"Over the last thirty years, the United States has been taken over by an amoral financial oligarchy, and the American dream of opportunity, education, and upward mobility is now largely confined to the top few percent of the population. Federal policy is increasingly dictated by the wealthy, by the financial sector, and by powerful industries. These policies are implemented and praised by these groups’ willing servants, namely the increasingly bought-and-paid-for leadership of America’s political parties, academia, [mainstream media], and lobbying industry.
If allowed to continue, this process will turn the United States into a declining, unfair society with an impoverished, angry, uneducated population under the control of a small, ultrawealthy elite. Such a society would be not only immoral but also eventually unstable, dangerously ripe for religious and political extremism."
Charles Ferguson, Predator Nation, June 2012
“I think that the depth of Satan's pride is difficult for humans to understand, and therefore it is easy to fall into this error and partake of it, thinking, all the while, that we are instead doing something great and beautiful.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, 1880
"During the intense pressures of Gethsemane and the cross, the disciples did things they never thought they would do. They had no idea how cruel and hateful the world around them would be to their Lord. But only Jesus knew the full extent of the temptation they would face. In the pressure of the moment the heart does surprising things. Guard your heart. Listen now to the Lord’s gentle warning. You, too, are capable of forsaking Jesus, just as the first disciples did."
Henry Blackaby, The Unthinkable, 1998
Stocks slumped today, and failed to recover even into the close.
They were incredibly short term overextended.
Gold and silver rallied sharply after the Non-Farm Payrolls and Option Expiration smackdowns.
Wash - rinse -repeat.
Bitcoin backed off further from its attempted takedown of $100,000.
VIX ticked upward slightly but there was no real fear in the markets today.
The billionaires are attempting to terraform the American political landscape to make their oligarchy more comfortable.
Have a pleasant evening.
