President Carter: US Is Now 'Just an Oligarchy With Unlimited Political Bribery"

You might not have heard about this interview on the mainstream media.  It occurred several days ago.  Apparently Jimmy is not gleefully participating in the triumphant Clinton-Bush winners road tour and congenial yukfest. 

 

Some, nearing the latter part of their days, tend to feel the weight of their conscience.  But certainly not all, especially not those who believe in nothing greater than themselves.

 

Carter's startling admission is at the root, the very heart of the lack of reform and recovery. 

 

But the pundits, even the so-called liberal media and the disgruntled conservative media, will not discuss it frankly and openly.   They traffic in shallow anger and distraction, and faithfully serve the special interests.

And there is as little serious discussion in the pampered corporatist media, whose mission is to obfuscate and distract the public from the key issues with 'bread, circuses, and sensationalism.'

This is the kind of thing that everyone in power, and almost all those who bask in that power, know but never talk about openly, feigning ignorance with dismissive ridicule.  

 

They are caught in a credibility trap of their own making.  And so they while away the days with private looting, waiting to see which way and when the winds of reaction may blow, while doing everything they can to maintain the status quo which they have created for their own benefit.

It is the dark heart of corruption, the quiet coup d'état that has overthrown the American republic.

 

The people are beginning to ask, 'After six years, why is there tremendous profits for those who caused the problems in the first place, but no recovery for the rest of us?'

And the elite look with bewilderment, fear, and anger at the fruits of their treachery and deceit.  

They think to themselves, 'We know that we are superior people, tasked with the burdens of leadership, so they must simply be ungrateful,  jealous of our success.'

 

A small but highly visible minority may look to the worst of the oligarchs as their leader and savior.  One might call it a kind of Stockholm Syndrome, but really it is just a perverse reaction, the impulse of the camp follower that identifies with their abusers, thinking that this elevates them from the rest.

 

And the media wisely warns them, slurring any candidates out of the mainstream control, the narcissist and the socialist, urging the people to stick with the familiar oligarchic brand names, Bush and Clinton, and in extremis that slickly formed alloy and extruded creation of the money masters, brand Obama.

Hubris begets nemesis.  If they were not so self-absorbed and morally stunted by their pride and selective experience they would understand that people will not stand by and allow themselves to be abused forever.

Transcript:

HARTMANN: Our Supreme Court has now said, “unlimited money in politics.” It seems like a violation of principles of democracy. … Your thoughts on that?

CARTER: It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and congress members.

So now we’ve just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors, who want and expect and sometimes get favors for themselves after the election’s over. … The incumbents, Democrats and Republicans, look upon this unlimited money as a great benefit to themselves.

Hat tip for the above to Sam Sacks and especially to Jon Schwarz at The Intercept.

 

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Non-Farm Payrolls Next Week - 116:1 and No Fear

"Greed is the inventor of injustice as well as the current enforcer."

Julian Casablancas

I will be interested to see how traders square up tomorrow ahead of the weekend.

Here is 'the lay of the land' as we head into the month of August next week.

The first chart shows just how silly the trading at The Bucket Shop has become.

The next shows the results of the attempts to knock down the open interest at Comex.  It has succeeded a bit, but these lower prices taken to shake out the bulls are not enticing many to put their actual bullion up for delivery. 

Deliverable stocks are at a low and therefore the 'leverage' of paper potential claims to available bullion is still rather high at 116:1.

Sentiment has gotten silly low with the momentum boys piling on, and activating their opinion bots to enhance their trade.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Triumph of the Swill

"Pride goes before a destruction, and arrogance before a fall."

Prov 16:18

This was a fairly lackluster day in US equities.

Sentiment is now back to somewhat complacent as the VIX has fallen back to a 12 handle.

I picked up a little VIX today.  I may buy more if we see some additional fluff to the upside.

This is probably not going to last, and is marking a top of sorts.  Whether this is a major top or just a passing intermediate term thing I cannot tell.

The forces of crony capitalism are ready to stick a fork in the rest of the world, and start carving off chunks for themselves.

When a people begin to consider themselves exceptional, above all others, you know that the downfall is just around the corned.  It may be considered the 'German disease' by some, but we are all susceptible to it.

Have a pleasant evening.