"I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that."
Captain Edward John Smith, RMS Titanic
"It is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice, perjury, and treachery. These may, perhaps, succeed at first, and limp along on hope for awhile with a flourishing appearance. But time betrays their weakness, and they eventually fall into ruin of their own designs."
Demosthenes
"Monetary and regulatory policy encourage asset bubbles to proliferate. Hot money seeks out the conscious mispricing of risk. Capital, in the form of both money and personal talent, increasingly flows into malinvestment and the gaming of markets. The productive economy languishes, left wanting for the lack of creative resources and attention. The bubble rises to unsustainable valuations— and fails, and a nation's capital is consumed."
Jesse 5 August 2019, The Men Who Sold the World
“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you may be certain that her desolation is near. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are within the city must escape from its boundaries, and those who are in country areas must not return. For those will be days of retribution when all that is written will come to pass."
Luke 21:21-22
"Everyone knows that plagues have a way of recurring throughout history, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in the ones that crash down on us out of the sky. There have always been plagues and wars, yet they always take us by surprise. When war breaks out people say it's stupid and won't last long. Stupidity has a knack of getting in the way, which we would see if not wrapped up in ourselves. In this our townsfolk were like everybody else— they did not believe in plagues."
Albert Camus, The Plague
Stocks went out near the lows.
The Dollar was flat.
VIX is on a coffee break.
Gold and silver rallied. Silver is feisty.
PPI came in hot today but stocks failed to rally with the good 'bad news.'
Markets closed on Monday for President's Day.
Why so serious?
Have a pleasant weekend.
Fed's Economic Outlook: Steady as She Goes
