Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - American Gods - Stock Option Expiration Next Friday

This is the kind of fasting that I want;
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
    lighten the burdens of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
    and remove the chains that bind people.
Share your food with the hungry,
    and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
    and do not turn your backs to your family and friends.

Isaiah 58:6-7


"We confess to being fools and wish that we were more so.  What we would like to do is change the world–make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe and shelter themselves as God intended them to do.  And to a certain extent, by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of the workers, of the poor, of the destitute–the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor in other words, we can to a certain extent change the world; we can work for the oasis, the little cell of joy and peace in a harried world. 

We can throw our pebble in the pond and be confident that its ever widening circle will reach around the world."

Dorothy Day

The US Jobs Report came in shockingly low. So low in fact that after the initial shock, the markets were able to largely disregard it into the close.

There is a widespread feeling though that the Fed has been sidelined for the year in their program of higher interest rates. But they still seem to be determined to steadily unwind their very bloated balance sheet.

So with the pessimism about interest rate increases the US Dollar fell rather heavily from its recent overdone highs.

And commensurately gold and silver took off from their short term oversold lows.

Although there is some cheering with regard to the increase in average wages, 'average' does not quite do it, in a time of epic inequality, and the increase was slight.

And a few astutely noted that the work week declined a bit as well.  So much for full employment and strains on labor.

Hardly signs of a recovery.   But hope, and the narrative of bulloney in which it is wrapped these days, beats eternal in the worldlings.

There will be a great deal of fresh economic news next week.  I have included the calendar for next week below.

Foolishness and foolhardy stubbornness has already infected many, driving them to love the lie and stoke a smoldering resentment against the other in their hardened hearts.   I fear that few will be able to remain standing when the cold winds of consequence begin to sweep across the land.  And being a favored group in identity politics is certainly no safeguard or protection from the taint of evil.  We become what we hate.

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

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - A Spoonful of Sugar... - Non-Farm Payrolls Tomorrow

"The world needs a new generation of policymakers who don’t hobnob with billionaire speculators and who understand workers’ concerns.  Unfortunately, the change will not come smoothly."

Andy Xie


"The oligarchs are flush with victory, and feel that they are firmly in control, able to subvert and direct any popular movement to the support of their own fascist ends and unslakable will to power.

But my model says that the oligarchs will continue to press their advantages, being flushed with victory, until they provoke a strong reaction that frightens everyone, like a wake up call, and the tide then turns to genuine reform."

Simon Johnson, The Quiet Coup, August 2010


"You who make wicked judgements, who write oppressive laws to deprive the needy of justice, and to rob the poor of their rights, that widows may be your victims, and that you may make the orphans your prey— what will you do on the day of reckoning, when the consequences come from afar?  To whom will you run for protection, and where will you hide your riches?"

Isaiah 10:1-3


"In the painting, the woman clutches desperately at the knee of the statue, yearning up into its face, which stares down at her remorselessly. The statue holds out a bag of gold, but the woman ignores the money. She has moved beyond the love of money, to the love of Mammon himself. And so she has cut herself off from the love of God, embracing her own destruction."

Museum catalogue, Mammon the God of Worldliness

The reflexive and effusive outrage of those who give themselves over to every selfish impulse, having emptied their souls in service to Mammon, find their hearts to be weightless before the slightest indignation, naked to their insatiable inner child.  There is a restless void in their being by which they are driven, vainly, to fill their emptiness with things, with sensations, with other people.

But having lost themselves, having lost the ability to love, they can find no peace, no joy, and no rest.  They are broken vessels, lacking substance like that which they serve—  dead things, compelled to remain always in motion to simulate life.

Stocks broke down today, but managed to finish off the lows of the day. The extra sugar being supplied by the European Central Bank thrilled stocks for a moment, but only for a moment.

Gold and silver were flattish as the Dollar gained some ground off the dovishness of the ECB.

Tomorrow will be a Non-Farm Payrolls report.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things - Audacious Oligarchy

"This week, I am introducing legislation to end a war that should have ended long ago, the war in Afghanistan.  The United States has been fighting The War on Terror™ since October of 2001 and it has cost 6 trillion dollars."

Senator Rand Paul


“The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia, but to keep the very structure [status quo] of society intact. The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous.”

George Orwell


“A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people.  Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about.  It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many.  Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

Major General Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket


"America's infrastructure is desperately in need of investment, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.  The ASCE estimates the US needs to spend some $4.5 trillion by 2025 to fix the country's roads, bridges, dams, and other infrastructure."

Thompson and Matousek, America's Infrastructure Is Decaying

Between the continuous wars, bailing out the financial system, and subsidizing the soft corruption of the ruling class there seems to be little left over for keeping the country's infrastructure up to date and competitive.

Stocks failed to rally again today, but within an uptrending channel. I have marked it on the stock futures charts.

Gold and silver held their ground once again. The Dollar declined slightly.

Are we not exceptional? Are you not entertained?

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Slip Sliding Away Into MMT - Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday

"We are warned against sharing in her sins and in her punishment;—against being found, when the end comes, mere children of this world and of its great cities; with tastes, opinions, habits, such as are found in its cities; with a heart dependent on human society, and a reason moulded by it;—against finding ourselves at the last day, before our Judge, with all the low feelings, principles, and aims which the world encourages; with our thoughts wandering, wandering after vanities; with thoughts which rise no higher than the consideration of our own comforts, or our gains; an admiration of the splendour and the fashions of the world, an affectation of refinement, an habitual self-esteem, and an utter ignorance of the number and the heinousness of the sins which lie against us."

John Henry Newman, The City of Antichrist


"It would be no sin if statesmen learned enough of history to realize that no system which implies control of society by privilege seekers has ever ended in any other way than collapse."

William Dodd, US Ambassador to Germany, 1933


"I was in Moscow doing business when the rouble was dying after the collapse of the Soviet Empire [and with the collapse of that political force, the failure of the state dictated exchange rates for their currency].  It made a lasting impression."

Jesse 2010

A value-dictated, purely fiat, currency exists through force and fraud. As the fraud grows thin and obvious, the greater and more pervasive the force must become. If imports are needed, wars of aggression will follow to extend and maintain the 'sphere of influence', a euphemism for control. When force finally falters, the currency collapses. A value-dictated, purely fiat currency is not an innovation— it is among the oldest forms of tyranny.

MMT is the Scientology of economics.

Stocks failed in their rally attempt.  Tomorrow is another day.

Gold and silver managed to find their footing.  They'll need to hang in there.

Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.

Have a pleasant evening.