Thanksgiving Menus from Days Gone By

 

"May we all unite in rendering unto God our sincere and humble thanks—

     • For His kind care and protection of the people of this country,

     • For the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have enjoyed, 

     • For the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness,

     • For the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge, and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us. 

And may we also unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him— 

     • To pardon our national and other transgressions, 

     • To enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, 

     • To render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, 

     • To protect and guide all nations and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord, 

     • To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science, 

And generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best."

 

George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789

And for the three greatest gifts given freely out of love:  repentance, forgiveness, and thankfulness.

Enjoy. 

Plaza Hotel NYC 1899

Gettysburg Hotel, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 1909

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Comex Option Expiration

 

“We carry on like slaves.  Jesus help me!  There isn’t time to breathe, and I am up to my eyebrows in this business of feeding those who have nothing.  And they are many—those with nothing.  As a rule my purse is as dry as [Mexican President] Calles’s soul, but it isn’t worth worrying since the Procurator of Heaven is generous.

We ought to speak, shout out against injustices, with confidence and without fear.  We proclaim the principles of the Church, the reign of love, without forgetting that it is also a reign of justice.

Viva Cristo Rey!"

 Miguel Agustin Pro, Martyr, November 23, 1927

 

“What we would like to do is change the world—make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves as God intended them to do.   And, by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of the workers, the poor, of the destitute—the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor, in other words—we can, to a certain extent, change the world.  

We can work for the oasis, the little cell of joy and peace in a harried world.  We can throw our pebble in the pond and be confident that its ever widening circle will reach around the world. 

There is nothing we can do but love, and, dear God, please enlarge our hearts to love each other, to love our neighbor, and to love our enemy as our friend.” 

Dorothy Day 

 

"The government soldiers cut him with a machete until he was bleeding from several wounds. They made him watch the execution of some of his friends.  He cried and moaned with pain as they cut off the bottom of his feet, and made him walk through the town. 

At times they stopped him and said, 'If you shout, "Death to Christ the King" we will spare your life'.  

The young Josélito would only say,  'I will never give in.  Viva Cristo Rey y Santa Maria de Guadalupe.'”  

José Sánchez del Río, Martyr, February 10,1928

 

Traders got a thrill ride today, as stocks plummeted led lower by the big cap techs.

It turns out that this discussion of higher interest rates is not bubble-friendly.

But never fear, stocks were well off their lows into the close.

Gold and silver were also hit again, in honor of the key December contracts option expiration.

They did hit support and bounce back a bit into the close..   

There might be another gut punch waiting for those whose calls were in the money, and are not the proud holders of actual futures contracts.

The Dollar chopped sideways.

More economic data coming tomorrow.

Today we remember the martyrs of La Cristiada, or the Cristero rebellion against the aggressive imposition of state sponsored atheism in Mexico.

How easily we forget.  How often we magnify our own inconveniences all out of proportion, and ignore the terrible suffering of others, of our neighbors, of the least of these.

Lord, pierce our hardened hearts, enlighten our minds, heal our blindness, and break the self-made chains of our pride and self-deception, so that we may choose to accept your gifts of repentance, forgiveness, thankfulness, and life. 

"Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts."   Hebrews 3:15 

Viva Cristo Rey.

Have a pleasant evening. 

 

 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Bell, Book, and Bubble - The Vaccinated, the Cured, and the Dead

 

"What we see at present is a battle between the central banks and the collapse of the financial system fought on two fronts.  On one front, the central banks preside over the creation of additional liquidity for the financial system in order to hold back the tide of debt defaults that would otherwise occur.  On the other, they incite investment banks and other willing parties to bet against a rise in the prices of gold, oil, base metals, soft commodities, or anything else that might be deemed an indicator of inherent value. 

Their objective is to deprive the independent observer of any reliable benchmark against which to measure the eroding value, not only of the U.S. dollar, but of all fiat currencies.  Equally, their actions seek to deny the investor the opportunity to hedge against the fragility of the financial system by switching into a freely traded market for non-financial assets." 

Peter Warburton, The Debasement of World Currency, April 9, 2001  [with gold at $259 per oz.]

"And then, Wall Street blew up the global economy.  Empowered by bank deregulation and regulatory capture, Wall Street enlisted those tough-minded men of the media again to sell the world on the idea that financial innovations were making the global economy more stable by the minute.  Central banks puffed an asset bubble like the world had never seen before, even if every journalist worth his byline was obliged to deny its existence until it was too late...

If economists— and journalists, and bankers, and bond analysts, and accountants— don’t pay some price for egregious and repeated misrepresentations of reality, then markets aren’t efficient after all." 

Thomas Frank, Too Smart to Fail, March 2012

 

"The business model of Wall Street is fraud.   Wall Street won’t change until we make it clear that no bank is too big to fail and no CEO is too big to jail.   Billionaires and Wall Street should not be buying elections.  The reason that Congress isn’t doing what the overwhelming majority of Americans wants has everything to do with the power of the monied interests.  Let us bring our people together to take on and defeat a ruling class whose greed is destroying our nation.” 

Bernie Sanders, September 22, 2016

 

"After a sustained advance in an asset class's price, the prior four factors lead to new-era thinking that cycles have been eradicated/eliminated and that a long boom in value lies ahead. 

Bad valuation methodologies drive out good valuation methodologies.  

Rapid growth of a new financial product that is not understood.  

When everyone thinks central bankers, money managers, corporate managers, politicians or any other group are the smartest guys in the room, you are in a bubble."

Doug Kass, Ten Laws of Stock Market Bubbles, November 11, 2013

 

“The worst crimes were dared by a few, willed by more, and tolerated by all.” 

Tacitus 

 

Today is the 58th anniversary of the public execution of John F. Kennedy in Dallas Texas.

Whip-saw!

Biden took the path of least resistance, and nominated Jay Powell again as Fed Chairman.

He threw his party a bone by nominating Lael Brainard as Vice-chair.

Stocks took off and almost achieved escape velocity, based on some fantasy that Powell is pledging to be more hawkish.

But alas, as the initial front running euphoria waned, stocks crashed back down to earth again and left a crater as well.

The Dollar jumped to the middle of the 96 handle as well, based on the same assumption of rate increases to come.

Gold and silver were just brutally hammered lower.   

How fitting since tomorrow is the most significant gold and silver futures contract option expiration on the Comex. 

Never waste an opportunity.

Today the German health minister Jens Spahn said that 'probably by the end of this winter pretty much everyone in Germany — as has sometimes been cynically put — will be vaccinated, cured or dead.'

The US today has issued an advisory against travel to Germany.  

Déjà vu all over again.

Who could have seen it coming?

 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who murder your prophets, and persecute those whom God has sent as messengers to you.  As you have willed, your house is now yours— but is made desolate."

And the band played on.

Have a pleasant evening.