"What is offensive is that they lie, and worship their own lying."
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
"You have lost your reason and taken the wrong path. You have taken lies for truth, and hideousness for beauty. You would marvel if, owing to strange events of some sorts, frogs and lizards suddenly grew on apple and orange trees instead of fruit, or if roses began to smell like a sweating horse; so I marvel at you who exchange heaven for earth. I don't want to understand you.”
Anton Chekhov, The Bet
"You who make wicked judgements, who write oppressive laws, to deprive the needy of justice, and to rob the poor of their rights, that widows may be your victims, and that you may make the orphans your prey— what will you do on the day of reckoning, when the consequences come from afar? To whom will you run for protection, and where will you hide your wealth?"
Isaiah 10:1-3
“In progressive societies the concentration [of wealth] may reach a point where the strength of number in the many poor rivals the strength of ability in the few rich; then the unstable equilibrium generates a critical situation, which history has diversely met by legislation redistributing wealth or by revolution distributing poverty.”
Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History
“You felt secure in your wickedness. ‘No one sees what I do,’ you think. But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray. And you so believe that, ‘I am the only one, and no one else matters.’ Disaster will overtake you, and you won’t be able to charm it away. Misfortune will descend upon you, and you won’t be able to buy your way out. A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one for which you cannot prepare."
Isaiah 47:10-11
Our bi-polar market mavens managed to be cheered by the less than robust economic numbers this morning, easing their fears of the restrictive rates of the Fed.
What a surprise.
Stocks went out near their highs.
The Dollar fell.
Gold and silver rallied.
VIX fell.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
Tomorrow will be the stock option expiration.
We are heading into a three day weekend here in the States, with Monday being a holiday in remembrance of the Presidents.
Have a pleasant evening.
