Priorities and Proportions: The Universe Is Bigger Than You Think

"Who is this that obscures my plans
with words lacking depth of knowledge?
Brace yourself bravely as an adult,
and I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

‘Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know.
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set?
Who laid its cornerstone –
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?"

Job 38


"The heavens declare the glory of God,
the sky displays what His hands have made."

Psalm 19:1


"What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You dwell with him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
But have crowned him with glory and honor."

Psalm 8


“In the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God. Thereafter, any attack, even on the least of men, is an attack on Christ, who took on the form of man, and in His own Person restored the image of God in all."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

How vast the universe, and yet the soul of the least of these will still endure, and be loved by God beyond all else of His creation, as stars wink out, and galaxies crumble into dust.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Quiet Expiration Today, Advance GDP Number for 2Q Tomorrow

"And afterwards he went there daily, and gained an increasing number of followers.  It seemed that from every tear of a martyr new confessors were born, and every groan in the arena found an echo in thousands of hearts. 

Caesar was swimming in blood; Rome and the whole pagan world were mad. But those who had had enough of transgression and madness, those who were trampled upon, those whose lives were misery and oppression, all the weighed down, all the sad, all the unfortunate, came to hear the wonderful tidings of God, who out of love for men had given Himself to be crucified and redeem their sins.

When they found a God whom they could love, they had found that which the society of the time could not give any one— happiness and love."

Quo Vadis, by Henryk Sienkiewicz


"And don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be, a sort of policeman of the whole world.  God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems that I can hear God saying to America, 'You're too arrogant!  And if you don't change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I'll place it in the hands of a nation that doesn't even know my name.  Be still and know that I'm God.'"

Martin Luther King

Stocks moved sideways today in the aftermath of the Facebook miss.

The Street is chomping at the bit, expecting a strong GDP Advance print for 2Q tomorrow morning.

Silver and gold were quiet for expiration with a small loss easily attributable to a rally in the US Dollar.

Thank you Lord, for your presence and faithful providence towards us all.

Spare us, Lord, from your chastisement.  Forgive our blindness, our foolish pride and stubborn selfishness, in failing to see your many consolations, gentle corrections, and tender mercies.

Need little, want less, love more. For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant evening.

Facebook - Ghosts of Bubbles Past

"This is how Ron Chernow correctly described what was happening for New York Times’ readers on March 15, 2001:

'Let us be clear about the magnitude of the Nasdaq collapse. The tumble has been so steep and so bloody — close to $4 trillion in market value erased in one year — that it amounts to nearly four times the carnage recorded in the October 1987 crash.'

Chernow characterized the Nasdaq stock market as a 'lunatic control tower that directed most incoming planes to a bustling, congested airport known as the New Economy while another, depressed airport, the Old Economy, stagnated with empty runways.  The market functioned as a vast, erratic mechanism for misallocating capital across America,' Chernow observed.

Let that sink in for a moment.  It wasn’t just that investment bankers on Wall Street were bringing to the public markets companies with the equivalent of a business plan written on the back of a napkin.  It was that all of the major investment banks on Wall Street, out of a motive of pure greed, were engaged in a mass conspiracy to misallocate capital across America – which strikes at the very heart of America’s economy and national interests...

Yesterday we got a little taste of what’s in store this time around courtesy of the Masters of the Universe on Wall Street, the majority of whom have 'buy' ratings on Facebook."

Pam and Russ Martens, Wall Street On Parade

The venerable 'wash and rinse,' a Wall Street favorite, especially in 'new era stocks' and highly leveraged commodity markets.

It's not just for penny stocks in deregulated, devil-take-the-hindmost markets such as these.

And proudly I did not own any Facebook, and considered myself wise, and better than the others who did.

But there was no one left to protect or care about me, when they finally came for the rest, and bailed us in.

Go back to sleep, everything will be all right.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - A New US-EU Trade Deal Founded on Gas and Beans

"The narcissistic orientation is one in which one experiences as real only that which exists within oneself, while the phenomena in the outside world have no reality in themselves, but are experienced only from the viewpoint of their being useful or dangerous to one.

The opposite pole to narcissism is objectivity; it is the faculty to see other people and things as they are, objectively, and to be able to separate this objective picture from a picture which is formed by one's desires and fears."

Erich Fromm


"Self-love for ever creeps out, like a snake, to sting anything which happens to stumble upon it."

George Gordon Lord Byron


"Narcissists gravitate towards professions where they can control people and elicit adulation. They are more likely to work in politics, finance or medicine than in shoemaking... They are aware of what they are doing to others— but they do not care.”

Sam Vaknin

People, ordinary people, cannot understand, or fully comprehend, the minds of those that flourish on Wall Street.  Enough is never enough for those whose appetites for more are not driven by ordinary needs.

And this is why people must combine to regulate the activities and markets that serve society.  People are not necessarily good or rational.   They are sometimes pathological. 

While the variety in human character is what often creates art and music, philosophy and the more enjoyable and diverting aspects of life, it can also take a dark turn towards some of the most destructive excesses, if it continues unrestrained.

Stocks took off higher in the afternoon on a news report from Dow Jones that the EU's Jean Claude Juncker had struck a trade deal with Trump by making some 'concessions.' On the announcement of a press conference, with thirty minutes to go, stocks went vertical in a major short squeeze and relief rally.

And so we await that big news.

After the bell Facebook missed on the topline, and the stock was down on that news.

Gold and silver were higher on a lower Dollar. It is not necessary for them to trade in inverse correlation with the Dollar, but they sometimes do for periods of time, and they are doing so now.

Postscript:  Trumpolini was pleased to announce that the EU is apparently agreeing to buy more soybeans and liquefied natural gas from the States.   The two entities will continue working towards eliminating tariffs on non-automotive products.  As for autos, well, we shall see.

Need little, want less, love more. For those that abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant evening.