Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Seneca at the Court of Nero

"Rome stuffs its ears when it hears you; the world reviles you.  I can blush for you no longer, and I have no wish to do so.  The howls of Cerberus, though resembling your music, will be less offensive to me, for I have never been the friend of Cerberus, and I need not be ashamed of his howling.  Farewell, but make no music; commit murder, but write no verses; poison people, but dance not; be an incendiary, but play not on a cithara. This is the wish and the last friendly counsel sent you by the — Arbiter Elegantiae."

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis, Last Letter from Petronius to Nero


"Seneca had made the bargain that many good men have made when agreeing to aid bad regimes.  On the one hand, their presence strengthens the regime and helps it endure. But their moral influence may also improve the regime's behavior or save the lives of its enemies.  For many, this has been a bargain worth making, even if it has cost them—as it may have cost Seneca—their immortal soul...

The Rome he has been trained to serve, the Rome of Augustus and Germanicus, was gone.   In its place stood Neropolis, ruled by a megalomaniac brat.”

James Romm,  Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero

Stocks attempted to add to the rally, but failed in the afternoon and went out on the lows.

Perhaps a little more downside is warranted, but one might think that if this is a usual retracement it will find its completion quite soon.

However, there is the possibility that the decline may continue on. And if so, we may find ourselves breaking new ground to the downside, and opening up different possibilities.  And since this depends upon what new antics the man-child in the Oval office may unleash, its probability is difficult to assess.

And that significant uncertainty is the very definition of risk.

Gold and silver continued their disappointing performance in this day after the option expiration. Let's see if they can find a footing here on support.

I spent the day taking care of some work outside, and watching some of the games from the World Cup.  My Greek attorney noted that there has been a record set for 'own goals' at this World Cup, meaning goals inadvertently assisted by a defending player on his own goal. He thought that this might be symbolic of the state of our country, the US, at this time—  that is, beating itself.

While that is an insightful and subtle observation, as those of his profession are often inclined to do, I remarked that perhaps it is even more telling about the state of our America that we are not there, and the rest of the world does not seem to mind it at all.

Need little, want less, and love more. For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant evening.

Manuel Domínguez Sánchez, The Death of Seneca

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Increase in Lawlessness

Adoring Mammon, God of the World

"People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.  Intellectual myopia, often called stupidity, is no doubt a reason.  But the privileged also feel that their privileges, however egregious they may seem to others, are a solemn, basic, God-given right.   The sensitivity of the poor to injustice is a trivial thing compared with that of the rich."

John Kenneth Galbraith


"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Ephesians 6:12

Stocks caught what might be best described as a 'dead cat bounce' today.

Gold and silver were sold lower for the option expiration on the Comex.

The supply of physical gold available for immediate delivery continued to drift lower.

The US Dollar finished higher.

The Atlanta Fed has raised its estimate of 2Q GDP to 4.7%, which suggests that the Fed will stick to its new plan to have four interest rate increases this year.   They will most likely contribute to the break in the economy by their actions and willful disregard for the cracks in its foundations.

Need little, want less, and love more. For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Without love, none will be able to withstand what may come.

Have a pleasant evening.

US Healthcare: Beyond the Ability of Cosmetics To Hide Its Ugliness

This is worth watching if you wish to obtain a better understanding of the dimension and sources of problems in US healthcare.

This may be surprising if all you have been given is the usual misdirection and scapegoating of victims that is the mainstay of the moneyed interest in defending their abusive privileges.   And unfortunately,  people fed on their steady stream of well crafted slogans presented by impressive but phony experts, and media figures, and bought and paid for politicians, will absorb and repeat these slogans without thinking all too often.

If you have recently had a major encounter with the US healthcare system you will understand this implicitly.  After seven years of fighting a major illness in the family, I have gained a great deal of insight into what is going on, from almost every aspect including financial and logistic and structural.

And for the most part Steven Brill is correct in his diagnosis.  Unfortunately he is not quite there in his prescription for change.  Change is difficult, especially for those who are deeply immersed in things as they are.

If not, and you do not get it yet, if you cannot get past all the misdirection and spin put forward by the Big Pharma and Big Healthcare and Big Insurance monopolists, then you have something in store that may shock and surprise you, when you finally encounter it close up.   It is ugly, resembling a carny game or control fraud.

I am no fan of Obamacare. Yes it did do one or two things right, but on the whole it is a bastard child of the Heritage Foundation, and a 'shifting of the deck chairs on the Titanic' that was crafted and promoted by the perpetrators of the problem itself.

At the core of the US healthcare system is the corrupting power of big money, unrestrained by law and in too few hands.  It's corrupting influence has been spreading like a virus through almost every system that we have.

And too many people have thrown up their hands, for a variety of good and not so good reasons, and said that change is impossible.

Like any broken system there are many 'angels' who work tirelessly in it, trying to do good with compassion and dedication.   We were lucky to have found quite a few, and we treasured what they did, and thanked God for them. 

But there were too many who went along to get along, and the worst, those toxic few, those ghouls, who just wallowed in it for their own advantage without regard for their patients as human beings.

It is wrong to demand that anyone make a martyr of themselves.  That is too much to require.  But many do without thinking.  People need support and protection to speak out for these kinds of big changes, since the stakes are so high, and the darkness at the top is so powerful, and vindictive.   And most profound organizational corruption flows from the top down.

Like too many corrupt organizations, what well-intentioned participants can say and do to right wrongs and expose injustice is strictly limited, bound by a career destroying rule of omerta about as unforgiving as in a proper criminal organization.

Since this video was made, Charlie Rose was exposed for what he is, and some of the abuses of power, and was fired.   He was a child of and mouthpiece for a thoroughly rotten, amoral system of money and power above all.