Posted originally on Mar 13, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: I have investigated what you have said about our Western leaders. From the US to Britain, the Balkans, France, Poland, and Germany, they all want war. I am 77 now. My whole life was about creating peace. I remember Richard Nixon opening China and dividing it from Russia. I believe you are correct. There is no explanation for everyone seeking war other than to hide their appalling government mismanagement.
Thank you for your analysis. It is always unmatched.
GKB
REPLY: History repeats, and human nature never changes. We have the model from Rome, the greatest empire ever created. The Pax Romana was achieved by everyone benefiting in their economic relations. Once these people removed Russia from the SWIFT system, they condemned the United States to its demise. The rise of the BRICS has nothing to do with fiat money. All money has always been fiat. From ancient times, we find imitation coinage of the dominant economy being created by other regions, showing that there was always a premium over the metal content if it was a coin of the dominant economy like the US dollar today. Here is an imitation of an Athenian Owl stuck by the Egyptians, who never had coins until they were conquered nearly 100 years later by Alexander the Great. They issued imitation Athenian Owls because they were the currency of international trade.
Even the Celts, when Julius Caesar conquered Europe, still imitated his coinage. The metal was virtually the same, so it was a counterfeit but an imitation. The Celts still used Roman coinage for their monetary system.
Even 300 years before Caesar, when the Macedonians were the dominant economic power of Phillip II and his son Alexander the Great, we find Celtic imitations of Macedonian gold where they at least tried to imitate the design.
Even after Caesar conquered Europe, we find Germanic imitations of Roman bronze coinage. Once more, they could have created their own coinage but imitated the coinage of Rome.
As trade expanded with India, we find a series of Indian imitations of Roman gold coinage running the course of 300 years. We see Celtic imitations of Roman coinage as well as Germanic coinage, which also ran for about 300 years.
The fact that we have hundreds of years of imitations of the dominant economy PROVES beyond a shadow of a doubt that the coinage was NOT based on the metal content; there was always a premium applied to the dominant currency in the world at that time.
This entire nonsense that the dollar is just a fiat currency is absurd. The value of ANY currency is the strength of its economy. The dollar has been the RESERVE currency BECAUSE everyone wanted to sell their products to American consumers.
The PAX Romana took place BECAUSE all the conquered lands found it was beneficial to be part of the empire, for they could sell their products. World Peace was created by allowing free trade as the Romans did. Then, the people would oppose any local politician preaching war, for it would cut off their income. We were on the verge of world peace before COVID-19, when everyone participated in the world economy. Today, that has all been destroyed. Peace is no longer fashionable – it is hatred and war that now define world leaders.
This is a lesson our Politicians Must Learn, and the Neocons in
America – Europe – Russia – China
at really the enemies of the people.
War is never created by the people – only by the elites in power.
Posted originally on Jan 29, 2024 By Martin Armstrong |
Businesses are increasingly preventing customers from using cash as NO CASH ACCEPTED signs line Main Street. No federal law requires businesses to accept cash, but some states and cities have implemented laws mandating businesses to do so. COVID accelerated the push toward a cashless society, as physical cash was seen as unhygienic. Then the US mint faced a physical currency shortage as Americans hoarded their cash. Cashless businesses are now widely accepted and normalized in our society.
Around 6 million Americans who do not have a bank account, and therefore are blocked from participating in our cashless society. This particularly impacts the poorest in our nation, as a recent survey found that 40% of unbanked individuals do not have enough liquidity to meet the minimum balance required by banks. The FDIC found that one-third of respondents simply do not trust the banks and prefer cash for privacy purposes.
Then there are those who use prepaid cards or tools like CashApp that fall in “underbanked” bracket. The latest estimate found that 19 million households fall under this category. Combined, one in five Americans are either unbanked or underbanked, and according to the government, these individuals are merely attempting to avoid taxation.
Another lesser known fact is that banks often charge stores for physical currency. Additionally, the costs of providing and handling physical currency, such as the need for security, transportation, and storage make it more costly for businesses to use cash. The crime wave across blue cities is a contributing factor as well, as it is not uncommon to see signs stating that a business does not have cash on hand to deter thieves.
There is no federal law that requires banks to charge for change, but federal law generally allows banks to charge non-interest charges and fees. Interchange fees are transaction fees that the merchant’s bank must pay whenever a customer uses a credit/debit card to make a purchase, which is why you will often see a surcharge of around 3% at certain businesses to cover this expense. So businesses are faced with fees for all transactions whether they go the cash or card route.
The 2010 Dodd-Frank ruling permitted businesses to set a credit card minimum of $10, as the interchange fees nulled the profits on small purchases. Debit cards are treated as cash, whereby there is no set minimum by law.
They will soon force the unbanked and underbanked into the banking system, which is one of the reasons why the Biden Administration continually talks about erasing junk fees so that the 40% who claim they cannot meet the minimum balance are not excluded from government oversight. The push for a cashless society is a global phenomenon tied to the DPI and other initiatives that aim to centralize our individual data.
Posted originally on the CTH on January 26, 2024 | Sundance
In this brief video below {Direct Rumble Link Here} Former Blackrock portfolio manager, Ed Dowd, explains why every last remnant of human freedom depends on mass resistance to Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). “Once the central bank digital currency is linked to all your credit cards and bank accounts, then social controls can be implemented. If you’re a dissenter like me, talking about truth, they shut you down.” WATCH:
I know at first blush a lot of this CBDC discussion seems esoteric, difficult to understand, and there are a lot of other issues happening simultaneously in the background. However, if you contemplate the biggest threat on this overarching power arc of western government, you arrive to understand how serious this seemingly opaque issue really is.
I first started to deep dive research into these CBDC datapoints when the Russian sanctions were triggered. You see, nothing about them really makes sense from the way they were structured; additionally, the intensity of the drive to make the sanctions the tip of the western spear was just too pointed, something about it didn’t make sense. That’s what took me to dig deep into the impact and realize nothing said about these financial sanctions makes sense when compared against their actual irrelevance {Go Deep}.
When the White House first started openly saying the Biden administration was reviewing how to implement CBDC’s, yes THAT Announcement ACTUALLY HAPPENED, September 2022, then things from a research perspective really started to get serious. “While the U.S. has not yet decided whether it will pursue a CBDC, the U.S. has been closely examining the implications of, and options for, issuing a CBDC.” Whenever the U.S. govt says they’re “undecided,” pay close attention.
First things first with the Western financial sanctions- specifically the SWIFT exchange. It is true you cannot use VISA, Mastercard or any mainstream Western financial tools to conduct business in Russia; however, the number of workarounds for this issue are numerous. One of those tools is the use of a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin; and within that reality, you find something very ominous about the USA motive against crypto.
“I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc.,” Dimon said in response to a question from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “The only true use case for it is criminals, drug traffickers … money laundering, tax avoidance because it is somewhat anonymous, not fully, and because you can move money instantaneously. “If I was the government, I would close it down.” (read more)
Dimon was/is positioning JPMorgan to be a facilitating beneficiary of the financial control system evident within any CBDC process.
Here’s how it really looks from the outside looking at the USA. The same way the Patriot Act was not designed to stop terrorism but rather to create a domestic surveillance system. So too were the “Russian Sanctions” not designed to sanction Russia, but rather to create the financial control system that will lead to a USA digital currency.
The Western sanctions created a financial wall around the USA, not to keep Russia out, but to keep us in. The Western sanction regime, the financial mechanisms they created and authorized, creates the control gate that leads to a U.S. digital currency.
Now, does the exploding debt and seeming govt ambivalence, the stuff Ed Dowd is talking about, take on a new perspective? It should, because that unspoken motive explains everything. It all just makes sense when reviewed through this prism of motive and intent. Again, the western sanctions against Russia are not having an impact against Russia; they are having a quiet impact in the USA and western dollar-based economic system that no one is permitted to talk about.
Bottom line, the non-pretending reasoning. The US Treasury has set the financial system on an almost unreversible path to a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency. As direct consequence crypto currency alternatives are a threat to the establishment of that western objective. This reality also pulls in the explanation around why the USA is so all-in for the banker-driven World War Reddit, the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
How did the Obama administration go from all efforts to be on good relations with Russia 2009 through 2015, then suddenly pivot to the exact opposite with the Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy, the Russian election interference nonsense, the expulsion of Russian diplomats in Dec/Jan 2017 and suddenly Vladimir Putin as the archvillain for the world? Apparently, few have ever really asked how that happened.
Here’s the big picture, as seen through the prism of the EU and the non-pretenders in Eastern Europe.
The Marxists in the Obama admin needed a boogeyman in order to pull off their domestic heist and secure the “fundamental change.” The CIA and State Dept were deployed to utilize Ukraine in 2014 to create the boogeyman, Russia. Ukraine would be the stick to poke Russia. The USA needed a proxy; they created one and made the participants rich.
Provoked, Russia fell into the trap and took control of Crimea as they perceived the NATO expansion and likely control of the Black Sea as a threat. The Crimea move gave the CIA and State Dept the exact response they intended.
The Russia boogeyman was created.
But why? Why would the effort of the U.S. Government be to provoke and create this crisis?
In the biggest of big pictures, the domestic fundamental change needed it. We needed a reason to put walls around the U.S – not to keep Russia out, but to keep Americans locked in. Conflict with Russia became the Obama version of Bush’s conflict with Iraq. Putin now cast to play the role of Bin Laden.
The Patriot Act was never intended to stop foreign terrorists from attacking the USA. The Patriot Act was intended to create the DHS surveillance system for domestic control. It succeeded. The Russian sanctions were never intended to sanction Russia (and they don’t). The Western sanctions against Russia were intended to build walls around the U.S. financial system.
Ostracizing the world’s global trade currency, the dollar, from the global trade system was/is a necessary step in controlling domestic currency. If there is a threat, the government needs to respond. That’s how the crisis is created and not wasted.
Yes, what I am saying is there was a longer and deeper play afoot, a ‘trillions at stake’ game by those who control money and power, using foreign threat as the justification for something that just would not be possible without it. That’s why Trump was never allowed to breathe for a moment, whenever Russia or Vladimir Putin was mentioned. The control forces needed Trump to be adversarial to Russia, regardless of whether the threat was real. After all, it was supposed to be a willfully blind Hillary Clinton in place during this phase.
Conflict with Russia created the opportunity for the USA to create a sanctions regime that doesn’t truly sanction Russia, instead it controls the world of USA finance. At the end of that control mechanism is a digital dollar, a Central Bank Digital Currency…. and by extension full control over U.S. citizen activity. The Marxist holy grail.
That moment is closer than most can fathom, and that is exactly why the counterforce of a cryptocurrency, a rebellious mechanism for free people to exchange payment for goods and services, must be stopped by the same USG that is triggering the CBDC. Crypto is a threat. Jamie Dimon, along with all the major banks and financial institutions, is one key beneficiary that CBDC (a transactional player for fees therein) so long as JPMorgan stays on task.
Republicans, really financial beneficiaries of the largesse, oppose crypto currency.
The narrative…. Only criminals, that means those who would be defined as domestic terrorists like pesky remnants of our nation who demand freedom and liberty, would support cryptocurrency. Criminals, tax cheats, bad people support crypto. Don’t be a bad person comrade citizen. Insert vote, pull lever, get pellet, go back to sleep. You will own nothing and be happy comrade.
Yes, that’s the bigger picture.
Can it be stopped? I laugh, look in the mirror, think about the reality of how many people think this is an absurd conspiracy theory, and respond with…. How many people even know about the thing you are asking to oppose?
How many people would believe the Western sanctions against Russia were really the USG building a cage to keep us in. How about we start there. That’s my answer.
During remarks in New Hampshire, President Trump announced he would never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency. WATCH:
.
Of course, it should be noted….. As if the entire global system didn’t already oppose Donald Trump, this position against CBDC’s just puts an exclamation point on how the multinational financial systems will hate/oppose him even more.
This 2024 election is critical for a variety of reasons. However, high atop that list is this issue of how a dollar based CBDC is a threat to every liberty we cherish.
Posted originally on the CTH on December 6, 2023 | Sundance
Having spent time doing the legwork, I have a completely different perspective on the issues.
If you choose to live in the world of pretending, or if you trust the expressed justifications and motives of the USG as outlined by the DC proletariat, this is not going to be a read that retains your comfort. However, if you want to boil it all down to the real reasoning, read on.
Top line – JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon wants cryptocurrencies banned in the USA.
(Newsmax) – JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Wednesday suggested bitcoin currency should be banned.
“I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc.,” Dimon said in response to a question from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “The only true use case for it is criminals, drug traffickers … money laundering, tax avoidance because it is somewhat anonymous, not fully, and because you can move money instantaneously. “If I was the government, I would close it down.” (read more)
Bottom line, the non-pretending reasoning. The US Treasury has set the financial system on an almost unreversible path to a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency. Crypto is a threat to the establishment of that objective.
The leftists and Marxists who now control the various institutions we associate with the United States Government, together with the DC UniParty apparatus that controls the Potemkin village we call congress, are in full alignment with the control objective. What and who is their target for control? Us.
I’m going to be brutally honest and seemingly radical, but here is the Occam’s razor.
If you have ever wondered why Hillary Clinton could hold a reset button with a visit to Russia, expressing a direct interest in improved relations. Then, if you have ever wondered why Barack Obama would tell Russian President Medvedev he just needed to get through the 2012 election to have “more flexibility,” again expressing an interest in improved relations with Russia; then seemingly all of that is dispatched in 2016 to make Russia the #1 threat…. keep reading.
What happened?
How did the Obama administration go from all efforts to be on good relations with Russia 2009 through 2015, then suddenly pivot to the exact opposite with the Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy, the Russian election interference nonsense, the expulsion of Russian diplomats in Dec/Jan 2017 and suddenly Vladimir Putin as the archvillain for the world? Apparently, few have ever really asked how that happened.
Here’s the big picture, as seen through the prism of the EU and the non-pretenders in Eastern Europe.
The Marxists in the Obama admin needed a boogeyman in order to pull off their domestic heist and secure the “fundamental change.” The CIA and State Dept were deployed to utilize Ukraine in 2014 to create the boogeyman, Russia. Ukraine would be the stick to poke Russia. The USA needed a proxy; they created one and made the participants rich.
Provoked, Russia fell into the trap and took control of Crimea as they perceived the NATO expansion and likely control of the Black Sea as a threat. The Crimea move gave the CIA and State Dept the exact response they intended.
The Russia boogeyman was created.
But why? Why would the effort of the U.S. Government be to provoke and create this crisis?
In the biggest of big pictures, the domestic fundamental change needed it. We needed a reason to put walls around the U.S – not to keep Russia out, but to keep Americans locked in. Conflict with Russia became the Obama version of Bush’s conflict with Iraq. Putin now cast to play the role of Bin Laden.
The Patriot Act was never intended to stop foreign terrorists from attacking the USA. The Patriot Act was intended to create the DHS surveillance system for domestic control. It succeeded. The Russian sanctions were never intended to sanction Russia (and they don’t). The Western sanctions against Russia were intended to build walls around the U.S. financial system.
Ostracizing the world’s global trade currency, the dollar, from the global trade system was/is a necessary step in controlling domestic currency. If there is a threat, the government needs to respond. That’s how the crisis is created and not wasted.
Yes, what I am saying is there was a longer and deeper play afoot, a ‘trillions at stake’ game by those who control money and power, using foreign threat as the justification for something that just would not be possible without it. That’s why Trump was never allowed to breathe for a moment, whenever Russia or Vladimir Putin was mentioned. The control forces needed Trump to be adversarial to Russia, regardless of whether the threat was real. After all, it was supposed to be a willfully blind Hillary Clinton in place during this phase.
Conflict with Russia created the opportunity for the USA to create a sanctions regime that doesn’t truly sanction Russia, instead it controls the world of USA finance. At the end of that control mechanism is a digital dollar, a Central Bank Digital Currency…. and by extension full control over U.S. citizen activity. The Marxist holy grail.
That moment is closer than most can fathom, and that is exactly why the counterforce of a cryptocurrency, a rebellious mechanism for free people to exchange payment for goods and services, must be stopped by the same USG that is triggering the CBDC. Crypto is a threat. Jamie Dimon, along with all the major banks and financial institutions, is one key beneficiary that CBDC (a transactional player for fees therein) so long as JPMorgan stays on task.
Republicans, really financial beneficiaries of the largesse, oppose crypto currency.
The narrative…. Only criminals, that means those who would be defined as domestic terrorists like pesky remnants of our nation who demand freedom and liberty, would support cryptocurrency. Criminals, tax cheats, bad people support crypto. Don’t be a bad person comrade citizen. Insert vote, pull lever, get pellet, go back to sleep. You will own nothing and be happy comrade.
Yes, that’s the bigger picture.
Can it be stopped? I laugh, look in the mirror, think about the reality of how many people think this is an absurd conspiracy theory, and respond with…. How many people even know about the thing you are asking to oppose?
How many people would believe the Western sanctions against Russia were really the USG building a cage to keep us in. How about we start there. That’s my answer.
You can travel to Russia. Wait, what?
Yes, you can travel to Russia without issue. The Russians don’t care. The process for getting an entry visa into Russia is the same now as it was five years ago. Ask Russia for a VISA. The paperwork has not changed. Show your passport, give them pictures to create the visa (it’s a full page sticker added to your passport), show your hotel reservation printout, show your travel destination, drop off the paperwork, go back on your appointment date and get the visa.
It’s hard and takes longer from the USA, but it’s not impossible – it’s just easier from the EU. It’s the booking of a flight into Russia (best done in the EU), the payment for a hotel given the sanctions, the stuff created by the USA that is the roadblock. From the Russian side of the dynamic, nothing has changed – they don’t care.
How do I know? The friendly people at the Russian consulate in Budapest walked me through the process. So, find a way to pay for the hotel in Russia (there are many options), travel to the intermediary airport that has flights into Russia (like Istanbul, Barcelona, Budapest) go to the second smaller terminal in the major airport, hop in the flight and fly in. Russians don’t care. Go have a good time. Leave the same way you came in. [If by train or road, just have the VISA ready for review]
Scared about travel? Why?
The same people who tell you where to be scared traveling as an American, are the same people who told you Trump was colluding with Russia.
Posted originally on Dec 4, 2023 By Martin Armstrong
Australian federal Finance Minister, Senator Katy Gallagher, has introduced legislation for a national digital ID. The new program aims to create a single platform that unites a person’s identification documents and connects it with government services such as myGov, Centrelink, and the Australian Tax Office. The government claims that the digital ID will have strong privacy provisions built in; however, the information is accessible to both the public and private sectors.
The Ministerial Digital ID Expert Panel has stated the program will cost $1.5 billion annually. The digital ID will contain sensitive documents such as a person’s birth certificate, driver’s license, and passport. The current AGDIS program will be phased out as this national ID is all-encompassing. As of October, over 10.5 million Australians have already enrolled in the program.
We have just learnt that Senator Katy Gallagher, Finance Minister, is introducing the Digital ID Bill 2023 tomorrow.
It's time for all Australians to visit, call and write to your local Federal MPs and all Senators in your State NOW.
Liberal Senator Alex Antic has emassed nearly 95,000 signatures on his online petition to scrap the “digital identity power grab.” The petition states:“The Labor government wants to take your most sensitive personal data. They want to cram it into a central government-run database – the perfect target for a hacker. They want to generate a ‘digital identity’ with this data. Then they will force you to use this ‘digital identity’ to transact online or access online services. The worst part? This is the first step in a Chinese-style social credit system. If you don’t toe the line, your ‘digital identity’ could be cancelled, meaning you’d be cut off from the world of online services that people now rely on. This is a fundamental threat to your freedom and our democracy. You and I need to send a strong message now that Australians will not take this lying down.”
The Australian government created the program with “input from various stakeholders,” a nod to who will own your data. After passing the legislation, the government plans to incorporate state and territory-issued IDs to the framework. Then, the government will link the system with the private sector. Banks and other agencies will have access to your financial information through the digital ID.
Australia’s government has failed to protect user data numerous times. Webber Insurance found 44 data breaches in the first six months of this year alone. Last year, the data of over 12 million Australians containing sensitive information such as medical records was leaked from the Tax Office. There were reports of hackers selling MyGov accounts for a mere $1 USD.
This policy is a gross infringement on human rights and privacy. The government does not need to track us like cattle. Worse, why are they selling personal data to the private sector and how will that data be kept securely? The Australian government showed just how tyrannical it has become after the COVID lockdowns and is ushering in this new reality of government surveillance. The goal is to build a GLOBAL database where we will all be accessible through the click of a mouse.
I have been buying ancient coins at public auction, probably since the 1970s. Now, you cannot buy anything anywhere without providing full identification of who you are. This is an email I got from another European auction house.
Dear customer,
With regards to our business relationship, and following the legal obligations of the Principality of Monaco, could you please send us :
– Your ID card, or the one of the legal representative of your company.
– The Certificate of Incorporation, or a legal document certifying the existence of your company.
You likely have not heard of the Pix system unless you live in Brazil. Pix is an “instant payment ecosystem” launched on November 16, 2020, by Brazil’s central bank (BCB). Pix primarily works through the use of QR codes that users use to access their digital accounts for payments. The pandemic helped push people to digitalized banking, and now the system has surpassed the use of credit and debit cards.
About 30% of all transactions in 2022 happened on the Pix system, compared to only 20% via credit cards and 19% on debit cards. Three billion monthly transactions take place through Pix and that figure continues to grow. “The adoption of Pix in society has been very intense,” commented Carlos Eduardo Brandt, head of Pix Operations at the Central Bank of Brazil. Two-thirds of the entire population of Brazil now uses Pix as it has become ingrained in everyday life. Cash transactions are in decline, dropping by a quarter since 2020. However, Brazilians once preferred cash and those in rural areas accepted their wages in the Real.
The International Monetary Fund is pleased with the success of Pix and has been studying its success. The IMF published a study this July entitled, “Pix: Brazil’s Successful Instant Payment System.” “The authorities are now able to track monthly payment and related economic activity on a granular basis by geographical location, types of transactions, and borrowers, including by age group,” the study notes. The IMF says that mandatory participation by the big banks was one of the contributing factors to Pix’s adaptation.
Every central bank is developing its own CBDC. The goal of the globalists is to combine these digital currencies into one centralized database. Although Pix is not a CBDC, it has served the purpose of acclimating the banks, merchants, and users to the idea of a cashless society.
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
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