Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Love of Most Will Grow Cold

"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents with crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is the best guarantee of their loyalty.”

Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism


"Where is dignified modesty and a firmness of virtue of any use, now that blasphemy is in power, and justice is ignored, and there is no law but lawlessness, and few make an effort to hold back the wrath of the gods?”

Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis


“When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important. It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law state without lawyers, or to hold show trials without judges. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and concentration camp directors seek businessmen interested in cheap labor.”

Timothy D. Snyder, On Tyranny

I have included a graphic above from a piece I had originally posted a couple of crises ago on a site that has long ceased to exist.

History does repeat, or at least rhyme, if you will.  Each crisis has its own attributes and tone, but they tend to have much in common.

It is good to recall that we are in a period now that is very new to us, not having seen a pandemic like this in the US since the beginning of the 20th century.

We do not think about it now, but some day in the future you will be among of the few who actually remember what this was like, what is was to join the select group of 'insiders' who quarantined themselves in the hopes of holding back the lethal effects of an epidemic.

And you may find yourself trying to explain to your grandchildren what the political and cultural circumstances were like.  And why certain things were done the way in which they unfolded.

It is good to remember that we are just stumbling down the long halls of history like our parents and grandparents, who fumbled their own way through the darkness, trying to follow the light.

Stocks were sold off a bit hard today.  It seemed to be coming giving the unreasonable optimism of last week that our current situation was mostly done, and it was time to get back to things as they were.

Oil was hammered again.  Of course the slack demand is a huge factor, as it is with any practical commodity.  And the price war that is ongoing among OPEC+ is a major input as well.

But I cannot help but feel that some of the powerful Wall Street insiders are taking advantage of the situation, and the situational aspects of this rollover in the futures contracts, to get some quick money and while dishing out some pain, ripping off some faces, and so forth, as they are often wont to do.

Well, we'll see how this unfolds, among other things.

What has been hidden will be revealed, and what has been concealed will be made known.

A crisis shows the characters of people, and of systems that they have organized.

And brother, do we have some odd characters on the big stage in Washington.  It is almost unbelievable.  

I think it might get worse still, before it gets better.  And it is only a few more months to July.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Heartless - Harden Not Your Hearts

"Our future could be one in which continued tumult feeds the looting of the financial system, and we talk more and more about exactly how our oligarchs became bandits and how the economy just can’t seem to get into gear.   Recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform.  And if we are to prevent a true depression, we’re running out of time."

Simon Johnson, The Quiet Coup, May 2009


"Why do the nations rage
and their peoples utter folly?
The kings of the earth rise up,
and the princes conspire together
against the Lord and against his anointed."

Psalm 2


"It may be true that the law cannot change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless."

Martin Luther King

The big tickle today was the price of oil, specifically West Texas Intermediate Crude.

People were getting exercised by the deeply negative print on the May futures contract in the negative $30's range. lol

Deflation, OMG!! We're doomed!

The contract front month is rolling over from May to June, and those trying to unload and/or roll the May contracts are getting skinned alive, because no one wants to take delivery of oil. There is a glut and storage is at a premium.

The June contract is around $21, which while still low by recent history, is still reflective of the intra-OPEC+ price war and the glut of oil because of the slack demand for oil products because of the virus lockdowns.

Stocks went out on the lows of the day, despite an intraday jam into the green and a lower opening.

Gold and silver were up a bit, as VIX also climbed back a bit.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Stock Option Expiration

“A narcissist paints a picture of themselves as being the victim or innocent in all aspects. They will be offended by the truth.  But what is done in the dark will come to light.  Time has a way of showing people’s true colors.”

Karla Grimes


“Imagining that you are deep and complex, but others are simple, is one of the primary signs of malignant selfishness.”

Stefan Molyneux


"Do you not know that to whom you give yourselves as servants, his servants you become, whether of a corruption unto death, or of a righteousness unto life?"

Romans 6:16

Stocks gapped higher on enthusiasm for a return to normalcy.

Gold and silver got sold lower.

All in all it was another stock option expiration.

We have given ourselves over to willfulness.   And a price will be paid.

So we will just have to see what happens.

And hopefully learn.

But even that is no sure thing with such a corrupt and stiff-necked people.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Writing on the Wall - Stock Option Expiration Tomorrow

"If you want to find out what a man is to the bottom, give him power.  Any man can stand adversity — only a great man can stand prosperity.”

Robert Ingersoll


“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


“It is the magician’s bargain: give up our soul, get power in return.  But once our souls, that is, ourselves, have been given up, the power thus conferred will not belong to us.  We shall in fact be the slaves and puppets of that to which we have given our souls.”

C.S. Lewis

At what point does stupidity become a sin?

This is no idle question. Because the most pervasive and convincing reason I have found to not hold people, including myself, accountable for their usual bad actions is stupidity.

They are not really evil, even when they may accommodate evil things. They are mostly stupid. 

But surely, like most things in excess, stupidity becomes a sin when it is wanton in a careless manner, or even worse, purposeful.  Habitual stupidity that favors the person who gives themselves over to it.

Surely almost all people will be taken in by a con man at some point in their lives.

But there are those who become the devotees of purposeful liars. And in their wanton stupidity they can become the accomplices of terrible sins, and sometimes sensational crimes.

Be careful then, of what you feed to your minds, and what foolishness you may stubbornly embrace, because it suits your purposes.

At the time of your judgement, cleverness and connections and impertinence will be of no use.  The penetrating gaze of the Almighty will expose you naked before it.

The markets were mixed today as they like to say.

The economic news was dire. But we are becoming used to this.

Trumpolini will be announcing something distractingly fabulous tonight no doubt.

There will be a stock market option expiration on Friday.

And there is a reckoning coming, most likely by July.

Have a pleasant evening.