Gold Daily And Silver Weekly Charts - Orwell's Final Warning

The endgame of deception continues.

Have a pleasant weekend.

See you Sunday evening.

Social Classes in 1984
The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism
by Emmanuel Goldstein (George Orwell)

"...if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would learn to think for themselves, become politically conscious and so depose the ruling oligarchy; therefore, in the long run, a hierarchical society is only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.

Given that large-scale, mechanised production could not be eliminated once invented, the Party arranges the destruction of surplus goods, before that makes the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.

Hence perpetual war is always so planned as to eat up any surplus that might exist after meeting the bare needs of the population. It is a deliberate policy to keep even the favoured groups somewhere near the brink of hardship, because a general state of scarcity increases the importance of small privileges and thus magnifies the distinction between one group and another...

The essence of oligarchical rule is not father-to-son inheritance, but the persistence of a certain world-view and a certain way of life... A ruling group is a ruling group so long as it can nominate its successors...

Who wields power is not important, provided that the hierarchical structure remains always the same.”

The Socio-Political Continuum
By Jesse

A credibility trap is when the regulatory, political and informational functions of a society have been compromised by corruption and fraud, so that the leadership cannot effectively reform or even honestly address the situation without impairing and implicating, at least incidentally, a broad swath of the power structure, including themselves.

The status quo tolerates the corruption and the fraud because they have profited at least indirectly from it, and would like to continue to do so. Even relatively honest reformers within the power structure become susceptible to various forms of soft blackmail and coercion.

And so a failed policy and its support system become almost self-sustaining, long after it is seen by the people to have failed, and in failing become counterproductive.  Admitting failure is not an option for those who receive their power from that system.

The continuity of the structural hierarchy must therefore be maintained at all costs, even to the point of becoming a blatant hypocrisy.





Point Zero of Systemic Collapse
By Chris Hedges

"...We stand on the cusp of one of the bleakest periods in human history when the bright lights of a civilization blink out and we will descend for decades, if not centuries, into barbarity.

The elites have successfully convinced us that we no longer have the capacity to understand the revealed truths presented before us or to fight back against the chaos caused by economic and environmental catastrophe. As long as the mass of bewildered and frightened people, fed images that permit them to perpetually hallucinate, exist in this state of barbarism, they may periodically strike out with a blind fury against increased state repression, widespread poverty and food shortages.

But they will lack the ability and self-confidence to challenge in big and small ways the structures of control. The fantasy of widespread popular revolts and mass movements breaking the hegemony of the corporate state is just that – a fantasy."

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - An Organized Hypocrisy

Markets were stunned in the overnight by weak reports by APPL and AMZN.

GDP came in much better than expected today, although I have to admit my expectations were in the less than 1 range along with quite a few economists.

I hear today that in response to Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama based largely on his foreign policy views, John McCain came out and denounced Colin Powell as 'he got us into Iraq.'

Well, if firefighters, police officers and other first responders can be defamed as parasites who do not hold 'real jobs' when it comes time to pay them, then I suppose that these same politicians can also rewrite history to take the responsibility for the war in Iraq away from Bush and Cheney. Why not, when whatever one chooses to believe is real.

It used to be that a politician had trouble changing their positions every four months, without being labeled as a 'flip-flopper' or a hypocrite. Now it seems to be a winning practice to change your positions, radically I might add, every four hours, depending on who you are speaking with and what they might wish to hear.  And the bigger and more astonishing the lie, the better they seem to like it.

I was discussing the markets a bit last night via email with the maven of finance, Yves Smith.

Today the words that I was reaching for finally came to me today when I was thinking along similar lines concerning the financial and political systems in general.

The US markets today are an organized hypocrisy.

You may recall the earlier use of this same label by Benjamin Disraeli in describing the government of the day. I think it applies rather well now.

We shall have to keep an eye on Hurricane Sandy as it works its way up the east coast of the US towards the left hand of the Anglo-American banking cartel.

Have a pleasant evening.

Net Asset Value Premiums of Certain Precious Metals Funds

Hurricane Sandy Track for the Next Five Days

We may wish to keep an eye on this one for any potential impact on trading for the early part of next week.

It will probably not maintain a broad hurricane intensity, but it looks to have some serious momentum behind it, with the tides of a full moon at its back.

I am sure most Northeasterners remember the 'Halloween' storm of last year.

There is some question on how and where Sandy will make landfall on Monday or Tuesday. It could bring several feet of snow with it to Pennsylvania, and heavy rains to the NYC metropolitan area.

It will probably not maintain hurricane status, dropping to a serious tropical storm.

More significantly, depending on the storm surge direction, NY traders may wish to bring their water wings with them to the pits. It could be much worse than Hurricane Irene in that regard.

I have added this chart below because it shows the track most clearly and makes the last leg into the shore much more visible.  The storm damage will depend on the path this takes.  It could conceivably be anywhere from Boston to Washington at this point.

It may move further out to sea but the models make this seem less likely. We will know more in another day or so. Get those generators ready.

I have to add that a week ago when I started tracking this storm when it was off the Yucatan Peninsula, the ONLY model that showed it taking its current track was the Canadian model. Every other major model showed the storm moving much further harmlessly out to sea. Score one for Canada on the weather front.

One of my son's friends from school is a serious meteorologist in training. He keeps us updated on the latest thinking in the emerging science. He does it because he loves it. Even when they were in high school he spent a great deal of time on it.

What is his incentive to do this? It is not the expectation of a solid six figure income. It is the joy of learning, the ecstasy of understanding. And he may well be rewarded for this, but that will be a benefit, not the primary objective.

In the days when people considered what they did for a living as a craft, in the manner of craftsman, this attitude towards one's vocation was not so uncommon as it might be today, when everything and everyone is considered just a transaction.

Of course not everyone and every job can rise to that level. But such regard for honest labor was considered an important ideal, and society honored those who honored it.

In our world today, everything is money, no matter how it is achieved, including theft and fraud and the exploitation of slave like labor.  Look who we choose as our role models, and our leaders.   The attitudes and mores of human society moves in cycles, and I think we are at the low ebb of this one.

Think about the implications of this, and then see why we are where we are today, in the teeth of a storm.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts

Another day of capping with some notable movement in some of the mining companies like AEM which soared nine percent today.

SP 500 and NDX Daily Charts

The selling is starting to look a bit overdone to the downside, but GDP on Friday may have some influence on the future direction.

Wall Street Back In Business, Largely Unreformed

“I have seen them, and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my wrath may burn against them, that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” Ex 32

This brief video below is notable for an appearance by Yves Smith from Naked Capitalism. 

A credibility trap exists when the regulatory, political and/or informational functions of a society have been compromised by a corrupting influence and a fraud, so that they cannot address the situation without hindering and implicating, at least incidentally, a broad swath of the power structure including themselves.

The status quo has at least tolerated the corruption and the fraud, if not profited directly from it, and most likely continues to do so.

The power brokers have become susceptible to various forms of blackmail. And so a failed policy can become almost self-sustaining long after it is seen to have failed, and even become counterproductive, because admitting failure is not an option for those in power.

The financiers will attempt to make the people an 'offer which they cannot refuse' again, as they did on the occasion of TARP, when they threatened to crash the economy.

The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustained growth and recovery.

I do not see meaningful reform happening easily, given the intractable hysteria which is gripping those wealthy few who are eager to seize and hold power.  There is a portion of the public who think that whatever they believe must be true, whether the facts support it or not.   And this is a great heresy against reason, and an abuse of faith.  There will be no rapturous escape from judgement for this apostasy and lawlessness, except perhaps into madness.

There is an almost unbelievable tolerance of brazen bullying and deception, a sneering cyncism and disregard of any truth in people who say a thing one day, and then deny it and say a totally different thing on the next, without shame.  Love grows cold even among the faithful, and lies abound. 

This is the very epitome of the will to power. The western world and its leadership are at a crossroads. And the path ahead, if taken, means hardship, sorrow, and blood.