"And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned
'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This
country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not
God's!
And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really
think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?"
Robert Bolt, A Man For All Seasons
"Sherman, who started with so much, lost everything. But he gained his
soul. Whereas I, you see, who started with so little, gained everything.
'What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses...' Ah
well. There are compensations."
Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities
Gold and silver struggled to hold on to support today in a lackluster trade.
They faded into what might best be described as a fairly irrelevant close.
There was a fairly large intraday comment here called 'An
Essay Considering the Current Monetary Orthodoxy and Gold.'
In this I consider a statement that seems to represent the picture, a
collection of received catch phrases, that many financial journalists,
and economists for that matter, walk around repeating as the commonly
accepted dogma that signifies good standing in their profession.
To take issue with it is to imperil your standing in the acolytes of the insiders,
the very serious people, in the halls of Anglo-American power.
There are a number of these orthodoxies about. The 'efficient markets
hypothesis' was a good one, a real knee-slapper that only made sense if you
had already surrendered your intellect to a world that kept you, and rewarded
you.
It presumes that all men are as good as angels, and act in a group with
perfect rationality and selflessness, in a devotion to the highest benefits
for all. And if they are left alone at this, their works will continue
to become even more virtuous and productive.
And a whole movement in economics and politics tore down decades of sound
regulations and cast them on the fires of ideology, burning the books of the
past on the basis of this tenet of modern economic certitude.
There was another overnight commentary, a reprint really that might be of
some technical interest, titled 'What
Is Driving the Price of Gold?' It was something I had done in 2008
that considered the price of gold across a wide variety of financial data and
sought to find the greatest influences on its price.
Alas, I am not so sure that if I did this same thing again that it would
'work.' The markets have progressed quite a bit since then, mostly in
the wrong directions when it comes to price discovery and sound investment
practice.
We will be getting a second estimate of Q3 GDP next week and a few other real
economy odds and ends, their reliability of varying quality.
Little matters now though except for the Federal Reserve and what they will
choose to do with our paper money.
Speaking of which, someone let me know that there will be a 'special meeting'
of the FOMC on Monday November 23.
Advanced Notice of a Meeting under Expedited Procedures
It is anticipated that the closed meeting of the Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System at 11:30 AM on Monday,
November 23, 2015, will be held under expedited procedures, as set forth
in section 26lb.7 of the Board's Rules Regarding Public Observation of
Meetings, at the Board's offices at 20th Street and C Streets, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. The following items of official Board business are
tentatively scheduled to be considered at that meeting.
Meeting Date: Monday, November 23,
2015
They issue these meeting
notices occasionally. From a quick glane at past notices they seem to
have one of these almost every month. It is probably for anything of
immediate consequence, but let's keep an eye on it.
Gresham's Law still works, apparently, and what remains in the vaults of the
West is increasingly the synthetic gold and silver of hypothecated paper
claims, while the real physical bullion continues flowing East in
surprisingly large amounts, almost unremarked and unmentioned.
Does Gresham's Law work on people. I mean the more blatantly self serving and
corrupt a people may become, does that society start to raise up its worst to
the heights, while the sound and virtuous retreat to their studies and
private lives? The current field of candidates for the highest office
and the ways they talk could make one wonder about this.
We keep quite a few secrets in our proud and exceptional society.
Because we have quite a bit of which we ought to be ashamed, that needs
to remain hidden, and cannot bear the light of day.
Have a pleasant weekend.
