Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Emptiness That Drives Their Madness

 

“We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”

Stephen Miller, CNN Interview, 6 January 2026

"Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater."

Alvin Smith, George Washington Carver: Man of God, 1961

"Every sin is an attempt to fly from emptiness. Hell is a nothingness which has the pretension and the illusion of being. A mere chance can strip us of our possessions — except the power to say ‘I’. That is what we have to give to God — in other words, to sacrifice. There is no other free act which is given us to accomplish — only the surrender of the ‘I’"

Simone Weil, La pesanteur et la grâce, 1947

"In dark and pathological times, when the better part of the human spirit are on the wane and love grows cold, many lust after power.  Power becomes the standard of value, the coin of the realm, in a deeply fallen world.  And in such a world the only virtue is greed.

How much is enough?  The will to power is a pathological sickness that becomes insatiable and all consuming.  It anoints its own angels of death.  Do not be among those who will be taken during the dark times when the love of many grows cold.  Stand humbly and firmly to the end.  And you will have your greatness."

Jesse, Preserving Sanctity in Times of Darkness, 6 July 2017

"His instruments are poor and despised; the world hardly knows their names. They are busied about what the world thinks petty, and no one minds them. They are apparently set on no great works; nothing is seen to come of what they do: they seem to fail. 

But there is an unseen connection in the kingdom of God. Such is the rule of our warfare. We rise by falling; we inherit the earth through meekness; we gain comfort through mourning; we earn glory by penitence and prayer. Heaven and earth shall sooner fall than this rule be reversed; it is the law of Christ's kingdom, and nothing can reverse it but sin."

John Henry Newman 

 

Stocks rallied today in response to the big, beautiful State of the Union speech by Trumpolini last night.

What a surprise.

Gold and silver were rallying a bit but in the last hour were hit hard by program selling on higher volumes.

What a surprise.

Gold and silver owe no allegiance to anyone, any counterparty, and that is why those obsessed with a lust for power hate them. 

VIX fell.  What are the risks for the masters of the universe?

The dollar slipped after a mid-day push.  

The Dollar, once the bastion of imperial overreach, is becoming the weakest link. 

Bitcoin managed to rally quite nicely, but is still within a lackluster trading range.

The Trump boys are crypto-kids.  But they are only concerned with Bitcoin to the extent that it might reflect badly on their own crypto corner.

There are some very broken people, broken and sick at heart, who lust for power to have their revenge on innocence and the love they think they have been denied.  They need to fill their emptiness with things and people, and their obsessions often take a turn to the darkness. They have no goodness in them, consumed by daemonic madness.

We are certainly seeing this now with the Epstein revelations, and government's policies towards the weak and the disadvantaged that are marked by needless brutality, and too often malevolent cruelty.  This is not 'normal.'   This is not righteousness.  

This is as old as Babylon, and evil as sin.  

If people will turn a blind eye to wars of aggression, murder on the high seas, and open genocide, what limits could their 'inner morality' possibly place to contain their lawlessness?  They give themselves over to madness, to escape the pain of being broken creatures, lashing out in a cycle of self-inflicted pain.  

Do not be among those who will be taken by the darkness, when the love of many will grow cold.  Stand humbly and firmly to the end.  And you will find your salvation, and abundant life.

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Great Crash of 1929, and Its Little Brothers

 

"Economic history, even at its most violent, has a much less exciting tempo than military or even political history.  Days are rarely important.  All of the autumn of 1929 was a terrible time, and all of that year was one of climax.  With the invaluable aid of hindsight it is possible to see that for many previous months the stage was being set for the final disaster.

The great crash was the counterpart of the insane speculation in common stocks in 1927, 1928, and especially in the summer of 1929 that preceded it. The sequence was in the classic manner of the pure speculative episode.

Prices first went up because of good earnings. Then they took leave of reality. The market was taken over by people for whom the only important fact was that prices were going up.  Their buying then put up the prices but with the certainty that when the supply of such speculators ran out, as eventually it would, the upward movement would come to an end and prices would collapse in the rush to realize and get out.

In a market like that of 1929, there are three possible reasons why people buy stocks. One is for the old-fashioned purpose of sharing in the current income of an enterprise.

A second and far larger group of people were buying stocks because they had heard that the stock market was a place where people could get rich, and they were righteously persuaded that their right to be rich was as good as the next person.

Finally, stocks were being bought by those who knew that a boom was on but who intended to get out-or even, at a high level of professionalism, to go short- before the crash came. As 1929 wore along, it was this group that became increasingly nervous.

The market was making phenomenal advances; one couldn't get out while there were still such gains to be made. But whenever there was upsetting news, the market dropped sharply on large volume. Some were getting out.

We are now hearing from the banks and the Federal Reserve that financial genius, manifested through monetary policy, will be our salvation.  High interest rates, tight money, and the resulting recession will end inflation.  We need to be as skeptical now as people learned they should have been then. 

I hope that no one will think me unkind to those who believe that monetary witchcraft will protect us from painful economic consequences.  One seeks, indeed, to save these very good men from the possibly drastic consequences of their own illusions."

John Kenneth Galbraith, Congressional Testimony: Can It Happen Again?, October 29, 1979 

"As of February 2026, after 12 quarters of selling, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is holding a record cash pile of $382 billion.  This liquidity is primarily parked in short-term U.S. Treasury bills.  Cash and equivalents now account for over 30% of Berkshire's total assets."

Ask ChatGPT,  Hey Has Buffet raised his BH cash allocation?


A low cost S&P stock index fund seems to be a decent place for investment over a LONG TERM 20+years time horizon.  It has some drawbacks, especially over shorter time horizons. 

Every investment contains some element of risk.  And when considering risk, there is power in having a diversified portfolio of investments.  How to achieve diversification suited for one's needs is a fit subject to discuss with a professional, with the understanding that not all 'professionals' are equally competent and fiduciary.

As Walter Bagehot said, 'Life is a school of probabilities.'  

Yo, sound the bell, school's in.  Can't touch this. 

Stocks managed to rally back today, as I suggested might happen.

Bessent can't have his Prince delivering the State of the Union address tonight without bragging rights on the Dow.   Even Hot Lips Leavitt couldn't put a positive spin on a market slump.  She'll most likely get some practice with this as the year moves along. 

Gold and silver also gave it up early as expected, it being a Comex futures March contract option expiration and all.  But they bounced back nicely which is something a little new.

VIX is holding a littler higher these days, skipping along on the EMA 20.

The Dollar bounced up just a little. 

So let's see what Donald says to further baffle the world tonight.  

Sorry, I won't be watching.  I have some episodes of Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to watch.  I still am leery of HBO after they carelessly shoved the final episodes of Game of Thrones out the door.    

I read the Tales of Dunk and Egg books by Martin and I liked them very much.  I stopped watching House of the Dragon because I read that book too.  

If I wanted to be bored and disappointed I would watch the State of the Union tonight.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - War Pigs

 

"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, Experientia Docet, The New Statesman, August 1937

"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

"The more power a government has the more it can act arbitrarily according to the whims and desires of the elite, and the more it will make war on others and murder its foreign and domestic subjects. It simply waits for an excuse, an event of some sort, an assassination, a massacre in a neighboring country, an attempted coup, a famine, or a natural disaster, to justify the beginning of murder en masse."

R. J. Rummel, Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900, 1994

“A clique of US industrialists is hell-bent to bring a fascist state to supplant our democratic government and is working closely with the fascist regime in Germany and Italy.  I have had plenty of opportunity in my post in Berlin to witness how close some of our American ruling families are to the Nazi regime.  Certain American industrialists had a great deal to do with bringing fascist regimes into being in both Germany and Italy.  They extended aid to help Fascism occupy the seat of power, and they are helping to keep it there.”

William E. Dodd, US Amabassador to Germany, 1933

"You made this monster, and as long as things were going well you gave him whatever he wanted. You turned Germany over to this arch-criminal, you swore allegiance to him by every incredible oath he chose to put before you. And so you made yourselves into the Mamelukes of a man who carries on his head responsibility for a hundred thousand murders and who is the cause of the sorrow and the object of the curses of the whole of the world."

Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen, Diary of a Man in Despair, 1947

"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


There will be Comex March Futures Option Expiration for the Precious Metals tomorrow. 

Gold and silver put in solid rallies today.  

Stocks slumped but took a little bounce at the close.

VIX crept up a little.

Uncle Buck chopped around and ended little changed from Friday.

Trump will be giving his 'State of the Union' speech tomorrow.

I will be shocked if Bessent and the Boys let stocks flounder into his Prince's big moment.

Most global traders are watching the events in the Middle East carefully.

I have no idea what the US mainstream media is saying because I stopped watching all of them over a year ago.  They are stenographers to power.

Attacking Iran will be one of the biggest tactical blunders since Hitler moved against Russia, unless it is a another 'show piece' attack to placate Bibi.

Retail sales are signaling that the markets are being handed off to mom and pop, which is generally a sign of a bubble in its late stages.  

So we'll be more watchful for a market break from now into March.

As you may recall 

Bessent managed to avert a reckoning last year.  But the economy continues to unravel under his Administration.

They don't care.  They are lining their own pockets in the manner of true oligarchs, and the public be damned. 

The Republican failure to do their jobs as the Congressional majority is appalling, an historic disgrace.

Not sure the corporate Democrats would be all that better at the core of it.  They talk prettier, but at the end of the day are as much as in the pockets of the plutocrats as the rest.

Power attracts the corruptible.  Meaningful reform will be required for any sustainable recovery. 

We had about 16" of snow overnight, but we never lost power, and the winds were not destructive.  The main power of the storm was more concentrated along the coast, and we are about 45 miles inland.  

I'm knackered.  We cleared the driveway and my son and I helped a couple of neighbors who need it.  

By the grace of God we are safe and happy and warm.  What more could we ask for? 

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Weep For Yourselves and Your Children

 

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who murder the prophets, and stone those whom God sends to you. As you have willed it, so your house is now yours — but is made desolate.”

Luke 13:34-35

Shout loudly, without holding back.
Lift up your voice like a trumpet.
Proclaim to my people their wicked deeds,
   to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they search for me day after day
   in their desire to know my ways,
   as if they are a nation that adheres to righteousness
   and has not abandoned the law of their God.
They request that I make righteous judgments,
   and they long to be near God.
They ask, “Why should we fast
   when you do not even notice?
Why should we mortify ourselves
   when you pay no heed?”
The truth is that on your fast days
   you serve your own interests
   and oppress all your workers.
Your fasting only leads to quarrels and fights
   and lashing out with vicious blows.
Such fasting as you currently practice
   will not make your voice heard on high.
Is this the type of fast that pleases me,
   a day for a man to humble himself,
   to bow his head like a reed
   and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Is this what you call a fast,
   a day acceptable to the Lord?
This rather is the type of fast that I wish:
   to loosen the fetters of injustice,
   to undo the thongs of the yoke,
   to set free those who are oppressed
and to break every yoke,
   to share your bread with the hungry
and to offer shelter to the homeless poor,
   to clothe the naked when you behold them
   and not turn your back on your own kin.
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
   and your wound will quickly be healed;
   your righteousness will go before you,
   and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then, when you call, the Lord will answer;
   you will cry out for help,
   and he will say, “Here I am.”
If you cease to tolerate the yoke of oppression,
   the pointing of fingers and malicious words,
   if you offer your food to the hungry
   and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
   then your light will rise in the darkness,
   and your night will become like midday.

Isaiah 58:1-10

“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and your children."

Luke 23:28


Stocks rallied and went out near the highs. 

Gold and silver rallied sharply, and went out near the highs.

The Dollar fell a little away from the 98 handle.

VIX, of course, fell.    Our hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Bitcoin is holding a level, and I think winding up for a move.  Whether higher or lower it is hard to tell.

If stocks break badly, Bitcoin is to be eviscerated.  

Perhaps cooler heads will prevail at the last.

It is hard to see the truth through the blizzard of lies.

Speaking of blizzards, it appears there is a nor'easter coming up the coast that may hit the northeastern US with high winds and drifting snow.   

The neo-cons, and chickenhawks, zionist Christians and people maddened with their moldering delusions of glory, are beating the drums of war, seeking for a judgement from God.

If judgement comes, you proud and greedy and lawless, weep for yourselves and your children.

Have a pleasant weekend.