Armstrong Economics Blog
Re-Posted Sep 28, 2016 by Martin Armstrong
The markets have been coiling and quite frankly, this reminds me of when the Pope John Paul II was shot, which was the first attempted assassination of a pope, on Wednesday, May 13th, 1981, in St. Peter’s Square at Vatican City. The Pope was shot and wounded by a Muslim Mehmet Ali Ağca while he was entering the square. It did not set off a Christian-Muslim War. I remember the markets back then. This attempted assassination of the Pope had followed the attempted assassination of United States President Ronald Reagan which occurred on March 30, 1981, 69 days into his presidency.
When Reagan was shot, the market at least sold off and made a low that day. When it was clear he was alive, the market rebounded the next day. When the Pope was shot a few weeks latter, the markets went dead silent. Everyone was calling everybody asking what do you think? Nobody knew if it was a buy or a sell. The markets just went sideways. Nobody though there would be some new Crusade with a clash between religions as we have today.
We are in the Year of Political Hell. Nobody knows what to do for the U.S. Presidential elections are destabilizing public confidence. Trump is neck and neck even with Hillary outspending him 10:1. Trump has more individuals donating to him while Hillary has all the bankers, hedge funds, and political manipulators who routinely buy government as well as the Press who only support Hillary worldwide. The future is very much up in the air. Then we add the French and German elections next year and the future is anything but predictable for the average person. This means investment is on hold. People are saving (hoarding cash) and deflation continues globally. Meanwhile, we are even seeing world trade collapse. This is why the markets have been coiling. Money will not begin to really move until it figures out the direction.
