"They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power."
Henry Wallace, 9 April 1944
"What is offensive is that they lie, and worship their own lying."
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
"We looked into the abyss if the gold price rose further. A further rise would have taken down one or several trading houses, which might have taken down all the rest in their wake. Therefore at any price, at any cost, the central banks had to quell the gold price, manage it. It was very difficult to get the gold price under control but we have now succeeded. The US Fed was very active in getting the gold price down. So was the U.K."
Eddie George, Governor Bank of England, cited in Reg Howe v. BIS, JPM et al., September 1999
"Misdeeds, once exposed, have no refuge but in audacity. And they had accomplices in all those who feared the same fate.”
Tacitus, Annals
"Financial institutions can hold low-quality securities for the period where no reporting is required. Temporarily increasing the supply of Treasuries makes this kind of deception easier. It helps remove market and regulator discipline."
Franklin Allen and Elena Carletti, Role of Liquidity in Financial Crises, September 14, 2008
"Exploitation and manipulation produce boredom and triviality; they
cripple man, and all factors that make man into a psychic cripple turn
him also into a sadist or a destroyer."
Erich Fromm, The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, 1973
"I know nothing that I may say can influence you. You have no souls to be influenced. You are spineless, flaccid things. You pompously call yourselves Republicans and Democrats. You are lick-spittles and panderers, the creatures of the plutocracy.”
Jack London, The Iron Heel
They say that the first victim of war is the truth. Maybe that's true.
After all, the US has been at war for the past 30 years or so.
And there is a bull market in whoppers.
Greed sustained by lies, hate, and fear. What can go wrong?
The Consumer Price Index came in higher than forecast this morning, but the details of the composition of the number suggest it was 'warm' rather than 'hot.'
So stocks rallied back hard into the close.
Did I mention that there is a stock option expiration on Friday.
Gold and silver got nailed, because it was a risk on rally after all.
And they were overdue for a correction.
VIX plummeted.
As expected.
And so for today, Goldilocks reigned supreme.
Have a pleasant evening.
