When History Rhymes: Woodrow Wilson and the Spanish Flu

What Woodrow Wilson did was reprehensible, even if it was for the war effort.

But for the stock market?

"The year 1917 saw the formation of the Committee on Public Information by executive order which aimed at Wilson getting more recruits for the war. By the summer of 1918, as the disease started to tighten its grip over the country, the government was focusing on the War and encouraging people to do their bit for the War but made almost no mention on anything else.

The committee was not used to combat the pandemic and was looked over. There were also cases of people being prosecuted over public discussion of the flu.

The fact that the government was attempting to keep the 'morale' up turned out to be extremely damaging. The president had been able to sell the war to the people even though he had initially promised that America would not enter World War 1, but fell short on informing the people about a much greater threat with the potential to wipe out the world."

Ishani Ghose, The Great American Coverup


"Asked if he was concerned about the virus getting closer, Trump said: “No, I’m not concerned at all. No, I’m not. We’ve done a great job.”

Darlene Superville, Associated Press, Trump ‘not concerned’ as coronavirus cases rise in DC area, 8 March 2020


"By October 1918, the city of Washington, D.C. became a breeding ground for the highly contagious H1N1 strain of the flu. As civilian cases multiplied, local health officials initiated bans on public gatherings in order to quell the spread of infections. Across the city, public schools and universities closed their doors, and Congress and the Supreme Court adjourned.

Meanwhile, emergency hospitals opened across the District as nurses desperately tried to care for the constant influx of patients. Influenza cases continued well into the next year, disproportionately affecting healthy residents in their mid-twenties and thirties, a group normally predisposed to fight infectious disease. The infection of the strong and youthful, in addition to babies and the elderly, caused life expectancy in the U.S. to drop by twelve years in 1918."

Sarah Fling, White House History: Spanish Influenza in the President's Neighborhood


"The president struck a defiant tone as he spoke to reporters about the outbreak at his Mar a Lago resort in southern Florida, where he was hosting his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro. "We will have tremendous rallies and we're doing very well, and we've done a fantastic job with respect to that subject," Trump responded when asked if his "Keep America Great" campaign events would continue."

AFP, Trump refuses to halt rallies as coronavirus surges


"...in April of 1917, the United States entered the First World War, and President Woodrow Wilson launched a dubious campaign to shore up popular support and suppress criticism.  He established the Committee on Public Information, whose chairman, George Creel, set out to promote what he called propaganda in the true sense of the word, meaning the ‘propagation of faith.’  Wilson also signed the Sedition Act, which criminalized 'disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government' or anything else that might impede the war effort. The government put up posters around the country urging citizens to report anyone 'who spreads pessimistic stories'...

Throughout history, diseases have posed an unsparing test of political leaders and their fidelity to the facts. According to Howard Markel, a medical historian at the University of Michigan, 'From the political to the purely mercenary, secrecy has almost always contributed to the further spread of a pandemic and hindered public health management.'

Evan Osnos, How Political Spin Has Worsened Epidemics

The Dollar and Gold Diverging

"People can die from an excessive dose of the truth, you know.”

Ariel Dorfman, Death and the Maiden


“Your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.”

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness


"It's probably early days, but now might be the time to start taking precautions against a 2008 class event in the financial markets. I would suggest it might arrive anytime between now and July 2020."

Jesse, Le Cafe Americain, 24 July 2018


"My cyclical calculations and trend forecasts suggest that July 2020 may be a decisive, if not pivotal, period in our time."

Jesse, Le Cafe Americain, 26 February 2019

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - A Flight to Safety - Non-Farm Payrolls Fails To Stop Gold Haven Buying

Stocks were plummeting on the overnight.  Same old same old.

They plunged much further during the day, with the SP futures down over 100 points.  But as is now often the case they managed to take back a chunk of their losses into the close.

Gold rocketed during the early trade to 1690, in an obvious a flight to safety.

And then the Non-Farm Payrolls Party Crowd just wantonly smashed gold down to 1242, by pretty much dumping contracts into the market to 'run the stops.'

And then, having achieved their objective or more likely run out of energy, the market for gold went back up again to retest the 1690 level.   Wheee!!

If the US markets were not so serious to pension funds, corporations, and investors this would almost be funny, in the manner of the Three Stooges of trading, full of obvious nonsense and shenanigans..


I think that those who still say that there is no manipulation in these markets must have issues of one sort or another.

If the precious metals are not manipulated then they would seem to be the only market that is not, given all the scandals and serial felonies, albeit addressed by wristslaps, over that past fifteen years.

This is not a good way to support a major global industry and serve legitimate companies and customers.   But it does pay off very well for the well connected white collar criminal types, and their enablers.

Next week is next week, but most likely more of the same. I suspect we will keep seeing extreme volatility ahead, as the US financial system continues to come to terms with its own obvious mortality.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - And What Rough Beast, Its Hour Come Round At Last...

"Thou shalt not sacrifice any of your children to the fires of Moloch, and thereby profane the name of your Lord, who is God."

Leviticus 18:21


"The perpetrators were scholars, doctors, nurses, justice officials, the police and the health and workers’ administration.

The victims were poor, desperate, rebellious or in need of help. They came from psychiatric clinics and childrens hospitals, from old age homes and welfare institutions, from military hospitals and internment camps.

The number of victims is huge, the number of offenders who were sentenced, small."

Aktion T4 Commemorative Tablet, Tiergartenstraße 4, Berlin

Up 1000 points one day, down 1000 points the next.

This may be the kind of violent action that precedes a serious break in the market, similar to what was seen in early 1929.  It made people dizzy.  Until they became crazy.

The crash is on my mind because Season 3 of Babylon Berlin just ended with scenes from the Berlin stock exchange in October 1929.  It was fairly graphic.

Today we were down on coronavirus fears. Some think that they are just a hoax, a plot to make leaders like Trump and Boris Johnson look bad.

Gold and silver were up sharply. The Dollar continued its slide.

Tomorrow there will be a non-farm payrolls report. It will be 'backward-looking' in the sense that it wil likely not caprure any of th eeconomic imact of the coronavirus quarantines.

On the NY Comex warehouses report it shows the amount of 'pledged' gold is now over 500,000 ounces.

The NY Fed is creating a place on the web for resources to study economic inequality.

This is like the British East India company initiating a study on the negative effects of mercantile colonialism.

The New York Fed is pleased to announce the launch of a hub on Economic Inequality and Equitable Growth. Through this initiative, the New York Fed conducts research to better understand what contributes to economic inequality in its many forms.  With a better understanding of the problem, we look to convene key stakeholders like you to discuss best practices and new strategies to support equitable growth in the region and the nation.  This new web page will house current New York Fed research and analysis, resources from the Federal Reserve System, content from trusted external organizations, and highlight events and forums that promote solutions to make communities more prosperous.

We hope you find the resources on this page beneficial.

People will do what they will do, and believe what they wish to believe.  Generally that which is convenient for them, and flatters them.

Men go mad in herds it is well said, but come back to their senses one at a time.

But until then, they flock to their favorite liars desperately, like addicts in need of a fix of confirming and flattering lies, as a way of avoiding reality.

Have a pleasant evening.