"One of the primary characteristics of narcissists is their exaggerated sense of entitlement. It's hardly surprising then that so many politicians somehow think they 'deserve' to game the system. After all, from their self-interested perspective, isn't that what the system is for? In their heavily self-biased opinion, if they want something, by rights it should be theirs.
So, nothing if not opportunistic, they take from public and private coffers alike whatever they think they can get away with. And given their grandiose sense of self, they're inclined to believe they can get away with most anything. Exploiting their privileged position in such a manner hardly leaves them plagued with guilt. In general, guilt isn't an emotion they're prone to. How could they be if they feel entitled to the objects of their desire? In their minds their very ability to attain something must certainly mean it was merited."
Leon F. Seltzer, Narcissism: Why It's So Rampant in Politics, Psychology Today, December 21, 2011
"As in all periods of speculation, men sought not to be persuaded by the reality of things but to find excuses for escaping into the new world of fantasy."
"John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash of 1929
“Every idol, however exalted, turns out, in the long run, to be a Moloch, hungry for human sacrifice.”
Aldous Huxley, The Devils of Loudon
"Moral hazard is the probability that a party insulated from risk will behave differently from the way they would behave if fully exposed to the risk. Moral hazard arises because an individual or institution does not bear the full consequences of its actions, and therefore has a tendency to act with increasing recklessness, literally 'without reckoning.'
It also encourages the rise to power of the sociopath in the affected organizations. It is difficult to explain moral hazard to tenured professors or the pampered princes of bureaucracy, who beat the drum with their silver spoons in support of shifting the risk of loss to the public every time that Wall Street falls into one of its own schemes and blows itself up.
Unfortunately there is a small but powerful oligopoly of privilege that is trying to project themselves onto the global stage while believing that they are immune to ordinary consequence, and have become addicted to the notion that 'others must pay' for their failures. Moral hazard comes from rewarding bad behaviour in markets with wristslaps and bailouts. It is a danger to the economy and to the public."
Jesse, Moral Hazard, 22 March 2008
This was a very quiet post-holiday trading day.
The adults are on vacation, and the juniors are just following a pattern given to them.
I suspect tomorrow will be similar once we get past the first hour or two of trading, unless *something happens*.
The New Year's holiday is next week on Wednesday.
Gold is forming up what could develop into a symmetrical triangle bullish continuation pattern.
Let's see what happens.
The markets continue to be heavily weighed upon by mispriced risk.
Have a pleasant evening.
