The spectacles of the circus served to distract the populace. The free wheat and olives distributed to the needy at the Forum served as a subterfuge for social reforms. The aristocracy purchased seats in the Senate. The magistracy of the empire and the spoils of victory went to the senators, the consuls, the praetors, the quaestors, the censors and their wives. Rome had become a corporation.
The government was in the hands of a few opulent families of the world of finance, supported by the military junta. These families knew how to protect their interests: they disguised them as national necessities. The preservation of Rome was identified with that of the ruling families. 'The Roman people consisted of a small oligarchy of landowners, bankers, speculators, merchants, artisans, adventurers, and tatterdemalions, avid for pleasure, excitement, and sudden gain, proud, turbulent, corrupted by the life of the city, and placing their own interests ahead of even the most salutary reform.' [Guglielmo Ferrero, The Greatness and Decline of Rome, 1909]
The national honor of the Roman Empire was nothing more than the caprices or the indignation of the rulers of the moment, its political institutions no more than the cupidity of its dignitaries and the indolence of its masses, its history nothing more than a series of petty larcenies and more important crimes."
James Hepburn (pseudonym), Farewell America, France, 1968
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"'The light shining in darkness' is the token of true religion; and, though doubtless there are seasons when a sudden enthusiasm arises in favour of the Truth, yet such a popularity of the Truth is but sudden, comes at once and goes at once, has no regular growth, no abiding stay. It is error alone which grows and is received heartily on a large scale.
Truth, indeed, has that power in it, that it forces men to profess it in words; but when they go on to act, instead of obeying it, they substitute some idol in the place of it. When there is much talk of religion in a country, and much congratulation that there is a general concern for it, a cautious mind will feel anxious lest some counterfeit be, in fact, honoured instead of it:—lest, in short, it be Satan transformed into an angel of light, rather than the Light itself, which is attracting followers."
John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, 1839
Stocks attempted to rally again today, but fell back to unchanged, and drifted slightly into the red by the close.
A downgrade by S&P on the credit ratings of several US Banks yesterday helped to brink down banking stock prices.
The Dollar bounced higher.
Gold tried to rally but finished essentially unchanged. Silver edged higher.
The VIX drifted lower.
There will be a precious metals option expiration next Monday.
Have a pleasant evening.
