Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Living in Solidarity With the Truth

"You have to live in Truth to remain spiritually free. Life in Truth consists of giving testimony, acknowledging the Truth and defending it in each situation. Truth never changes. It cannot be destroyed by any decision or legal act.  Our slavery stems from our surrender to the rule of the lie, our failure to unmask a lie, and to protest against it in everyday life. Instead of correcting the lie we keep silent, or pretend to believe it is true.

This means living in falsehood. Telling the Truth with courage is a way leading directly to freedom.   A person who tells the Truth is a free man despite external slavery, imprisonment, or official custody.  If in the present political situation the majority of  the Polish people followed the one and only Truth, our nation would become spiritually free today! The external or political freedom would follow sooner or later as a consequence of the spiritual freedom and faithfulness to the Truth.

Overcoming fear is a key element in the process of setting Man free.  Fear springs from threats. We fear suffering; we fear the loss of some goods, the loss of freedom, health or a job. This fear makes us act against our conscience, and it is by means of our conscience that we take the measure of Truth.  We overcome fear the moment we agree to lose something for the sake of a higher value.  If Truth becomes a value worth suffering for, worth taking a risk, then we will overcome the fear that keeps us in slavery...

Any nation is bound to perish if deprived of bravery, if it pretends that everything is good when it is not, and if it is satisfied with half-truths. Every day we must be aware that when we are demanding truth from others we must live in truth ourselves, demanding justice we must be just, demanding bravery we must be brave."

Jerzy Popiełuszko

Silver was the stonewall again, refusing to lose its aspiration to the 20 handle. Gold wavered a bit but finished well.

 

We *might* get a gut check for those punters who flipped metals positions trying to second guess the market today.

But all in all, the clock is counting down on this act of the drama.

The SGE received approval for a gold free trade zone in Shanghai. The BRICs will be meeting in Brazil on July 15.  They are chafing at the latest excesses of empire.

The financiers will never see this next one coming, they are so used to looking down on everything and everyone.  If you are looking for clues, the kabuki at the Comex will be one of the last places to see things as they really are.

 

When one considers the way things are among the puffed up princes, along the lines of Pascal's wager, it really is hard not to laugh.  The last will be first, and the smart money are dopes, getting it all completely wrong, like an opera buffo.

It really is.  Irony doesn't even begin to cover it.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Technical Foul

Stocks were in a highly technical trade off the FOMC announcement.

There was some spin put out, probably by trading desks earlier in the week, that the Fed might increase the taper. This was a howler.

So the shorts were squeezed and risk perception has fallen to a cyclical low.

Summer is a tough time to trade, because the volumes are so dull. But I now have my eye on the short side of the equity markets, in addition to the intermediate positions in gold and silver.   As any first year Latin student will tell you without really understanding it, festina lente. 

Event risk is very high. But the hubris now carrying the financial sector is powerful. It will cause them to ignore the signs of impending danger, but that change will come on its own schedule. 

I came across a phrase the other day, that while unrelated, seems to describe the US financial television channels fairly well.   Containing little of substance; all teeth and teats.

Have a pleasant evening.

NAV Premiums of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds - And Ah! Bright Wings

"When the people of any particular country have such confidence in the fortune, probity, and prudence of a particular banker, as to believe that he is always ready to pay upon demand such of his promissory notes as are likely to be at any time presented to him; those notes come to have the same currency as gold and silver money, from the confidence that such money can at any time be had for them...

The commerce and industry of the country, however, it must be acknowledged, though they may be somewhat augmented, cannot be altogether so secure, when they are thus, as it were, suspended upon the Daedalian wings of paper money, as when they travel about upon the solid ground of gold and silver."

Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations

By the way, from what I have been able to determine, Adam Smith never said, "The problem with fiat money is that it rewards the minority that can handle money, but fools the generation that has worked and saved money."

 

It is certainly popular on the internet, and quoted widely.  But I have never found even the use of the word 'fiat money' in any of his writings that I have examined closely, much less this particular quote. And his use of the word 'minority' seems to be confined to the context of someone who has not yet 'come of age' or their majority.

If you find an actual citation from his original works I would be glad to have it.  I spend quite a bit of time trying to search out the basis for various quotes.  I am not always successful, but am continually shocked at how many quotes there are that seem to be just constructed out of thin air. 

And this does not include the even more common practice of taking quotes selectively and out of context to support notions that the author could have hardly been expected to support given the body of their work and thought in context.

 

Related:  Paul Krugman Does Some Injustice to the Thoughts of Adam Smith on Gold, Silver, and Money

By the way, some of Krugman's acolytes later admitted the error.  If only his more vehement opponents would so willingly show such grace in a misstep, of which we are all capable.  But such is the undervalued status of truth at the extremes of the political continuum.  God is truly to be found in the ordinary things, and the exceptional, but as He defines such exceptional rarities in His economy.

 

Bill Black on the Rule of Predatory Finance Over Argentina

As you know I think that this ruling by the Supreme Court, written by Antonin Scalia, which essentially puts the Argentine people and the other creditors at the mercy of the demands of a few vulture funds, may prove to be a watershed, or perhaps trigger, event in the excesses of crony capitalism and the Empire of the Dollar. 

 

The blowback from this action on foreign assets held in the US, and on US corporate assets held overseas, may be profound.  

 

The BRICs will be having their annual summit in mid-July.   And the US has certainly given them something to think about,  set at least a part of their agenda,  and given them a common cause of concerns, over the past four or five months.   I see no reason for optimism that a ruling elite, grown in-bred and self-absorbed in its hubris, will do anything different in its self-serving policies.

 

If there ever was a time for enlightened leadership to rise to the occasion it is now.  And in looking over the current crop of puffed-up princes and predators, we can see none.

 

Robert Johnson with Paul Jay: Ugly Money Politics

"The danger is that as dysfunction increases and the people subject to that dysfunction are a very, very large proportion of the population, you start to either experience social disruption or you experience what you might call authoritarian crackdown on that social disruption.

And at one level or another, it would be nice to see a political reform, what you might call a civilized tacking in a new direction, rather than a physical confrontation. But sometimes you have to have a crisis to make change. And it's not clear that the elite stewardship, whether it be corporate or individual, is sufficiently constructive right now and able to bring this, how would I say, onto a new, more healthy path without some crisis as a precipitating factor. It might be environmental, it might be social.

Often, as Bismarck used to say, when you can't solve your own problems, you go to war. I wouldn't rule that out, given the strength and the vitality of the military-industrial complex in this country. But the last two or three wars we've been involved in haven't really shown the American people much that they, how would you say, took solace from. I think warfare's changed quite a lot.

And we're at a juncture now where I think what we really need is a healthy revitalization of politics, first and foremost getting money out of politics."

The entire series is on The Real News Network.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - When Trust and Confidence Is Lost, The Die Is Cast

"After nearly 6 years of blocking the normal development of systemic transition, a blocking caused by a flood of dollars leading to a renewed artificial global addiction to the US dollar, history is now taking its course. It isn’t as if during these six years nothing has happened.

On the one hand, the US has failed to relaunch its economy and the actual situation for Americans has only got worse, and on the other, the emerging nations have used – and contributed to creating – this 'pause' to prepare themselves for the ultimate and inevitably painful stages of completing the crisis which we are now approaching.

The Ukrainian crisis and the characteristic aggression against the legitimate interests of one of the major players in the emerging multipolar world, Russia, as well as the US’ attempted annexation of Europe, have blown the whistle for the end of the game. The whole world has thus realized that the US was on its last legs, henceforth dangerous and that it had become urgent to move on."

GEAB N°86: The Major Global Geopolitical Reconfiguration

The BRICS will be having their 2014 Summit in Brazil on July 15, 2014.

The FOMC will be meeting tomorrow.

I am a bit surprised that so little has been said about the somewhat shocking US Supreme Court decision upholding the hardball tactics of the vulture funds with regard to the sovereign debt of Argentina.  I may attempt to write something particular about this in the coming week, but let me just say that it is looking like the first lightning flash in what could become the Perfect Storm.

These things have a cumulative effect. I suspect that trust in the government in Washington is falling to historic lows in places other than Main Street USA. 

Modern money is a confidence game, a masterful combination of both fraud and force.

All things considered, US bonds looks like a rather precarious place for some people to be, especially given the noises that the Fed is making about erecting barriers to exit for those in bonds funds.  And the grants which the Supreme Court has given to the vulture funds in the Argentina debt case has the potential to trigger a series of unfortunate events, with potential repercussions.

 

Nothing of consequence happened in the Comex gold warehouses the other day.  That must mean that all is well.

 

Few will see this one coming.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Janet Janet Who Can We Turn To?

Stocks managed a bounce today on light volumes.

FOMC meeting announcement tomorrow afternoon.

Complacency reigns.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - The Emperor Wears Nada - Blood on the Pampas

Gold and silver pulled back a bit today after an exceptionally good week.  They were higher most of yesterday evening, if one could distract themselves from the season finale of Game of Thrones. 

I really need to go back and reread the first five books of the series.  I remember the highlights, but keep forgetting some of the details.  Its been about five years since I read them.  And Lord knows when G. R. R. Martin will get around to finishing volumes six and seven. 

Martin is a great story teller, and certainly has found his voice with this particular series.  I have read his Dunk and Egg series, which should be a good 'fix' for frustrated Martin aficionados.    But most of his other things like the science fiction were meh.  I have not read his vampire story Fevre Dream yet, which is set in the 19th century on the Mississippi River, but it did not sound inviting.  I think what is intriguing is the expanse of the world he creates in A Song of Ice and Fire, and the highly engaging details and characters.

As you know this is an FOMC meeting week, so we will have to see how well the precious metals hold their levels. I would certainly like to see silver take out 20, but that may or may not be in the cards.

 

"The Supreme Court said today it would not hear Argentina's case against hedge fund creditors, and Argentina's stock market got killed on the news.

Argentina's Merval Index, a price-weighted index designed to reflect the performance of Argentine listed companies, fell 12%."

Business Insider, Argentina's Stock Market Crashed Today

In case you missed it, the Merval stock index (Argentina) crashed today.  I mentioned it in the stock market commentary below.  This was courtesy of the US Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case that is forcing that government's hand in its dealing with some funds who refused to negotiate the debt, demanding full payment. 

 

This sets up the government for a potential default since the lower US court had ruled it could repay no debts without first settling with funds who have purchased Argentine debt and have refused to enter into the restructuring, instead demanding full payment.   The world seems to have viewed this market drop as a secular event.  I find it interesting that the US Courts have precedence here.

Some additional ounces of gold were 'stopped' on Friday, but there continues to be little movement in the Comex warehouses, which seem to be like the Hotel California. Bullion can check in but it never seems to leave.

Actually this is not all that hard to understand, if you keep in mind that the US markets are where the elite meet to cheat, and that actually BUYING bullion and taking delivery in any serious amounts happens elsewhere. What is more surprising is how the LBMA is becoming the same sort of market with the movement of precious metal action to the East.

I have almost reached the conclusion that there will be no reform until something unfortunate and unavoidable happens to wake people up.  I continue to hope not, but it does seem to be in the cards.   People are growing hungry for justice.

Perhaps we will see a Stannis Baratheon riding down the wildlings of Wall Street someday.  I am sorry to say that it rarely happens in real life as it does in fictional worlds.  Most of the time the would be savior turns out to be a betrayer, a type of Judas goat. 

But as with Jon Snow, there are quite a few who 'would like to fight for the side that fights for the living.'  And one can hope that they may eventually prevail with the right kind of encouragement and assistance.  After all, the real fight is not among the power hungry gamesters at King's Landing, but with the Night's Watch on the Wall. 

Winter is coming.

Have a pleasant evening.