Lacrimosa Dies Illa - The Worldly Misunderstanding and Misstatement of Risk

Lacrimosa dies illa
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus.

Huic ergo parce, Deus:
Pie Jesu Domine,
Dona eis requiem. Amen.


Full of sorrows will be that day
When from the dust and ashes rise
Those who will be judged.

Have pity on them, God,
O merciful Lord Jesus,
And grant them rest. Amen.


“Religion used to be the opium of the people.  To those suffering humiliation, pain, illness, and serfdom, religion promised the reward of an after life.

But now we are witnessing a transformation: a true opium of the people is the belief in nothingness after death, the huge solace, the huge comfort of thinking that for our betrayals, our greed, our cowardice, our murders,  that we are not going to be judged.”

Czeslaw Milosz, The Discreet Charm of Nihilism


"Those among the rich who are not, in the rigorous sense, damned, can understand poverty, because they are poor themselves, after a fashion; but they cannot understand destitution.   Capable of giving alms, perhaps, but incapable of stripping themselves bare, they will be moved, to the sound of beautiful music, at Jesus’s sufferings, but His Cross, the reality of His Cross, will horrify them.

They want it all out of gold, bathed in light, costly and of little weight; pleasant to see, hanging from a beautiful woman’s throat."

Léon Bloy

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Fat Lady Is Clearing Her Throat - Dancing Towards the Abyss

"Over the last thirty years, the United States has been taken over by an amoral financial oligarchy, and the American dream of opportunity, education, and upward mobility is now largely confined to the top few percent of the population.  Federal policy is increasingly dictated by the wealthy, by the financial sector, and by powerful (though sometimes badly mismanaged) industries such as telecommunications, health care, automobiles, and energy.

These policies are implemented and praised by these groups’ willing servants, namely the increasingly bought-and-paid-for leadership of America’s political parties, academia, and lobbying industry.

If allowed to continue, this process will turn the United States into a declining, unfair society with an impoverished, angry, uneducated population under the control of a small, ultrawealthy elite.  Such a society would be not only immoral but also eventually unstable, dangerously ripe for religious and political extremism."

Charles Ferguson, Predator Nation, 2012


"For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, but lose their life?"

Mark 8:36

Poverty wants—  but greed wants everything, and more.  They can never have enough, because their acquisition is driven not by any need, but by a sick and overpowering lust for more, and more.

This is why our financial and political system can never be effectively self-regulated, or even reformed from within.

The gold price manipulation down for this stock market option expiration (think miners' options, etc.) seems to be about over.

Citi coughed up another large tranche of gold contracts on the cheap to the unknown large customer dealing through JPM.

Technically gold is short term oversold.  And it went up today, in the face of a much stronger Dollar.

There will be Comex option expirations for gold and silver April contracts on the 25th.

Stocks managed to hold on for yet another up day.

We are building a blow off top. There is not much doubt in my mind.

Don't get in front of this, however, since as long as the Fed keeps providing hot money the wiseguys will keep dancing.

The text of the Mueller Report was released today to much flapping of gums and gnashing of keys.

Are we not exceptional? Are you not entertained?

Have a blessed holiday.

Works of Mercy

Corporal Works of Mercy

Corporal works of mercy are those that tend to the bodily needs of others. They are given by Jesus himself in the Gospel of Matthew, in the famous sermon on the Last Judgment. They are also mentioned in the Book of Isaiah. The seventh work of mercy comes from the Book of Tobit and from the mitzvah of burial, although it was not formally added to the list until the Middle Ages.

The works include:

• To feed the hungry.
• To give water to the thirsty.
• To clothe the naked.
• To shelter the homeless.
• To care for the sick.
• To visit the imprisoned, and ransom the captive.
• To bury the dead.

"A certain student of the law stood up and tested Him, saying, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?”

And the lawyer answered Him saying, “‘Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’”

And Jesus said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you shall live.”

But the lawyer, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

And Jesus answered him saying, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his belongings, assaulted him and departed, leaving him half dead..."

Luke 10:25-30


"This is how we know who are the children of God and who are the children of the Satan: anyone who does not do what is good is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their neighbor."

1 John 3:10


"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

James 2:26


"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts

"A great number of those working for liberal causes are not only shy but borderline collusive.  They want change to happen nicely, and it won't.  They want decency to come about without anybody suffering or being embarrassed, and it won't.  And most of all they want to give many of the enemies of open government the benefit of the doubt, and I don't.  It's not just a difference of approach, it's a complete schism in our respective philosophy.  You can't go about disclosure in the hope that it won't spoil anybody's dinner."

Julian Assange


"His crime has been to make sense of dark times.  WikiLeaks has an impeccable record of accuracy and authenticity which no newspaper, no TV channel, no radio station, no BBC, no New York Times, no Washington Post, no Guardian can equal.  Indeed, it shames them.  That explains why he is being punished."

John Pilger

Gold is continues to be price suppressed, with silver following a bit.

Stocks reached for new highs again today, but pulled back into the afternoon and the close.

There will be a stock market option expiration on Thursday.

The markets will be closed for Good Friday.

Have a pleasant evening.