“We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way. Blessed are they who love their brothers and sisters as much when they are sick, as when they are well and of service. And blessed are they who love their brothers and sisters as well when they are far away, as when they are close. When you leave this earth, you can take nothing that you have received, but only what you have given.” Francis of Assisi
Traders were continuing to sit on their hands for the most part, judging by the volumes, waiting to see what unfolds from the Non-Farm Payrolls Report tomorrow.
The market has had a nice upwards bias thanks in large part to Chairperson Yellen and her dovish cooing about easy money. The problem is that most if not all of this easy money is being used to inflate financial assets bringing profits to the top ten percent.
The real economy continues to languish.
And so I think that risk is grossly underpriced, right now.
Earnings season is dead ahead, and I suspect that they will not be all that good.
“Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.”
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
"I think that what we need to do is pretty clear. If one views the current version of the Democratic establishment as a different kind of evil rather than the lesser of two evils, one has to withhold support and votes regardless of the consequences. For me, it will start by not voting for Hillary. Then perhaps it would be worthwhile to organize to challenge the corporate wing."
Jesse's Samoan Attorney
I hear this from quite a few of the professional class, who formerly might have leaned for the more liberal side of the political equation in the recent past. They have become utterly disillusioned with the personal greed and duplicity of the political establishment.
Speaking of which I enjoyed this video interview with Thomas Frank about What Has Gone Wrong with the Democratic Party.I thought it was a brilliant dissection of what has happened with that party, and the liberal establishment in general. The GOP gets plenty of attention with its own problems, which are rather significant.
I normally do not follow party politics all that closely, but one would have to be fairly oblivious not to see the shifting of the bases under the established leadership of both parties in the US. And I believe that this has some analogues in Europe as well, and especially the UK and France.
And the times, they may be a-changin'.
Gold moved lower today WITH the dollar, as the VIX measure of volatility moved to its lows for this year at least, while the SP 500 and the Dow Industrial hit their highs for this year.
Smells like the end of quarter to me.
The Non-Farm Payrolls report will be 'the big thing' on Friday.
A number of people forwarded me a link to that really embarrassingly clumsy video hit piece on gold in the Financial Times Alphaville last week Izabella Kaminska. I wonder if Alphaville is the infomercials section of FT.
It was actually so bad, such a chain of non sequiturs, it was a howler. I have refrained from commenting on it, or the 'serious' blogger who was touting it, because it was not even in the ballpark of serious analysis. I took it as a desperate attempt by those who are holding on to the shortening end of their bullion ropes, marshalling the forces of their minions and courtiers. LOL.
I have included a brief video from Jim Rickards below as an antidote.
But all things in their own time. Let's see what happens. As I have said, I suspect we will be seeing quite a short squeeze on bullion, perhaps around the middle of this year.
Today Fed Chair Janet Yellen said that 'caution should be advised in raising rates.'
And the markets went off in the 'risk on' direction as the dollar slumped, stocks soared, and gold caught a bid as the smell of easy money for the foreseeable future was in the air.
This is nuts.
I suspect that the financial class is celebrating the end of the first quarter, or at least trying to give their fund performance that luster that attracts more investors and bigger bonuses.
It is just as likely some other Fed head will come out tomorrow and say things about the improving economy and the need to guard against wage growth and the kind of inflation that does not put money directly into the pockets of the money masters and their friends.
Do you ever get the feeling that the powers-that-be are no longer treating the US as a 'going concern?'
Lest we forget, the Non-Farm Payrolls report is coming out on Friday. If it comes in hot, we might see some reversals. And if it comes in weakly, perhaps more rally. Let's see if they can steer this number through the Scylla and Charybdis of their credibility trap. And don't forget to look for the prior month revisions.
March is historically a rough month for the precious metals. Lets see how we get past this week, and if we can do something to set this handle and activate a bullish formation.
Gold continues to lead silver here, and that is all about the 'risk trade.'
Let us pray for those whose hearts are hardened against His grace and loving kindness by greed, fear, and pride, and the seductive illusion and crushing isolation of evil.
We pray that we all may experience the three great gifts of our Lord's suffering and triumph: repentance, forgiveness, and thankfulness. And in so doing, may we obtain abundant life, and with it the peace that surpasses all understanding.
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