"Institutions become political weapons, wielded forcefully by those who control them against those who do not. This is how elected autocrats subvert democracy—packing and 'weaponizing' the courts and other neutral agencies, buying off the media and the private sector (or bullying them into silence), and rewriting the rules of politics to tilt the playing field against opponents. The tragic paradox of the electoral route to authoritarianism is that democracy’s assassins use the very institutions of democracy—gradually, subtly, and even legally—to kill it.”
Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die
"The undeserving maintain power by promoting hysteria."
Frank Herbert, Dune
"Anyone can be misled by a clever person, and no one likes to readily admit that they have been had. It is a sign of character and maturity to realize this, and admit your were deceived, and to demand change and reform. But some cannot, even when the facts of the deception are revealed. The more incorrect that the truth shows them to be, the louder and more strident they become in shouting down and denying reality: cognitive dissonance.
The more extremely held the views, left or right, the more ardent the self-deception and surrender of individual identity. Because at the extremes, it is no longer about justice, but about the objectification and irrelevance of the individual, the elevation of ideology over truth, and the dehumanisation and demonisation of 'the other.'"
Jesse, The Economic of Demagogues, 18 June 2012
“What comes out of a person, that is what makes them unclean. From within people, from their minds and hearts, come wicked thoughts, immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evils come from within and they make one unclean.”
Mark 7:20-23
Stocks ended the day in rally mode, spreading that green around to kick off the month of March.
Smells like a wash, preceding a rinse to me.
Next week we will have Jay Powell's testimony to Congress, and of course the Friday Non-Farm Payrolls report.
Gold and silver rallied higher.
They are coming into some important overhead resistance.
They need to take it out and stick it with several closes to confirm an intermediate trend change.
The Dollar chopped back down.
Have a pleasant weekend.
