I have been warning that government expansion reduces economic growth and acts like a black-hole sucking in more and more wealth reducing economic expansion. If government keeps growing which produces no wealth, ultimately you end up with 100% government consumption = communism. We should be standing on our soap boxes in the tradition of Speakers Corner at Hyde Park, in London and yelling HEY, WHERE THE HELL ARE WE GOING!

Here is a chart produced by OECD which nobody pays attention to. This clearly shows what I have been warning about. The higher the tax rate, the lower the economic growth. A reader sent this in commenting that EVERY POLITICIAN should be shown this chart. The problem is, they lack the comprehension to understand what it means. There are two scales and we all know those in government can only see linearly one thing at a time.

I could have a conference with the forecast of the future and charge $3.95. It will take less than 1 minute. “Hello; I Martin Armstrong. I am here to tell you; You are all screwed. Thank you very much. Enjoy what freedom you have left before 2017.”

There is NO WAY OUT of this mess. We simply have to crash and burn. The Phoenix is the image of this process. The rising from the ashes. This is ultimately the symbol of the cycle. The phoenix comes from Greek mythology, and is reputed to be a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn. The phoenix obtains new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor. According to some texts, the phoenix could live over 500 years before rebirth. According to the people of Heliopolis in Egypt, the Phoenix came to that city once in five hundred years to bury his father. By that they did not mean an actual father, for this creature was the only creature capable of renewing and reproducing its own being; the process of self-referral – the perfect cycle.

“A chattering crow lives out nine generations of aged men, but a stag’s life is four times a crow’s, and a raven’s life makes three stags old, while the phoenix outlives nine ravens, but we, the rich-haired Nymphs, daughters of Zeus the aegis-holder, outlive ten phoenixes.”

Hesiod, quoted by Plutarch, Obsolescence of Oracles 415c).

If we assume an aged man is 80 years old, then the crow outlives nine generations of aged men which brings us to 720 years (80 x 9). The stag’s life is then four times that of a crow’s which would then give us 2880 years (720 x 4). The raven lives as long as three stags bringing us to 8640 years (2880 x 3). This means the Phoenix lives as long as nine ravens, which is 77760 (8640 x 9). Notice the curious relationship to 8.6 and the volatility cycle of 6 years ( 12 x 6 = 72). Just interesting.