Chris Hedges: The Rise of the Corporate Class

"Oh you who are born of the gods, easy is the descent into Hell. The door of darkness stands open day and night. But to retrace your steps, and come back out into the brightness above, that is the work, that is the labor."

Vergil, The Aeneid

I struggle with Hedges' perspective at times, because in his revulsion he places himself to the left of 'the liberal class' which is the well-educated middle and upper middle class and traditionally benevolent social power such as church organizations, universities, and the 'thought leaders' or intellectuals and even the media. But his insights are often brilliant.

To me the last thirty years of the Anglo-American empire merely testifies to the corrosiveness and calcifying nature of greed on the hearts of the gifted, and the logical outcome of irresponsible and reckless selfishness on position. This is a euphemism, of course, for what has been traditionally called a rising lust for power and the commensurate 'wages of sin.' The familiar meme is of the gifted one becoming a good guy gone bad through some excess or fatal flaw. One's strength is their weakness. Hamartia (ἁμαρτία).

We are not in hell yet, but the path ahead is easy. It's all downhill from here.

"And I saw a white horse, its rider having a bow, and there was given to him a crown, and he went forth overcoming not in righteousness, but that he may conquer."

Golem XIV: What Are We Bailing Out the Banks? Part Two

It is remarkable how gentle democractic freedom goes into that good night, and how easily the 'reform' movements fall prey to the monied interests. They seem to get better at this sort of thing with time.

Why are we bailing out the banks? Part two. Theory, Ideology and Failure.
by Golem XIV
October 9, 2012

In part One I argued that if we want to understand why our rulers have insisted we MUST bail out the banks we simply have to look at who owns the banks and the vast bulk of the wealth they house. And surprise, surprise the owners of most of the financial ‘wealth’ are…our rulers and their friends.

I ended by suggesting that true though I felt this was, there were also theoretical reasons why some people felt the banks must be protected at all costs -as long as the burden of paying that cost was placed firmly upon the backs of the little people, you understand...

Read the entire essay here.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Commercials Vs. Specs

Hats off to Dandy Don Norcini who peered into the COT structure and saw the setup for a near term 'flush' in the price of precious metals as the specs were leaning rather hard on the long side.

The pits looked like a gang fight today with the boys in black trying to mug the white knights of the metals who hung on despite fearsome odds. See the video replay below.

No way of telling if this correction is over yet. But the 'short stocks' hedge is clearly working at least for now.

For long term players this is a wiggle and not worth a second look.