"Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence."
Henri-Frederic Amiel
“The essence of a speculative bubble is a sort of feedback, from price increases, to increased investor enthusiasm, to increased demand, and hence further price increases. Major speculative bubbles, as I argued in Irrational Exuberance, are always supported by some superficially plausible popular theory that justifies them, and that is widely viewed as having sanction from some authority figures. These may be called new-era theories.”
Robert Shiller
"Greed is not good. Greed is a disease, an aberration of simple honest ambition and necessary provision taken to excess. This simple distinction may be lost on a people no longer able to distinguish between virtue and sin, honor and expediency, appetite and gluttony, the means and the ends. Every great religion, every school of philosophy has cautioned throughout history on the perils of unbridled and unregulated greed.
And yet this generation would make a god of it, although they may not understand, or care, what it is that they are doing, and whom it is they serve. And yet they will be held to account for their willfulness, foolishness, and casual disregard for others.
Greed, often in company with hubris and fear, is a handmaiden of the corrupting influence of power and triumph of the will. Greed is contagious, and attacks the very contentment of society at its heart, turning it towards oligarchy and oppression."
Jesse, Greed Is Not Good, 19 December 2010
"Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction."
Erich Fromm
Stocks slumped lower, once again today, after yet another attempt to move higher.
The Dollr and the VIX rose.
Gold and silver wallowed a bit.
Inflation data coming out later this week.
Have a pleasant evening.
