Ignatius of Antioch, Letters To the Smyrnaeans
"Capitalism is at risk of failing today not because we are running out of innovations, or because markets are failing to inspire private actions, but because we’ve lost sight of the operational failings of unfettered gluttony."
Jeffrey Sachs
"Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society. Moral values are in flux. The muddy depths are being stirred by new monsters and witches from the deep. Trolls walk the American night. Caesars are stirring in the Forum."
Gore Vidal, Comment, Esquire, July 1961
"At first the love of money, and then of power, began to prevail, and became, as it were, the source of every evil. For greed subverted honesty, integrity, and other honorable principles, and, instead encouraged pride, inhumanity, contempt for religion, and general corruption. Ambition prompted many to become deceitful; to keep one thing concealed in the heart, and another on the tongue; to consider friendships and disagreements, not by their true worth, but according to their monetary value; and to bear a false face than an honest heart.
These vices at first advanced but slowly, and were sometimes restrained by correction; but afterward, when their infection had spread like a plague, the state was entirely changed, and the government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became aggressively greedy and unsustainable."
Sallust, The Conspiracy of Catiline
It was rally time today, as London set the tone by adopting a more 'responsible' fiscal plan, scrapping the PM's tax cuts.
If you are wondering what that had to do with US equities, you have not been following the commentary.
Wash - rinse - repeat.
The Dollar fell over a buck today.
Gold rallied and then fell through the day, for no particular reason either.
Let's see what happens when earnings start coming out, and the myth of the Fed's pivot is once again dispelled.
Have a pleasant evening.
