“I know not why any one but a schoolboy in his declamation should whine over the Commonwealth of Rome, which grew great only by the misery of the rest of mankind. The Romans, like others, as soon as they grew rich, grew corrupt; and in their corruption sold the lives and freedoms of themselves, and of one another.”
Samuel Johnson
“A mighty bubble of wealth is blown before our eyes, as empty, as transient, as contradictory to the laws of solid material, as confuted by every circumstance of actual condition, as any other bubble which man or child ever blew before.”
Edward Chancellor, Devil Take the Hindmost
"The wealthy, not only by private fraud but also by common laws, do every day pluck and snatch away from the people some part of their daily living. They invent and devise all means and crafts, first how to keep safely without fear of losing that which they have unjustly gathered together, and next how to hire and abuse the work and labor of the people for as little money and effort as possible."
Thomas More, Utopia
"Hubris calls for nemesis, and in one form or another it's going to get it, not as a punishment from outside but as the completion of a pattern already started."
Mary Midgley, The Myths We Live By
A crash is coming. The only question now is when.
This next bust may be the pièces de résistance of the bust and bubble economy which we have been enjoying for over thirty years now, compliments of the moneyed interests, the captive regulators, enablers in politics and the media, and their pliable Federal Reserve Bank.
Stocks hit new highs today.
The Dollar rallied a little.
Gold and silver were off a bit.
Don't get in front of this, but know that this is a castle of glitter, built on a sandy foundation of corruption and illusions.
Sing goddess, the rage of Achilles...
The mighty rise and are fallen, forgotten— but the word and the spirit endure.
Have a pleasant weekend.
