“It appeared that the whole world was one elaborate system, opposed to justice and kindness, and set to making cruelty and pain. And he and his father were part of that system, and must help to maintain it in spite of themselves.
Their frail human nature was subjected to a strain greater than it was made for; the fires of greed had been lighted in their hearts, and fanned to a white heat that melted every principle and every law.”
Upton Sinclair, Oil
“A laissez-faire economic theory is maintained in an industrial era through the ignorant belief that the general welfare is best served by placing the least possible political restraints upon economic activity.
The history of the past hundred years is a refutation of the theory; but it is still maintained, or is dying a too lingering death."
Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society, 1932
It never really gets old, does it? Evil that is. It just keeps coming back, with different names and faces. But the basic proposition remains surprisingly simple and the same. You cheat, you win, you cash in, and there are no consequences.
Today was a quadruple stock option expiration in US markets.
Stocks were initially smacked lower, but gradually regained most of their losses into the close.
Gold and silver were utterly hammered by the dumping of large numbers of contracts in their futures markets, with a fairly clear intent to drive the prices lower, breaking out of their recent trading range.
The US dollar did not do much. The Chinese Yuan did gain some in value against the Dollar.
Why did these things happen?
Today was a quadruple stock option expiration in US markets.
Those who were playing leverage on leverage, that is, playing positions using stock options on mining companies or even paper gold pools were most likely feeling a bit put off.
Perhaps a stance supporting little to no regulation in the markets and in life in general might be reconsidered when one sees the abuses to which powerful insiders, aka 'market forces,' may engage. Some might say that history shows that this is the very reason why men and women combine to create a least some semblance of the rule of law, and not the rule of money and power.
Apparently a small group of civic minded citizens named Kushner, Giuliani, and Mnuchin are urging Trumpolini to grant a presidential pardon to the disgraced junk bond king, Michael Milken.
How come? Is he not completely free now, and living very well, an influential public figure with his own well-attended annual conference? Excepting that he is prohibited from re-involving himself in public financial markets as a part of his plea deal. He was rather guilty, as noted in this 1990 NYT article.
What is the purpose of such a pardon now? I am sincerely curious as to the point. I thought presidential pardons were intended to be clemency for a worthy cause? Or a hefty campaign contributions to the cause. Yeah, that Marc Rich.
Perhaps this blot on the record of one of the well-connected is a reminder of a barbaric past when the law meant something for the professional class. Bad example and all that. Especially when they seem to be back at it all over again. They have a distinct advantage this time— we've lost our moral moorings in general, and a number of us have pretty much gone nuts. Barking.
"Most of us are still too sane to piss in our own cistern, but we allow others to do so and we reward them for it. We reward them so well, in fact, that those who piss in our cistern are wealthier than the rest of us. How do we submit? By not being radical enough. Or by not being thorough enough, which is the same thing."Maybe we are just too forgetful, so easily bored and distracted. So tired of thinking that we are begging to be duped and misled.
Wendell Berry
Today was a quad witch option expiration in US markets.
Are you not entertained?
Need little, want less, love more. For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.
Have a pleasant weekend.
