Pictures From Crashes Past

"The sense of responsibility in the financial community for the community as a whole is not small. It is nearly nil. Perhaps this is inherent. In a community where the primary concern is making money, one of the necessary rules is to live and let live. To speak out against madness may be to ruin those who have succumbed to it. So the wise in Wall Street are nearly always silent. The foolish thus have the field to themselves. None rebukes them."

John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash of 1929


"The fact that these foolish people are often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that they are not independent. In conversation with them, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with them as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of them.  They are under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in their very being.

Having thus become a mindless tool, the foolish person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil.  This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy the human soul.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison

Each financial bubble and collapse has common characteristics, while having their own peculiar character.

This that we are experiencing now is the third in a series of bubbles that started at the turn of the century.

I suspect it may prove to be the most severe, as compared to the last two.

The crash of 1987 was more of a trading anomaly and glitch in the financial system, similar to the panic of 1907.

I think we are in more of a Crash of 1929 scenario.

Let's take this one as it comes.

And be wary of the power of the well phrased lie, the same lies of the moneyed interests and their enablers and apologists, so often repeated in various forms, that have brought us to where we are today.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Crash of 2020 - Stocks' Rally Attempt Fails, Goes Out On Lows

"This is going to end badly.  Big changes are coming.  What has been hidden will be revealed.  Rough seas ahead, mateys."

Jesse, 22 January 2020, I See It Coming


"Things are going to be getting very real this year, even as some continue to deny reality, to an almost astonishing degree of self-absorption and denial.  What is it going to take?"

Jesse, 27 February 2020


"Now is a good time to prepare, if you have not already done so, and to begin engaging in those simple procedures that may help us weather this."

Jesse, 28 February 2020


"There is no surprise that the one percent love the status quo.  Now they are counting votes, with an eye to a triumph in November.

Let them count the days instead, so that they may know what they have squandered in their greed and in their pride.

We have been lost for a long time.  Perhaps we can find our way again."

Jesse, 4 March 2020


“The truth is that we were so spiritually and morally bankrupt that we could not even see some of those lines: we stepped over them blindly. Other times we saw the lines alright, but we wanted to cross them...

It wasn’t God who was dead.  We were."

Ray A., Practice These Principles

And so here we are.

Stocks attempted to rally today.

But by the time that they fell back from their highs to unchanged, it was pretty clear that we were not going gently into the weekend.

Stocks went out on their lows.

We may be testing lower low next week.

Governor Cuomo's announcement that he is 'locking down' the State of NY tended to drive home the reality of the situation.

Gold and silver managed to hold a rally today.  That was refreshing.

The quad witch stock option expiration has arrived and gone, so the Banks can take a break from fleecing the public with their own money.   Just a break though.

At least four Senators were caught trading on insider information.  What made it even more reprehensible is that they took their profits while they were helping to deceive the public about the true state of affairs.

If you think it is only these four you might well be right, but I doubt it.

Because the numbers of sick and the dying is overwhelming the available resources, the Catholic church announced today a special forgiveness for those with the virus and their caregivers.

This is going to be a tough time.  For all of us.

And so we might as well be kind to one another, even the undeserving.  For who is deserving in the eyes of God?  And yet He forgives us.

No matter what comes, we can choose the way that we act.

We shall sing to our God a new song—  join in, or draw comfort and listen.

The mighty rise and are fallen, but the Word and the Spirit endure.

Need little - want less - love more.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Quad Witch Tomorrow, Comex Metals Option Expiry Next Week

Moloch, God of Wealth and Child Sacrifice

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

C. S. Lewis


"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread.  They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning


“The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the catacombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love.  And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we are ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?”

Maximilian Kolbe

Stocks managed to close nearly unchanged today, although there was still a fairly impressive range from top to bottom in the futures markets.

Gold closed lower, while silver managed a little rally.

The Dollar DX Index rally is amazing, a clear example of a flight to safety continuing. At the close it was hovering around 102.78.

Surgical masks are of limited effectiveness, mostly to prevent someone who is already affected from spreading the coronavirus by coughing or sneezing.  N95 masks, however, are effective and are worn by healthcare professionals who are working with patients.  But they are in short supply, which is shameful.  And are not necessary for most people, if they are practicing physical distancing and hand and surface washing.

Keep in touch with each other, and encourage and help one another. And for those who are so inclined, pray for each other.

The Madness serves None but Itself

The usual suspects and con men are mocking peoples' efforts to protect themselves and their families, often because they are negatively affecting the stock market.  Really?

And there are those who would sacrifice the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals, in order to maintain their own exorbitant worldly privileges.

You might use this as an opportunity to see the quality and character of people who are speaking to you, where they are standing, whether knowingly or foolishly or hysterically.   Be careful what you allow into your minds, or even worse, what you spread around to your friends and family.

People whose hearts are sickened and minds are disordered enjoy shocking and manipulating other people.  It gives them a feeling of worth, and power.  And some of these jokers thrive on sensationalism and panic, without caring what damage they may do, in order to obtain 'clicks' and thrills.

And dare we say it, there are those who traffic in fear and hatred and lies, in order to manipulate people to maintain their power over them.   This is the great lesson we have seen from the aftermath of the Crash of 1929.

There is no need to panic. We have seen worse than this, or at the least our parents and grandparents have. And we will endure.  Act sensibly and responsibly, and keep your eyes on the prize.

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

Have a pleasant evening, and stay safe.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Stocks Suffer Historic Declines - Crash of 2020 - Quad Witch on Friday

The Bankers Save the Market - October 24, 1929

"On October 24, Black Thursday, the market lost 11 percent of its value at the opening bell on very heavy trading.  Several leading Wall Street bankers met to find a solution to the panic and chaos on the trading floor. They chose Richard Whitney, vice president of the Exchange, to act on their behalf.

With the bankers' financial resources behind him, Whitney placed a bid to purchase a large block of shares in U.S. Steel at a price well above the current market. As traders watched, Whitney then placed similar bids on other 'blue chip' stocks. The tactic was similar to one that had ended the Panic of 1907, and succeeded in halting the slide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered, closing with it down only 6.38 points for the day."

Wikipedia, Wall Street Crash of 1929


"A common feature of all these earlier troubles [panics such as 1907 and 1921] was that having happened they were over.  The worst was reasonably recognizable as such.

The singular feature of the great crash of 1929 was that the worst continued to worsen. What looked one day like the end proved on the next day to have been only the beginning.

Nothing could have been more ingeniously designed to maximize the suffering, and also to insure that as few as possible escaped the common misfortune. The fortunate speculator who had funds to answer the first margin call presently got another and equally urgent one, and if he met that there would still be another. In the end all the money he had was extracted from him and lost.

The man with the smart money, who was safely out of the market when the first crash came, naturally went back in to pick up bargains. (Not only were a recorded 12,894,650 shares sold on 24 October; precisely the same number were bought.) The bargains then suffered a ruinous fall.

Even the man who waited out all of October and all of November, who saw the volume of trading return to normal and saw Wall Street become as placid as a produce market, and who then bought common stocks would see their value drop to a third or a fourth of the purchase price in the next twenty-four months.

The Coolidge bull market was a remarkable phenomenon. The ruthlessness of its liquidation was, in its own way, equally remarkable."

John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash of 1929

For those of you who are not fans of financial history, the market later crashed badly on October 29.

A few years later saw the bankers' hero Dick Whitney in prison, after it was discovered that he had been stealing from the NYSE Widows and Orphans Fund.

The story today was bailouts for corporate America.  Zimbabwe Ben went all in on 'cash for trash.'

Companies that blew billions on stock buybacks and bonuses are now lining up saying that they need cash to keep on going.

And it looks like they are going to get it, and then some.

I hope we put a few strings on those bailouts, like warrants and restrictions on their spending priorities, which generally have been putting more money into the wealthiest pockets, and the least into product value and workers' wages.

Despite the determined opposition by some GOP Congressmen, who are afraid that paid sick leave will make workers 'lazy', there might actually be something coming for the working public.

Giving money to badly managed and essentially corrupt companies without reforms, and fairly stiff conditions, this will do little for us in the long run.  But it does let some zombie companies keep shambling along unchanged.

 This is a demand shock. Meaning the solutions would well be centered on the consumer.

A recovery may be found from the bottom up.  But alas, that is not where the power and money reside these days, in this rotten system.

But why keep saying the same old things to the corrupt and willfully blind, when they have placed themselves beyond reason, and redemption.  And I'll leave it at that.

Stocks cracked down to new lows today.

The Nasdaq 100 finally broke the 30% decline level, and the SP 500 was there and then some.

This is no bear market. This is a crash. The bear market may come later on.

I would not be too quick to buy into this, to buy the bounces.  We should see at least one multi day bounce that sucks a lot of eager dip buyers back in.

And then bang, it will be down into the abyss, bounce a few more times, and then down to the floor of hell. 

Silver was beat senseless today.  I would let that one go for a little while since it is a weaker safe haven play, and a certain Bank who will not be named is just having its way with it.

Gold took some shots as well, in part because of an amazing Dollar rally, almost to the 101 level.

But this is also the lead up to the quad stock witch, and the Banks are keen to maximize their short position returns on the miners.

And certain financial bigwigs and their compadres in government and the Fed view gold as a dangerous competitor to their monetary fraud.  Especially now that the frauds have worn so thin.

Try not to listen to the usual suspects, with their goofy theories about how this coronavirus is all just a hoax, and some quirk of human nature, or the Deep State.  Try not to become a statistic.

There seems to be some perverse version of Gresham's Law going on. People readily pass around bad information and awful advice, sometimes truly outrageous nonsense. But realistic advice and sound information are not to be found except in a few neglected places. Chaos is exciting. And so chaos multiplies.

Have a pleasant evening.