"First, almost all panics and crashes are preceded by sustained periods of artificial growth, not based on improvements in productivity, but by a false expansion in the money system, aided and abetted by speculators and financiers. Although they do not act in overt cooperation, yet there is an unmistakable collusion of purpose.
Second, almost all panics and crashes involves relatively small groups of people who seem to be at the heart of the matter, and are closely interlinked into small cartels of corrupted self-dealing involving the accumulation of enormous personal fortunes. One is struck by the interconnections of the primary players in the Panic of 1907 in each others companies, banks, investments, and boards of directors.
Lastly, there is always the over-extension of credit and excessive leverage. Always. This is how any Ponzi scheme grows. In every case this is what precedes and precipitates the growth of a crisis and panic - the unreasonable overvaluation and expansion of assets precipitated by a relatively small number of men, interlinked loosely through business associations and personal financial gain.
If a general atmosphere of looting is fostered by the provocations of a few like-minded individuals, their subsequent actions need no coordination, other than the insufficient response of society to stop them before they gain sufficient momentum from their desires. It is the apathy and weakness of the many that provides the stimulus and the encouragement for their plans."
Jesse, Lessons from the Panic of 1907, 14 March 2014
"His oratory moved people, and appealed to their hopes and dreams. But his speeches malevolently twisted hope into some gnarled ghastly entities, and appealed to the latent, darkest prejudices of Germans.”
Richard M. Perloff, The Dynamics of Persuasion
"But it is obvious that the theme since the 1980's at least has been the will to power, the knocking down of laws and regulations, to allow the most powerful to do what they will, to take an even greater share of the riches of the world, to the disadvantage of the many. And my hypothesis is that the global reserve currency is a key plank in this agenda."
Jesse, Gold Holdings and the Evolution of Global Trade and Wealth, 29 January 2010
“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given away in marriage, up to the very day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came, and swept them all away.
And they said to him, 'Where will this happen, Lord?' And He said to them, 'Where death is, there will be a gathering of vultures.'”
Luke 17:26-27, 37
Stocks tried to rally today, but slumped quickly, falling to fresh closing lows.
Wash and rinse.
The Dollar rallied in a flight risk from other currencies primarily, particularly Sterling, the Euro, and the Yen.
I have included a longer term Dollar chart showing how the DX index peaked at levels like this in the crash of 2001 and 1987.
VIX was flat, but remains elevated.
Now that the latest wealth transfer bubble has burst, one would expect that the very wise and important will be calling for austerity, and for the common person to pay the price for this folly.
The wiseguys are already setting their agenda for Medicare, Veteran's Benefits, and Social Security.
Same old, same old.
Stay on the high ground. It's not so different this time, and you are special only in God's eyes.
To the world you are things, fodder for their use.
To God, you are a beloved child. And woe to them that harm you.
It would have been better if they had never been born, when accounts are finally settled.
To win some, they lose all.
Have a pleasant weekend.
