SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Whoops, There Goes the Greek Agreement, and the VIX

It appears that the rally celebrating the capitulation of Greece and the settling of the debt crisis was about as premature as The Recovery™.

Perhaps we will have to start calling it The Eurozone™, since it is as equally mythical and at the same time diabolically odious, merely an instrument of theft and oppression under false pretenses of growth and prosperity.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

 

 

Remember These Words For the Time to Come

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits.  Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles."

Nor will love be seen coming from the hearts of those who are fallen into wickedness:  they are the fruit of hate, deceit, greed, fear, pride, possession, and aggression.  And they will not only forsake love by washing their hands of it,  they will eventually come to condemn it, unless they relent from their folly, and thereby condemn themselves.
 

For all the people of God, love is the touchstone of our faith, the way to know if what we believe is with Him, or with something else; if we are walking with Him, or with something else; if the one who speaks is speaking for Him, or for something else; if we are keeping Him in our hearts, or something else; if we love Him, or ourselves, or something else.

Love does not speak with hate or fear or derision, but with a fullness of existence.  And that love is ridiculed and trampled, and can only be counterfeited but never achieved, by that which is opposed to His creation.

When you are in doubt or confusion about what is true and what is false, look for the light of love.  This is the hallmark of the spirit.   And if it is not there, if it is wrapped in the hardness of pride disguised even as an elaborate ritual observance and pharisaical pride, then you will know what it truly is.  It is a sin against the spirit. 

Love is not easy; it is not a natural state. It seems weak and foolish, and even despicable to the fallen and the world. 

It is a disposition of the mind and the heart, and an act of acceptance of grace not by but through the will. It is a shield against temptation. It is a habit of acting and looking at things, that can become easier and more comfortable as we carry that yoke or restraint on our weaker nature and our harsher emotions. Over time that yoke becomes lighter, and a light to steady us in life's darker moments.

 

But it is rarely easy or natural, which makes it the stuff of the brave, of the spiritually and emotionally hardy, of God's knights.  The way of the world, of anger and oppression, is the easy path not of the truly human, but of darker things.

 

So we must remember we are sinners, but reaching out to the eternal, and thereby attempting great things, if but clumsily and with a number falls like the apostle himself.

This is how the people of God may guide themselves and their own actions along the way. If there is no love evident in the words and the heart, then the words and the actions are not of God, but of something else.

Love is not what we do, but how we do what we do. Love is found in the most ordinary things, not in grand gestures and elaborate mannerisms, but in the small daily acts of kindness and fellowship, done lovingly and with care, for His sake.   It is how we carry our cross, not in front of a cheering crowd, but in the quiet moments, and the little things, while walking with Him.

We do not need to hate and reject the world, and despise and subdue His creation. They are a gift from God, to which we bring our own good use and order in His name.  And if we are wise, with our reverent wonder. We can work with His gifts lovingly, and not abuse them from excess and greed.

 

It is not the world that is a source of evil, but the willfulness of our hearts, made hard with pride. Only love is creative and productive.  Only love is accepting and uplifting, able to bring all things forward to His plan and make them new.  Love consecrates, while sin desecrates and destroys in its lust for possession and the will to power.

Obviously this law of love is applicable to all people, but is addressed particularly here to those who hearts have been already touched, in a time of spiritual wickedness, and dark powers in high places. 

 

God is the essence of all existence, which is His love.  The pity for those who would otherwise be faithful, then, is not to love.

"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the fullness comes, the partial will come to an end.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love."

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Some Lengthier Thoughts on Greece and Repression

"But in substance, Mr Tsipras’ plan relies far more heavily on raising taxes — and not cutting spending — than bailout monitors had suggested.   In a country that has a spotty record in collecting taxes, that has raised concern among some of the creditors, as has the potential recessionary effect high new taxes could have on the economy."

Financial Times, Deal or No Deal

 

I thought it was interesting that, in the judgment of the financial class, harsh cuts to pensioners and the social systems and regressive VAT taxes are good, but raising corporate taxes and income taxes on the wealthy are bad.   Austerity must be meted out, but only on the 'right people.'    This does seem to be the measure used by the Troika, and the international financial class that owns them these days.  It is even fashionable in Kansas and Wisconsin these days from what I hear.

The Greeks may very well be bad at collecting taxes as they say.  They are probably not draconian enough, invasive enough, and insufficiently ruthless.  In the Land of the Free they will triple a disabled woman's student debt with interest and fees, and then refuse to dispense any of it in bankruptcy.  Now that's entertainment.  

But the Greeks certainly are not particularly good at cutting costs either. And the Eurocrats should surely know since they keep coming back and asking them to do it more and again.  Perhaps it is just a habitual thing, as the Western governments have found in their own experience that preying on the vulnerable and the weak is a much more sustainable task.  And you don't have to lead them as much.

 

But oh the hypocrisy!  They are rank with it. 

For these EU economic propeller heads to worry about 'potential recessionary effects' in Greece from raising taxes is laughable.  At every opportunity these self-important plutocrats have abused their powers and positions to create massive financial bubbles, which they use to reward themselves and their cronies handsomely.   And afterwards, they plunge the public into depression-like conditions with their crackpot neoliberal prescriptions, while pompously prevaricating about virtue and 'thrift.'   The financial class are serial economy wreckers. 

In pursuit of a second opinion, I contacted one of the more experienced minds amongst the Greeks, which is saying quite a bit, and he often does and very well, with lawyerly precision.   I asked him for his take on the situation there.  And so here it is with a few parenthetical notes from your maître d'hôtel.

"Greece will not honor these obligations any more than it has its prior ones during the past decade. It may privatize a few assets, and it may even pretend to cut pensions. There is practically zero chance it can achieve the primary surplus targets it has accepted because its economy is not going to be able to grow quickly enough. (and few will be, thanks to the quackonomics of the ruling class).

We will be back at this charade six months from now, more or less, and then again later.   The Greek goal is most likely to extend and pretend until the political landscape changes in Europe, as it will eventually. What is much less clear is what the ultimate resolution might come to resemble. The EU is not sustainable as it is. I have no idea what is going to cause the Very Serious People to come to that realization and what will remain after they cannot kick the can any further.  (It is not clear to me how many unstable financial systems and their supporting kleptocracies will be resolved as well.) 

As you have noted, the game is just beginning in Greece. I am not even sure I would say 'game on' yet. Some hard times are going to be visited upon the various countries of Europe. 

I strongly suspect, however, that since the technocrats in Brussels and the troika have been tone deaf in overriding the will of the people and their elected governments in the weaker periphery countries, it will come back to haunt them. The end result is likely to be the exact opposite of what they seek to ensure.

Instead of greater economic, fiscal, and political integration (with power concentrated in Brussels and Bonn), they are likely to revive stronger anti-EU nationalism in the periphery, as this will be the only means the weaker nations will have of effectively fighting the stronger nations. When enough nations in the periphery see the light, the EU will no longer be able to continue in its current form. I am curious to see how this process will play out."

Pnev̱mató̱di̱s Diki̱góros

 

Overreach and hubris in a self-proclaimed elite, leading to their miserable decline and downfall through a series of self-inflicted and unintended missteps?  Always a solid call.

 

I tend to agree with his take on this. How could I not? Except perhaps that I think the presence of the Greek Parliament will be weighing more heavily in this matter than expected. 

 

It may be just a bias really, a visceral fear I have of very pissed off Greek women.  Keep your hands over your eyes and other tender parts.  Perhaps it is a hangover from a youth wasted on classical studies, and ancient myths and dramas. 

One gets the sense that a very impressive banquet of consequences is being prepared for the neo-liberal legislators and their masters in the global predatory class. 

How and when it is served is another matter.  I have no doubt that the financiers would love to supplant Syriza, and install more pliable legislators in their place. This seems to be the popular trend in that area of the world these days. 

This nonsense we have seen in the precious metal markets this week is just more of the same sort of thing really, the sturm und drang of those who would master the world.  Our leaders.

 

There was little legitimate action in The Bucket Shop the past two days.  It is an option expiration after all. China came back from its holiday on Monday.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

 

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

The wash cycle looks almost done.

 

But it would not do to set a lower high, and they have some room left overhead.

 

The wheels are not quite falling off the economy yet.  But they seem to be on their way.

 

Let's see how many spins the old gal has left before the next rinse

 

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

 

Les Confessions d'un Assassin Financier - At Home and Abroad

At Home

"And in some ways, it creates this false illusion that there are people out there looking out for the interest of taxpayers, the checks and balances that are built into the system are operational, when in fact they're not.

And what you're going to see and what we are seeing is it'll be a breakdown of those governmental institutions. And you'll see governments that continue to have policies that feed the interests of -- and I don't want to get clichéd, but the one percent or the .1 percent -- to the detriment of everyone else."

Neil Barofsky

Do you see why there is no real reform now?   Do you understand the hard  choice that a person of honour and conscience is given?  Who will make such an unfashionable choice when they have so few models to follow and almost no moral encouragement to find in this vile era of selfishness and greed? 

Do you understand now why laws that are widely opposed by the people like the secret pre-approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership can be bullied through a Congress with an approval rating in the single digits, seemingly without a care?





And abroad

“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.”

John Adams

Do you see why suddenly a nation must be broken by fraud or by force and rebuilt, bent to the will of the powerful.  Why its people can be devastated by harsh policies that make no sense, its sovereignty replaced by a puppet regime, while its assets are privatized and sold?





And if a person follows their conscience and sacrifices greatly for the truth, do you offer any comfort and encouragement, or even a thought or a prayer for them? Are you capable of even caring? Or is it all just another opportunity to make some quick money for yourself?

Would it be any different, if instead of placing bets on the sickness and misery of women and children, you simply murdered them, and took their possessions for yourselves, and sold their clothes, even their teeth and their hair?

It is a hard world after all. And you would become truly exceptional then.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Forget Greece, Eyes On the Options

"Real consumption expenditures have yet to show signs of a significant pickup from a slowdown in winter."

NY Federal Reserve, US Economy In a Snapshot, June 2015

Today was certainly interesting.

Gold was hit fairly hard on the news that there is a 'deal with Greece.'

Stocks rallied, but then gave up quite a bit of it in the close.

And silver never really moved except for a little fakeout and then trended higher. What is up with that?

 

I think at least part of the reason is the huge open interest for gold in August.  And the expectations of a China announcement in the Autumn about their official holdings.

 

The structure of the options contracts is rather interesting as well.  There are quite a few option contracts in gold that are structured around the 1200+ level for the July 2015 calls as shown below.

 

I didn't see today as a fundamental move as much as a 'technical trade.'   The Bucket Shop will have its due.

 

Have a pleasant evening.