“They perverted their thinking; they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven, and did not keep in mind just judgments. How you have grown evil with age. Now have your past sins come to term, passing unjust sentences, condemning the innocent, and freeing the guilty."
Daniel 13:9,52-53
“He did not care for the lying at first. He hated it. Then later he had come to like it. It was part of being an insider, but it was a very corrupting business.”
Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation. You snakes, you brood of vipers."
Matthew 23:13-14,33
"They are not governed by rationality or conscience or even common sense. For periods of time oligarchies are able to survive in an uneasy equilibrium enforced by power, but ultimately these wickedly wealthy wither and die on their great piles of gains."
Jesse, Crony Capitalism: The Fed's Frankenstein, 17 December 2010
"Capitalism is at risk of failing today not because we are running out of innovations, or because markets are failing to inspire private actions, but because we’ve lost sight of the operational failings of unfettered gluttony. Successful capitalism has never rested on a moral base of self-interest, but
rather on the practice of self-interest embedded in a larger set of values.
We are neglecting a torrent of market failures in infrastructure, finance, and the environment. We are turning our backs on a grotesque worsening of income inequality and willfully continuing to slash social benefits. We are destroying the Earth as if we are indeed the last generation."
Jeffrey Sachs, Self-interest, Without Morals, Financial Times, January 18, 2012
Soft landing, dead ahead.
Stocks managed to pull out another save, with only the tech stocks holding back.
VIX fell again.
The Dollar declined.
Gold and silver bounced.
The Fed hardly ever gets a major forecast right, and can't seem to create a sustainable 'soft landing' for the real economy without generating a vicious asset bubble that crests and crashes.
But the banks are made whole, and the band plays on. Wash-rinse-repeat.
"Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close. Yeah, gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon."
Negan, Last Days on Earth, The Walking Dead
Time for the next scapegoat to raise their hand.
Here's a soft landing for you, right here.
Have a pleasant evening.
