"You are the very cause of your ignorance, yourselves. You put away the light, yourselves; you first pluck out both your own eyes, yourselves; and after that other men’s too, so that the blind may lead the blind, until you both fall into the pit.”
Thomas More, The Sadness of Christ (Gethsemane), Tower of London, 1535
"Now the serpent was more subtle and cunning than any beast which the Lord had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed commanded, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
And the woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat the fruits of any other of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it, nor shall you touch it, lest it may cause you to lose your life.’”
Then the serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die if you take it and eat it. For God himself knows that on the day that you grasp it and eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you yourselves will be like gods, knowing the depths of both good and evil.”
Genesis 3:1-4
"For some time now, our whole European culture has been moving with a tortured tension that is growing from decade to decade, as toward a catastrophe: restlessly, violently, headlong, like a river that wants to reach the end, that no longer thinks, that is afraid to think.”
"Where men build on false grounds, the more they build, the greater is the ruin."
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
"Nothing on earth is like it, a creature without the self-awareness of fear. It sees only those that are haughty; it is the king of the children of pride."
Job 41:33-34
The markets were celebrating the prospects of a President Hillary Clinton, and a Republican House.
The biggest twist that might be possible is a close showing or win for Trump in the popular vote, but a decisive loss in the electoral college.
And it does seem likely that the new President will be a crippled ruler from the first, with weak popular support and virulent opposition in the House.
She will almost certainly be facing investigation after investigation. And if the outgoing President grants any blanket pardons I think the uproar might be substantial.
Her biggest supporters will be on Wall Street and Big Media, and they are 'Summer soldiers' at best.
I don't think I could have even imagined the blatantly slanted coverage we have seen throughout this entire election, including the candidacy of Bernie Sanders. It was a disgrace.
We might be pleasantly surprised, but it is likely to be cosmetic, as in the case of Slick Willy who from a progressive standpoint was one of the worst Democratic Presidents ever.
She might make some well advertised changes in healthcare and Big Pharma, but at the end of the day she is a servant to the financiers of Wall Street.
And let us not forget that as we have recently seen The Clinton Foundation is the heart of darkness, a festering wound on the integrity of the political process.
The words 'Pyrrhic victory' come to mind.
Winning.....
But all of that *should* be good for gold and silver, without regard to the short term and the massive collateral damage that is likely from the bonfire of these inanities.
Let's see what happens tomorrow and not get too far ahead of ourselves. I am the first to admit that my crystal ball is cloudy.
The delivery report and warehouse statistics were a snooze so I did not bother.
Markets went off like a rocket from support, thanks to a short term very oversold condition, along with a change in market sentiment that appears to anticipate President Clinton II and a Republican House.
The only surprise that I think is remotely probable is a Trump win or close showing in the popular vote, but a big loss in the electoral college.
And although others have said it, tomorrow settles nothing. The restlessness of the people should be obvious, and the onus for change will be on the President to be and the ruling elite. I am not optimistic.
As you may recall, The Sprott Trusts continue to add units outstanding in order to acquire more physical bullion under their 'At the Market' Program with Cantor Fitzgerald which was announced on May 6 of this year.
It is certainly was a smart move and a nice change from their prior arrangement with Morgan Stanley which was restrictive and prone to manipulation and arbitrage.
As we have noted many times this year, Sprott is taking affirming action in the markets to add to their bullion position opportunistically.
"The Trust has entered into a sales agreement with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. (“Cantor”) whereby the Trust may, at its sole discretion and subject to its operating and investment restrictions, offer and sell trust units through an “at-the-market” offering program (the “ATM Program”).
The Trust intends to use the proceeds from any sales to acquire physical bullion in accordance with the Trust’s objectives and subject to the Trust’s investment and operating restrictions. Under the trust agreement governing the Trust, the net proceeds from the sale of any trust units pursuant to the ATM Program must be not less than 100% of the most recently calculated net asset value per trust unit prior to, or upon, determination of pricing of any sales (the “Accretion Condition”).
Given this Accretion Condition, the Trust expects that any sales pursuant to the ATM Program will be accretive to the Trust’s unitholders on a net asset value per trust unit basis and will increase the physical bullion attributable to each trust unit. Sprott also believes that the Trust may realize other secondary benefits from any sales made pursuant to the ATM Program including enhancing the trading liquidity of the Trust and decreasing the Trust’s operating expenses on a per unit basis."
As we all can see, today is certainly a 'risk asset' day with stocks soaring and the metals giving back some of their recent gains. The financiers and their markets seem to be betting that they get what they want from the upcoming Presidential election.
"The wealth of another region excites their greed; and if it is weak, their lust for power as well. Nothing from the rising to the setting of the sun is enough for them.
Among all others only they are compelled to attack the poor as well as the rich. Robbery, rape, and slaughter they falsely call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace."
Tacitus
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man."
Samuel Johnson
In our artificial economy real things do not matter so much, but politics and managing the perceptions of the public are of paramount importance.
And so the 'Goldilocks' Jobs Report, which is how the business TV channels described that lukewarm piece of dreck, did little to rally the markets except fleetingly intraday.
In the first chart below I take a look inside that 'average hourly earnings growth' number.
The headline includes ALL employees, but if you take out the top 15-20% of managers, the average hourly earning growth showed a pronounced downward divergence to a lower growth rate.
The BLS switched to this number including all employees a few years ago from the non-supervisory number.
As a rule of thumb, when someone shows you the 'average' number, find out the median number for the same sample. Especially in these days of historically high inequality.
Be that as it may, the markets overall were in a flight to safety as the financiers bowed to their fears of the upcoming presidential election, that something might happen that will upset their status quo.
Not the status quo— theirs.
Gold therefore rallied along with the Swiss franc, while the VIX climbed and stocks continued to extend their streak of weakness along with la douleur du monde.
The result that the market wants to see next week is a decisive win by Hillary, but with a Republican dominated Congress.
I think the reason that the financiers and their ruling elite would like to see this outcome is fairly obvious.
And the rest of the world, with a shudder, turns to find safe havens from this madness.
Chris Christie's minions were thrown to the wolves over Bridgegate, being found guilty today.
But despite their testimony implicating him, the governor is continuing to claim that he knew nothing of what his closest aides were doing in a signature act of petty political revenge that resulted in massive traffic snarls in a very key bridge carrying all the traffic of Interstate 80 between NJ and NY.
Well, at least NJ voters can move on and select a replacement in the next election in 2017. But alas, Christie has a top position with the Trump transition team.
Stocks rallied a bit in the early day from the 'Goldilocks' jobs report, which is how it was characterized on the extended Wall Street infomercials known as the business channels.
That did not last, since the big overhang is still the election next week, and despite the cheerleading the jobs report was not all that good, being lukewarm at best.
Well, their hypocrisy knows no bounds. So stop whining.
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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