Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - La Belle Aurore - We'll Always Have Paris

 

"You might think that parking your money in a big bank like JP Morgan Chase would insulate you from fraud.  It’s just the opposite.  The big banks are the biggest perpetrators of financial fraud – fraud that affects millions of us, either directly or indirectly, on an ongoing basis.  While they are wrist slaps when properly scaled, you can see the list of 'settlements' made between the government and the big banks here.  These 'settlements,' the aftermath of Wall Street's near production of a second Great Depression, entailed not a single criminal indictment.  The top two repositories of banksters, based on the number of settlements, are Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.

The banks engage in fraud for two reasons.  First, they profit from swindling the public.  Second, they can get away with it via a simple technique.  They buy off the regulators with promises of enormously lucrative jobs when they leave government service, and they buy off the politicians with huge direct and indirect campaign contributions."

Laurence Kotlikoff, When Banksters Buy Regulators and Prosecutors, Forbes, October 21, 2014


"It’s bad enough that two trial lawyers have written a book [cited above] comparing Dimon’s leadership of the bank to the Gambino crime family, and Bloomberg News spilling the secrets coming out of the Chicago precious metals trial, but now Dimon is likely to see new headlines linking his name to questionable payments to Tony Blair and unknown others."

Pam and Russ Martens, JPM Whistleblower Cites Payments to Tony Blair, Wall Street on Parade, August 3, 2022


“Berlin.  I used to love this old city.  But that was before it had caught sight of its own reflection and taken to wearing corsets laced so tight that it could hardly breathe.  I loved the easy, carefree philosophies, the cheap jazz, the vulgar cabarets and all of the other cultural excesses that characterized the Weimar years, and made Berlin seem like one of the most exciting cities in the world.”

Philip Kerr, Berlin Noir: March Violets


“We'll always have Paris.”

Howard Koch, screenwriter, Casablanca

 

Stocks were in risk on mode today, for whatever reason one wishes to imagine in order to rationalize its irrationality.

The Dollar was up marginally.

Gold and silver were hit lower again as is customary ahead of a non-farm payrolls report.

The amount of criminality and corruption in the US financial system should never be underestimated.

Why the American people allow themselves to be so easily distracted by divisive social controversies while being robbed blind by the kleptocracy is almost amazing.  

But there is historical precedent.  We know it, but we just cannot see it in ourselves, yet.

We are canning tomatoes tonight, and I did the blanching and peeling on eight quarts of San Marzanos.

Even with all the lack of rain, a proper drought in the past month, the garden is doing very well.

I have a huge pot of green beans that I am making 'West Virginia style.'  My wife's maternal grandmother was from there and she always called them that.    

Basically you fry bacon and saute an onion in a big pot and then steam the green beans down into them all, cooking out the liquid so that the beans are sauteed as well.   Its very good especially if you have more mature beans that are not suitable for steaming.  Try to pull off the strings before cooking.

My mind kept returning to Paris today.   The last time I was there was in 1992, when I was attending a graduate business seminar at ESSEC concerning the proposed European Union.  I think the slogan at the time was 'EU 92.'

The queen was tagging along on this trip and had a grand time, although she never went on a business trip again with me, as leaving the newly born young man with her parents was jarring for her.

Daisy gave the young man his first face licks today  He was beaming.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - For Those Who Are Wounded, and Have Lost Their Way

 

“To love at all is to be vulnerable.   Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.   If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal.   Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements.  Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.  But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change.  It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.  To love is to be vulnerable.”

C.S. Lewis

“We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way.

Blessed are they who love their brothers and sisters as much when they are sick, as when they are well and of service. 

I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, He can work through anyone.

Keep a clear eye toward life's end. And remember that when you leave this earth, you can take nothing that you have received, but only what you have given.”

Francis of Assisi, Fioretti di San Francesco

“Man has places in his heart which do not yet exist— and into them enters suffering, in order that they may have life.”

Léon Bloy

Stocks ranged back and forth in a volatile day, finishing largely where they started.

Dare I suggest that the market is antsy waiting for the Payrolls Report on Friday?

But there is always time for a wash and rinse or two, and a few Banks and hedge funds can bang stocks prices around as they will in light volumes and tight trading.

Gold and silver rallied fairly well early on but were hammered back down quite firmly into the close.

The Dollar gained back the 106 handle later in the day.

Daisy received a thorough examination at our vet today, and it was sad to see the full extent of the profound neglect and misuse she has suffered in her life before she was tossed on the streets.

We will love her, and do right by her, one day at a time.  And thereby we ourselves in turn will be healed.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Without Regard, Restraint or Remorse - Nothing Exceptional Here

 

"The wicked encourage and give themselves the license to attempt and commit all manner of transgressions, seeing that the fruit which injustice yields is soon ripe, and offers itself easily to the gatherer’s hand.   Punishment comes late, lagging long behind the pleasure of enjoyment."

Plutarch

“Happiness is love’s outcome, never its motive. Love is not concerned with a person’s accomplishments, it is a response to a person’s being.  Where someone is loved they are an end in themselves, and certainly not a means toward something else.  It is therefore of love’s essence, wherever it is found, that the loved one seem precious, beautiful, and worthy of love."

Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Art of Living

"Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud.  I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth.  I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace."

Charles Sumner

"I know nothing that I may say can influence you. You have no souls to be influenced. You are spineless, flaccid things. You pompously call yourselves Republicans and Democrats. There is no Republican Party. There is no Democratic Party. There are no Republicans nor Democrats in this House. You are lick-spittles and panderers, the creatures of the plutocracy.”

Jack London, The Iron Heel

Stocks were down hard on the early trade, but managed to wallow their way back to almost unchanged during the day.

The Dollar dropped again.

Gold and managed to hold their own, and even gain a bit.

VIX ticked slightly higher.

The markets seem to be digesting their gorging on risk in July.

Non-farm payrolls on Friday.

We adopted a new dog this weekend, a little shih tzu that had been found as a stray on the streets in Newark and was rescued by a group of wonderful, caring people.  

She had a number of serious health problems which have been largely overcome, and as she is young at three, she has a good chance at a long and happy life.

Tomorrow begins the next phase of her road to full recovery with a visit to our own vets.

We are surrounding her with patience, care, and love. 

You can tell she is frightened but wants to be accepted.  It takes time.

The young man is beaming again.

Daisy and I abide.

Have a pleasant evening.