"The commercial world is very frequently put into confusion by the bankruptcy of merchants that assumed the splendour of wealth, only to obtain the privilege of trading with the stock of other men, and of contracting debts which nothing but lucky casualties could enable them to pay; till after having supported their appearance a while by tumultuary magnificence of boundless traffic, they sink at once, and drag down into poverty those whom their equipages had induced to trust them."
Samuel Johnson, Rambler #189, January 7, 1752
"Hot money seeks out the conscious mispricing of risk. Capital, in the form of both money and personal talent, increasingly flows into malinvestment and the gaming of markets.
The productive economy languishes, left wanting for the lack of creative resources and attention. The bubble rises to unsustainable valuations— and fails, and a nation's capital is consumed. The next five years are not about winning, but surviving."
Jesse, 5 August 2019
"After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the nonexistence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal.
I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it.
I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it -- 'I refute it thus.'"
James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson LL. D.
Stocks made another attempt to rally today on the worse than expected ADP Jobs number, but alas, they failed badly in the latter half of the day.
Gold and silver also had another rough day.
Crypto is a bubble asset, like beanie babies.
The Dollar declined slightly.
The larger than expected drawdown in the fossil fuels did not help.
Keep an eye out for the Jobs number on Friday.
This will be our third bubble and bust, all of them caused by the self-serving for the financial elite policy errors of the Fed, since 2000.
Have a pleasant evening.
