"You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things that your father, even in Germany, could not have imagined. Suddenly it all comes to be, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or more accurately what you haven’t done. For that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing. You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair." Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free
"An investigation into the rigging of Libor, the benchmark interest rate that tracks the cost of borrowing cash, has been unexpectedly closed. The decision comes despite evidence that implicates the Bank of England. It means no one will now be prosecuted in the UK..."
"Preserving its historical role, gold continues to be one of the safest assets in the world, which enhances stability and confidence even under normal market circumstances...
The importance of gold in national and economic policy strategy has increased recently, with both holding precious metal within the country and increasing its stock being part of a dominant international trend...
In recent years, an increasing number of countries have decided to again designate a dominant role to this precious metal functioning as a traditional reserve asset and to increase their gold reserves."
“A mighty bubble of wealth is blown before our eyes, as empty, as transient, as contradictory to the laws of solid material, as confuted by every circumstance of actual condition, as any other bubble which man or child ever blew before.”
Edward Chancellor, Devil Take the Hindmost
"They run all away, and cry, 'the devil take the hindmost'."
Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding
Despite all the happy talk, nothing has changed. Not one thing.
"Behold the aggrieved, reactive creature fashioned by neoliberal reason and its effects, who embraces freedom without the social contract, authority without democratic legitimacy, and vengeance without values or futurity. Far from the calculating, entrepreneurial, moral, and disciplined being imagined by Hayek and his intellectual kin, this one is angry, amoral, and impetuous, spurred by unavowed humiliation and thirst for revenge.
The intensity of this energy is tremendous on its own, and also easily exploited by plutocrats, rightwing politicians, and tabloid media moguls whipping it up and keeping it stupid. It does not need to be addressed by policy producing its concrete betterment because it seeks mainly psychic anointment of its wounds. For this same reason it cannot be easily pacified—it is fueled mainly by rancor and unavowed nihilistic despair. It cannot be appealed to by reason, facts, or sustained argument because it does not want to know, and it is unmotivated by consistency or depth in its values or by belief in truth.
Its conscience is weak while its own sense of victimization and persecution runs high. It cannot be wooed by a viable alternative future, where it sees no place for itself, no prospect for restoring its lost supremacy. The freedom it champions has gained credence as the needs, urges, and values of the private have become legitimate forms of public life and public expression.
Having nothing to lose, its nihilism does not simply negate but is festive and even apocalyptic, willing to take Britain over a cliff, deny climate change, support manifestly undemocratic powers, or put an unstable know-nothing in the most powerful position on earth, because it has nothing else. It probably cannot be reached or transformed yet also has no endgame.
But what to do with it? And might we also need to examine the ways these logics and energies organize aspects of left responses to contemporary predicaments?"
Wendy Brown, Neoliberalism's Frankenstein
"The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists. The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil."
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
"The fact that these foolish people are often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that they are not independent. In conversation with them, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with them as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of them. They are under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in their very being.
Having thus become a mindless tool, the foolish person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy the human soul.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison
“Technically it was not hard—it would not have been hard to exterminate even greater numbers. At the time there were no consequences to consider. It did not occur to me that I would be held responsible.
That [human life] just didn’t enter into it. I suppose you want to know if my thought and habits are normal. I am entirely normal. Even while I was doing the extermination work, I led a normal family life.”
Rudolf Höss, Kommandant of Auschwitz, as quoted by G. Gilbert, Nuremberg Diary
The Market as a Violently Indifferent God
“Each day we are becoming a creature of splendid glory, or one of unthinkable horror.”
C. S. Lewis
"As everything in what used to be called creation becomes a commodity, human beings begin to look at one another, and at themselves, in a funny way, and they see price tags. There was a time when people spoke, at least occasionally, of 'inherent worth'— if not of things, then at least of persons.
It is sometimes said that since everything is for sale under the rule of The Market, nothing is sacred. The Market is not omnipotent— yet. But the process is under way and it is gaining momentum."
Harvey Cox, The Market as God
"And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"
W. B. Yeats, The Second Coming
Stocks managed to close with a decent gain today, with the SP 500 taking out the 3000 level.
This is just a 'round number' and is of little importance on the charts.
The Dollar and silver were mostly unchanged. Gold was off a bit on 'technical selling.'
The financiers seem very eager to get this market moving higher. Is this yet another phase in the latest smash and grab?
The discussion on Bloomberg this morning about Brexit was a caricature of the underlying reality.
Not one thing has changed. The mispricing of risks and the deliberate misshaping of the narrative continues.
Whom is it that this system serves? A man of the markets, reshaped in the image of an uncaring and violently indifferent god.
How sad it is, that no one pays attention to the wisdom of history, until the day that they look down and see the blood of their victims on their hands. And they hear the words of judgment that pierce the facade of their delusions with its truthfulness.
And then they at long last finally realize what they have become. And that they have given themselves over to the darkness, and are lost.
These violent delights have violent ends. And in their triumph, die.
Obviously while they are some similarities, it will take a high volume break to the downside to make a predictive analysis of the equity markets of today match up with the key metrics from two major price breaks fromt he past valid.
And that is a big 'IF' although certainly not impossible.
Wall Street Journal, 20 October 2019, Financial Markets Face Fresh Wave of Political Uncertainty: ‘There’s Literally Nowhere to Hide’
Market 'crashes' are low probability events.
Many times are the setups. But it takes the right kind of 'trigger event' to set the ball rolling.z
It is nice to know what the signs of an incoming storm are, and where the nearest safe haven may be, offering a sound harbor and, even better, a warm and cozy bar with good food and drink on dry land.
"I thought of this upside down debt pyramid when I was at Citibank in the early ‘60s. I first gave talks on it inside the bank, trying to influence the bank because I saw too much borrowing short term and lending long term. It was just awful! I kept on warning the bank, but was just brushed aside.
When Nixon closed the gold window I said, 'This is my chance to get out,' so I took it. [laughing] It was a great move on my part because I could buy gold and gold mining shares when gold was F$50 an ounce or less. Now Citibank is on the problem list because it has so many bad assets."
The first image is purported to be the original which he used in the 1960's. On an overhead projector perhaps, remember those?
It seems to have obtained circulation in newsletter writers, investment types, especially those with an interest in gold.
It became much more widely circulated after Nixon closed the gold window on August 15, 1971.
It gained some controversy in the debate between inflation and deflation. The pundits thought it sound in describing an inflationary scenario.
But they balked at Exter's notion that during a deflation that the economy would work its way back down the pyramid as well. They thought that this would require a return to barter and a systemic collapse.
I think it is moot because of the improbability of a deflationary collapse as compared to an inflationary one while a system is coherent, especially in a system of fiat money.
Granted if we are in a post apocalyptic world, then all bets are off. In which case I would like to have lead, in the form of bullets, and medical supplies and water filters as much as gold. I don't plan on it as a primary outcome though. lol
"Do not be so harsh towards others, so that God will not be equally hard on you. By the standards with which you judge, so too will you be judged. And with the measures which you apply to others, so too will they be applied to you. Why do you look so hard for the failings of others, and completely ignore your own, much greater faults?"
Matthew 7:1-3
"If I speak in the tongues of all men and of angels, but do not have love, I am just a noisy gong or a clanking cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all the mysteries and know all things, and if I have faith, even enough to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I suffer so that I may boast about it, but do not have love, I have gained nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful, or arrogant and hard. It does not insist on having its own way; it is not easily angered or resentful; it does not rejoice in the misfortunes of others, but rejoices always in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never ends."
1 Corinthians 13:1-8
A key event this weekend, among many geopolitical events I should add, will be the vote on the latest Brexit plan in the British parliament.
Stocks were wobbly again today. The Dow Industrials led the charge lower, fueled by Boeing and Johnson & Johnson.
The results that Netflix announced finally sunk in, and today it gave up all the games of the week.
Smells like teen spirit, all around.
Mike Mulvaney said some things yesterday, repeatedly and in public, that pretty much put the fork in the Trump Administration's narrative about a malign and cynical abuse of US foreign policy. The jackals themselves, led by Romney and McConnell, are beginning to circle the kill. I don't know how the die hard supporters are spinning this, but it's all over but the lying, and stonewalling, and the histrionics. And the lucrative G7 meeting given by a no-bid contract to Trump's troubled Doral golf resort.
And on the other hand, someone should tell Hillary to go forward with quiet dignity. Her continued rantings about being thwarted by Russian agents everywhere is getting to be too much, too sad to watch. The proud and verbally acute can never seem to accept responsibility and blame themselves for their own failings. And so they invent enemies and conspiracies.
How are the mighty fallen.
I think the markets are going to break, one way or the other, out of this consolidation pattern. It is not clear to me which direction that may be.
The patterns are ambiguous enough that I would rather lay back and let the markets inform us, rather than trying to predict which way it will go by imposing some system on it. Perhaps some others can do this. I cannot.
Although I am still fairly persuaded that we are going to get a major break in the market, near to or exceeding 20%, between now and next July. There are a number of reasons for this, but most of them revolve around the theme of appearance vs. reality.
The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustainable recovery. And we are certainly not there yet, by a long shot.
The US is a thinly disguised oligarchy, and lying and cheating are not only rewarded, they have become fashionable as long as one does not get caught.
So what then are we to do?
As it says at the bottom of the page on this blog: "Let us surrender our past to His abundant forgiveness, and trust our future to His loving kindness and tender mercy. Let us allow ourselves to be fashioned according to His will, not for His sake, but for our own. Remember to feed the least of His creatures, the birds and the animals. And be mindful of the hearts of those you meet, encouraging them with a kindness and a smile."
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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