Auguries — Stop SOPA

January 19, 2012

By Kevin Michael Grace

Gold was up (at press time) $8.00 (+0.5%) for the week to $1,657.30, and silver was up
.37 (+1.2%) to $30.59. Reuters attributed gold’s gain to the “Euro hit[ting] a two-week high versus the dollar, benefiting from solid Spanish and French debt auctions.”

Why is it only equities and commodities whose daily rise and fall are followed by such readings of the entrails? This practice should be extended to other measurables, for instance, Nielsen ratings. Then we could have this: Keeping Up With The Kardashians fell 17% this week, as Americans rediscovered the virtues of intelligence, dignity and self-sufficiency. Or, alternately, this: Keeping Up With The Kardashians rose 19% this week, as America decided to park itself on the couch with a gross of Snackwells and a three-litre bottle of Diet Mountain Dew and just give up.

Until that happy day, this space will continue to list the various explanations for the up hill and the down dale of precious metals and related subjects. That is, unless the Stop Online Privacy Act passes into law. The purpose of the Act, HR 3261, is “To promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of US property.” That’s the official position. Alternately, one could describe its purpose thus: To crush fair use once and for all and to further extend the hegemony of the entertainment industry over every aspect of our lives by terrorizing Internet service providers.

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