“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be with the coming of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given away in marriage, up until the very day that Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came, and swept them all away...
And they said to him, 'Where will this happen, Lord?' And He said to them, 'Where death is, there will be a gathering of vultures.'”
Luke 17:26-27, 37
"Hear the word of the Lord, that the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, proclaims to you: repent and change your ways and your deeds, so that I may remain with you in this place. Do not put your trust in deceptive words, saying: 'This is the house of the Lord, the house of the Lord, the house of the Lord.'
If you truly change your ways and your deeds, if you are upright in your dealings with your neighbor; if you do not oppress the foreigner, the other, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed innocent blood in this land; and if you do not follow other gods and thereby cause your own destruction, then I will allow you to live here, in the land that I gave as a gift to your fathers long ago.
You have been placing your trust in deceitful words that are empty. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, tell lies, worship the god of the land, and follow other gods about whom you know nothing, and then come and stand before me and say, 'We are safe,' all the while intending to continue doing these despicable deeds? Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? Be assured that I am fully aware of what you are doing, says the Lord."
Jeremiah 7:2-11
Then Jesus said, “Did I not say that if you have faith you will see the glory of God?” And so they removed the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said,
“Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me,
but I have said this
for the sake of the people standing here,
so that they may believe
that it was you who sent me.”
When he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with linen bands, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Then Jesus said to them, “Untie him, and let him go free.”
John 11:40-44
Today was a good day to ignore the markets, and to wait for the two big shoes to drop later this week: the FOMC decision on Wednesday, and the Non-Farm Payrolls report on Friday.
So after the usual sturm und drang, the major stock indices finished largely unchanged.
Gold and silver took back their declines and finished largely unchanged.
VIX ended unchanged from its open.
The Dollar managed to hang on to a little rally.
So, barring exogenous events, the risk of which are certainly heightened as has been pointed out many times, the markets are likely waiting to see what the Fed's verdict on the economy might be.
Besides the deluge of dark and corporate money in politics, which is the root of all our evils, the biggest problem we are facing is the growing power of monopolies to fix pricing and bend regulations to their will.
It's a nasty business. And it festers compliments of the credibility trap which is preventing any meaningful reform.
Given the general level of cynical corruption of justice proliferating the halls of power in the West, I have a fairly dour outlook for the intermediate term. I admit to being biased against most politicians, but that is because occupations focused largely on the accumulation of money and power tend to attract the worst people to its ranks.
Wall Street and the C suites of the corporate monopollies are the very heart of darkness. And for now, as they have done so in the past, they seem to have taken control of the levers of our economy.
And the band played on.Have a pleasant evening.
