Déjà Vu All Over Again - The Rise of Far Right Authoritarians and Bully Worship

"In Brazil, a far-right presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, came close in Sunday’s national election to winning the 50% of the vote needed to win without a run-off (he received 46.2%), and is now highly likely to prevail on October 28 against his opponent, the liberal Workers’ Party’s Fernando Haddad, who finished a distant second with 29%.

That result, by itself, is stunning, given that Bolsonaro is an undiluted, explicit authoritarian in the model of Duterte and Sisi – one could easily say 'fascist' even using the narrowest and most most rigorous sense of that term – who had been a fringe figure in politics for decades but is now poised to assume the presidency."

Glenn Greenwald, The Stunning Rise of Brazil's Far Right


"We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.  It is not merely that at present the rule of naked force obtains almost everywhere.  Probably that has always been the case.  Where this age differs from those immediately preceding it is that a liberal intelligentsia is lacking.  Bully-worship, under various disguises, has become a universal religion."

George Orwell


"Through his first year in Germany [1933], Dodd had been struck again and again by the strange indifference to atrocity that had settled over the nation, the willingness of the populace and the moderate elements in the government to accept each new oppressive decree, each new act of violence, without protest...

Dodd continued to hope that the murders would so outrage the German public that the [Hitler] regime would fall, but as the days passed he saw no evidence of any such outpouring of anger

The controlled press, not surprisingly, praised Hitler for his decisive behaviour...In a letter to Hull, Dodd forecast an even more terroristic regime... 'The people hardly notice this complete coup d'etat. It takes place in silence...I would swear that millions upon millions have no idea what a monstrous thing has occurred.'"

Erik Larson, In The Garden of Beasts


It can only be hoped that American democracy will thoroughly realize, and this before it is too late, that fascism is not confined to any one nation or any one party; and it is to be hoped that it will succeed in overcoming the tendency toward dictatorial forms in the people themselves.  Only time will tell whether the Americans will be able to resist the compulsion of irrationality or whether they will succumb to it.”

Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psychology of Fascism


"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man."

Samuel Johnson

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Weighed, and Found Wanting

"All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door."

John Kenneth Galbraith


"As with almost every reform that I have ever undertaken, most of the opposition took the guise of shrewd slander.  Our opponents relied chiefly on downright misrepresentation of what it was that we were trying to accomplish, and of our methods, acts, and personalities."

Theodore Roosevelt


“Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is a party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.”

Wendell Berry


"The danger is terrible.  The time is short.  If this [reform] bill should be rejected, I pray to God that none of those who concur in rejecting it may ever remember their votes with unavailing remorse, amid the wreck of laws, the confusion of ranks, the spoliation of property, and the dissolution of social order.

Let us know our interest and our duty better.  Turn where we may, within, around, the voice of great events is proclaiming to us: reform, that you may preserve."

Thomas Babington Macaulay

Stocks attempted to rally today, and failed.

Gold and silver finished largely unchanged as the Dollar index drifted lower.

We will be getting the wholesale and consumer inflation numbers this week.

Have a pleasant evening.

Ralph Nader: Effecting Change Is Not Impossible— As You Have Been Taught To Think By 'Divide and Rule'

"Up against the corporate government, voters find themselves asked to choose between look-alike candidates from two parties vying to see who takes the marching orders from their campaign paymasters and their future employers.  The money of vested interest nullifies genuine voter choice and trust. 

The democracy gap in our politics and elections spells a deep sense of powerlessness by people who drop out, do not vote, or listlessly vote for the least worst every four years and then wonder why after every cycle the least worst gets worse.

We’re told that we’re a polarized society, right? That’s the way the ruling classes have manipulated people for more than two thousand years:  divide and rule.  And, sure, there are differences between the Left and the Right over reproductive rights, school prayer, gun control, government regulation, and now, immigration.

But on at least two dozen issues you’ll find combined Left-Right support from 75 to 90 percent of the population. You’ll find it on breaking up the big banks; you’ll find it on civil liberties [privacy]; you’ll find it on getting rid of corporate welfare and crony capitalism; you’ll find it on criminal-justice reform.  There is huge Left-Right support to crack down on the corporate crooks of Wall Street."

Ralph Nader

How Bush and Obama Paved the Way for the Trump Presidency, and Why It Isn’t Too Late to Reverse Course

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Last Contango On the Potomac - Risks Masked By Madness

“Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

"When narcissists behave in an exhibitionistic manner they are seeking the same sort of admiration as toddlers, and for the same reasons. They want attention. Some examples include inappropriate dress, talking too loudly, or gesturing in expansive and space-intruding ways.”

Mark Ettensohn


“I know now that one of the characteristics of evil is its desire to confuse.”

M. Scott Peck


“You might as well bang your head into a brick wall if you expect the narcissist to be reasonable, empathetic or human in any way. If you sense or witness any of these traits, there is an ulterior motive. When the narcissist is being nice, it’s because they have something to gain.”

Tina Swithin


"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and clever in their own sight,
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
and valiant in mixing strong drink,
Who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of justice."

Isaiah 5:20-23

Most politicians have over-sized egos, and tend to bend the rules in service to power when it is convenient.  This is why so many ordinary people don't care for them in general.  There are a few good ones, but mostly not, especially while they are trying to gain or hold on to power.

But lately the political class has been taking things to a whole new level., and on both sides of the aisle.  Although by their words they like to assume the 'high ground' they act like moral midgets.  And not to put too fine a point on it— the toddler-in-chief lies with an expansive abandon, and leads the pack with the traits of an outsized narcissistic demagogue, shockingly obvious even in an amoral cesspool like DC.

It is not an easy time for independent minds, and for those who wish to do the right things.  And the temptation to submit one's will to escape the pain of thinking is great.   The lesser of two evils is still evil.

The VIX futures were in contango today.  That means that the nearer term months were at a higher value than the following months.   Usually it is the other way around. backwardation, with the futures in the following months gradually increasing in price.

This is a signal that a nearer term and disruptive spike in risk is being expected by a number of traders, and they are seeking protection from it.

If you look at the NDX futures chart below, you can see how every day for the past three days that the futures have slumped heavily lower, recovering a bit in the afternoon while Asia and Europe are asleep, only to drop sharply again the next day, and fail to completely recover.

Stocks may turn around and rally higher from here.  But the risk for equities is pronounced. 

Gold and silver took a hit today, a post Non-Farm Payrolls punch in the gut.  It is what they do.

The dollar was only marginally higher.

Grab something solid and hang on.  And be wary of who and what it is that you serve.

Have a pleasant evening.