“No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. 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?”
This place is like somebody's memory of a town, and the memory is fading.
It's like there was never anything here but jungle.
Rust Cohle, True Detective
"It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought."
John Kenneth Galbraith
"You are the very cause of your ignorance, yourselves. You put away the light, yourselves; you first pluck out both your own eyes, yourselves; and after that other men’s too, so that the blind may lead the blind, until you both fall into the pit.”
Thomas More
"Foolishness has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves. In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves; they did not believe in plagues."
Albert Camus
Stocks slumped today, with the selling gaining some momentum in the afternoon.
It was clearly a 'risk off' consideration.
The VIX got some legs higher.
Gold and silver were pushed lower once again, and the miners could not provide any leadership.
The dollar moved sideways.
there will be a Non-Farm Payrolls report on Friday.
After a deep overnight spike lower in the precious metals futures, designed to run the stops and skin the spec long out, gold and silver managed to snap back in the NY trading hours.
Early this morning I was telling some guys to look for the big cap miners and the silver fliers to lead the way higher ahead of the bullion futures if we were going to get a reversal, or at least a relief rally.
And that is what happened.
I did short the broader stock index, but only to provide a little hedge for the stock exposure in new miner longs taken on yesterday afternoon.
But that worked too, in its own right, as a little air from yesterday's moon launch leaked out.
While March may be a potentially risky month for stocks, overall the climate for equities is still bubble friendly.
There will be a Non-Farm Payrolls Report on Friday.
I think the wiseguys were covering their bullion shorts, and even covering shorts and going long into some of the miners.
Even quality names with fairly strong 3-4% dividends were crushed in this take down of the bullion. We were seeing price levels going back quite a while to multi-year lows on the charts.
The bullion bear raid freed up a quite a bit of gold from the ETFs, which will help to relieve the pressure on physical in London and Asia.
Look for this kind of wash and rinse to repeat, as the gold pool continues to deteriorate. And surprisingly enough, silver seems to be getting in on this action.
JPM is sitting on a major silver hoard. Otherwise there are no central bank holdings of silver to speak of, to be deployed on leases to help out the bullion banks.
And while it was nice to make a gain on both ends, this was the trade for the day.
Let's see how we get past the Payrolls and finish the week, and try to determine if we have a practical bottom here after these antics, or not.
It is tough to see a coherent pattern on the daily gold chart.
On the silver weekly chart, however, the W bottom is still holding strong and survived a backtest.
If it works the price objective is in the high 30's. I have marked it on the chart.
But there are some very big 'ifs' in there.
And these are some very lightly regulated, almost verging on lawless, markets. We might have to cut Warren and Sanders some political slack if we want to see genuine financial reform. Gensler *might* be up for it, but I am not optimistic. And Biden is from the corporate wing of his party.
Trump and his crew were never going to reform anything. They didn't want to stop the soft corruption and crony capitalism— they wanted to private label it.
Genuine change and reform is going to be a long time coming, especially as long as our political system is mired in deep pools of dark money.
Let's see if the silver rocket can achieve liftoff, before we look for escape velocity. But it might be impressive.
Even though most of our yard is still covered in fairly deep snow, in the warmer areas around the house daffodils are rising, and crocuses and snowdrops are almost ready to bloom.
Change is coming, if but slowly, and then all at once.
If we should desire to make some worthy offering and useful sacrifice for Lent, let us give up our pride and our anger and fears driven by greed and selfishness.
"He has shown you all what is good.
And what else does the Lord require of you
But to do justice,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?"
Micah 6:8
"Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life. Excessive sadness seldom springs from any other source than pride.
For my part, when I find someone securely confident in themselves and without fear, I give them up for lost. "
Philip Neri
"It was pride that changed angels into devils; and it is humility that makes men angels. There never has been, and never can be, and there never shall be any sin without pride.”
Augustine of Hippo
"The most powerful weapon to stand against the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, so he does not know how to defeat it."
Vincent de Paul
"The humble live in continuous peace, while in the hearts of the proud are envy and frequent anger."
Thomas à Kempis
"Take up my yoke and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."
Matthew 11:29
Jesus, Lord, gentle and humble of heart,
From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me.
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me.
From the desire of being honored, deliver me.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me.
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me.
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me.
From the desire of being approved, deliver me.
From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me.
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me.
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me.
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me.
That others may be loved more than I, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, grant me the grace to desire it.
others may increase and I may decrease, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Lord, grant me the grace to desire it.
"I have one other issue I'd like to throw on the table. I hesitate to do it, but let me tell you some of the issues that are involved here. If we are dealing with psychology, then the thermometers one uses to measure it have an effect. I was raising the question on the side with Governor Mullins of what would happen if the Treasury sold a little gold in this market.
There's an interesting question here because if the gold price broke [lower] in that context, the thermometer would not be just a measuring tool. It would basically affect the underlying psychology.
Now, we don't have the legal right to sell gold but I'm just frankly curious about what people's views are on situations of this nature because something unusual is involved in policy here. We're not just going through the standard policy where the money supply is expanding, the economy is expanding, and the Fed tightens. This is a wholly different thing."
Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Minutes from May 18, 1993
"We looked into the abyss if the gold price rose further. A further rise would have taken down one or several trading houses, which might have taken down all the rest in their wake. Therefore at any price, at any cost, the central banks had to quell the gold price, manage it. It was very difficult to get the gold price under control but we have now succeeded. The US Fed was very active in getting the gold price down. So was the U.K."
Sir Eddie George, Governor Bank of England in conversation with Nicholas J. Morrell, of Lonmin Plc, 1999
"The information in this report is taken from sources believed to be
reliable; however, the Commodity Exchange, Inc. disclaims all liability
whatsoever with regard to its accuracy or completeness. This report is
produced for information purposes only."
Statement at the bottom of the CME Gold and Silver warehouse inventory reports
"On January 30, 2012 the Wall Street Journal did a hilariously bad job of reporting when its front page article stated that a 'person close to the investigation' said that as a result of chaotic trading in the week before MF Global's October 31 bankruptcy, customers' money 'vaporized.' Money doesn't vaporize...
The habitual filching of customers' funds -- even if the funds are later replaced -- goes way beyond sloppy bookkeeping. It goes way beyond bad judgment. Just because MF Global got away with it for a long time before it blew up in its face doesn't mean one can call it sloppy bookkeeping and have any reasonable person believe it."
Janet Tavakoli, MF Global: Crime, Comedy, and Cover-Up, February 28, 2012
"But there is a sort of 'Ok guys, you're mad, but how are you going to stop me' mentality at the top."
Robert Johnson, Audacious Oligarchy
“If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.”
Émile Zola
I just thought these statements were an interesting reminder, and a modern truth to be relearned, bluntly and plainly stated.
Promises and commitments these days are writ on the water of the fine print, and in the laws which the corporations have paid to have written.
Who can say where and when the next Madoff moment will appear.
Gold and silver rallied strongly overnight.
Alas, they were hit in the London and NY trading, finishing slightly lower.
The Dollar drifted sideways, managing to hold a toe over the 91 handle.
Stocks soared today, taking back much of their recent losses, but still falling short of their recent highs.
Let us pray for those whose hearts are hardened against His grace and loving kindness by greed, fear, and pride, and the seductive illusion and crushing isolation of evil.
We pray that we all may experience the three great gifts of our Lord's suffering and triumph: repentance, forgiveness, and thankfulness. And in so doing, may we obtain abundant life, and with it the peace that surpasses all understanding.
It is available for your use at no cost, but with attribution and a link to the original posting.
I make every attempt to respect the rights of others. If you feel that something here has infringed your work please let me know and I will correct it immediately. It is not always easy to determine the status of material posted to the Internet with regard to fair use and public domain.
