Bill Black: Grand Bargain and Great Betrayal

Real News Network

The Distribution of Economic Pain From the Financial Crisis in One Chart

No wonder the wealthiest ten percent feel so clever, and even perhaps triumphant.

The collapse caused by the widespread banking fraud has barely affected them, whereas it wiped out most of the last ten years of growth in the middle class and the poor.

In my considered opinion this is largely the result of policy and tax decisions that have been made by the government over the past twenty or more years, in which they fostered a financially predatory economy.

Financial bubbles are often wealth transfer mechanisms, and in this case it appears that you can also keep what you kill.

From Amir Sufi, Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago.

Net Wealth Shock in US, by Net Worth Percentile

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Sprott Silver Does Follow On Offering

"This new form of existence, with its mass psychology and social dependence on the fluctuation of markets and wages, produced an individual who was unstable, insecure, and suggestible.

He was aware that his life depended on boards of directors and captains of industry, and he supposed, rightly or wrongly, that they were chiefly motivated by financial interests. He knew that, no matter how conscientiously he worked, he could still fall a victim at any moment to economic changes which were utterly beyond his control. And there was nothing else for him to rely on.

Moreover, the system of moral and political education prevailing in Germany had already done its utmost to permeate everybody with a spirit of dull obedience, with the belief that every desirable thing must come from above, from those who by divine decree sat on top of the law-abiding citizen, whose feelings of personal responsibility were overruled by a rigid sense of duty.

No wonder, therefore, that it was precisely Germany that fell a prey to mass psychology, though she is by no means the only nation threatened by this dangerous germ. The influence of mass psychology has spread far and wide."

Carl Jung, Civilization in Transition, V.10, 1946

Intraday I reported that the Sprott Physical Silver Bullion Trust has launched its anticipated follow on offering. Details are here.

The cup and handle formation continues its pace, despite the fiscal cliff jitters designed to make the people more malleable to the 'grand bargain.'

Have a pleasant weekend.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

A pause in the action, or the decline if you prefer, with a bit of a trading range.

Next week is stock option expiration I believe. Monday is Veteran's Day in the US. Markets are open.

Have a pleasant weekend.