Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Running on Emptiness

 

“Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.  It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.  

As long as you are proud you cannot know God.  A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” 

C.S. Lewis 

 

"It was pride that turned angels into devils." 

Augustine of Hippo 

 

"A more repulsive picture can hardly be imagined.  A mob, a moneyed class, and an aristocracy almost equally worthless, hating each other, and hated by the rest of the world; swarms of slaves beginning to brood over revenge as a solace to their sufferings; the land going out of cultivation; native industry swamped by slave-grown imports; the population decreasing; the army degenerating; wars waged as a speculation, but only against the weak; provinces subjected to organized pillage; in the metropolis childish superstition, whole sale luxury, and monstrous vice. 

The hour for reform was surely come.  Who was to be the man?" 

A.H. Beesley, The Gracchi Marius and Sulla, 1921

 

"Many will become addicted to hateful and malicious thoughts and hateful words.  Slaves to their desires, they will be ferocious, angry despisers of what is good and right.  With brutal treachery, they will act without restraint, bigoted and blinded by clouds of conceit.   They will demand and find their delight in the pleasures of this world, and ignore their need to serve God.  They may act religious, but they want to serve themselves."

2 Timothy 3:1-5

 

“Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves.  But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, something is out of tune. ” 

Carl Gustav Jung

Stocks had the wobbles again today, but managed to end up with only minor losses.

The Dollar rallied higher to the mid 95 level.

Gold and silver gave up a little ground.

The VIX also gave up a bit of ground.

The big infrastructure bill was signed into law today in Washington DC.

The 'shortage of turkeys' for Thanksgiving seems to be another false rumor here.

At every store I checked there were many available, and my local grocery is going to be giving us a free one again this year. 

At Costco they had plenty fresh turkeys on offer for $.99 per pound.

Don't believe everything that you hear.   

The flim-flammers and their spokesmodels are out there trying to sway public fears for their own profits and purposes.   

Even when it comes to issues of health and public safety.

Yes there are some supply chain disruptions.   But in almost every case I have checked it is because of a very poor management planning with a strong emphasis on short term profits, with la brazen disregard for the consequences of 'just-in-time' fragility and single sourcing and offshoring critical components.

Logistics are the rocks on which many a high-flying business leader has foundered.

These are all too often accidents of fragility in planning, managerial short-sightedness incompetence, waiting to happen.   

It was a pet gripe of mine when I was managing some significant aspects of a global business.  The guys who paid attention to these kind of practical details and processes were always looked down upon by the pampered princes as nay-sayers and wet blankets -- until the shit hit the fan.

Details, details.

And who could have seen it coming, right?

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Dancing on the Rim of a Volcano

 

"They have treated the suffering of my people carelessly, saying, ‘all is well’ when it isn't safe.  They act shamefully, and commit terrible sins.   But they do not blush, do not even know what it is to be ashamed.  They will be found among the fallen, brought low at the time of judgement."

Jeremiah 6:14-15 

 

"They invent and devise all means and crafts, first how to keep safely without fear of losing that which they have unjustly gathered together, and next how to hire and abuse the work and labor of the people for as little money and effort as possible." 

Thomas More, Utopia 

 

"There are so many ways of escaping from that which one fears, and not the least of these is hatred.” 

Philip Kerr, Berlin Noir

 

"But Jesus turned and said, 'Daughters, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children   People will beg the mountains, ‘fall on us,’ and plead with the hills, ‘bury us.'   For if they do these things when the word is fresh, what will they do when their hearts are cold and ripe for judgement."

 Luke 23: 28,30-31

 

“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.” 

George Orwell

 

"The whole town and all its inhabitants are quite drowned in carnival din, masks and confetti.  And on top of that the news of the Reichstag fire.  Dancing on a volcano." 

Alban Berg, Letter from Berlin, September 1, 1933 

 

Stocks went on a tear higher after Europe went home for the weekend, and went on on the highs.

The Dollar was a little lower, but still hanging in to 95.

Gold and silver tucked in even a little more into overhead resistance.

And no one could see itcoming.

Have a pleasant weekend.

 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Curiouser and Curiouser - As Old as Babylon

 

“War is a racket.  It always has been.  It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious.  It is the only one international in scope.  It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. 

I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps.  I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General.  And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. 

In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.   A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people.  Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about.  It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. 

 Out of war a few people make huge fortunes. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights." 

Major General Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket
 

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.  This world in arms is not spending money alone.  It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.  This is not a way of life at all in any true sense.  Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” 

Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

"The wealth of another region excites their greed; and if it is weak, their lust for power as well. Nothing from the rising to the setting of the sun is enough for them.  Among all others only they are compelled to attack the poor as well as the rich.  Plunder, rape, and slaughter they falsely call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace." 

Tacitus 

Gold and silver were both higher today, and both are now tucked up under some key overhead resistance.

Interestingly enough, the Dollar was also higher today, taking a firm grip on the 95 handle.

Both the SP500 and the tech heavy NDX rallied, but then gave up most or all of their gains into the close.

The VIX was lower.

Smells like teen spirit.

Have a pleasant evening.

Farewell Homage to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell - Jay, We Hardly Knew Ye

 

It looks likely that Jerome 'Well you can call me Jay' Powell is going to be moving on from his post as Fed Chairman.

No tears need be shed, as he will likely find warm welcomes, open arms, and lucrative speaking opportunities at the Wall Street Banks and hedge funds from whence he came.

But what else could we expect, for creatures of the moneyed interests and their Banks.

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

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

 These fellows are comedic gold, and for that he will be missed at Le Café.