Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts

A second day of capping efforts started overnight in the lean hours with notable selling by someone who was either stupidly liquidating a position in a dull market, or more likely a joker playing at Dr. Evil with a 10,000 contract sale.

Be that as it may, the children have come home from school, including the young University man, and are decorating the Christmas tree. The cooking for the holiday began in earnest today as the smells of anise pizzelle cookies and a large pot of sweet and sour meatball soup doubly blessed the house with delectable smells, mingling with freshly cut pine wreaths.

The sour cream based soup is a family recipe that came from the heartland of Europe, but no one seems to remember exactly where. But it marks the start of the holiday in our home. Even the dog sensed something special, marking out a rug in the kitchen as her domain, with a sharp eye for anything that fell to the floor. This is my idea of heaven.

Joy to the world.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

A weakish day that saw a late hour pop off the bottom as it was announced that Boehner and Obama would meet at 5 PM today.

The economic commentary on financial television today was absurd to the point o0f being surrealistic.

Well that is moral hazard at work, and the credibility trap. Some of these financial types make the religious dominists look like Aristotle in their insularity and lack of objectivity.

US Dollar Index Very Long Term Chart - A Rake's Progress

Here is an end of year update on the very long term US dollar chart, la douleur du monde.

As a reminder, this is a chart based on the DX dollar index.

That index is woefully out of date with the progress of the world economy and the currency wars with their competitive devaluations and rising currencies of the developing nations.

The DX Index is far too heavily weighted to Europe and Japan, and does not include any of the BRICs.

What it has to its merit is a history of pricing points, that were more meaningful in the past.

A Rake's Progress is a series of eight paintings by William Hogarth that show the decline and fall of Tom Rakewell, the spendthrift son and heir of a rich merchant, who comes to London, wastes all his money on luxurious living, prostitution and gambling, and as a consequence is imprisoned in the Fleet Prison and ultimately Bethlem Hospital, or Bedlam.

Below is painting number six, in which young Tom begs for help from the almighty after a losing night of gambling.

One of my favorite pied-à-terres in London for short layovers many years ago was the Hogarth Hotel off Earl's Court Station on the Piccadilly Line, a serviceable route to and from Heathrow. The area was at one time called Aussie Alley because of the tendency of Australians to cluster there for some reason.

For longer term stays there was a favorite hotel in Mayfair, which was closer to the book stores and my bank, and a small residence in Hampstead Heath which was convenient to almost nothing, but pleasant in the summer. This was my favorite time of the year in London for long walks, the theatre of course, and Christmas shopping in Knightsbridge.

As Samuel Johnson observed, "You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." And I think the emphasis is well-placed on 'afford.' New York is extravagant, Paris is comfortable, Rome is expansive, but London is civilized.

This is not to be confused with The City, of course, which is a bastion of vipers and thieves. lol.

Chris Hedges At The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY

Overall this is one of Hedges' better presentations. I had not seen it in its entirety before and was pleasantly surprised.

We are going to learn quite a bit about America over the next eighteen months. This talk gives us a framework in which to place certain events.