Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Dead Money Devoid of Greatness

 

"The truly savage and frenetic part of New York, the terrible, cold, cruel part, is Wall Street. Rivers of gold flow there from all over the earth, and death comes with it. There, as nowhere else, you feel a total absence of the spirit: herds of men who cannot count past three, herds more who cannot get past six, scorn for pure science and demoniacal respect for the present. And the terrible thing is that the crowd that fills this street believes that the world will always be the same, that it is their duty to keep that huge machine running, day and night, forever.

I was lucky enough to see with my own eyes the recent stock-market crash, where they lost several billion dollars, a rabble of dead money that went sliding off into the sea.  Never as then, amid suicides, hysteria, and groups of fainting people, have I felt the sensation of real death, death without hope, death that is nothing but rottenness, for the spectacle was terrifying but devoid of greatness.  I felt something like a divine urge to bombard that whole canyon of shadow, where ambulances collected suicides whose hands were full of rings."

Federico Garcia Lorca, A Poet In New York, October 1929

"The inability to identify with others was unquestionably the most important psychological condition for the fact that something like Auschwitz could have occurred in the midst of more or less civilized and innocent people. What is called 'fellow traveling' (enabling and collaboration) was primarily a commercial interest: one pursues one’s own advantage before all else and, simply not to endanger oneself, does not talk too much. That is a general law of the status quo.

The coldness of a society of the isolated competitor was the precondition as indifference to the fate of others. Regressive tendencies, that is, people with repressed sadistic traits, are produced everywhere today by the global evolution of society. Everywhere where it is mutilated, consciousness is reflected back in an unfree form that tends toward violence. One of the greatest impulses of Christianity, not immediately identical with its dogma, was to eradicate the coldness that permeates everything. But this attempt failed; surely because it did not reach into the societal order that produces and reproduces that coldness."

Theodore Adorno, neo-Marxist philosopher, Erziehung nach Auschwitz, 1966

"Humanism was not wrong in thinking that truth, beauty, liberty, and equality are of infinite value, but it was wrong in thinking that we can get them for ourselves without grace."

Simone Weil, La Pesanteur et la grâce, posthume 1947


In trying to follow God's will, we all overcomplicate our part. It is not a bad thing, just a thing that we do in day to day life as 'problem solvers' that gets in the way of serving a higher power. It is a matter shifting gears from one thing to another. The mix between faith and free will is a life long study.

Don't get discouraged about the 'what' and think more about the 'how.' Start with doing little things, but with great love for His sake in faith and gratitude, and keep going.

As the apostle John himself said around 100 AD, as related by the father of the church Origen of Alexandria in the second century and picked up by Jerome in the 4th century:

The blessed John the Evangelist lived in Ephesus until extreme old age. His disciples could barely carry him to church and he could not muster the voice to speak many words. During individual gatherings he usually said nothing but, 'Little children, love one another.'

The disciples and brothers in attendance, annoyed because they always heard the same words, finally said, 'Teacher, why do you always say this?' He replied with a line worthy of John: 'Because it is the Lord's commandment, and if it alone is kept, it is sufficient.'"

Jerome, Commentary on Galatians, 4th century

Could this be any more simple and clear? You are most likely not here to build a monument, or a lead a great crusade, or gain and acclaim. Not a Saint with a capital 'S'. If you are then God will let you know. But you are commanded to live each moment with God's grace, and do ordinary, simple things but with great love.

I have been at this for about thirty years now in a focused way.  I asked God to show me all my sins so I may be sorry for them now, and not later on. And he is still at it, feeding them to me little by little as I can accept the knowledge and learn from it. 

A notable 'Someone', whom I admire very much, read my work that had been shared by a friend, and recently asked me 'what have you done, that I must be someone.'  And I said no, I am just a man, and not a particularly good one.  And that was it.  

I am obscure, by God's great kindness and tender mercy. I have had my fifteen minutes, and it is hollow and a snare.  If I do any good it is hidden from me.  I struggle, every day, to have ill will towards no one, to perform little acts of kindness for all God's creatures with little thanks, and pray for the salvation of even the most vexing and offensive of sinners to extinguish any anger that creeps in the heart.

I am just one among many.  I diminish with age. And I accept it.  And I am grateful for all I have.  Having lost much, now I can see them more clearly.  

And I am slowly beginning to understand His mercy.  Little things, but with great love. And that is enough. 

Stocks flopped today after the insider trading exercise yesterday announcing a phony truce.

Iran is not going to settle, except for strong internationally backed guarantees.  Why would they?  Would you?

Gold and silver were smacked around a little more, with gold taking the brunt of it with its April contract options coming due on the 26th.

The Dollar is hanging around the mid 99 handle.  The DXY index is so heavily weighted to the Euro that the failing leadership of the European Union is making it look better than it is.

VIX looks like it might be coiling here.

Bitcoin is obviously locked into a trading range since the beginning of February.   Take a look at the chart below if you don't know this.  They are just moving Bitcoin around the plate trying to skin specs and daytraders.

If the market crashes, Bitcoin is going down for the count, and unlike gold and silver I don't see how it is going to come back without official help.

Trump's 'Five Day Pause' expires after the market close on Friday.  US has troops moving into position. 

Draw your own conclusions and take it from there

The Trump Administration is dancing on a volcano.   One leg is on Iran, and the other leg is on the Ukraine.

Madness. 

Have a pleasant evening.

Listen, And I Will Tell You a Mystery

"Serve the Lord and be at peace with him, so his goodness will flourish in you.
Hear the words from his mouth, and keep his wisdom deep in your heart."  Job 22:21-22

“We are slow to master the great truth that even now Christ is, as it were, walking among us, and by His hand, or eye, or voice, bidding us to follow Him. We do not understand that His call is a thing that takes place now. We think it took place in the Apostles' days, but we do not believe in it; we do not look for it in our own case.

God beholds you.  He calls you by your name.  He sees you and understands you as He made you.  He knows what is in you, all your peculiar feelings and thoughts, your dispositions and likings, your strengths and your weaknesses.  He views you in your day of rejoicing and in your day of sorrow.  He sympathizes in your hopes and your temptations.  He interests Himself in all your anxieties and remembrances, all the risings and fallings of your spirit.

He encompasses you round and bears you in His arms.  He notes your very countenance, whether smiling or in tears.  He looks tenderly upon you.  He hears your voice, the beating of your heart, and your very breathing.

You do not love yourself better than He loves you.  You cannot shrink from pain more than He dislikes your bearing it; and if He puts it on you, it is as you would put it on yourself, if you would be wise, for a greater good afterwards.

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission — I may never know it in this life but I shall be told it in the next.

I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.  He has not created me for naught.

I shall do good, I shall do His work.  I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.

Therefore I will trust Him.  Whatever I am, I can never be thrown away.  If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him.  If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.

He does nothing in vain.  He knows what He is about.

He may take away my friends.  He may throw me among strangers.  He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me — still He knows what He is about.

Let us feel what we really are — sinners attempting great things.  Let us simply obey God's will, whatever may come.  He can turn all things to our eternal good.  Easter day is preceded by the forty days of Lent, to show us that they only who sow in tears shall reap in joy.

The more we do, the more shall we trust in Christ; and that surely is no morose doctrine, that leads us to soothe our selfish restlessness, and forget our fears, in the vision of the Incarnate Son of God.

May the Lord support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.

Then in His mercy may He give us safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at last.”

John Henry Newman

The mighty rise, and are forgotten— but the word and the spirit endure.

"In the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God.  Thereafter, any attack, even on the least of men is an attack on Christ, who took on the form of man, and in his own Person restored the image of God in all.   Through our relationship with the Incarnation we recover our true humanity, and at the same time are delivered from that perverse individualism which is the consequence of sin, and recover our solidarity with all mankind."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Consumed By Predators from Within

 

"Our future could be one in which continued tumult feeds the looting of the financial system, and we talk more and more about exactly how our oligarchs became bandits and how the economy just can’t seem to get into gear."

Simon Johnson, The Quiet Coup, May 2009

"Financial predators are usually narcissistic and audacious criminals.  They regularly have an extreme sense of entitlement coupled with high self-efficacy.  Many of them have a charismatic quality and are preternaturally persuasive.  Financial Predators are commonly shameless and quite adept serial liars.  They perceive themselves having near unlimited guile and resourcefulness to extricate themselves out of any compromising situations."

Russ Alan Prince, Unmasking Financial Predators, Forbes, 6 Nov 2017

"But there is a sort of 'Ok guys, you're mad, but how are you going to stop me' mentality at the top."

Robert Johnson, Audacious Oligarchy, Impact Festival 2012

"The greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."

Martin Luther King, Stride Towards Freedom, 1958

"Most of them became wealthy by being well connected and crooked.  And they are creating a society in which they can commit hugely damaging economic crimes with impunity, and in which only children of the wealthy have the opportunity to become successful."

Charles Ferguson, Predator Nation, 2012

"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."

Henry Wallace, American Fascism, April 9,1944

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every form of corruption. On the outside you appear to be righteous, but inside you are full of deceits and lawlessness. You snakes! You brood of vipers."

Matthew 23:27-28,33

"To keep standing you have to do it for love, for love of God.  Otherwise it seems too senseless, too frustrating."

Jesse, 22 March 2026


Stocks rallied sharply this morning in a reaction to some outrageous lies told to the American public by Trump.   The lies were intended to boost the slumping markets.  

The insiders front-running this had a good time, but the credibility of the United States and its financial system is being shredded. 

Stocks backed off their highs once it became apparent that this was a cynical hoax.

Gold and silver were hammered again, as the Comex option expiration for the precious metals contracts approaches on this Thursday the 26th.

VIX collapsed initially and then bounced back up again as the conscious mispricing of risk was revealed.

Bitcoin spiked on the false representation of peace, and managed to hold on to a gain.  Control frauds can ride on the waves of gullibility for quite some time, but will eventually fail.  They always do.

This is madness, and it is the work of the darkness of the world.  If you support it, this is what you serve.

Have a pleasant evening.   

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - And a Nation's Capital Is Consumed

 

"When we are the victims of an illusion we do not feel it to be an illusion but a reality.  It is the same perhaps with evil.  Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil but as a necessity, or even a duty.  As soon as we do evil, the evil appears as a sort of duty.  Once a certain class of people has been placed by the temporal and spiritual authorities outside the ranks of those whose life has value, then nothing comes more naturally to men than murder.  As soon as men know they that they can kill without fear of punishment or blame, they kill; or at least they encourage killers with approving smiles."

Simone Weil, La Pesanteur et la Grâce, 1947

"Wars do not usually result from just causes but from pretexts.  There probably never was a just cause why men should slaughter each other by wholesale, but there are such things as ambition, selfishness, folly, madness, in communities as in individuals, which become blind and bloodthirsty, not to be appeased save by havoc, and generally by the killing of somebody else than themselves."

William Tecumseh Sherman, address to Michigan Military Academy, 19 June 1879

"When a war breaks out, people say: 'It's too stupid; it can't last long.' But though a war may well be 'too stupid,' that doesn't prevent it from lasting. Foolishness has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves. In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves; in other words they were exceptional humans: they did not believe in plagues.

A bubonic plague is not made to fit in a man's mind; therefore we tell ourselves that plagues are a mere bogey of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away.  But it doesn't always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away, and the exceptional first of all, because they haven't taken their precautions.  'It's impossible that there could be a plague, because everyone knows that they have vanished from the West. We should not act as though half the town were threatened with death, because then it would be.' Yes, everyone knew that, except for the dead.

Our townsfolk were not more to blame than others; they forgot to be human, that was all, and thought that everything still was possible for them; which presupposed that plagues were impossible. They went on doing business, arranged for journeys, and formed views.  How could they have given a thought to anything like a plague, which rules out any future, cancels journeys, silences the exchange of views.  They fancied themselves free, and no one will ever be free so long as there are plagues."

Albert Camus, The Plague, 1947

"The banks engage in fraud for two reasons.  First, they profit from swindling the public.  Second, they can get away with it via a simple technique.  They buy off the regulators with promises of enormously lucrative jobs when they leave government service, and they buy off the politicians with huge direct and indirect campaign contributions [and lucrative insider trading - Jesse]."

Laurence Kotlikoff, When Banksters Buy Regulators and Prosecutors, Forbes, October 21, 2014

"Monetary and regulatory policy encourage asset bubbles to proliferate. Hot money seeks out the conscious mispricing of risk. Capital, in the form of both money and personal talent, increasingly flows into malinvestment and the gaming of markets. The productive economy languishes, left wanting for the lack of creative resources and attention. The bubble rises to unsustainable valuations and fails —  and a nation's capital is consumed."

Jesse, The Men Who Sold the World, 5 August 2019


Stocks sold off hard on this stock option expiration day, bouncing back a little into the close.

But they did set a lower low to confirm a failed rally.

Gold and silver were mugged again.  This should help the Banks with their bullion shortage problems.

VIX rose.

The Dollar moved a little higher.

Bitcoin held its ground with a little loss.

I don't think this is over,  since the war with Iran is not over.  And it is likely to get worse, despite rumors and gaslighting to the contrary.

Worst strategic mistake since Operation Barbarossa in the works.

I don't know what more I can say.

Need little, want less, and lover more.  For those who abide in God abide in love, and love in them. 

Have a pleasant weekend.