“The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss - an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife - is sure to be noticed.”
Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death
“'The world says: 'You have needs — satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more.' This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
"It was pride that changed angels into devils; and it is humility that makes men angels. There never has been, and never can be, and there never shall be any sin without pride.”
Augustine of Hippo
"Those among the rich who are not, in the rigorous sense, damned, can understand poverty, because they are poor themselves, after a fashion; they cannot understand destitution. They will be moved, to the sound of beautiful music, at Jesus’s sufferings, but His Cross, the reality of His Cross, will horrify them. They want it all out of gold, bathed in light, costly and of little weight; pleasant to see, hanging from a woman’s beautiful throat."
Léon Bloy
"The Reserve Bank of Australia only raised rates 25 bp this morning. And the sages of Wall Street took this as a sign that Aussie is leading the world and that the Fed will shortly be following their lead. I took it as a sign that we are approaching another sizable wash and rinse. It does seem to be a recurrent play of our kleptocracy.
And so the spokesmodels and muppets cheered another glorious stock market rally."
Jesse, Prelude to a Wash and Rinse, 4 October 2022
It never seems to get old for them, does it?
The Jobs Report came in a little better than expected this morning, and so stocks plummeted.
After rallying madly higher on a similarly contrived rationale earlier this week.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
What a surprise. Who could have seen it coming?
The Dollar gained again on expectations of higher interest rates.
Gold and silver, as priced in dollars, fell off on Dollar strength.
The VIX rose higher.
What comes next will be a littler more difficult to discover.
So for most of us, a safe place on the higher ground is the place to be.
Especially when lawlessness has such an easy hand on the markets.
Have a pleasant weekend.
