"In many governments the candidates for the highest stations are above the law; and, if they can attain the object of their ambition, they have no fear of being called to account for the means by which they acquired it. They often endeavour, therefore, not only by fraud and falsehood, the ordinary and vulgar arts of intrigue and cabal; but sometimes by the perpetration of the most enormous crimes, by murder and assassination, by rebellion and civil war, to supplant and destroy those who oppose or stand in the way of their greatness.”
Adam Smith,
Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759
"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: Inflation, But Not As We Know It, 2001
"Or one may say that there were no real human villains; that given the economic and political cues, actors would have been in the wings to come on and play the parts which circumstances dictated.Certainly there were many others as reprehensible and irresponsible as those who played the leading roles. The German people were the victims. The battle, as one who survived it explained, left them dazed and inflation-shocked. They did not understand how it had happened to them, and who the foe was who had defeated them. The real collapse of our currency began when it became evident that certain industrial circles were more powerful than the government."
Adam Fergusson, When Money Dies: The Nightmare of the Weimar Collapse, 1975
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
"Envy follows pride; whoever is envious is proud. Envy comes to us from Hell; the devils having sinned through pride, sinned also through envy, envying our glory, our happiness. Why do we envy the happiness and the goods of others? Because we are proud; we should like to be the sole possessors of talents, riches, of the esteem and love of all the world.
Everything is good and precious in God’s sight when we act from the motives of adoration and of love. Christ tells us that even offering someone a glass of water would not go unrewarded. You see, my children, that although we may be poor, we can still easily give alms. How good is our God! When we are no longer able to come to Him, He comes to us. We are each of us like a small mirror, in which God searches for His reflection.
John Vianney, Curé d'Ars, On Envy
The markets cast aside all fears and rallied higher, reaching for that magic round number on the SP 500.
The Dollar fell a bit.
VIX declined further.
Silver got clocked. Gold held on by its fingernails.
Chinese New Year begins on the 10th, and that will put a damper on the recent buying of physical gold i Asia. New Year gifts are often physicals, and coins are a favorite.
The depravity of the political class almost world-wide is quite daunting.
Self-destruction and delusion are in vogue.
It seems like a race to the bottom, to see who will falter first.
At times madness stalks the halls of power, and sets the minds of men on fire.
This seems to be such a time
Who could have seen it coming?
Have a pleasant evening.
