billion dollar bash

Living in dangerous times. Currency wars have been on the fringe of public consciousness for some time, mainly as as an echo of anti-China sentiment on their dumping practices into north American markets. However we are on the verge of practices more widespread and less containable of which the upshot of this race to the bottom of devaluation may ultimately be inflated asset values of everything from equities, to precious metals to oil; that is, significant inflation and the unclear social and political changes that often follow in its wake. It’s a new-old story, part of a broader context regarding the obsession with money and the material world that has insinuated itself into Western consciousness since the biblical abomination of the Golden Calf a mere forty days after Moses ambled down a mountain with the ten commandments.

It is said there is  “No punishment comes to the world in which there is not a fraction of payment for the sin of the Golden Calf”. Broadly speaking this posits two central possibilities. The first is the implied belief that this sin underscores a sinful element in human nature that has always existed, or at least since God dropped the snake in the Eden with the gift of the gab. Secondly, it recognizes that the Golden Calf damaged man, stained the purity from that point onward. Despite the awesome event at Sinai, the jews and gentiles became so insecure at Moshe’s absence that they cajoled Aaron into building them an idol.

---The Adoration of the Golden Calf 1634 by Nicolas Poussin ---click image for source...

—The Adoration of the Golden Calf
1634
by Nicolas Poussin
—click image for source…

…Maybe fixed exchange rates are not such a bad idea. And the word “free” markets are not exactly liberating.George Soros is at it again. That erstwhile hyper-liberal who promotes legalizing dope and funding far-left Jewish and Israli “peace” groups does recall George Orwell and his doublethink, since the ame Soros touch does tend to cause suffering as part of the collateral damage…

(see link at end)…George Soros made almost $1 billion since November from bets that the yen would tumble, according to a person close to the billionaire’s $24 billion family office.

The Japanese wager helped the firm return about 10 percent last year and 5 percent so far this year, said the person, who asked not to be named because the firm is private. The yen has weakened 17 percent versus the dollar since about the start of the fourth quarter, the worst performance over a similar period since 1985. …

The yen slumped and Japanese stocks rallied as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pressed the Bank of Japan to introduce additional stimulus measures. BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and two deputies will step down next month, allowing Abe to pick leaders to implement his plan for expanded monetary easing.

---Artist   [show]Gerrit de Wet (circa 1616–1674) Link back to Creator infobox template Title The Adoration of the Golden Calf Date first half of 17th century---WIKI

—Artist
Gerrit de Wet (circa 1616–1674)
Title The Adoration of the Golden Calf
Date first half of 17th century—WIKI

Scott Bessent, chief investment officer at New York-based Soros Fund Management LLC, also has 10 percent of the firm’s internally managed portfolio betting on rising shares in Japan, said the person. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index has jumped about 28 percent since the end of September.

Bessent worked for Soros in 1992 when Soros and his chief strategist Stan Druckenmiller made a $10 billion bet that the Bank of England would be forced to devalue the pound. That wager netted $1 billion. At the time Soros’s Quantum

was $3.3 billion.

Bessent left the firm in 2000, and returned to be CIO in 2011.

--- Artist: Claude Lorrain Completion Date: 1653 Style: Baroque Genre: religious painting Technique: oil ---WIKI

— Artist: Claude Lorrain
Completion Date: 1653
Style: Baroque
Genre: religious painting
Technique: oil —WIKI

Michael Vachon, a spokesman for the firm, said he couldn’t comment on the trades, which were reported yesterday by the Wall Street Journal.Read More:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-14/soros-said-to-make-1-billion-since-november-on-yen-bet.html

…The sin of the Golden Calf, in a certain sense a sin to a degree  unmatched by other sins, seems to embody a particular human corruption.  One primary to all sins; this explains the belief  whereby “all future punishments are to include a portion of punishment for the Golden Calf”, or more specifically, for that corruption intrinsic in the Calf episode. Still, it can be surmised that even if  the Golden Calf was never created, man always had that corruption as inherent to his nature, though ideally, and hopefully not as a first reflex. But, what is this corruption?

The critical idea then, as the ancient sages saw it, was that to sin, man must be so nailed-down and lashed to   the physical world that he rejects truth and wisdom, resulting in a disobeying of the Creator.  After the Jews witnessed Revelation, it was quite amazing and discouraging to see people capable of disobeying the Grand Orchestrator , then building an idol.Quite simply, they could not relate to a non-physical God. The need for attachment to a tangible replacement for Moshe was overwhelming.

ADDENDUM:

(see link at end)…But Mr. Bessent has earned kudos lately for his hugely successful wagers in Japan, which have garnered more than $1.2 billion in profits.

His bet against the yen has generated almost $1 billion in the past three months, said people with knowledge of the trades. The Soros firm also has made $200 million more owning Japanese stocks, which represent about 10% of the firm’s $17 billion internal portfolio, said people close to the firm. The rest of the money is farmed out to outside investors. The gains in Japan could expand if the yen continues to weaken, though of course Soros could easily give profits back if the yen rallies.

Mr. Bessent’s success comes after years of heavy turnover at the firm, largely due to some of his predecessors’ difficulties dealing with such a high-pressure job for such a high-profile investor. Mr. Bessent is the firm’s fifth chief investment officer since mid-2000. Read More:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324432004578304533122800390.html

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