"The time is almost here — and ignorance, falsehood, cruelty, greed and lust of power were never stronger in the hearts of any ruling class in history than they are in those who constitute the Invisible Government of America today. Day by day the money-masters of America become more aware of their danger, they draw together, they grow more class-conscious, more aggressive.
The [first world] war has taught them the possibilities of propaganda; it has accustomed them to the idea of enormous campaigns which sway the minds of millions and make them pliable to any purpose.
American political corruption was the buying up of legislatures and assemblies to keep them from doing the people's will and protecting the people's interests; it was the exploiter entrenching himself in power, it was financial autocracy undermining and destroying political democracy."
Upton Sinclair, The Brass Check, 1919
“Booms start with some tie-in to reality, some reason which justifies the increase in asset values, and then — and this is the critical feature of speculative mood — the market loses touch with reality.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
“A country that tolerates evil means—evil manners, standards of ethics—for a generation, will be so poisoned that it never will have any good end.”
Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here
"Everyone knows that plagues have a way of recurring throughout history, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in the ones that crash down on us out of the sky. There have always been plagues and wars, yet they always take us by surprise. When war breaks out people say it's stupid and won't last long. Stupidity has a knack of getting in the way, which we would see if not wrapped up in ourselves. In this our townsfolk were like everybody else— they did not believe in plagues."
Albert Camus, The Plague
Stocks were hammered in the morning trade, purportedly over concerns about inflation.
Comments from Stanley Druckenmiller about the status of the Dollar contributed to the selling.
Gold and silver were also caught in the early selling.
However, as the day wore on, the dip-buyers came in, buying up precious metals until they went on to close with decent gains.
I joined a bit in the early dip-buying. I had waiting for a pullback like this.
Big cap tech also recovered significantly in the afternoon.
The rest of the equity market not so much.
I would presume that traders will be watching the consumer inflation data out tomorrow morning.
Have a pleasant evening.