[…] Stocks were once again reaching for new highs today, shaking off concerns about pandemics, wildfires, plagues of locusts, and all those other acts of God to which our new era of endless prosperity is now apparently impervious.
The dollar finished a bit higher, as did gold and silver.
We watched the movie Joker last night. It is a very dark psychological study of a disordered mind spiraling out of control, and a very cleverly woven origin story for the Batman series. It is bleak, and there is virtually no comic relief.
It is also a dark social commentary on the course of public events in our age of arrogant inequality. In that sense it can be thought of as a ‘message movie.’
Joaquin Phoenix is a powerfully effective actor. I am informed that the movie has received a number of Academy award nominations, and is wildly profitable.