"Under such conditions one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism. The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.”
Hannah Arendt,
The Origins of Totalitarianism
"As in all periods of speculation, men sought not to be persuaded by the reality of things but to find excuses for escaping into the new world of fantasy."
"John Kenneth Galbraith,
The Great Crash of 1929
“The mob believes everything it is told, provided only that it be repeated over and over. Provided too that its passions, hatreds, fears are catered to. The grosser, the bigger, the cruder the lie, the more readily is it believed and followed. The mob has no memory; needless to pretend to any truth: the mob is radically incapable of perceiving it: the mob can never comprehend that its own interests are what is at stake.”
Alexandre Koyré,
Réflexions sur le Mensonge
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.”
Charles Mackay
"And they said to him, 'Where will this happen, Lord?' And He said to them, 'Where death is, there a gathering of vultures will be.'”
Luke 17:37
"They [the Fed] were not testing for interest rate risk."
This is the reason that was given as to why the Fed's stress testing would not have been helpful in detecting the troubles at Silicon Valley Bank.
Why do we keep excusing such willful incompetence?
Stocks took a hard dip this morning on fresh banking troubles from Deutsche Bank, aka Buba.
But as one might have come to expect, stocks shook off their concerns and finished up in the green.
The precious metals initially rallied, most notably in silver, but they were lower by the end of the day as the rose coloured glasses came back on.
As I noted, the Comex metals option expiration is next week (calendars below) and there is still plenty of time for shenanigans.
The VIX initially spiked higher, but finished lower amid an outbreak of complacency.
The political situation is the US is still reliably nuts.
Some neocons seem determined to encourage a wider war in other peoples' backyards.
Blood keeps their bottom lines green
And if it is someone else's, so much the better.
France's leader is showing how not to make friends and influence people, except among the plutocracy.
Let's see what fresh madness the new week brings.
Have a pleasant weekend.
