Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Devil Take the Hindmost - Here We Go Again

"Hubris calls for nemesis, and in one form or another it's going to get it, not as a punishment from outside but as the completion of a pattern already started."

Mary Midgley, The Myths We Live By


"Over the past 30 years the plutocrats have used their vastly increased wealth to capture the flag and assure the government does their bidding. This marriage of money and politics has produced an America of gross inequality at the top and low social mobility at the bottom, with little but anxiety and dread in between, as middle class Americans feel the ground falling out from under their feet.

Like those populists of that earlier era, millions of Americans have awakened to a sobering reality: they live in a plutocracy, where they are disposable. Then, the remedy was a popular insurgency that ignited the spark of democracy. Now we have come to another parting of the ways, and once again the fate and character of our country are up for grabs."

Bill Moyers, last episode of Bill Moyers Journal, 30 April 2010


“A mighty bubble of wealth is blown before our eyes, as empty, as transient, as contradictory to the laws of solid material, as confuted by every circumstance of actual condition, as any other bubble which man or child ever blew before.”

Edward Chancellor, Devil Take the Hindmost


"This is funny."

Doc Holliday, last words, November 8, 1887, Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Stocks are reaching for a high note, on a bubble of easy money and slack oversight, as well as a lack of adult supervision.

Gold was hit hard today but bounced back.  Pure shenanigans.

Trump is losing it.  Nothing could be more obvious, even by his standards which are pretty weird.

Not much good can be said for the character of the rest of the political establishment and the elites in general.

That does not bode well for a country skimming the edge of the abyss.

Things could get quite intense and exciting over the next few months.

Learn to pray.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Love of Most Will Grow Cold

"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents with crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is the best guarantee of their loyalty.”

Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism


"Where is dignified modesty and a firmness of virtue of any use, now that blasphemy is in power, and justice is ignored, and there is no law but lawlessness, and few make an effort to hold back the wrath of the gods?”

Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis


“When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important. It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law state without lawyers, or to hold show trials without judges. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and concentration camp directors seek businessmen interested in cheap labor.”

Timothy D. Snyder, On Tyranny

I have included a graphic above from a piece I had originally posted a couple of crises ago on a site that has long ceased to exist.

History does repeat, or at least rhyme, if you will.  Each crisis has its own attributes and tone, but they tend to have much in common.

It is good to recall that we are in a period now that is very new to us, not having seen a pandemic like this in the US since the beginning of the 20th century.

We do not think about it now, but some day in the future you will be among of the few who actually remember what this was like, what is was to join the select group of 'insiders' who quarantined themselves in the hopes of holding back the lethal effects of an epidemic.

And you may find yourself trying to explain to your grandchildren what the political and cultural circumstances were like.  And why certain things were done the way in which they unfolded.

It is good to remember that we are just stumbling down the long halls of history like our parents and grandparents, who fumbled their own way through the darkness, trying to follow the light.

Stocks were sold off a bit hard today.  It seemed to be coming giving the unreasonable optimism of last week that our current situation was mostly done, and it was time to get back to things as they were.

Oil was hammered again.  Of course the slack demand is a huge factor, as it is with any practical commodity.  And the price war that is ongoing among OPEC+ is a major input as well.

But I cannot help but feel that some of the powerful Wall Street insiders are taking advantage of the situation, and the situational aspects of this rollover in the futures contracts, to get some quick money and while dishing out some pain, ripping off some faces, and so forth, as they are often wont to do.

Well, we'll see how this unfolds, among other things.

What has been hidden will be revealed, and what has been concealed will be made known.

A crisis shows the characters of people, and of systems that they have organized.

And brother, do we have some odd characters on the big stage in Washington.  It is almost unbelievable.  

I think it might get worse still, before it gets better.  And it is only a few more months to July.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Writing on the Wall - Stock Option Expiration Tomorrow

"If you want to find out what a man is to the bottom, give him power.  Any man can stand adversity — only a great man can stand prosperity.”

Robert Ingersoll


“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


“It is the magician’s bargain: give up our soul, get power in return.  But once our souls, that is, ourselves, have been given up, the power thus conferred will not belong to us.  We shall in fact be the slaves and puppets of that to which we have given our souls.”

C.S. Lewis

At what point does stupidity become a sin?

This is no idle question. Because the most pervasive and convincing reason I have found to not hold people, including myself, accountable for their usual bad actions is stupidity.

They are not really evil, even when they may accommodate evil things. They are mostly stupid. 

But surely, like most things in excess, stupidity becomes a sin when it is wanton in a careless manner, or even worse, purposeful.  Habitual stupidity that favors the person who gives themselves over to it.

Surely almost all people will be taken in by a con man at some point in their lives.

But there are those who become the devotees of purposeful liars. And in their wanton stupidity they can become the accomplices of terrible sins, and sometimes sensational crimes.

Be careful then, of what you feed to your minds, and what foolishness you may stubbornly embrace, because it suits your purposes.

At the time of your judgement, cleverness and connections and impertinence will be of no use.  The penetrating gaze of the Almighty will expose you naked before it.

The markets were mixed today as they like to say.

The economic news was dire. But we are becoming used to this.

Trumpolini will be announcing something distractingly fabulous tonight no doubt.

There will be a stock market option expiration on Friday.

And there is a reckoning coming, most likely by July.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Maundy Thursday

Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos ut et vos diligatis invicem. in hoc cognoscent omnes quia mei discipuli estis si dilectionem habueritis ad invicem.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13:34–35


"Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, 'Teacher, first we wish to see a sign from you.'   But he answered, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign. But no sign will be given to it, except for the sign of the prophet Jonah.'"

Matthew 12:38-39


"The Son of Man proceeds as it is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had never been born.”

Matthew 26:24


"The word of God is a living thing, and works among us. It is sharper than a double-edged sword, and penetrates even to the dividing of soul and spirit, the joints and the marrow; it judges the innermost thoughts and inclinations of every heart. Nothing in all of creation is hidden from the sight of the Lord. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we will some day give an account."

Hebrews 4:12-13


“Not everyone who calls out, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will be saved, but only the those who have done the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, drove out demons in your name, and performed many great projects in your name.’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I do not know you. Begone, you lovers of lawlessness.’”

Matthew 7:21-23

This seems fairly simple and straightforward.

We may not seen signs and wonders as we wish, or expect, or even demand of him.

But still the matter proceeds.

What more will it take?

Who is it now that you serve?

Do you really wish to stand with that one in judgement?

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Get Your Kicks on Route 666

"Do you think he is so unskillful in his craft, as to ask you openly and plainly to join him in his warfare against the truth?  No;  he offers you baits to tempt you.  He promises you civil liberty; he promises you equality; he promises you trade and wealth; he promises you a remission of taxes; he promises you reform.

This is the way in which he conceals from you the kind of work to which he is putting you; he tempts you to rail against your rulers and superiors; he does so himself, and induces you to imitate him; or he promises you illumination, he offers you knowledge, science, philosophy, enlargement of mind. He scoffs at times gone by; he scoffs at every institution which reveres them.

He prompts you what to say, and then listens to you, and praises you, and encourages you. He bids you mount aloft. He shows you how to become as gods. Then he laughs and jokes with you, and gets intimate with you; he takes your hand, and gets his fingers between yours, and grasps them, and then you are his."

John Henry Newman


"Christianity is called the religion of pity. Pity stands opposed to the powerful emotions which heighten our vitality; it has a depressing effect. We are deprived of strength when we feel pity.

What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power in a man, the will to power, power itself. What is bad? All that is born of weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome."

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist

Stocks were in rally mode today.

Bernie Sanders dropped out of the Democratic primary race, removing the last bid at serious financial reform from the table.

And Wall Street has become tired of the pandemic, and is moving on to its plans for the resurgence of economic activity.

Gold and silver moved a bit but ended up mostly sideways. The dollar was up a bit. So was the death count.

Trumpolini has been knocking off independent oversight within the ranks, laying the groundwork for some serious shenanigans with their new found trillions of recovery money.

What could go wrong with such a single-minded will to power behind it?

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Crash of 2020 - Stocks' Rally Attempt Fails, Goes Out On Lows

"This is going to end badly.  Big changes are coming.  What has been hidden will be revealed.  Rough seas ahead, mateys."

Jesse, 22 January 2020, I See It Coming


"Things are going to be getting very real this year, even as some continue to deny reality, to an almost astonishing degree of self-absorption and denial.  What is it going to take?"

Jesse, 27 February 2020


"Now is a good time to prepare, if you have not already done so, and to begin engaging in those simple procedures that may help us weather this."

Jesse, 28 February 2020


"There is no surprise that the one percent love the status quo.  Now they are counting votes, with an eye to a triumph in November.

Let them count the days instead, so that they may know what they have squandered in their greed and in their pride.

We have been lost for a long time.  Perhaps we can find our way again."

Jesse, 4 March 2020


“The truth is that we were so spiritually and morally bankrupt that we could not even see some of those lines: we stepped over them blindly. Other times we saw the lines alright, but we wanted to cross them...

It wasn’t God who was dead.  We were."

Ray A., Practice These Principles

And so here we are.

Stocks attempted to rally today.

But by the time that they fell back from their highs to unchanged, it was pretty clear that we were not going gently into the weekend.

Stocks went out on their lows.

We may be testing lower low next week.

Governor Cuomo's announcement that he is 'locking down' the State of NY tended to drive home the reality of the situation.

Gold and silver managed to hold a rally today.  That was refreshing.

The quad witch stock option expiration has arrived and gone, so the Banks can take a break from fleecing the public with their own money.   Just a break though.

At least four Senators were caught trading on insider information.  What made it even more reprehensible is that they took their profits while they were helping to deceive the public about the true state of affairs.

If you think it is only these four you might well be right, but I doubt it.

Because the numbers of sick and the dying is overwhelming the available resources, the Catholic church announced today a special forgiveness for those with the virus and their caregivers.

This is going to be a tough time.  For all of us.

And so we might as well be kind to one another, even the undeserving.  For who is deserving in the eyes of God?  And yet He forgives us.

No matter what comes, we can choose the way that we act.

We shall sing to our God a new song—  join in, or draw comfort and listen.

The mighty rise and are fallen, but the Word and the Spirit endure.

Need little - want less - love more.

Have a pleasant weekend.