“One day, we will have to stand before the God of history. And we will talk in terms of things we've done. And its seems to me that I can hear the God of history saying, 'That was not enough. For I was hungry, and you fed me not. I was naked, and you clothed me not. I was devoid of a decent sanitary house to live in, and you provided no shelter for me. And consequently, you cannot enter the kingdom of greatness.'" Martin Luther King
The Fed hiked 25 basis points today, as most everyone expected.
They also made some hawkish noises for next year, which had the dollar soaring, and the metals and stocks slumping.
Gold is now at the full retracement if this cup and handle formation is valid. More like a ladle with a pretty long handle. lol.
Let's see where this all goes.
A strong dollar is the last thing the real economy wants, and what one might wish to see if they were Donald Trump, looking to stimulate the economy by dampening imports.
"The [neoliberal] goal has been the 'Third Worldization' of the United States:
an increasingly underemployed, lower-wage work-force;
a small but growing moneyed class that pays almost no taxes;
the privatization or elimination of human services;
the elimination of public education for low-income people;
the easing of restrictions against child labor;
the exporting of industries and jobs to low-wage, free-trade countries;
the breaking of labor unions;
and the elimination of occupational safety and environmental controls and regulations."
Michael Parenti, Land of Idols, 1993
Michael Parenti wrote that quote above during the Clinton Administration in the 1990's. And it seems to accurately describe the neo-liberal agenda of the Wall Street Democrats.
The extension of their economic neo-liberalism around the globe, under the standard of the dollar, in order to enable the universal peace of a new American Century, brought them into a very powerful combination with the traditionally Republican neo-conservatives, who had a predilection for the use of 'diplomacy by other means' as a very early, if not first choice, policy initiative.
Empire by any other name, or under any other rationale, still involves the imposition of the will to power upon others. They make a desert and call it peace.
There was a short intraday commentary here about the very large offtake of physical gold bullion from the Shanghai Gold Exchange in November.
I suppose that when the current gold pool blows itself up, which it most likely will, there will be a determined campaign to blame the insidious Chinese and Russians, and not a reckless and aggressive neo-liberal campaign of dollar hegemony around the globe to bring about the American Century.
It will be curious to see how Trump handles this. I had some strong inkling of how Lady Clinton would have done it based on how she and her minions are accepting their defeat.
What we are seeing now with this campaign emanating from the Clinton branch of the Democratic Party, and passed along by their courtiers and minions, is almost shockingly over the line into sheer propaganda.
As you know I do not care for Donald Trump as President, not even a little, and did not vote for him (or her). And looking ahead with an open mind, some of his cabinet appointments and statements are cringeworthy and highly discouraging to say the least.
But on the other hand, I find myself being thankful, in a new way almost every day, that Hillary and her ilk are not coming back into that most powerful of positions.
Their particular brand of perfidy, although much more sophisticated and subtle, is every bit as noxious and vile but all the more damaging, because it is cloaked in false virtue and more cleverly done, with very broad support in a professional class that has persuaded itself of its natural imperative to rule all others. And that makes that particular brand of narcissistic corruption the slightly worse of the two evils.
So all in all, it is a lousy situation and a dilemma for most of us. And it would certainly be easy to despair without some greater perspective based in history and a higher moral order.
Our parents and grandparents certainly faced worse scenarios and greater threats to their liberties, and came out all right in the end, probably because of their moral fiber and determination. I would imagine that we can do the same thing for our children and grandchildren as well.
But at the end of the day, the worst tragedy is to lose your self, your very soul, in giving yourself over to evil, and not to be found, imperfectly, wobbly, and a bit bowed perhaps, but still standing among the saints.
The pigmen know exactly what it is, and what they are enabling, but they do not care. They did not care the last two times either. They will claim ignorance, an act of God, some inevitable historical imperative for what is a simple looting through fraud, systemic corruption, and the abuse of power.
Interesting that The Donald seems to be bringing in the president of Goldman Sachs in order to fill an advisory post that Bill Clinton created for Robert Rubin.
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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