"No one screams against this hell. No one protests. And if they abhor what they see, they do not have the courage to damn the damned. One alone would not have failed us. Péguy would have spoken, I hope, he would have let loose his scream. He is not here, and there is no one else."
André Suarès, 1939
“We must always tell what we see. Above all, and this is more difficult, we must always see what we see.”
Charles Péguy
"Bully-worship, under various disguises, has become a universal religion."
George Orwell, Review of Bertrand Russell's Power, Adelphi,
1939
“Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society. Moral values are in flux. The muddy depths are being stirred by new monsters and witches from the deep. Trolls walk the American night. Caesars are stirring in the Forum. There are storm warnings ahead.”
Gore Vidal, Comment, Esquire, July 1, 1961
"Legitimate power always includes attentiveness to justice. When power is not attentive to justice it cannot endure. The market ideology is now the new form of imperial power and many of us, without any critical reflection, have signed onto that and organized our lives in that way."
Walter Brueggemann, Truth Speaks to Power, 2013
"We've become, now, an oligarchy instead of a democracy. I think that's been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I've ever seen in my life."
Jimmy Carter, television interview, September 27, 2015
"The gates of hell are open night and day; the descent is smooth, and easy is the way. But to return to the open air again, and view the cheerful skies, in this the task and mighty labor lies."
Virgil, The Aeneid
Stocks took a dive today, finishing off near the lows.
VIX rose.
The Dollar climbed a little higher.
Gold rallied a bit while silver flattened after a big intraday drop.
The US apparently has persuaded Israel to hold off on their invasion of Gasa in order to allow the US to deploy more missile defense systems 'to protect US troops.'
I suspect this, and the timeliness for a rinse in the old wash-rinse cycle, was the primary motivation.
There was some positive economic news, but meh, it looks like the markets are a bit jumpy.
We'll be getting another Payrolls report at the end of next week, but really the timing and scope of a Middle East conflict seems to be the primary influence for market sentiment.
Have a pleasant evening.
