Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Lethal Chambers of Hardened Hearts

 

"The essential characteristic of a good and healthy ruling elite, however, is that it views itself not as a function of the monarchy or the commonwealth, but as its very meaning and highest justification, and that it therefore accepts with a good conscience the sacrifice of untold human beings who, for its sake, must be reduced and lowered to incomplete human beings, to slaves, to instruments."

Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 1886

‘The only fundamental and possible socialism is the socialisation of the selective breeding of man. A part of eugenic politics would finally land us in an extensive use of the lethal chamber. A great many people would have to be put out of existence simply because it wastes other people’s time to look after them.”

George Bernard Shaw, Lecture to the Eugenics Education Society, The Daily Express, March 4, 1910

"The moment we face it frankly we are driven to the conclusion that the community has a right to put a price on the right to live in it.  If people are fit to live, let them live under decent human conditions.  If they are not fit to live, kill them in a decent human way.  Is it any wonder that some of us are driven to prescribe the lethal chamber as the solution for the hard cases which are at present made the excuse for dragging all the other cases down to their level, and the only solution that will create a sense of full social responsibility in modern populations?"

George Bernard Shaw, Prefaces, 1934

"As everything in what used to be called creation becomes a commodity, human beings begin to look at one another, and at themselves, in a funny way, and they see price tags. There was a time when people spoke, at least occasionally, of 'inherent worth'— if not of things, then at least of persons. It is sometimes said that since everything is for sale under the rule of The Market, nothing is sacred. The Market is not omnipotent— yet. But the process is under way and it is gaining momentum."

Harvey Cox, The Market as God

"Fascism is capitalism plus murder."

Upton Sinclair

"Through our relationship with the Incarnation, we recover our true humanity, and at the same time are delivered from that perverse individualism which is the consequence of sin, and recover our solidarity with all mankind."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

As you may recall, George Bernard Shaw was a member of the Fabian Society, a far left organization, and an avid supporter of eugenics, which was quite popular in the US and UK in the early part of the 20th century.  He, like so many other of the elites, was an early admirer of Hitler and Mussolini.  He modified his views of course with age, but never apologized.  Truly, there is probably no more perilous habit than the sanctifying of success.

It is the theory of the political continuum that at the extremes of the left and the right, their perspective on the individual and the human soul become remarkably similar, and the outcomes and policies tend to be indistinguishable except in their wording and rationalizations.  They tend to denigrate democracy and the common public, and have a penchant for fascism.

Stocks were in rally mode this morning, for a number of reasons some of which were exogenous.  

The stronger than expected retail sales number was taken in stride, once you looked 'under the hood' and saw what constituted it.

And so things were clicking along happily.

But alas, an exchange of words and a threat of further escalation in the military situation in the Mideast turned the risk lever back to off.

Stocks melted, giving up all their gains and going out near the lows. 

Gold and silver rallied sharply.

VIX rose sharply.

I suspect that this new found respect will wear off if nothing occurs on the geopolitical front.

Wall Street can shift from fear to greed and back again with phenomenal speed.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Son of Man, They Cling to Idols In Their Hearts

 

"Our hatred is a deadly poison.  In hatred, we are like bees who must pay with their lives for the use of their stingers."

Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen, Diary of a Man in Despair, 1947

"As though you could use violent, unjust means and achieve peace and justice.   Means determine ends; and must be like the ends proposed.   Means intrinsically different from the ends proposed achieve ends like themselves, not like those they were meant to achieve."

Aldous Huxley, Eyeless in Gaza, 1936

"No doubt it is more comfortable to deliberately wear blinkers that prevent one from seeing the evil done in the discharge of their responsibility— to be unwilling to see that one is defending murder and robbery."

Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, Executed in Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, 23 January 1945

“Better to be a beggar in freedom than to be forced into compromises against my conscience.  

All of the Christian West stands and falls with the words of Genesis. 'And God created man in His image.’”

Dietrich von Hildebrand

"Reading von Hildebrand reminds us that there is only one sure remedy against an ideology of hate, and that is to expose it to public criticism and to affirm what it denies.  The ardent faith that inspired von Hildebrand is not easily recovered in our skeptical times.  But through his love of truth and his brave opposition to a public culture of deception, he bore witness to values that we still share. "

Roger Scruton, foreward to von Hildebrand's My Battle Against Hitler, 2014 

“Son of man, they have set up idols in their hearts. They cling to the errors that will make them fall into sin."

Ezekiel 14:3

"How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings.  But you would not let me.  As you have willed it, so your house is now yours to command— but is made desolate.’”

Matthew 23:37-38 

 

As they suddenly woke up to the reality of the economy and tax cuts, so the markets suddenly realized that the Mideast and Eastern Europe may be staggering along towards a wider, bloodier war.

Stocks dropped hard, and bounced very little into the close.

Gold and silver continued the spike from overnight, ran up to new highs, and were brutally sold down to finish in the red.

Nothing like the Dr. Evil strategy to provide a solid wash and rinse, especially into the weekend after Europe goes home to dinner.

VIX spiked, but backed off some, although it finished much higher than usual.

The Dollar rallied again, as it did yesterday, pushing up towards the 106 handle.

Yay us.

Netanyahu keeps poking Iran in the nose, as does the Ukraine with Russia.

Uncle Thug's minions are being quite the naughty boys. 

Let's see where this goes, hopefully not to hell in a handbasket.

Those who serve and worship the power of the world don't have to worry about falling into the abyss— the abyss is coming for them. 

And the longer this continues, the worse the resolution will become, and the more painful the final reckoning will be. 

They will be weighed, and found wanting.  And may God have mercy on their souls.

Have a pleasant weekend.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Children of God, Children of Darkness - Like Tears in the Rain

 

"The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts.   For evil to appear disguised as light, charity, historical necessity, or social justice is quite bewildering to anyone brought up on our traditional ethical concepts, while for the Christian who bases his life on the Bible, it merely confirms the fundamental wickedness of evil."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ten Years After, 1943

“Once they’re in power, narcissists consolidate their position by firing everyone who challenges them.  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."

Lee Simmons, Stanford Business School

"A confident, aggressive delivery style - often larded with jargon, clichés, and flowery phrases - makes up for the lack of substance and sincerity in their interactions with others.  They are masters of impression management; their insight into the psyche of others combined with a superficial - but convincing - verbal fluency allows them to change their personas skillfully as it suits the situation and their game plan.

They are known for their ability to don many masks, change 'who they are' depending upon the person with whom they are interacting, and make themselves appear likable to their intended victim. The most debilitating characteristic of even the most well-behaved psychopath is the inability to form a workable team."

Paul Babiak and Robert Hare, Snakes in Suits

"I told you once that I was searching for the nature of evil.   I think I've come close to defining it: a lack of empathy. It's the one characteristic that connects all the defendants.  A genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow man.   Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy."

G. M. Gilbert, Nuremberg Diary

“The greatest evil is not done now in sordid dens of crime. It is not even done in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered in clear, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices by quiet men, with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks, who do not need to raise their voice.”

C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

"He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being.   Having thus become a mindless tool, the foolish person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison

"This is how we know who are the children of God and who are the children of Satan: anyone who does not do what is good is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their neighbor."

1 John 3:10

The PPI came in less than forecast.

And that was enough to trigger a powerful counter-rally in stocks.

Otherwise known as a wash and rinse.

Gold and silver rallied strongly.  

Gold bar sales are surging at Costco.  

Spokesmodels and economists are baffled.

The Dollar chopped sideways.

Geopolitical risks continue on in a rolling boil.

They will continue to be ignored - until they can't.

It's a simple concept.  

Stop provoking wars, stop murdering and oppressing the innocent.

Sooner or later, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.

"The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned...
Mountains and hills, come, come, and fall on me,
And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!”

Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus

What are we doing?  Who are we becoming? 

How will our children remember us?

And for what?

A bunch of power hungry human husks with empty souls and hardened hearts?

'All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.'

Have a pleasant evening.