"Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
who have observed his law;
Seek justice, seek humility;
And perhaps you will be sheltered
on the day of the Lord’s justice.
This was the triumphal city, high and mighty,
Saying to herself, ‘I am the one, and none dare stand beside me.’
How desolate now has she become, a place fit only for wild beasts.
Those who pass by her scoff, and shake their heads at her ruin."
Zephaniah 2:3-15
"It is interesting to contrast the complacency of the career diplomats, at that time most often Americans of privilege, and their preoccupation with obtaining full payment of the German bonds for their wealthy domestic constituents and the banks, with the agony of the German people as they slowly sunk into the abyss. The lone voices that were raised in protest were suppressed, ridiculed, marginalized, and ignored even in America.
This is a fine example of serial policy error in the service of privilege and the status quo. To many amoral minds, including especially the capitalists of the free world, Hitler's rise to power was just another business opportunity, and the plight of his victims a crisis not to be wasted, a source of great profit. And not all those who benefited were censured and punished. Some families rose to greater prominence and power, even in America, on a pile of European corpses."
Jesse, Review: In the Garden of Beasts, 26 September 2011
"The real danger comes from encouraging or inadvertently tolerating inflation and its close cousin of extreme speculation and risk taking, in effect standing by while bubbles and excesses threaten financial markets."
Paul Volcker
"For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind."
Hosea 8:7
“I'm not crazy about reality, but it's still the only place to get a decent meal.”
Groucho Marx
Stocks were sold hard in the overnight and at the opening of trade in New York.
And then as the day progressed the campaign to turn stocks and rally wore on, with the major indices unchanged or in the green at the close, led by the bubblemeisters in tech.
Like a dog returns to its vomit.
Gold and silver were slammed, hard.
The euro was sold to a 20 year low, and as a result the DXY index of which the euro is the major component, soared to the 106+ handle.
I came in short from the weekend, expecting some selling to carry into the opening, and covered those shorts in the first thirty minutes.
I did take some initial, lightly held trading positions in the usual suspects later in the day during what felt like capitulation for at least the short term. It may be rough to hold, much less build upon.
Let's see how the wash and rinse cycles progress into the Non-Farm Payrolls report on Friday.
The powers-that-be seem determined to wage a proxy war for economic power, to the last impoverished European.
How can they not? This is how they use everyone, even if needed their own.
“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”
Samuel Johnson
And having forsaken the image of God, they lose themselves in darkness, become it, and call its endless death and desolation winning.
Have a pleasant evening.
