How can we not think of Senator McCarthy, waving his infamous secret list of Communists in the State Department, which he never released, but used as a bludgeon on the institutions of the government, and as a tool to inflame the public, and subvert the objective course of justice.
Perhaps we need to vote most of these unworthies out of office, and replace them with mature adults who will conduct themselves in the service of the public, and provide a much better example for the people, and especially for those younger among us. And if the two political parties are too set in their ways, too comfortable in their excesses to change, then we may need to reform or replace the two political parties with a third.
What, you do not want to hear about this? You want to roll yourself up in a cocoon of lies supported by some internet sites and television channels? You don't need to see charts about gold and silver: you need to stop stuffing garbage in your mind, to smother your conscience.
Gold and silver were on a tear higher today as the US dollar was slumping. And stocks were wobbly, for the very good reason that they are overvalued, and that their underpinnings are weak to say the least.
Let's see if the metals can hold their ground into the Comex Options expiration tomorrow, and if any fresh statements come out of Davos, that may shake up the calm of the financial markets.
People are always given to excess. We may strike out on a good path, but too often it becomes an excess when it serves the private interests of some at the expense of others.
This is why we create laws, and institutions to uphold them. And even these are suseceptible to the same abuses being, after all, human institutions.
And so it is a never ending struggle, to maintain justice, and peace, and equality, against those forces that would pervert it for their own ends. And that same struggle exists within ourselves, as we struggle to hold on to our humanity, and keep the fires of the love of virtue alive in our hearts, even in times of abundant wickedness. Far be it from us to fall into the same worldly abyss of abuses by the forces of darkness against the light.
Have a pleasant evening.
