George Orwell, Review of Bertrand Russell's Power, 1939
"No warning will suffice to powerful fools who, driven mad by hubris and lust for power, weave the hangman's ropes of their own destruction. They preach the necessity of hardness, and practice the circumvention of the law for themselves and their associates in injustice. But when the reckoning comes for them, as it eventually does, they always seem astonished, but unfortunately never to the point of speechlessness. They will harangue fortune, and all those imaginary enemies who conspired to their downfall, to the bitter end. The Western elite are in a denial, and a bubble of delusion, so profound that I am concerned that when reality intrudes their reaction will be mishandled, provocative, and likely to hasten a generational change that is already occurring and being fiercely resisted, slowly."
Jesse, Complicity of the Advantaged in the Nakedness of Kings, 19 February 2015
"Washington has become our Versailles. We are ruled, entertained, and informed by courtiers -- and the media has evolved into a class of courtiers. The Democrats, like the Republicans, are mostly courtiers. Our pundits and experts, at least those with prominent public platforms, are courtiers. We are captivated by the hollow stagecraft of political theater as we are ruthlessly stripped of power. It is smoke and mirrors, tricks and con games, and the purpose behind it is deception.”
Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion
"Such, then, is the law of Christ's kingdom, such the paradox which is seen in its history. It belongs to the poor in spirit; it belongs to the persecuted; it is possessed by the meek; it is sustained by the patient. It conquers by suffering; it advances by retiring; it is made wise through foolishness. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise: and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, God has chosen."
John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons
Stocks continued climbing higher in defiant bullishness.
Once they get done squeezing the shorts and crushing the hedges of the cautious, we may expect them to dump the stock markets hard, under whatever pretext is handy.
But for today the Fed heads were out speaking sweet nothings about rates being fine where they are.
The VIX continued to drop.
Gold backed off a bit, but silver gave up most of its recent gains.
What a surprise.
A big chunk of gold left the Hong Kong Comex registered warehouses.
The Dollar declined.
Who needs safety when you are closely held in the comforting hands of the Pax Americana?
We start getting some economic data on Wednesday.
Have a pleasant evening.
