It's A Wonderful Life: Bedford Falls or Pottersville?

"These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the desires of sinful nature, they entice people who think they avoid error.

They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves, for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him."

Where Are We Heading — Bedford Falls or Pottersville?
By Robert Reich
December 22, 2012

It’s easy to feel discouraged about the bullying by right-wing Republicans and their patrons over everything from gun control to taxes and social safety nets to trade unions and jobs.

Every year about now I watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” again to remind myself what Frank Capra understood about America — its essential decency and common sense.

In many ways the nation is better than it was in 1946 when the movie first appeared. Women have gained economic power and reproductive rights; we enacted Civil Rights and Voting Rights and, through Medicare and Medicaid, dramatically reduced poverty among the elderly; we began to tackle environmental devastation; we stopped treating gays as criminals and have even started to recognize equal marriage rights. We elected and then re-elected the first black president of the United States. We have enacted the bare beginnings of universal healthcare.

But we are still in danger of the “Pottersville” Capra saw as the consequence of what happens when Americans fail to join together and forget the meaning of the public good.

If Lionel Barrymore’s “Mr. Potter” were alive today he’d call himself a “job creator” and condemn George Bailey as a socialist. He’d be financing a fleet of lobbyists to get lower taxes on multi-millionaires like himself, overturn environmental laws, trample on workers’ rights, and shred social safety nets. He’d fight any form of gun control. He’d want the citizens of Pottersville to be economically insecure – living paycheck to paycheck and worried about losing their jobs – so they’d be dependent on his good graces.

The Mr. Potters are still alive and well in America, threatening our democracy with their money and our common morality with their greed.

Call me naive or sentimental but I still believe the George Baileys will continue to win this contest. They know we’re all in it together, and that if we succumb to the bullying selfishness of the Potters we lose America and relinquish the future.

Joyeux Noël

'Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be for all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.'

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace towards men of good will.'

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Christmas Eve

With the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve now committed to printing money without limitation, it is understandable that some attempt is being made to cap gold and silver.

However, I do believe that this capping is secular, as it was last year in December. The 'big shorts' do not wish to mark their accumulated losses to market at a high price, preferring to hide their losses while they trade around them and take positions for the next leg up in higher beta wagers like miners.

Here is a brief comment from Ted Butler:

"The one good thing about this week’s price smash in silver (and gold) is that it should have removed any doubt that it had nothing to do with anything except COMEX price manipulation. By anything I mean the smash had nothing to do with physical market fundamentals or the trading of metals in any other market; this was a COMEX production pure and simple.

It was actually refreshing that it was so clearly a COMEX generated smash, as it made any attempt at alternative explanation look silly. If one doesn’t see that paper COMEX trading was the cause of this week’s sharp price declines, it can only be because of a refusal to see the clear facts.

The fact is that paper positioning on the COMEX silver futures derivatives market is overwhelming the price influence emanating from the host world market for physical silver, or in other words, the tail is wagging the dog. Real supply and demand go out the window and artificial and manipulative pricing have replaced it. The commercial paper traders, led by JPMorgan, are involved in a private big money speculative trading war with other speculative traders called technical funds and that war, because it is so much larger at times, is dictating the price of silver to everyone else in the real world – miners, users and physical investors.

That’s why so many are scratching their heads trying to explain the price swoon this week – it made no sense from a real world perspective. While I was quite upset with the circumstances of this week’s smash, I certainly was not scratching my head as to how it occurred. Hopefully, that goes for you as well. I’ll have much more to say after the usual review.

As I have been reporting, the signals from the real world of physical silver have been unusually bullish in that they all point towards tightness. The signals from the paper market have been bearish, mainly in the form of JPMorgan’s large concentrated short position. This remains the one negative in silver against a wide array of positives.

It came down to which was going to dominate the other in the short term, as in the long term the physical world will win out. It still comes down to paper versus physical to my mind. Clearly, the crooks at JPMorgan and the CME had their way with the price this week, with the wimps and incompetents at the CFTC looking on. It is entirely possible that the crooks may succeed in inducing more technical fund selling with lower prices from here. But there are also increasingly strong signals from the physical silver market that the crooks won’t prevail for much longer."

Three Experts on the Gold/Silver Price Drop

Merry Christmas!

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

The US markets were weak in light holiday trade.

The 'fiscal cliff' is unlikely to be resolved until January.

The markets may weaken a little more, but I think we have seen enough for today.

Merry Christmas!