"The present war crisis is something we have made entirely for and by ourselves. There is in reality not the slightest logical reason for war, and yet the whole world is plunging headlong into frightful destruction, and doing so with the purpose of avoiding war and preserving peace! This is a true war-madness, an illness of the mind and the spirit that is spreading with a furious and subtle contagion all over the world."
Thomas Merton, The Root of War, The Catholic Worker, October 1961
"In all these instances the large multinational bankers were actively supporting both sides. It is a shocking fact that both British and American banks continued to do business with the Nazis even after the War was well underway, even as Germany was invading Europe and bombing London."
BBC, Banking with Hitler, 1998
“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."
Major General Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket
"An expensive arms race, under cover of the military metaphysic, and in a paranoid atmosphere of fright, is an economically attractive business. To many utopian capitalists, it has become the Business Way of Life."
C. Wright Mills, The Causes of World War III, 1960
"Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac. All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting. War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it."
George Orwell, Facing Unpleasant Facts, 1999
We had the stock option expiration today, and is customary, the reversal of some recent trends.
Gold and silver were the big story. The recent bout of price suppression, as seen in the heavy selling of the metals on the New York open, negating the overnight gains in Asia, was relaxed. And the metals rocketed higher.
The Dollar fell, again reversing its recent trend.
VIX fell back down to a more the recent levels of its almost continuous mispricing of risks.
And if you think that 'the market is always right' you have not been paying attention of the history of our century. The omniscient and efficient market is a perennial and well-worn canard.
As usual, signs and portents signalling rate cuts by the Fed have been driving the trade, which is largely 'technical' and inwardly focused.
Next week the Fed will be having its annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. They generally have their meetings in nice places, well-removed from the economic carnage which their willful errors have been inflicting on the broader economy
I strongly suspect that before too long we are going to see a major development in the ongoing wars in the Ukraine and the Mideast, which covers multiple locations.
Greed for money and power. It is the first child of pride, and all the plagues and illnesses that it brings.
In fifty years or so, historians may be more capable of objective analyzing the madness that has set the world on fire, once again. It is uncannily familiar to the madness of the last century.
The faces may changes, and some times with remarkable irony, but the means and motives remain the same.
Try to distance yourself from the current deluge if false narratives and propaganda, to remain focused on what really matters.
Need little, want less, love more. For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.
Have a pleasant weekend.
