Chalmers Johnson: End of Empire, Signs of Decay

"History teaches us that the capacity of things to get worse is limitless. Roman history suggests that the short, happy life of the American republic may be coming to its end... [the US will probably] maintain a facade of constitutional government and drift along until financial bankruptcy overtakes it.

Of course, bankruptcy will not mean the literal end of the United States any more than it did for Germany in 1923, China in 1948, or Argentina in 2002-03.

It might, in fact, open the way for an unexpected restoration of the American system, or for military rule or simply for some development we cannot yet imagine. Certainly, such a bankruptcy would mean a drastic lowering of our standard of living, a loss of control over international affairs, a process of adjusting to the rise of other powers, including China and India..."

Chalmers Johnson, Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, 2007

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Risk On, and Miners Pounded

"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest:
Lives in one hour more than in years do some
Whose fat blood sleeps as it slips along their veins.
Life's but a means unto an end; that end,
Beginning, mean, and end to all things—God.
The dead have all the glory of the world.
Why will we live and not be glorious?
We never can be deathless till we die."

Philip James Bailey, Festus

Complacency reigns.

The pounding in some of the miners today was pretty impressive.

The relationship between stocks and the metals are fascinating.

I am still refining my list of mining stocks, but I am not buying here as my price targets are much lower than current prices. I could be wrong on them as I am quite pessimistic about stocks in general, and the miners are catching it from both sides, being metals related. But for now I see no reason to buy.

And I may not get those buys. But this ability to be 'picky' is one of the benefits of having a substantial long term position which one does not touch. You do not feel pressured to buy bottoms or sell tops, because your greater concentration is always on the long term prize.

You may trade around it if you will, but never, ever, give up your position entirely in a bull market.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Complacency Returns

Today was a QE bet, risk on, as the market shook off any fears of Europe.

But this is an obsessive-compulsive rally, and the trends go with the winds, which are highly variable.

 

Net Asset Value Premiums of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds

Thin with a slight edge to silver.