Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - We Watched It Coming - Never Say Again You Did Not Know

 

“By means of gradual, treacherous, systematic abuse, the system has put every man into a spiritual prison.  Everywhere and always demonic powers lurk in the dark, waiting for the moment when man is weak; when of his own volition he leaves his place in Creation, as founded for him by God in freedom; when he yields to the force of evil, he separates himself from the powers of a higher order; and after voluntarily taking the first step, he is driven on to the next and the next at a furiously accelerating rate.

Sophie Scholl


“Hatred can be nurtured anywhere, idealism can be perverted into sadism anywhere.  The inferno could erupt anew anywhere.  The history of man is the history of crimes, and history can repeat.  So information is a defense.   Through this we can build, we must build, a defense against repetition."

Simon Wiesenthal


"Everyone knows that plagues have a way of recurring throughout history, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in the ones that crash down on us out of the sky. There have always been plagues and wars, yet they always take us by surprise. When war breaks out people say it's stupid and won't last long. Stupidity has a knack of getting in the way, which we would see if not wrapped up in ourselves. In this our townsfolk were like everybody else— they did not believe in plagues."

Albert Camus, The Plague


“You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.”

William Wilberforce


What is surprising is not that we are called to do so much, but rather, so little.  Love and be grateful to God, treat people as you would like to be treated with respect, kindness, mercy and forgiveness.  Do not lie or steal or cheat or act with violence and lawlessness, do not be proud and look down on your fellow creatures, and act with honor and respect for the gifts of His creation.

And when we fail through weakness, we are readily forgiven if we are but genuinely repentant for our misdeeds, by action or omission.

But all too often we bargain away our souls, one piece at a time, rebelling from even these small and reasonable requests to goodness— and for relatively so little in return.  A little more money, some prestige and recognition from the worldly, more than the other guy, and a feeling of being superior to the rest of humanity. 

Those people are fools, but I am smart, and fully deserve of everything that we have been given, owing nothing to anyone, including God.  We are self-sufficient; we are like God.

And we may hold on to that poisonous bargain out of stiff-necked, stubborn pride and a willful blindness refusing to repent and admit our errors, until we allow them to drag us into the abyss, often bringing our family and friends with us.  

Misery loves company, and the sinful insulate themselves from a recognition of the foulness of their hearts by rationalizing their sinfulness by excusing it, and attempting to convert those around them to the same wickedness.

Even now most will gloss over this, or assume I am speaking only about their financial investments, or the markets in general.  Or those other guys.  Because that is where their hearts and minds are, with what they truly love and serve, to get what they want.

The worst may be those who embrace the leaven of the Pharisees, and serve some greater good until they kill goodness incarnate, and make their deal with the powers of darkness with their 'righteous anger.'

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Let me be blunt.   In the greater scheme of things the only thing that matters is your soul, for that is what this is all about.  

And most are just letting theirs go, little by little,into accepting anger and hatred, lies and violence and lawlessness.  I have seen it before, in the 50s and 60s.  Every century is like every other, but each think that they are exceptional, and that theirs is the worst.

It is a story old as Babylon, and evil as sin.

Stocks took a dive today, as reality continues to puncture the terrific asset bubble that was fomented by the trousered apes and their financial system.

Gold and silver were hammered today, as they seemed to be no haven from the selling except the Dollar.  Not even bonds.

VIX took a jump higher.

The impetus for this latest selling seems to be the notion that has been spreading among the trading desks and their media is the idea that the Fed is going to surprise the markets with a 75 to 100 basis point rate increase on Wednesday.

It's possible, but not probable.

Did I mentions that there is an option expiration on Friday.

Never forget that these jokers have no conscience, and thereby no shame, in their higher priorities.

The CrashTrak model is being updated since we set some new lows today.

I am struggling with a number of probabilities here.   Did we just reaffirm and more firmly set that second low, or are we truly into a failed rally scenario and a deeper decline.

A crash may be a misnomer here.   The average duration from top to break in a 'crash' is generally about 62 days.  We are well beyond that at 190+ days.

The selling is quite orderly.   And the seasonality is all wrong.  The VIX has not yet topped 40.

The dip buyers keep coming back in, dragged by their perverse need to beat the other guy.

Winning...

I am thinking this *could* be a crash in slow motion, thanks to the interference of the Fed at al.

Or maybe more likely the genesis of a grinding bear market as we had seen in 73-74.

I will be thinking more about it.

For most the higher ground is the place to be.

But if your greed drags you out into the deeper waters, well, enjoy.

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Leaven of the Pharisees - Keeping Up Appearances

 

“Sabbath, in the first instance, is not about worship. It is about withdrawal from the anxiety system of Pharaoh, the refusal to let one’s life be defined by production and consumption and the endless pursuit of private well-being.

In our own contemporary context of the rat race of anxiety, the celebration of Sabbath is an act of both resistance and alternative.  It is resistance because it is a visible insistence that our lives are not defined by the production and consumption of commodity goods. 

Thus I have come to think that the commandment on sabbath is the most difficult and most urgent of the commandments in our society, because it summons us to intent and conduct that defies the most elemental requirements of a commodity-propelled society that specializes in control and entertainment, bread and circuses, along with anxiety and violence.

The way of mammon (capital, wealth) is the way of commodity that is the way of endless desire, endless productivity, and endless restlessness without any Sabbath."

Walter Brueggemann

 

"They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control.  They will be cruel and hate what is good.  They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.  They will act religious, but they will refuse the grace that could make them righteous." 

2 Timothy 3:3-5

 

"Then he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.'" 

Mark 2:27 

"Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."

Luke 12:1

 

Hypocrisy is from the Greek and means acting, or playing a part.

Often people become unbalanced in their priorities, taking something which may be good to an extreme that makes it highly counterproductive for others and themselves.

Ideology often makes people into hypocrites, because they lose sight of the why of things and become obsessed with the what and the how. 

This is why I have shown the chart at the very bottom of this posting that shows a convergence of the far right and the far left, in their disordered sense of priorities.

Bruggerman makes these points about the Sabbath, and to its reason for being, which is our awareness and growth in the love of God above all else.   

This is why our Lord himself said, 'The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.'  The Sabbath is for our benefit.

If we take a strict adherence to the law, and lose sight for its reason for being, we can fall into the trap of legalism and hypocrisy.

Many of God laws are primarily for our own growth and development, not because God requires it for Himself, or His justice demands it.     He does not need our suffering, or our denial of things, or other sacrifices.   He does not desire sacrifice for its own sake, but mercy.

The person who becomes obsessed with legalisms loses sight of the reason for these things, and is like the servant who buried their talent in strict observance to what they perceive as a harsh and unreasonable master, and fail to accomplish the purpose of their task, which is to be fruitful in His creation through our actions.

Strict observance without love is an attractive error, because it allows us to believe that we are the best in observing and obeying God, even while we worship something else with our hearts.  It is a mask of self-delusion.

And such rigid and harsh thinking is like leaven, it spreads and permeates the whole.

This is why so often we see the harshest and least loving people wearing the mask of perfect ideologist of both the right and the left.  

They think 'yes I can hate, because I love God or my political party or economic theory just that much.  And so I can negate the other, reduce them to cartoons, and feel very superior to them and their failings.'

And this deadening of self conscience permits even otherwise ordinary people to become part of unspeakable actions and horrors. 

The banality of evil is to think that 'I am just a player of a part, an actor, serving a greater power.'

As old as Babylon, and self-deceivingly evil as sin.

Stocks took a dive in the earlier trading, but managed to come back to unchanged in the quiet trading of the afternoon.

Chairman Powell made some hawkish seeming noises today, which helped to take stocks to their lows. 

Gold and silver rallied after the quad witching option expiration of last Friday.

The VIX continued to fall, to a level that seems low in the short term.

Although it fluctuated in a choppy trade, the Dollar managed to go out near the day highs in the mid 98 level.

Geopolitical events will continue to add uncertainty and risk to the market.

As with the economy and money, things may not be what they seem.

Have a pleasant evening.