"Since the earliest stages of human history, of course, there have been bazaars, rialtos, and trading posts—all markets. But The Market was never God, because there were other centers of value and meaning, other 'gods.' The Market operated within a plethora of other institutions that restrained it.
As everything in what used to be called creation becomes a commodity, human beings begin to look at one another, and at themselves, in a funny way, and they see price tags. There was a time when people spoke, at least occasionally, of 'inherent worth'— if not of things, then at least of persons."
Harvey Cox, The Market as God
"Neoliberalism has wrested itself free of any regulatory controls while at the same time removing economics from any consideration of social costs, ethics, or social responsibility. Such a disposition is evident in the fact that neoliberalism's only imperatives are profits and growing investments in global power structures unmoored from any form of accountable, democratic governance.
As corporate power is consolidated into fewer and fewer hands, ideological and structural reforms are implemented to transfer wealth and income into the hands of a ruling financial and corporate elite."
Henry Giroux, Days of Rage, 28 August 2012
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of corruption. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of deceptions and lawlessness."
Matthew 23:27-28
"When it ventures into the realm of public policy discussions, economics often resembles a belief system very much like a [faith-based] religion, rather than a science. It is easily twisted to serve the desires and actions of its acolytes while conferring an aura of logic. But there is almost always some 'leap of faith' made that spans the enormous gulf between the model, its assumptions, and reality.
Economics is a tool, in some [largely micro] implementations better than others, but overall not a particularly reliable one. It is better in 'explaining' than predicting; its explanations are more often rationalizations founded in its malleability and lack of rigor, especially in its treatment of relationships and assumptions.
But to take an economic model out of its place, and put it above the discussion as policy maker in the manner of a computing machine which spits out the ultimate solutions, to capitalize 'Market' as a type of god on earth, to put that false idol as an unfettered decision-making machine above the individuals of a society and the rule of law, is inhuman, and ultimately a tyranny of the anti-human."
Jesse, Neoliberalism: Rise of the Machine, 28 August 2012
The question is not so much whether the Fed should raise or lower interest rates. Although many like to exhaust themselves discussing the merits of this or that action, based on these or those data points. It's all a part of the show, the endlessly meaningless debate, the misdirection. It sells clicks and makes some feel important, better than others.
The much more fundamental question is why the Fed and those in power are able to follow a policy pattern of allowing enormous financial asset bubbles to enrich the one percent and the professional class, and then correcting their distortions by inflicting austerity and job losses on the broader public?
And they have been doing this for thirty years now, shamelessly.
One can only wonder.
Stocks attempted to rally, reacted sluggishly to the actual 'hawkish pause' that almost everyone expected, and then were utterly hammered by Jay Powell's post decision press conference.
Gold and silver rallied, and then were smacked back down to unchanged, pretty much, into the close.
A rather large 322,000+ ounces of gold left the Comex registered warehouses in Hong Kong.
The Dollar rallied back sharply after an initial decline.
Wash-rinse-repeat.
If you do not get these things by now, I am not sure how much more anyone can tell you.
And this market action is the relatively unimportant of all the most important things we can hear.
Maybe if someone comes back from the dead?
Men go mad in herds, but come back to their senses slowly, one at a time.
No More Malarkey and a MAGA-doodle-doo.
Have a pleasant evening.
