Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Whims and Desires of the Elite

 

"Let them wait, if their past experience shall induce them to think that any high honour or any exquisite pleasure is to be obtained by a policy like this.  Let them wait, if this strange and fearful infatuation be indeed upon them, that they should not see with their eyes, or hear with their ears, or understand with their heart.  But let us know our interest and our duty better.  Turn where we may, within, around, the voice of great events is proclaiming to us,  'Reform, that you may preserve.'"

Thomas B. Macaulay, Speech Before Parliament, March 2, 1831

"The real problem for others is when narcissistic features, especially a sense of entitlement and a lack of empathy, shade into antisocial and destructive behaviors.  When this happens, the pattern might be described as aggressive or malignant narcissism, which is difficult to distinguish from psychopathy.

Another characteristic of psychopaths is an ability to avoid taking responsibility for things that go wrong; instead, they blame others, circumstances, fate, and so forth.  Psychopaths will lie even to people who already know the truth about what they are saying. Even in the face of contrary evidence, the psychopath can lie so well that listeners doubt themselves first, rather than question the psychopath."

Babiak and Hare, Snakes in Suits, May 2006

"There is a class of individuals who have been around forever and who are found in every race, culture, society and walk of life.  Everybody has met these people, been deceived and manipulated by them, and forced to live with or repair the damage they have wrought.  These often charming-but always deadly-individuals have a clinical name: psychopaths.  Their hallmark is a stunning lack of conscience; their game is self-gratification at the other person’s expense.  All take far more than they give.

The most obvious expressions of psychopathy-but not the only ones-involve the flagrant violation of society’s rules.  Not surprisingly, many psychopaths are criminals, but many others manage to remain out of prison, using their charm and chameleon-like coloration to cut a wide swathe through society, leaving a wake of ruined lives behind them.

Psychopaths appear amazingly unfazed by the possibility, or even by the certainty, of being found out. When caught in a lie or challenged with the truth, they seldom appear perplexed or embarrassed-they simply change their stories or attempt to rework the facts so they appear to be consistent with the lie. The result is a series of contradictory statements and a thoroughly confused listener. And psychopaths seem proud of their ability to lie."

Robert Hare, The Charming Psychopath: How to Spot Social Predators, Psychology Today, 2007

"The more power a government has the more it can act arbitrarily according to the whims and desires of the elite, and the more it will make war on others and murder its foreign and domestic subjects.  Power will achieve its murderous potential.  It simply waits for an excuse, an event of some sort, an assassination, a massacre in a neighboring country, an attempted coup, a famine, or a natural disaster, to justify the beginning of murder en masse."

R. J. Rummel, Death by Government: A History of Mass Murder and Genocide, 1994


Stocks gave back some of their rocket rally from yesterday.

Just a normal pull back so far.

Gold and silver rallied, but gave it back in the afternoon.

There will be a option expiration on the Comex this coming Thursday the 25th.

VIX ticked up a bit.

Bitcoin continued to decline.

There is a new documentary about the tragic US war in Afghanistan called 'Bodyguard of Lies.'  It is coming out on Paramount+.   It looks to be a good one.  

The US spent 300 million dollars per day for 20 years on the failed military exercise against the Taliban, not including the tragic loss and disruption of life.   A few gained wealth and power from it.

"Faustus had advanced beyond the level of a scarlet sinner — he was a conscious follower of the Prince of Darkness."

E.A. Bucchianeri, Faust: My Soul Be Damned for the World, 2008

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The First Drop In the Onrushing Abyss

 

“I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot.  But because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,’ and yet do not realize that you are wretched, poor, pitiable, naked, and blind."

Revelation 3:15-17

"Either we have hope within us or we don’t; it’s a dimension of the soul; it’s not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation.  Hope is not prognostication.  It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons. 

Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but, rather, an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed."

Vaclav Havel, Disturbing the Peace, 1990

“It has been more profitable for us to bind together in the wrong direction than to be alone in the right one. Those who have followed the assertive idiot rather than the introspective wise person have passed us some of their genes. This is apparent from a social pathology: psychopaths rally followers.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan, April 2007

"Now might be a good time to find something that you can firmly believe in, something that is greater and better than yourself, and then hang on to it and faithfully serve it, with all your strength and hope."

Jesse, La Vie en Rose, 18 August 2015

"And Peter understood that neither Nero, nor all his legions, could overcome the living truth— that they could not overwhelm it with tears or blood, and that now its victory was beginning.

He understood with equal force why the Lord had turned him back on the road.  That city of pride, of crime, of wickedness, and of a lust for power, was beginning to be His."

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis, 1896 

Stocks managed to hold a modest rally today.

There was a hidden weakness on the tape amidst all the bravado.

The Dollar gave up the 98 handle.

Watch the Bond and the Dollar.   They will speak the truths that risk assets like equities hide.

VIX is still mispricing risks of all manner.  

Hubris knows no fear, until it feels the first breath-taking plunge into the abyss.

Those imperious few.  

They will be scattered remnants on the streets of hell, voicelessly blown here and there by dull, directionless winds. 

In the end, the only thing that matters is to be among the saints.

Have a pleasant evening 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Conmen, Bullies, and Puppetmasters

 

"'A lot of white-collar criminals are psychopaths,' said Robert Hare.  'But they flourish because the characteristics that define the disorder are actually valued.  When they get caught, what happens?  A slap on the wrist, a six-month ban from trading, and don't give us the $100 million back.  I've always looked at white-collar crime as being as bad or worse than some of the physically violent crimes that are committed.'

Hare has said that if he couldn't study psychopaths in prisons, the Vancouver Stock Exchange would have been his second choice.  Psychopaths can be found in legislatures, hospitals, and used-car lots.  Because they have no conscience, they're natural predators. If you didn't have a conscience, you'd be one too.

Psychopaths love chaos and hate rules, so they're comfortable in the fast-moving modern corporation.  Dr. Paul Babiak, an industrial-organizational psychologist based near New York City, is in the process of writing a book with Bob Hare called When Psychopaths Go to Work: Cons, Bullies and the Puppetmaster. The subtitle refers to the three broad classes of psychopaths Babiak has encountered in the workplace."

Robert Hercz, Psychopaths Among Us, 2001

"When the person at the top is malignant and self-serving, unethical behavior cascades through the organization and becomes legitimized.

Narcissists change the companies or countries they lead, much like bad money drives out good, and those changes can outlast their own tenure, O’Reilly says. Divergent voices are silenced, flattery and servility are rewarded, and cynicism and apathy corrode any sense of shared purpose in a culture where everyone’s out for themselves. In the extreme, they can destroy the institution itself.

But the gravest danger posed by such leaders is that their malignant influence guides the behavior and expectations of others — and ultimately shapes the culture of the organization or polity in their own image. Studies of businesses show that self-serving, unethical behavior at the top cascades through the organization and becomes legitimized, or at least normalized.

“Once they’re in power, narcissists consolidate their position by firing everyone who challenges them,” O’Reilly says. In their place rise a plague of toadies, opportunists, and enablers equally guided by self-interest and short on scruples. 'So you end up with these individualistic cultures with no teamwork and low integrity. We’ve documented this in a bunch of Silicon Valley tech firms.'”

Lee Simmons, How Narcissistic Leaders Destroy From Within, Stanford Business, April 30, 2020

"Malignant narcissism goes beyond mere self-centeredness.  It goes beyond feeling special.   And it goes beyond feeling superior.  Malignant narcissists lack the capacity for empathy and shame.  They also know this makes them different from others.  But they deeply prize these critical differences. And they hold those not like them in utter disdain. 

Narcissism becomes particularly 'malignant' (i.e. malevolent, dangerous, harmful, incurable) when it goes beyond mere vanity and excessive self-focus. Malignant narcissists not only see themselves as superior to others but believe in their superiority to the degree that they view others as relatively worthless, expendable, and justifiably exploitable.

This type of narcissism is a defining characteristic of psychopathy/sociopathy and is rooted in an individual’s deficient capacity for empathy.  It’s almost impossible for a person with such shallow feelings and such haughtiness to really care about others or to form a conscience with any of the qualities we typically associate with a humane attitude, which is why most researchers and thinkers on the topic of psychopathy think of psychopaths as individuals without a conscience altogether."

George Simon, Malignant Narcissism, December 27, 2013


Stocks sold off on the worse than expected economic data this morning.

But, wonder of wonders, they managed to take back all their losses and rally green into the close.

There were reports of a break in the Ukraine Russia talks, though I doubt anyone in Russia  knows or cares what they are talking about. 

Kind of like the talks that had supposedly occurred on tariffs with President Xi, which he said were imaginary.

Surely this is a sign of the prosperity and magnificence of Empire, which creates its own reality.

The Dollar bounced up to the top of the 99 handle.

VIX fell back to its 50 day moving average.

Gold and silver fell off a bit.

Ending badly.    

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The People of the Lie

 

"Easy is the descent to hell; all night long, all day, the doors of dark Hades stand open; but to retrace the path; to come out again to the sweet air of Heaven - there is the task, there is the burden."

Virgil, The Aeneid

"Malignant narcissism goes beyond mere self-centeredness.  It goes beyond feeling special.  And it goes beyond feeling superior.  Malignant narcissists lack the capacity for empathy and shame.  They also know this makes them different from others.  But they deeply prize these critical differences.  And they hold those not like them in utter disdain.

Narcissism becomes particularly 'malignant' (i.e. malevolent, dangerous, harmful, incurable) when it goes beyond mere vanity and excessive self-focus. Malignant narcissists not only see themselves as superior to others but believe in their superiority to the degree that they view others as relatively worthless, expendable, and justifiably exploitable.

This type of narcissism is a defining characteristic of psychopathy/sociopathy and is rooted in an individual’s deficient capacity for empathy. It’s almost impossible for a person with such shallow feelings and such haughtiness to really care about others or to form a conscience with any of the qualities we typically associate with a humane attitude, which is why most researchers and thinkers on the topic of psychopathy think of psychopaths as individuals without a conscience altogether."

George Simon, Malignant Narcissism, December 27, 2013

“Evil then, for the moment, is the force, residing either inside or outside of human beings, that seeks to kill life or liveliness. And goodness is its opposite. Goodness is that which promotes life and liveliness.

A predominant characteristic of the behaviour of [malignant narcissists] is scapegoating. Because in their hearts they consider themselves above reproach, they must lash out at anyone who does reproach them. Since they must deny their own badness, they must perceive others as bad…They never think of themselves as evil; on the other hand, they consequently see much evil in others.”

M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie, October 1983

“You are from your father, the devil, and you choose to carry out your father’s desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and he does not abide by the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks in accord with his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

John 8:44

"What is cast (or casts itself) into hell is not a man: it is 'remains.'  To be a complete man means to have the passions obedient to the will and the will offered to God: to have been a man – to be an ex-man or 'damned ghost' – would presumably mean to consist of a will utterly centered in its self and passions utterly uncontrolled by the will."

C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 1940


Stocks cratered today, going out on the lows.

The VIX rose to its highest level since the 'banking panic' of 2008. 

There is an old trader's saying: 'Bad Friday, blue Monday, Black Tuesday.'

In case you had never heard it.  There are a lot of bull market geniuses around who have never seen a real bear market, much less a 'crash' that wasn't from their funny papers.

Gold and silver were off, but did managed to find some footing and trade up from the lows.

Bitcoin gained ground.

The Non-Farm payrolls report came in hot, but no one really cared about it.

It was all tariffs all the time.

It took peoples' minds off the wars.

Need little, want less, love more.

For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Nourishing Itself from Its Own Destruction

 

"There was war in heaven.  Michael and the angels fought against the dragon.  The dragon fought back, but he did not have the power, and so lost his place in heaven.   The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.  Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have salvation and the power come, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Anointed.  For the adversary of our brothers and sisters is cast out, who accuses them before our God day and night.

They triumphed by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death.   Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them.  But woe to you, earth and the sea, for the Devil has come down to you in great fury, for he knows his time is short.’"

Revelation 12:7-12

“The investment ecosystem has effectively self-organized into one giant short volatility trade like a snake eating its own tail, nourishing itself from its own destruction.”

Chris Cole, Artemis Capital, 2017

"And he said to them, 'Behold, I saw Satan fall, like lightning from heaven.'"

Luke 10:18

"What is cast (or casts itself) into hell is not a man: it is 'remains.'  To be a complete man means to have the passions obedient to the will and the will offered to God: to have been a man – to be an ex-man or 'damned ghost' – would presumably mean to consist of a will utterly centered in its self and passions utterly uncontrolled by the will."

C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 1940

"Narcissism becomes particularly 'malignant' (i.e. malevolent, dangerous, harmful, incurable) when it goes beyond mere vanity and excessive self-focus. Malignant narcissists not only see themselves as superior to others but believe in their superiority to the degree that they view others as relatively worthless, expendable, and justifiably exploitable.  

This type of narcissism is a defining characteristic of psychopathy/sociopathy and is rooted in an individual’s deficient capacity for empathy.  It’s almost impossible for a person with such shallow feelings and such haughtiness to really care about others or to form a conscience with any of the qualities we typically associate with a humane attitude, which is why most researchers and thinkers on the topic of psychopathy think of psychopaths as individuals without a conscience altogether."

George Simon, Malignant Narcissism, December 27, 2013


Stocks continued moving higher.

VIX continued to fall and wallow at near term lows.

The Dollar rose.

Gold rose higher in its breakout attempt.

Silver, not so much.

We will have a futures contracts option expiration next Tuesday, January 28.

There are a surprising number of malignant narcissists prominently on the scene in the West these days, both in political and corporate positions of power.

This reminds me a little of The Planet of the Apes.  The gorillas have all the horses and guns, and they ride around shooting and terrorizing the human beings.

Have a pleasant evening.