Police and Thieves in the street, oh yeah,
Fighting the Nation with their guns and ammunition,
Police and Thieves in the street, oh yeah,
Scaring the nation with their guns and ammunition,
From Genesis, to Revelation, the next generation will be, hear me,
And all the crimes committed, day by day, No one to stop them anyway,
And all the peace makers, turn war officers, Hear what I say
— Junior Murvin via the Clash
I feel compelled, yet again for this edition, to channel Joe Strummer and The Clash. Because if there was ever a moment where we needed Strummer, it has indeed arrived.
Our title song is a cover, penned by the otherwise-obscure reggae artist Junior Murvin and immortalized by Stummer and the Clash. But one way or another, Police and Thieves are indeed in the streets, and yes, they are scaring the Nation with their guns and ammunition.
From Genesis (the first book of the Old Testament) to Revelation (the last book of the New): from A to Z, first to last, beginning to end, Alpha to Omega. This is the Word of the Lord. More specifically, Revelation 22.13: just a few sentences from where Chapter, Verse and in fact, the entire bible, comes to an abrupt end.
Like so much in this mystifying world we inhabit, it leaves us with more questions than answers.
But with all the crimes committed, day by day, and no one to stop them, anyway, we should probably do our best to come up with a few. Answers, that is.
I know I could use some, but I have none. All I have are questions. Maybe you can help me out here.
Like, first, what is the end objective of the nationwide protest? And I’m sorry, I won’t accept the generic platitude of “racial and social justice”. If that’s all you got, well, good luck; we’ve been striving for this utopian ideal, with finite but nonetheless visible success, for eons. But I think, as we smash windows, loot stores and cap cops, a little more specificity would do us a world of good.
For instance: how will we know when it has arrived? Racial and social justice, that is. And who will decide? When income and wealth are redistributed according to someone’s idea of fairness? Whose? With Reparations? When entire Boards, Managements and workforces of the companies that comprise the S&P 500 better reflect our core values (as determined by noisy consensus)? When governments adopt the same motifs? When police forces (a staple of EVERY civilization since mankind was still sporting tails) are dismantled and replaced by some completely undefined form of law enforcement, that is, if there is to be law enforcement at all?
Well, I’m here to tell you that these things won’t save you. Or us. Not in this world or the next one. Nor, for that matter, will the shutting down/burning down of municipalities across the lower 48. And, in general, my question is this: you have made sure to identify what you are against, what you hate. Specifically, it is an embedded socioeconomic structure, which for all of its faults, is responsible for many of the good things we all enjoy. In the last century alone, it dismantled Nazi Germany and the Iron Curtain. It brought us Picasso, and the Beatles, and Miles Davis, and The Clash.
You hate this construct, but what do you love? You should think on this, because what it looks like to me is that at least some of you want to tear everything down and build anew. Fair enough, but know this: tearing down is relatively easy. Building up? Not so much.
Not to press the point, but the system also created the very tools which you are now using to dismantle it. Your I-phones, your near-flawless Verizon connections, by which you are organizing. Facebook and Twitter, through which so many of you, heroically and from the comfort of your homes, express undying solidarity with those in the streets seeking some form of redress. You order everything from Amazon Prime. And when you return from your nightly vigils, you flip on Netflix. All of these blessings derive from a construct you now seek to destroy, and, in destruction’s wake, it may difficult to cherry-pick.
Careful what you wish for; you just may get it. And it may make you nostalgic for those pre-2020 days.
At the root of the unrest is an enforced acknowledgment that this is a racist society. Well, maybe. I’m not gonna say no. But this here set of episodes is most reminiscent of the conflicts that transpired two generations ago, which, somehow (impossibly) I was around for. I remember Selma. And when George Wallace stood with the NATIONAL GUARD on the steps of Foster Auditorium, at the University of Alabama/Tuscaloosa, to deny the admission of African Americans Vivian Malone and James Hood.
Wallace, it should be remembered, went on to run for president in that benign year of 1968, and won over 14% of the Popular, as well as approximately 9% of the Electoral, Vote. At the time, that pre- Woodstockian era of Peace, Love and Understanding, there was an active, aggressive, adamant White Separatist Movement. Their numbers counted in the millions. They were everywhere.
It seems different, at least to me, nowadays. My sense is that pretty much everyone, except for the unhinged few, now believes strongly in racial equality. Nobody is counter-protesting (at least yet). Barely a peep is heard from anyone disputing that that the more color-blind we are as a society, the better off everyone will be.
But at least in ’68, the music was better. Police and Thieves were in the streets, But the Buffalo Springfield was still jamming like nobody’s business, as were Miles and Hendrix, laying down sounds in multi-racial ensembles that nobody had ever dreamed of before.
But I reckon we’re destined to repeat this same cycle of violent dysphoria, with a lot of destruction, and, often, not much to show for any of it. The most prominent historical precursor that comes to mind is the French Revolution (which was not brought to the masses by Facebook). Them folks had legitimate beefs. A degenerate queen and oblivious king. No constitution. Little food. It took a revolution to advance their cause, and, while they did manage to depose and ultimately behead the Royal Couple, within a matter of months, all of their leaders also found their own heads severed from the rest of their persons.
We can move on from there to the dainty Russian Revolution, which left only on leader standing — in full on dictatorship mode. The same can be said of the Spanish Civil War: a righteous cause, which at the end, placed Spain for several decades, under the iron rule of Generalissimo Francisco Franco (still dead). In one of his most brilliant pieces of work, Strummer summoned the ghosts of the Iberian Uprising, and expressed them in divine parallel to the struggles of the good folks of Northern Ireland, then and still harassed to breath under the yoke of those Ulster cats:
Spanish Bombs in Andalucía, the shooting sights of the days of ’39,
Oh please leave the Ventana open, Fredrico Lorca is dead and gone,
Bullet hole in the cemetery walls, the blackguards of the Guardia Civil,
Spanish bombs, on the Costa Rica, are flying in on a DC 10 tonight
Then:
Spanish weeks in the disco casino, the Freedom Fighters died up on the hill,
They sang the red flag, they wore the black one, After they died it was Mockingbird Hill,
Back home the buses went up in flashes, The Irish tomb is dripped in blood,
Spanish bombs shatter the hotel, my senorita’s rose is nipped in the bud
And finally:
The hillside rings with “free the people”, or am I hearing echoes of the days of ’39?
With trenches full of poets and ragged armies, fixing bayonets to fight the other line,
Spanish bombs rock the province, I’m hearing music from another time,
Spanish bombs, on the Costa Brava, I’m flying in on a DC 10 tonight
Has a ring of familiarity, now, don’t it? Well, as for me, I am indeed hearing echoes of the days of ’39, with its poet-filled trenches and ragged armies. Like I said, we could really use a dose of Strummer right now. But I reckon he’s still with us. If we would only listen for him.
I suppose, though, that seeing as how this is a market commentary publication, I should mention a few things about the doings in those realms. As fueled by a shockingly strong (if imperfect) May Jobs report, the Gallant 500 surged forward, recapturing ground that many of us, including yours truly, felt would be lost for a significant period into the future. Captain Naz particularly distinguished himself (somewhat like Buonaparte in the French Revolution) and is now in positive territory for the year.
My guess is that this improbable rally notwithstanding, there’s still a strong bid out there. Particularly if there’s a pullback. Which there will be. Maybe, impossibly, we will even evade the clutches of that credit bear that has socialized so much terror in me. Meanwhile, those corrupt corporations have already issued over $1T of IG paper, in this pandemic-filled, protesting year. They have all been hoovered up easily.
And if you want my apology, here it is. I’m sorry to have been so wrong about the markets. Not for being who I am, or even for having the forebears that I do, but for thinking that what has transpired over the last few months would have taken a more menacing bite out of the markets than it did.
Just remember, though: this moment will also pass, and it will take courage to make something heavenly out of it. This is true whether you are an investor, or a protestor in Brooklyn, Chicago, Minneapolis. Or maybe all of the above. I myself am trying to screw up my courage to turn matters that are complicated and sometimes sad into something divine. And permanent. So, my sympathies are with you.
Police and Thieves are in the streets, and Spanish bombs still shatter the hotel. Maybe there won’t be Police in the future, but there will be Thieves. Guns, ammo and fear are also likely here to stay. The market rally may last, but will ultimately wither, along with all things. Fredrico Lorca is dead and gone. As is Joe Strummer. And these, mes amigos, are the Genesis to Revelation, Alpha to Omega risk management thoughts I have to share with you today.
TIMSHEL