Durham Report Explained – Everything was a Lie


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted May 18, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Special counsel John Durham revealed in his report that all American intelligence agencies knew the Trump-Russian collusion story was a lie. You can read the full 300-page report here. Hillary Clinton needed a way to take the heat off of her email scandal and was the mastermind behind this plot. The CIA and FBI knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Steele Dossier was a lie designed by Clinton to take down Trump. The FBI then leaked deliberate misinformation to the press to condemn Trump on behalf of Hillary and the Democrats.

Christopher Steele was bribed $1 million to write his fictional Steele Dossier. Igor Danchenko was known to be Russian intelligence. Intelligence agencies paid Danchecnko a quarter of a million USD to reveal classified information to back Steele’s claims. He could not provide any evidence since it did not exist, but he was paid anyway. Former intelligence chair Shiff said he saw first-hand evidence of Russian collusion — a complete lie.

Will anyone be held accountable for these extreme crimes? All Americans should be completely outraged that we were lied to by our intelligence agencies and media outlets in an attempt to alter our election. This is a direct attack on our freedom and electoral process. Hillary knows she is above the law and can commit crimes in the open without penalty or even criticism. Obama, Biden, the FBI, the CIA, and numerous politicians knew that everything regarding “Russian collusion” was a complete lie. Trump was correct — this has been one of the biggest witch hunts in American history.

The 14th Amendment & the Destruction of the United States


Armstrong Economics Blog/Sovereign Debt Crisis Re-Posted May 10, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Interpretation of the Constitution is often caught up in controversy. What is beautiful to one person is average or ugly to another. The best construction regarding law was the cornerstone of Justice Scalia who I regard as probably one of the most brilliant minds that ever sat on the bench. Of course, the left will send me hate mail on that one because they did not like the outcome. But Scalia held to what is known as Strict Construction which requires a judge to apply the text only as it is written. Once the court has a clear meaning of the text, no further investigation is required.

I will give you an example of the “liberal” wing and how they want to interpret the Constitution. They cannot even define what is a WOMAN anymore. I am waiting for them to declare the LGBQT have been so disadvantaged, that they will be exempt from also paying taxes since they are exempt from all social regulations. Since I like women, then I should “identify” as a Lesbian and enjoy all sorts of protection and be exempt from taxation.

This entire WOKE agenda has gone nuts. Just because some guy has a sex change does not justify changing all the definitions of everything and changing all social norms. Women’s sports have been completely destroyed.  What about the girls that hoped to break records and win scholarships? Nothing works anymore. Just because a guy changes his sex does not make him a woman who can have biological children which is different from carrying a child because they now have a uterus. There is still a difference! Why must a woman surrender her identity? The simple solution was there are males and females, and in Thailand, the transgenders simply identify as a ladyboy.

This is precisely the same irrational interpretation they are using to justify the 14th Amendment which will destroy everything and this is far more serious than just suspending debt payments. By invoking this 14th Amendment, there will never be a debt ceiling and then you will have runaway inflation, taxation, and a complete breakdown in all liberty. The executive can then use executive orders to deny Congress even the opportunity to vote on any spending. The head of the EU did that to buy 3 times the number of vaccines from Pfizer than the population of Europe. And Ukraine put out the propaganda that they are fighting to preserve democracy yet refuse to honor the Minsk Agreement to allow the Donbas to vote! Our Western governments have killed democracy long ago and executive order circumvents everything – it is the tool of choice for dictators.

To illustrate the constitutional crisis, Garrett Epps, who was a professor of law at the University of Baltimore until his retirement in June 2020, wrote back on November 22, 2022, claiming that the Constitution’s text bars the federal government from defaulting on the debt  “even a little, even for a short while.” Epps claims that “[t]here’s a case to be made that if Congress decides to default on the debt, the president has the power and the obligation to pay it without congressional permission, even if that requires borrowing more money to do so.” I tried really hard to follow his legal argument and I could not with any Strict  Construction InterpretationQuite frankly, he also probably cannot define what is a woman either.

The “Intent” behind the 14th Amendment has nothing to do with this argument of default. Britain suspended the gold standard and declared a moratorium on debt during the Great Depression – they resumed. The City of Detroit suspended its debt payments in 1937 and resumed in 1963. Yet people insist there was no default. What is the definition of “default”? That traditionally means the abandonment of all obligations on a permanent basis. There is NOTHING in the statutory construction nor in the Constitution that would bar a “suspension” of debt payments. Ukraine suspended its debt until the US paid everything for them so they did not default.

Looking at the 14th Amendment, Section 4 provides that “the validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned.” The “intent” of that was that the debt incurred by the North was to be the national debt and the Confederate States would not question having to pay those debts. But it continued and made it clear that it would not honor any debts incurred by the Confederate States to fund their side of the war.

In order to understand what this means, we must turn to Statutory Construction which begins by FIRST looking at the plain language of the Amendment to determine its original intent. We must look at the words to determine the original intent and apply their usual and ordinary meanings. If after looking at the language and the meaning remains unclear, then we must attempt to ascertain what was the intent of the legislature by looking at legislative history and other related sources. Normally, a court must not create an interpretation that would create an absurd result that would be counter to the original Legislature’s intent.

Epps claims that “Shall not be questioned” doesn’t mean “shall be paid most of the time unless you can score political points against the other party by not paying it.” That is creating an absurd result and opening the door to the total collapse of the United States. Article I, Section 8 is pretty clear that borrowing and repaying indebtedness are congressional, not executive, powers! Article I would be nullified if the 14th Amendment granted the power to the president to spend as he wants and to pay all debts when that is expressly the power of Congress.

Now we turn to 31 USC §3101 which some try to claim is UNCONSTITUTIONAL and therefore there should be no debt limit. Up to now, this statute has proved to be a good tool for forcing budgetary reform aimed at debt reduction.

The statute was passed in 1982 and became law. The ORIGINAL intent was to do precisely what it has been used for. The only grounds for it to be unconstitutional is if Congress did not have the power to limit the debt. Looking at Article I, this entire argument that Biden can just pay debt and spend without the approval of Congress is the death knell to the Constitution. This is a direct assault upon the separation of powers between the President (Executive branch) and Congress. Since Article I delegates all questions of debt to Congress, I cannot rationally see where Congress lacked the power to curtail the debt when that was the original intent as well.

The ONLY person who wants those provisions to be UNCONSTITUTIONAL so they can spend whatever is left-wing and they have ZERO intention of EVER paying off the national debt. This is really a fraud on their part because you borrow with only the intent to repay the debt. Lacking that, their actions are totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL and a fraud upon the people of the United States and the world.

REMINDER: Inflation was at 1.4% When Biden Took Office


Armstrong Economics Blog/Inflation Re-Posted Apr 27, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Inflation was only 1.4% when Biden took office. He began implementing policies on his first day that directly created the energy crisis in the US. He refused to reopen the economy under the pretense of COVID for as long as possible, disrupting the supply chain and damaging small businesses. Biden has created multi-trillion dollar spending programs that saddled the nation with more debt and increased price volatility. His team has been working to divide the people and create civil unrest. I could go on about his failures, but his worst move was involving America in the Russia-Ukraine war. Inflation has steadily risen to unsustainable levels nearly every month since Biden took office.

Biden’s team toys with the numbers to tout that inflation has gone down, but they are comparing the high and low both created under Biden. Wages cannot support the increase in costs and absolutely no one is better off under Biden. Considering the dire situation, it is infuriating that the US had a 1.4% inflation rate not long ago.

Inflation has soared by over 15% since Biden’s inauguration in January 2021. The “Presidential Inflation Rate,” (PIR) developed by the Winston Group, measures a president’s progress in handling inflation over time, from their inauguration month to the month of the most recent CPI report. As of March, inflation under Biden is 15%, which makes him the most inflationary president since Carter. Biden’s 24% “Presidential Inflation Rate” for rising electricity costs is higher than any of the previous seven presidents as it is now up 37.2%. The cost of food rose 18.3% under Biden, and eggs alone have soared by nearly 80%. Shelter costs are now at a 42-year high, and Biden’s PIR for rent has surpassed 13.5%.

Joe Biden takes no responsibility for the inflation caused by his policies and failures as a president. Inflation will continue to increase under Biden. He has absolutely no plans to address the issue, and the legislation he creates to address the problem only exacerbates it. Biden is a corrupt politician who lines his pockets with money from Ukraine and China. The investigation into his crime family that the media is sweeping under the rug reveals the truth. This man needs to be removed from office immediately, but the people alone must decide when they’ve had enough.

Biden’s Let’s Finish the Job


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Apr 27, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Biden’s announcement that he is running was crafted like a Twitter post – not live and posted at 6AM. His message is highly questionable for all he is saying is that the Republicans are radicals and therefore vote for him and he will maintain the status quo. There is a void of any new proposal and there is undoubtedly no message about the economy or inflation that is running away and reducing the livelihood of the average American. Quite frankly, this is the most controversial campaign that naturally the media will never even discuss. How do you “finish the job” without knowing what has been accomplished and what remains “finished” in a second term? The total absence of any claim that he accomplished anything from COVID to having 7 aids that are LGBTQ leaves a huge void.

The Republicans, on the other hand, are simply rolling out the same agenda of restraining the debt ceiling which will only work to undermine the entire socialist agenda and that is way too late. The warmongers in the Republican Party would rather spend money throwing it into the Ukrainian Black Hole where we are paying the entire salaries and pensions of Ukrainian government officials with no restraint on their salaries whatsoever. So we are to cut the benefits of Americans but keep funding Ukraine? Sorry, that is not an agenda I would be voting for.

Then there is the Abortion issue so they are fighting well-organized propaganda where even Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg said when she got to the Supreme for Roe v Wade, that it was all about population control and eugenics – not women’s rights.

The defense of Roe v Wade is actually hypocritical for the Democrats. The main support comes from Gates and Rockefeller Foundations and it is covertly supported by the United Nations. This is all about the Planned Parenthood agenda to provide abortions to minorities to reduce their population. Now you may think I am being a conspiracy theorist. However, back in 2009, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg bluntly told the truth, when she was for equal rights for women.

The Democrats successfully won the abortion argument and the Republicans never understood the issue. It is like asking a witness when was the last time you beat your wife. He will then try to defend himself saying never, and even say ask his wife if he ever beat her. She will say no, and then you argue of course she will deny being beaten out of fear you will beat her again when you get home. You created a no-win argument and changed the entire agenda and nobody understands how you manipulated the entire argument.

Ginsberg made it clear: “Frankly, I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.” She spoke bluntly in an interview published in the New York Times Magazine which was an article on women on the court. So it was not simply a woman’s rights agenda. That was the cover story to hide the real agenda which has always existed – eugenics and to reduce the population of minorities.

The Republicans have been diverted to argue over religion and never noticed that the Democrats flipped Eugenics into Women’s Rights. This claim it is my body so it is my choice, was entirely ignored by the Biden Administration when it came to COVID Vaccines. Suddenly nobody cared if it was your body, you were being told to take the vaccine or lose your job.

The Republicans are too caught up in their old rhetoric to notice that they have been played like a fiddle and they are the monkey dancing to the organ-grinder’s tune. I fail to see any Republican charging in on a white horse to save the day. They are too distracted to even understand what day it is.

So when Biden says let’s finish the job, he refuses to even say what the job is.

New FHFA Rule- Middle Class to Subsidize High-Risk Borrowers


Armstrong Economics Blog/Real Estate Re-Posted Apr 26, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Biden is ushering in new socialistic policies and there are no checks and balances. I mentioned a few weeks ago how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are changing Loan Level Price Adjustments (LLPAs) on conventional loans. To ensure “fairness,” the agencies are helping “underserved” home buyers by reducing costs for those with lower credit scores and less money for down payments. Borrowers with a credit score under 680 will be rewarded, while those who spent years maintaining a high level of creditworthiness will see higher rates. So those with good credit and savings will be subsidizing mortgages for others who are less financially responsible.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is using the race card and claiming this will help people of color secure loans. “In the short term, this may increase homeownership among the targeted group, but I’m afraid it could decrease homeownership among the middle class,” said Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders. “I’m not sure that we’re not robbing Peter to pay Paul here.” People of color can also have good credit and savings for a downpayment, and it is an insult to say otherwise. As of now, lenders are solely looking at the colorblind numbers and race is not a factor. This is merely a ploy to see how this administration can slowly replace our republic with socialism.

This is completely unconstitutional and it’s telling how this measure passed with little backlash. Do not trash your credit because the rules of this rigged game always change. There will be backlash once people see the additional fees that the Biden Administration calls “minimum.” An extra $40 per month on a $400K loan amounts to over $14,400 over the course of a 30-year mortgage. Moreover, already stressed banks will be forced to provide loans at a lower rate to people who should not qualify. The law goes into effect on May 1, right in time for the busy spring season. Biden is forcing people to redistribute their wealth, and we are not talking about real wealth. Those with real wealth are buying in cash right now. This directly hurts the middle class who believed that working hard could afford them the now imaginary American dream.

The Great De-Dollarization Fraud of a Lifetime


Armstrong Economics Blog/USD $ Re-Posted Apr 24, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Marty; I was in a board meeting and I just wanted to let you know one guy who is there simply because his family had a stake in the company with zero worldly experience, started ranting about the end of the dollar he probably read on that biased _____________________. I asked this fool, should we then move all our company funds to Russia or China since Brazil is too small of an economy? Should we stop dealing with Americans? He had no response.

Separating a fool from his money seems to be a never-ending fact about humanity.

Cheers

You are the only sane one out there these days

PY

REPLY: I know what you mean. The people promoting this BRICS nonsense have no understanding of the real world. Institutions cannot park billions in Brazil, China, or Russia. Especially in the face of war. The reason the Euro has failed as a serious reserve currency is that there is NO NATIONAL EURO DEBT! Institutions have to still jockey between the various risks of each country and all the Euro did was transfer the foreign exchange risk to the bond market. Sorry, I just do not see where the dollar is in some state of collapse.

When they came to me to create the Euro, I warned them that there would be no single interest rate without the consolidation of the debt. But Kohl never allowed the German people to vote on joining the Euro, so he would not allow the consolidation of the debt. I was told then that they just had to get the Euro started and they would worry about consolidating the debts later. Of course, that never came. Hence, the volatility in FX simply moved to the debt market. The bottom line – the US dollar is still the ONLY place for major institutions to park money – PERIOD! They are not buying Brazil, China, or Russia.

World Trade as a percent of total world GDP PEAKED in 2008 at 61%. It has been in a bear market that will not bottom before 31.4 years taking us into 2040. The sanctions on Russia have divided the world economy and killed SWIFT but it has also ended globalization. To think that the BRICS can replace the dollar with ZERO capacity for international capital to park in such markets is the delusion of absolute fools. China will surpass the USA, but only after 2032.

So here we go again. This nonsense is leading unsuspecting people to follow the piper to divest of dollars and move into what exactly? Most of this is propagated by the gold bugs who will NEVER listen. They hate the dollar because they think gold will rise then. What kind of a world will exist if their doom and gloom were a reality? You might not have any place to spend your wealth. I own gold NOT as an investment, but because of its neutrality.

There is such a major fraud going on with digital currencies with people reporting that the latest scam is using social media to tell people to transfer all their cash to a digital wallet, and BTW – here is the link! If you believe that one, perhaps you would like to buy the Brooklyn Bridge. NYC has a deficit and they will sell it for all the money in your savings. Wake up!

These people remind me of the famous drawing of a fool and his cat.

BREAKING, Thundershock – Fox News Fires Tucker Carlson, Last Show Was Last Friday. This is the End of the First Amendment and “Free” speech.


Posted originally on the CTH on April 24, 2023

In a stunning development at Fox News, it appears they have fired the #1 television news host/pundit in the industry.

In a terse statement [LINK HERE]:

NEW YORK — April 24, 2023  FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.

Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named.

Tucker Carlson had the number one rated news and broadcast show across the entire media industry.

An immediate firing with no further shows?

This is a stunning breaking development!

Then again….

….. There are Trillions at Stake!

The Great De-Dollarization


Armstrong Economics Blog/USD $ Re-Posted Apr 23, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

All we hear is the same claims that the dollar is dead and it will be totally worthless any day now. Over the last few weeks, all we hear from the majority now is that the dollar is finished. Virtually every page you turn or site you visit claims the death of the dollar. They are calling this the de-dollarization of the world economy and that the future of the US dollar as well as the American empire itself is now collapsing. The general claim is that the group of economically-aligned nations known collectively as BRICS is a major threat to the greenback. That was the same story we heard about the Euro back in 1997.

As their scenario goes, the BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa] have moved to form an anti-dollar colation and Saudi Arabia is considering jumping on board. They insist that once that happens, the “petrodollar” will die and cease to be a reserve currency.

This is then followed by the forecast that the economy will suffer and that any bounce in exports will be short-lived simply because the dollar will be dead for the long term. Of course, this has been the favorite forecast that they keep putting out since Bretton Woods collapsed. They were wrong back then for the dollar rose between 1972 and 1976 against the British pound, with the collapse of Bretton Woods. To try to explain why the dollar did not collapse, that is when they claimed that the dollar was backed now by oil rather than gold. That was just an excuse as always to cover up their wrong forecast.

They sold that story to Newsweek and now the dollar rally was because of oil which replace gold. Suddenly the dollar became de facto backed by oil. They needed an explanation to explain why all the old theories were wrong. They sold this theory and it made the front cover of Newsweek. Everyone said YES! That must be the reason. OPEC priced oil in dollars! Naturally, everything was priced in dollars because, under the fixed exchange rate of Bretton Woods, everything from wheat and corn to copper and gold was all priced in dollars.

Now they are saying the American empire is threatened by the potential commercial real estate collapse and the BRICS anti-dollar venture. So they are forecasting a great depression-style crash is possible in the not-too-distant future. They spin this to forecast the end of the America Empire. The London FT, always anti-American/Pro WEF, reports that the dollar as a reserve currency has declined from  73% in 2001 to around 55% by 2021. Yet the FT did state an obvious fact:

“But if you are a reserve-rich central bank elsewhere that isn’t going to be a lot of comfort. Moreover, would you really feel more comfortable in, say, the renminbi? Even if it was fully convertible and liquid, would you honestly feel more sure that Beijing will behave lawfully than DC? The dollar still looks like the proverbial least dirty shirt in the closet.”

COVID actually has played a major role in shifting the world economy. In 2020, the US economy was 24.75% of the world’s GDP. By the start of 2022, it had fallen marginally to 24.15%. What these dollar-forecasting jockeys do not understand, is that if they were correct and the dollar collapsed, then the very BRICS would collapse even further. Economically speaking, when the United States gets a head cold, the rest of the world catches ammonia. You can’t have it both ways. The strength of the dollar is not gold or oil, it is the American consumer.

The risk to the entire world is runaway inflation thanks to Biden pouring untold amounts of money into the black hole known as Ukraine. The Neocons, who control Biden, are planning to launch a war against Russia and China before 2024. This will only continue to accelerate inflation. That reduces the spending power of the American consumer and in the process, the US economic growth declines in real terms and with it, the rest of the world plunges into recession.

While Macron has figured it out that the Neocons are in charge of US foreign policy and he is telling Europe to stop being the puppet of the USA, that all sounds nice but Europe is marching into war with Russia. NATO is firmly in control of the American Neocons and they need war or face losing power. With Trump in the lead, they must stop him at all costs for he is anti-war, would haul the Neocons out by the necks, and defund NATO, as well as stop the climate change agenda.

The US dollar in the global economy has been supported by the size and strength of the US consumer-based economy. Its stability and openness to trade and capital flows without restrictions and it has never been canceled, are the major foundation of the dollar in addition to strong property rights and the rule of law. That is why Russians and Chinese buy US property for they are secure in their ownership of US property which cannot always be guaranteed outside the US.

Consequently, the depth and liquidity of US financial markets remain unmatched. For institutions parking billions, the United States represents a large supply of extremely safe dollar-denominated assets. Are they really going to switch to China or buy debt from Brazil?  Not a single institutional client will take that bait.

China has been divesting of dollar reserves because it KNOWS that the American Neocons want war. You do not fund your adversary who intends to wage war against you. China cannot shift reserve assets to Europe or Japan. They have been buying gold because it is geopolitically neutral territory. They are NOT buying gold as an investor thinking it will rally. That is irrelevant. If gold drops 25%, that does not translate into them becoming a seller.

The dollar in international reserves stood at 60+% at the start of 2022 against the US share of GDP at 24.25%. This comparison belittles the argument that the dollar is finished. Eventually, the US will lose the wars it is starting and the dollar will be replaced perhaps as soon as 2028. The IMF is already licking its lips and rubbing its hands together eager to get control of the reserve currency. But they too will collapse. We have a Directional Change next year and a Panic Cycle in 2025. So buckle up.!

Remember one thing, even with the debasement and collapse of the Roman Denarius between 260AD and 268AD, it still took 224 years for Rome to completely collapse. When war breaks out, capital flight will still be to the dollar. It will not be to public assets, but private. The United States is still supporting the entire world economy. The BRICS need the US consumer to keep their economies functioning. All this talk of the dollar being finished is really nonsense. That day will come, but when the US consumer no longer buys.

Remember 1997? The Euro was going to dethrone the dollar. They claimed the new EU will be a bigger economy than the US. The problem was, they lacked a consumer economy, and low taxes, and they routinely canceled their currency to force people to pay taxes. It is always the same story over and over again.

The Contagion of War


Armstrong Economics Blog/Civil Unrest Re-Posted Apr 23, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: You have suggested that we will end up at war with China, Russia, North Korea, and even Iran simultaneously. How does Socrates conclude such an event that perhaps never happened in the past?

ER

ANSWER: Your assumption that such a thing has never happened is not correct. Periods of war of this nature unfold like a contagion of the flu. The English Civil War (1642-1652) which ended with the beheading of the King in 1649 was instigated using religion as the rallying cry.

In France, there was also an uprising that dramatically interrupted monarchy in 1648 by the uprising of a series of challenges to the absolutism of the King that came to be known collectively as the Fronde.  The Fronde (1648-1653) plunged France into civil disorder.  The king was even driven from his capital as several provinces revolted. This was a revolution demanding a right to participate in government. When the Fronde ended, the king was restored to absolute royal authority.

Of course, the Fronde may not have changed the French system of government, but it set the stage for the final French Revolution. Nevertheless, the American Revolution then spread with that spirit to overthrow monarchy becoming the France Revolution in 1789.

Throughout history, if we correlate the civil uprisings and forget about the claimed cause, we will see an amazing correlation. Throughout Europe, there was the communist revolution that spread to all the countries in 1848. When you allow the computer to correlate the world, what pops up is that the same Communist Revolution spread to Spanish Latin America, with Revolutions that appeared in New Granada that led to the fall of the government there.

Looking closer, you will see in Brazil there was the Praieira Revolt between 1848-1852. You also see the Mexican-American War, which was also in part inspired by the Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836).

If we look closely, we will see that 1848 was a”world revolution” for revolutions broke out almost simultaneously in fifty countries from Europe down to Brazil. This era created resentments that lingered beyond domestic revolution and international war just as the reparation payments demanded by the French following WWI led to the rise of Hitler and WWII. The Revolutions of 1848 set the stage for the period that continued into 1880, marking a bloody century with 177 different conflicts.

Even the American Civil War ended slavery and became a contagion that spread to Russia and inspired the 1861 termination of serfdom in Russia.

Socrates has correlated everything. I am sad to report that we are looking at a global uprising. This time, it will be our pretend democracies that are no different than authoritarian monarchies that meet their demise post-2032.