“Four sorrows are certain to be visited on the United States.
First, there will be a state of perpetual war.
Second is a loss of democracy and Constitutional rights as the presidency eclipses Congress and is itself transformed from a co-equal ‘executive branch’ of government into a military junta.
Third is the replacement of truth by propaganda, disinformation, and the glorification of war, power, and the military legions.
Lastly, there is bankruptcy, as the United States pours its economic resources into ever more grandiose military projects and shortchanges the education, health, and safety of its citizens.”
Chalmers Johnson, The Sorrows of Empire, 2005
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1937
"It's an empire. There's no two ways about it. It's a huge empire. It's been extremely successful. This empire, unlike any other in the history of the world, has been built primarily through economic manipulation, through cheating, through fraud, through seducing people."
John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, January 2004
"For those who are determined to be rich fall into temptations and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful passions which drown them in ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil, after which some have coveted, and have lost their faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
1 Timothy 6:9-10
After the better than expected GDP economic information this morning, stocks did a moon shot.
VIX wallowed
Gold and silver rallied back.
The Dollar moved a bit higher.
But alas, by the time the afternoon rolled around the pop turned into a flop.
Wash and rinse du jour.
More inflation data out tomorrow.
And forgotten, but not gone, the sorrows of empire continue circling over Eastern Europe and the Middle East, waiting to come home.
Have a pleasant evening.
