Category Economic Collapse

May 25 2022

Interest Rates & The Chaos Ahead


Armstrong Economics Blog/Interest Rates Re-Posted May 25, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Marty, Your forecast for the Panic Cycle here in Australian politics was correct and it beat all the polls as you did in BREXIT. Our new leader is a full-on board with the WEF climate agenda and will have all cars electric by 2030. As you say, in war you take out the power grid first. I guess this makes the power grid even more of a first-strike target.

I want to thank you for Socrates. It is great to have something that provides a non-emotional forecast. The forecasts you publish on so many things around the world are amazing and accurate.

So my question is this. You were correct that rates would rise, or Socrates was, and you said that there would be shortages with a commodity cycle mixed with war rising and civil unrest. So now that the central banks are in a state of panic, what do you expect with the panic cycle in 2023 in the Fed?

ANSWER: You are correct. Too many people attribute everything to just me as if I have a crystal ball. The forecasts are from the model. Nobody could be forecasting so many things for 40 years on a gut feeling and be correct. The odds of humanity are against that.

People tend to forecast what they want to happen. It is just an inherent human flaw. But it is also what drives markets. The majority of people are influenced by the direction of the trend. So a rising market makes people feel bullish and a declining market makes people more pessimistic. That is just a fact of life. So the ONLY hope for an accurate forecast MUST come from a non-emotional source. Staring into 2023 just looks like total chaos.

I do get the occasional email asking me how I cope with my own forecasts. I look at it this way. If I said here comes my fist, I’m going to punch you in the face. Do you just stand there and smile or do you dodge the punch, or defend against it? Isn’t it better to know something is coming to prepare?

It is more like an out-of-body experience for me personally because these forecasts are the computer and I have to stand here and watch as well as live through them. It is a different experience to forecast these events years in advance and live through them myself.

I am concerned that when you look around the globe, so many things have serious targets and panic cycles in 2023. Even in the war cycle, the computer has the highest aggregate bar for 2023. The central banks are unable to prevent inflation because this is a shortage crisis, not a speculative boom where raising interest rates will reduce the buying.

While the Central Bankers think this is clear sailing, they have entered uncharted waters. The risks of the markets discovering they cannot control the economy anymore will raise the crisis to extreme levels as we head into 2023.

May 25 2022

Canadian Multinational Executive Outlines Tech Initiative to Create Consumer Carbon Footprint Tracker


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 24, 2022 | Sundance

It is important to remember the ultimate goal of the ‘climate change’ promotors (World Economic Forum) is not an energy system that changes the global climate. The goal of the ‘climate change’ group is to create a carbon trading system; a new financial mechanism (a global tax program) to control human activity on a world-wide basis.  This system also needs a digital identity in order to work {hint-hint}.

You cannot tax or trade things you cannot track.  As a result, there was always going to be a need for an individual tracking and monitoring system that would connect to the global digital identity and determine the carbon footprint.  The carbon taxing and trading system will be more financially lucrative than any stock exchange or monetary banking system.  It is the ultimate human control mechanism, and the preferred way to redistribute wealth under the guise of global equity.

Of course, the system will beta test as a consumer demand product until the government steps in to take over the allocation and distribution equity part.  In this video segment, Alibaba Group president J. Michael Evans boasts at the 2022 World Economic Forum about the development of an “individual carbon footprint tracker” to monitor what you buy, what you eat, and where/how you travel.  WATCH:

The individual carbon tracker is the baseline for a global carbon trading system that involves everyone; at least, everyone connected to the outlook of western government.

Carbon allocation creates the financial metric that replaces currency.  You buy and sell carbon credits allowing you to engage in specific functions within society, like dining, traveling, home ownership and type, vehicle or transportation type, even the clothes you can purchase. Hence, “carbon trading” is the term most people are familiar with.

In essence, you are a parasite to earth; therefore, you must offset your derogatory footprint on the planet by paying a fee to exist.  If you cannot pay for the carbon credits needed to engage in the transaction (travel, home ownership, cooling, heating, etc.) you cannot engage in the regulated activity.

The carbon exchange process is at the end of the slippery slope created by a digital identity.  The 5G telecommunications network is designed to use geolocation and behavioral tracking that will connect your digital identity to your individual behavior and facilitate the carbon footprint tracing process.   We are already passed the “if” stage.

May 24 2022

Who’s to Blame for Rising Gas Prices?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted May 24, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Back in 2007, Nancy Pelosi was quick to blame the Bush Administration for rising gas prices. In 2018, Pelosi tweeted, “The price of regular unleaded gas has climbed 20% over the last year (thanks to Republican policies), eating away at working families’ paychecks – but according to @GOPLeader, you’re #BetterOffNow.” The national average for gas was under $3 at the time.

Now that gas prices have reached all-time highs, Pelosi and the Democrats no longer believe that the White House is responsible. “Gas prices will roughly cancel out the 2018 consumption boost from the tax cuts,” Schumer said at an Exxon gas station on Capitol Hill. “That’s right, whatever meager benefit working families may have seen from Trump’s tax scam for the rich has been wiped out by the gas prices that President Trump is responsible for.”

No one ever blamed Obama for rising energy prices after he did everything to end domestic production. Biden canceled the Keystone XL project as soon as he took office and reversed all the Trump-era policies to make America energy independent. However, the other side refuses to blame Biden or their current policies as gas continues to rise. Instead, they are blaming the president of a different country and have made no meaningful progress in curbing energy inflation. If they cannot admit the cause of the problem, they cannot concoct a viable solution.

May 24 2022

Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer Team Up to Expedite Finland and Sweden Entry into NATO


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 23, 2022 | sundance 

The preparations and proactive moves to establish the global cleaving are being carried out by Wall Street globalists, the World Economic Forum and the various western politicians who align with the objective.  The opinion of the citizens within each nation are irrelevant to the decisions of the leaders.

Fundamentally, the big picture dynamic is to create a global network of allied nations based on one overarching principle, energy and human control through the carbon trading platform.  There are multiple moving puzzle pieces, but one big dynamic. Western government leaders are cleaving the world into two economic systems.

One economic system will be based on traditional energy as the underpinning of the economy.  One system will be based on renewable energy, with climate change agenda as the overarching basis for all of their economic shifts.  Pressure from within traditional alliances like the G7, G20, NATO etc, will create the wedge.  Terms like Build Back Better, Green New Deal, Paris Treaty Accords, and other reference points are part of this cleaving agenda.

Each nation will eventually have to make a decision about which team they will join.  The entry of Finland and Sweden into the NATO alliance is only one part of this dynamic.

WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) plan to present a resolution that will press the Biden administration to rush the paperwork for Finland and Sweden to join NATO.

In the resolution text, first obtained by Politico, both Senate leaders note the roles played by the Nordic countries in organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union, and their neutral stance on matters pertaining to Europe as reasons why they should join the alliance.

The resolution calls on President Biden to move swiftly to complete all necessary documents involving both countries’ NATO membership so the Senate can advance the measure, also calling on fellow NATO members to swiftly complete their own ratification processes. (read more)

As we evaluate the geopolitical ramifications of everything from military alliances to food distribution and trade, this overarching global cleaving should be the prism to determine the motive of each move.  Unfortunately, as mentioned, the opinion of the average citizen within each system is irrelevant to the decisionmakers.

It is very easy to see how this global split is being created. It is much more challenging to figure out how, or even if, it can be stopped.

In the United States we have a federation of states, a constitutional republic, so we can try and combat the agenda by demanding state government draw hard boundaries from federal intervention.  However, this battle is going to get increasingly difficult.  Freedom is not expanding in this era, it is contracting.

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May 24 2022

Biden Admits U.S. Gas Prices Driven by Incredible Transition Away from Fossil Fuels


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 23, 2022 | sundance

During a joint press conference held in Tokyo, Japan, held by Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Biden was asked about the financial pain Americans are feeling with massive increases in gasoline prices.

Outlining how his energy policy is directly related to the gasoline price, Joe Biden said: “Here’s the situation. And when it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over.” Yet again proving the intent of the administration is to implement the ‘Green New Deal’ through executive action.  WATCH:

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This admission is akin to former President Obama saying, “energy prices would necessarily skyrocket” in order to achieve the goals of the administration.

May 23 2022

Securing the Border


Armstrong Economics Blog/Migration Re-Posted May 23, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Former President Trump requested $5 billion to build the US-Mexico border wall. The amount shocked many who claimed it would be damaging to the economy and a waste of resources. However, a few short years later, the US agreed, with bipartisan support, to send 8X that amount to secure the Ukrainian border and protect them from Russian invasion.

Former President Trump and his advisors believed that illegal immigration cost the US over $200 billion per year. Many disagreed, yet some of the lowest estimates, such as one put forward by the Heritage Foundation, claimed that the US loses $54 billion annually due to the unsecured border. The exact cost is hard to estimate as it is unknown how many people enter the country each day.

The Pew Research center acknowledged that migrant encounters, not arrests, are at their highest level on record. The United States Border Patrol recorded 1,659,206 encounters with migrants at the US-Mexico border last fiscal year, surpassing last year’s high of 1,643,679. Moreover, a quarter of all migrant encounters in 2021 and 2020 (27% and 26%, respectfully) were repeat offenders, compared to only 7% the year prior before the pandemic restrictions further hurt struggling countries. Biden’s policies have enticed people facing economic hardship to come to America as

The claim that the US-Mexico border wall would pay for itself seemed outlandish during Trump’s presidency to many, likely due to his delivery, but the numbers indicate he was telling the truth. No one, aside from Rand Paul, seems to be publicly questioning why the US is willing to pay to secure a foreign border but not its own.

May 23 2022

Canada Waives Vaccine Requirement for Ukrainian Refugees


Armstrong Economics Blog/Canada Re-Posted May 23, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Canadians have been brutalized by vaccine mandates, unable to leave their own country unless they comply. Prime Minister Young Global Leader Trudeau just waived all restrictions for Ukrainian refugees. Under the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel (CUAET), Ukrainians “are exempt from Canada’s COVID-19 vaccination entry requirements.” Refugees may be subject to tests and quarantines, but they are not required to receive the COVID vaccine to travel about the country freely.

If the mandates were about health, Trudeau would ensure that all incoming refugees received vaccines, as his government has stockpiled more than they can distribute. This is also a strategic way for those who were forcibly vaccinated or unvaccinated and battling with restrictions to hold resentment toward the incoming residents. Resentment and anger will build when taxpayers have fewer human rights than the refugees they are paying to save.

Trudeau refuses to accept refugees from other war-torn countries. He will not allow his own people to leave unless they are vaccinated or willing to take numerous steps to flee their homes. This elected man is a hypocritical liar, and hopefully, more people can see through this transparent man who is nothing more than a puppet for Schwab’s Great Reset.

May 23 2022

Sunday Talks, Harvard Kennedy School Economist Celebrates U.S. Inflation Because Consumer Spending is Higher


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 22, 2022 | Sundance 

We often talk about the disconnect between Wall Street (globalists) and Main Street (nationalists), and their influence in economic policy.  Today, Jason Furman, a former Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, appears on CBS News to discuss his Harvard-Kennedy School impression of the U.S. economy.

There’s a particular point in the interview [Transcript Here] that encapsulates the moonbat perspective of the globalists.  Listen at 01:20 and you will hear this:

FURMAN:  “Look, we’ve seen a remarkable thing. Consumers, if you survey them, are very pessimistic and negative about the economy. When they vote with their wallets, we saw- we got the consumer spending data for April and it was way up. Consumer spending on just about everything has been booming. Over the next 6 to 12 months, I’m not super worried about a recession. After that is where I start to get worried because that’s where the Fed’s policy will start having more of an effect.”

Put another way: Our policies have made prices skyrocket (inflation). Consumers are forced to spend more money to sustain themselves (food, housing, fuel, energy); ergo consumer spending is booming. Brilliant, our plan to increase consumer spending by raising their prices is working.  That’s the way these people think. WATCH:

We force you to pay more, then turn around and claim economic victory because you are paying more…. “consumer spending is booming.”

By the way, he’s at the World Economic Forum where this perspective is actually cheered inside the echo-chamber.

Comrades, American consumers are overjoyed with gasoline because they are spending so much more money on it. 

Gasoline sales are booming, so everyone must be happy.

Brilliant! 

May 23 2022

Sunday Talks, Face the Nation Cannot Spin Away from Their CBS Poll Highlighting Major Disapproval for Biden Policy, 74 Percent Feel Things are Going Badly


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 22, 2022

CBS conducted an extensive YouGov poll [pdf DATA HERE] on wide ranging topics connected to the overall Joe Biden agenda.  The first page of the poll gives a good idea of just how badly the broad spectrum of Americans view the current status:

In addition to the Biden administration being upside down on every issue; the result of doing exactly the wrong thing on every aspect of White House policy; overall, a big indicator within the poll is that 61% of Americans polled describe the Democrat party as “out of touch.”  [DATA HERE]

Keep in mind this is a YouGov poll, which generally skews in favor of DNC policy and doesn’t filter to just registered voters.  So the actual percentages are much higher.

This morning on CBS News Face the Nation, elections and surveys director Anthony Salvanto tried to put the best spin on the poll that finds the number of Americans who say things are going badly in the country, particularly with the economy, is at the highest rate in decades.  WATCH:

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May 21 2022

Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan Outlines Details of Biden Administration Actions to Block U.S. Oil Production


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 20, 2022 | Sundance 

During a Senate Energy Committee hearing, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan gives a list of actions taken by the Biden administration in the past three weeks to block U.S. oil production.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stated during the hearing that the Biden administration was doing everything possible to increase oil production and supply in the United States.  Senator Sullivan quotes the actions of the Biden administration in the last three weeks which are exactly the opposite of the energy secretary claims.  WATCH (3 minutes):

This is, yet again, another example of the false pretense of the Biden administration {GO DEEP}.  The Interior Department is filled with radical climate change ideologues, and they are working earnestly to undermine U.S. energy policy.

The hypocrisies pointed out by Senator Sullivan are not hypocrisies, they are fraud.   The activist ideologues embedded within the bureaucracy of government are like terror cells activating to destroy the foundation of the country.   President Obama implanted them at all levels of the executive branch offices. They are self-aware and operating independently.  The example of the Interior Department, in charge of oil and gas development, is the easiest to see.