“Depart from me, you accursed. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not comfort me.' They answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not care for you?' He answered, 'Truly I tell you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’” Matthew 25:40-46
This market action is a snooze. Not worth trading except for the very nimble.
Housing appears to be in a number of localized regional bubbles.
Stocks are already in bubble territory.
The economic recovery is thin and overstated to the point of fakery, with little real wage and full time job growth to sustain aggregate domestic demand. With monopolistic pricing in healthcare and other sectors continuing to soar, this is not a recipe for sustainable social interaction, much less a recovery.
Trump's fiscal initiatives remain a viable wild card, but the information to date does not appear to be hopeful, since the destroyers of the middle class are in the ascendancy. Keeping an open mind on that, but the auspices are not good.
I received some video games for Christmas, and I am itching to give Skyrim Special Edition a spin. lol
For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will..
Was this a bad year?
Dolly was sick and neglected and thrown out on the streets, and now she is happy, and healthy, and loved in a real home.
My son was working very long hours, but not enjoying his life. Now he finds joy in his new areas of study and work, and is at peace.
The queen was hard stricken, and could not walk or talk, and now she can do almost anything, and is back spreading kindness, warmth and joy.
"Do not be preoccupied with the wicked, or envy those who do evil. They will dry up and wither away like the grass and green plants.
Trust the Lord, and do good things. Live in the land, and practice being faithful. Be happy with the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Conform your ways to His, and He will sustain your efforts. Your righteousness will shine like a light, your just cause like the sun.
Surrender your self to the Lord and wait patiently, abiding in Him."
Psalm 37
We are wanderers in this world, searching for our way home. That home is where our only true happiness resides. Home is where our hearts are bound, and all that is enduring can be found.
May the peace of our Lord be with you always, and abide with you for all of your days, until he welcomes you into His father's house.
"I have hitherto been assuming that such teachers as Gains and Titius do not fully realize what they are doing and do not intend the far-reaching consequences it will actually have. There is, of course, another possibility. What I have called (presuming on their concurrence in a certain traditional system of values) the trousered ape and the urban blockhead may be precisely the kind of man they really wish to produce.
The differences between us may go all the way down. They may really hold that the ordinary human feelings about the past or animals or large waterfalls are contrary to reason and contemptible and ought to be eradicated. They may be intending to make a clean sweep of traditional values and start with a new set."
C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man
Or do not so much believe it, as they simply do not care, in sincerity, pathology, or as a matter of convenience.
And that is why there is a need for law and regulation. Not because people are no better than trousered apes, but because there are those who, while they may not necessarily think it about themselves, certainly consider you and yours to be trousered apes existing for abuse and exploitation.
Granted, if people were as rational and self-effacing as angels then there would indeed be no need for rules, and the markets would sort everything out naturally with perfect justice and efficiency. But alas, they are not, as is well known to anyone of age who is not being paid to say otherwise, and base high sounding theories on such risible nonsense.
Speaking of which, this market is sleepwalking in a very narrow range now.
And judging from the number of cars on the interstate, and especially the large number with out of state license plates, it appears that the holiday weekend has begun.
Have a Happy Hanukkah, and a very Merry Christmas.
"Man’s maker became man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast; that the Bread itself might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witness, that the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation of creation be suspended on the cross; that Strength itself might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; and that Life itself might die to live again."
Augustine of Hippo
"Only the humble believe in him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly. God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Stocks are off in quiet trade.
Unemployment, income and spending data was worse than expected this morning.
There was a story on the Bloomberg terminal this morning about silver imports in China booming in response to lower prices. I think we will see a rather strong three months for the metals in the new year.
In my forecasts, I suggested that at some point Americans would reach for a very bad choice in leaders in their anger and desperation.
I think that was a pretty good bet going into this 'lesser of two evils' election.
Now the rest of the forecast appears to be unfolding, slowly but surely. I find it almost astonishing at times.
Let us pray for those whose hearts are hardened against His grace and loving kindness by greed, fear, and pride, and the seductive illusion and crushing isolation of evil.
We pray that we all may experience the three great gifts of our Lord's suffering and triumph: repentance, forgiveness, and thankfulness. And in so doing, may we obtain abundant life, and with it the peace that surpasses all understanding.
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