Posted originally on Jan 14, 2024 By Martin Armstrong |
Interview with GoldSeek Radio:
Head of Armstrong Economics, Martin Armstrong, reviews charts of the major indexes in real-time, noting “2024 could be a chaotic year.”
– Interest rates rise during boom periods.
“Yeah, I think people have to understand that the vast majority of analysis out there is all domestic. They’re just calling for the Fed and I think so many of them are talking about a major crash in 2024. What they never do is look outside the country. And honestly, if you look at the 3 indexes look at the Dow, the S&P, and then the NASDAQ, you’ll see the Dow leading.
And that is basically showing you that what’s going on here is international capital inflows. I mean, the more it’s getting crazy for wars just about everywhere. From Asia, you’re looking at the Middle East. You’re looking at Europe. We have probably more institutional clients than anybody in the world and they’re all starting to wake up a little bit and hedging their bets and they’re moving money to the States. That’s why the Dow has been rising, more so than you see. We have probably more institutional clients than anybody in the world and they’re all starting to wake up a little.
… but then again you have people just looking at the Fed and talking about ‘Oh, transparency.’ And is they only ever keep talking about old defense, going to ‘Lower rates, lower rates, lower rates.’
If you really look at it, objectively, interest rates always rise during boom periods, and they decline during recessions and depressions. We are looking at increased inflation, probably into 2028 caused by shortages and war. But you’re looking at a declining economic growth, so that ends up being more like the 1970s…and you’re looking there at what we call “Stagflation” where the inflation rate will be higher than economic growth.
– Increased inflation could erupt due to supply shortages and skirmishes. – Stagflation similar to the 70’s could soon come to the domestic economy.
“That was basically caused by OPEC raising the price of oil dramatically and that created a cost-push inflation. So everybody’s costs were rising dramatically. Anything that had to do with plastic, went up dramatically and that created eventually the inflationary boom between 1976 going into 1980. As for gold rose to $875, etc…I think gold was about a $100 in 1976 and it rose to about $400 but that was by December 1979, the last six weeks of the rally, which peaked in 1980 on January 21st. So from December to January 21st, that’s when Russia invaded Afghanistan. So it was the geopolitical stuff that took gold from $400 to $875. So it’s important to understand inflation is not the major driving power but inflation when war is around – that’s what broke Bretton Woods…it was the Vietnam War.”
– Funds may be flowing into the blue-chip Dow Jones 30 stocks from global unrest. – Geopolitical opinion and commentary.
Posted originally on Jan 14, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, My wife insists that I write to thank you for making me invest in stocks rather than gold. We split the money, and my wife invested in the Dow with your 2015 ECM turn, and I kept the gold. She beat me on the Dow since it closed in 2023, up about 250%. After reading your input into history, am I correct that this argument of fiat currency is erroneous? It seems like civilizations have risen and fallen, no matter the money system at the time. Could you elaborate on whether this is true or false?
Disappointed goldbug.
ANSWER: Not many men would admit their wives beat them in investments. Many things have been used for money, from bronze and clam shells to emergency paper currency. Those who insist that somehow gold is the only thing that is money do not know their history, and in the process, they have been misled seriously, which actually prevents them from seeing the real problem. Bitcoin is not money nor a medium of exchange because not everyone will accept it. A medium of exchange has to be something that everyone accepts.
There is a common theme that runs through ALL forms of money, and it has NOTHING to do with what is being used as the medium of exchange.
If we are objective, even metal has varied. Bronze was valuable because it could be used to make a tool or a weapon – hence the Bronze Age. It was first used in an ingot form. However, it was cast in the shape of an earlier form of money – sheepskins. Thus, the story of Jason is in search of the golden fleece.
The Romans cast bronze into ingots, and the value was equal to one head of cattle. The first coins of Rome are also bronze, beginning with just lumps and then taking the standardized weight and shape. In Turkey, they began with what was known as electrum, which was a natural alloy mixture of gold and silver found in the riverbeds.
The official first coins were struck in Lydia, modern-day Turkey. This was the first “fiat” money since it was declared a standard value by the king, who applied the image of a lion. This was his badge, certifying its value and weight.
For example, there was a metal that was second to gold, which was really just brass. Orichalcum was the legendary metal of Atlantis, whose buildings were said to have been clad in this rare metal that looked similar to gold. Orichalcum was mined in Atlantis in ancient times, but by the time of Plato, this metal was unknown. Orichalcum was a legend by Plato’s time when he mentioned it in his story of Atlantis in the Critas of Plato. Critias (460–403 BC) says that Orichalcum had been considered second only to gold in value and had been found and mined in many parts of
Nero also experimented with issuing the traditional bronze coinage in Orichalcum (brass). In order to render the Dupondius distinguishable from its half-denomination, Roman As a radiate crown was added to this denomination, leaving the traditional laurel wreath style portrait for the Roman As. The Dupondius reform prevailed until the end of Dupondius’s regular issues, while the experiment in brass died out following Hadrian (117-138AD).
A gold standard will not solve the problem because it is NOT what is being used as money but the system. If governments issued platinum coins and claimed these are worth $100,000 each, that is also fiat, where the government decrees the value. This common thread that runs through everything is the trustworthiness of the government. As long as we have socialism, where politicians promise things, they will always create more money to accomplish that. DEBT = MONEY that pays interest. People also point to the Fed and overlook the fact that it is Congress that creates the money by issuing debt that can be used as an asset in a loan.
Gold will not solve the problem. We need political reform FIRST and then worry about constraining government thereafter.
Posted originally on the CTH on December 13, 2023 | Sundance
Someone asked: …”[Alex] Jones’ theory of the “massive cyber-attack” that requires a lockdown of the internet, followed by a limited access/controlled access internet where only approved (“safe”) sites can be accessed is both alarmingly believable and difficult to prepare for. It also nearly perfectly mirrors the COVD playbook in a virtual way – virtual lock downs, virtual “approved activities/sites”, controlled information and total censorship.” (link)
My requested response… Where the heck do you think Jones’ came up with that theory? Go back to AUGUST 2023, it’s so transparently predictable I even created a drop-down category “Internet” for the citations and articles about it. Jones is describing what I called, “The shadow banning of the internet“.
The process isn’t complicated if you have followed the development of the government systems. DHS is not going to shut down the North American Internet, just change the pathways using their public-private partnerships with social media and Big Tech. Justification big picture: national security. Details of control found in the motives of creating labels like, disinformation, malinformation, or misinformation.
[September 2023] – You might ask – why is the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) in the business of conducting widescale surveillance, monitoring and tracking of American citizens?
Unfortunately, if you are asking that question, then you likely don’t know the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were usurped by the 2001 Patriot Act.
George W Bush and Dick Cheney created the domestic surveillance system under the auspices of DHS and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Barack Obama and Joe Biden then took that DHS surveillance system and modified the dials (Justice Dept., FBI) so the surveillance only applied to their ideological enemies.
If you have followed my outlines on this issue [Category Here], you will note exactly where this development falls on the continuum. The 2024 election is right around the corner. Previously, I stated the artificial intelligence (AI) component to the internet surveillance system was going to launch toward the end of this year. Well, DHS has just announced exactly that [SEE HERE].
I find it very interesting the DHS memo was issued on August 8th, but only published for the general public September 15th. July and August were when I first identified AI spider crawls were already underway. Pay very, very close attention to the two underlined words in the following paragraph:
Take out the word “improper” and the admission is, DHS uses AI to profile, target and discriminate. In the second sentence, DHS currently participates in systemic, indiscriminate and/or large-scale monitoring, surveillance, or tracking of individuals. The only thing those sentences in the paragraph say, is that DHS will not allow AI to create improper outcomes within a system they outline that already exists.
Stop and reread that last sentence as much as needed. Inasmuch as this DHS guidance is telling us the rules for Homeland Security (DHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as they use AI, they are also outlining what current processes of surveillance would be enhanced by it.
DHS’ AI task force is coordinating with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on how the department can partner with critical infrastructure organizations “on safeguarding their uses of AI and strengthening their cybersecurity practices writ large to defend against evolving threats.”
What are those critical infrastructure organizations? They include voting systems. Who or what are those evolving threats? You!
Federal News Network – […] The report also recommends DHS encourage pursing off-the-shelf commercial solutions instead of “building everything in-house.”
Mayorkas emphasized the need for DHS to adopt AI quickly, regardless of whether it’s commercially acquired or internally developed technology.
“We have got to change the procurement capabilities of a government agency to actually move quickly and nimbly, so that when we’re dealing in a very dynamic environment, we can actually move with dynamism,” Mayorkas said. “I’m not suggesting moving to a sole source model, but we just have to be quick.”
He also stressed the need for DHS to prioritize where it will use AI, rather than attempting to adopt it across every mission and use case. The report points to combatting both fentanyl and human trafficking as use cases that could be “accelerated and championed” across DHS. But it also suggests DHS “integrate AI/ML into as many areas of the DHS mission as possible.”
“We’re going to need to prioritize what aspect of our mission should we really double down on to harness AI because I worry about diluting our focus too much,” Mayorkas said. “And I really do want to demonstrate, as quickly as is responsible, how this could really be a game changer for us in advancing our mission . . . we have to pick our spots here, in my view, somewhat surgically.” (more)
Notice the emphasis on speed. Get this AI system launched into DHS surveillance, tracking and monitoring systems as quickly as possible.
Now do you see my point about how radical and fast everything is going to change? It’s the 2024 election targeting.
Remember, the Dept of Defense (DoD) will now conduct online monitoring operations, using enhanced AI to protect the U.S. internet from “disinformation” under the auspices of national security. {link}
I share this information with you so that you understand what is being constructed and what is about to be deployed on a large-scale throughout the U.S. internet operating system. The U.S. internet will be different. The social media restrictions became more prevalent and noticeable in the past several years; now it is time for DHS to expand that process and begin directing traffic.
When I wrote about Jack’s Magic Coffee shop, people initially thought I was crazy – but the guys inside the coffee shop didn’t. Eventually DHS control over Twitter was revealed in the Twitter Files. The same background is true here. The entire American online apparatus is going to change, quite soon.
Posted originally on Dec 1, 2023 By Martin Armstrong
The legal system is clearly trying to absolutely destroy Donald Trump for simply going to Washington to “Drain the Swamp,” which he discovered included both sides. We now have a ruling that is so BIASED against Trump that it has now effectively removed all immunity for anyone in Congress and even prosecutors. All you need to allege now is that any act by any of these pretend representatives or protectors of the people they pulled off was NOT in their official capacity but as a candidate for the next endless re-election term. The average Congressman spends about 60% of their time preparing for the next election as a candidate.
U.S. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan, who was NEVER even a judge, was controversially appointed under former President Barack Obama to the position of Chief Judge no less of the DC US Court of Appeals. This biased judge, in trying to destroy Donald Trump, wrote in the ruling:
“In arguing that he is entitled to official-act immunity in the cases before us, President Trump does not dispute that he engaged in his alleged actions up to and on January 6 in his capacity as a candidate. But he thinks that does not matter. Rather, in his view, a president’s speech on matters of public concern is invariably an official function, and he was engaged in that function when he spoke at the January 6 rally and in the leadup to that day. We cannot accept that rationale,”
This decision was unimaginable for any true court decision. Srinivasan went out of his way to make sure Trump could be sued by hundreds of people over January 6th. We should file class action suits against EVERY politician in Washington who voted for mandatory vaccines and loss of jobs for refusing to comply when they received ANY money whatsoever from Pfizer – like Fauci. This so-called judge, who was never a judge before, is outrageous. Back in 2010, the Obama administration nominated Srinivasan to one of two vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, thinking he was clever because, never being a judge, nobody could review his past rulings. That was unheard of.
The nomination of Srinivasan was rigged, for he was opposed even by Obama supporters since he was only a prosecutor. Then, in June 2012, Obama nominated Srinivasan to the seat on the D.C. Circuit on January 2, 2013. His nomination was returned due to the sine die adjournment of the Senate, meaning it was adjourned without a date to reconvene. Obama resubmitted it the next day.
To twist the law like this to desperately find a way to hold Trump guilty on every possible move has turned the entire rule of law upside down. I now encourage an onslaught of class-action lawsuits should be unleashed on politicians with any connection to Pfizer. Even Judges are no longer immune under this decision if they ruled for political or personal purposes and not in their official capacity. Any judge who ruled on COVID and had shares in Pfizer acted illegally. When the computer forecast that the 2024 election will be the death knell to the longevity of the United States, NEVER in my wildest imagination would I have ever guessed that the rule of law would have collapsed in such a manner.
Our Computer Projected that the 2024 election will NEVER be accepted by either side.
For a judge to move from the district court to the Court of Appeals, he typically must be 65.
Srinivasan was previously NEVER a judge but is also 56 years old today and was in his 40s when appointed.
Posted originally on Dec 1, 2023 By Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Your curiosity has traveled down so many paths, and you are quite unique in your diverse knowledge and experience. I am curious myself about your comment that our legal system has crumbled. As a legal scholar among your many talents, you mentioned that we should have taken the advice of Ben Franklin in creating our legal system but did not. Could you elaborate on why there are no longer fair trials and why this is the final straw before a nation collapses?
EW
ANSWER: In the English legal system, there was the King’s Bench, which followed the law, and then there was the Queen’s Bench, which exercised “equity” for sometimes imposing the law strictly was unjust. Take the case where an 18-year-old boy has been prosecuted for child molesting a 17-year-old girlfriend because her father pressed charges. After all, he did not like his daughter dating that boy. Under the law, someone under 18 is supposed to be incapable of understanding anything and thus cannot consent to sex – but they could change their sex or be vaccinated without parents ever knowing.
This was an abuse of law. Many could be prosecuted for that crime if a senior in high school dated a freshman. It is what you would call “inequitable,” and some countries have defined that as a percentage between the ages. That is far more reasonable than this arbitrary line of being 18.
This concept of “equity” goes back to ancient Roman times. The image was Aequitas pictured holding the scales in one hand and a cornucopia in the other. However, Thrasymachus observed that there is no justice, for it will always be defined as the self-interest of those in power. Just look at the people imprisoned for being escorted into the Capitol Building on January 6th. It was orchestrated and instigated by the Deep State so that they could try to use the 14th Amendment to prevent Trump from ever holding office again.
They rigged the 2020 election, and that is something the CIA has done in other countries all the time, and the former head of the CIA has admitted doing so on FOX News. I was asked to invest $10 billion into Russia for the 2000 election to be rigged to take over Russia. On a rumor that someone sold the market to undermine the Republicans during the Great Depression, Hoover launched investigations that turned up nothing. Still, they created the Securities & Exchange Commission anyhow. As Herbert Hoover wrote in his memoirs, apologizing for those investigations:
“Sometimes when a government is enraged, it burns down the barn to get the rat.”
There is no rule of law. It is always the will of those in power – nothing more. Even Charles Dickens has written about how corrupt the legal system had become back in 1853. Dickens wrote in Chapter I of his famous novel Bleak House, “In Chancery,”
“Suffer any wrong that can be done to you rather than come here!”
Indeed, the current state of American federal courts has once again reached its lowest point, completing the revolution of the wheel of political fortune. This desperate attempt to prevent Trump from being elected is destroying the very foundation of law, and people who even hate Trump should be very concerned. Once they do this to Trump, they set the precedent and will do it to whomever they do not want to run. The very idea of a democratic system has crumbled to dust. They should fight Trump at the polls, not orchestrate fake insurrections, and try every scheme possible to stop him using laws that have never been applied to anyone else in such a manner.
Fauci was using a private email so his shenanigans would not be discovered under the Freedom of Information Act. Guess what? That is why Hillary has a private server – to hide what she was doing from being discovered. Look at Pelosi. How many millions did her husband make from stock trades on inside information that would cause anyone else to be in jail for 20 years? If I had my mother buy stock in a company I was advising on a takeover, that would have been illegal. The same rules do not apply to politicians.
The Framers of the Constitution had a different understanding of the essential requirement to be a “disinterested ” person. As Gordon S. Wood in his Revolutionary Characters points out:
“[Disintereste d [i] s being ‘superior t o regard t o privat e advantage not influence d by private profit, ‘ and that was what the founders meant by the term. We today have lost most of this earlier meaning. Even educated people now use disinterested as a synonym for uninterested, meaning ‘indifferent or unconcerned.’ It is almost as if we cannot quite imagine someone who is capable of rising above a pecuniary interest and being unselfish or impartial where an interest might be present.” Revolutionary Characters, Gordon S Wood, p16, The Penguin Press
Even Ben Franklin was not truly respected until he retired from private enterprise to become a “disinterested ” man of dignity. The loose manner in which we allow those in Government to operate is astonishing. Today, government prosecuting attorneys are for sale. All the prosecutors filing against Trump follow their careers, and they will use Trump as their business card for a big-paying job afterward. Prosecutors can be hired by those they are supposed to preside over, who provide lucrative jobs to former prosecutors. They cannot be “disinterested” in the meaning that founded this nation. This allows the big firms who now need bailouts to engage in risky business with no fear of prosecution or even regulation that will ever interfere with their business operation. Those same sources of jobs can also be used to create investigations and prosecutions of competitors. The sad result is the complete collapse of the integrity of the financial markets, for there is no truly “disinterested ” regulation.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote one of his most famous lines in Henry VI. To put it into context, you were not allowed to have lawyers in those days. The only “lawyers” were the prosecutors of the king. Thus, Shakespeare was commenting on the sad state of prosecutors also exercising their own self-interest to further their careers back then.
Judges are there for life because Edward I (1272-1307) of England fired all the judges because they ruled against him. If the king did not win, then the judge was fired.
Ben Franklin recommended that the American Bar Association make appointments to the Supreme Court, not politicians. Ben Franklin wanted to create a legal system based upon the Scottish model where lawyers and not politicians nominated judges. He lost that argument, and we have been paying dearly ever since.
Most people assume that the Framers of the Constitution relied on the English judicial system. On the contrary, the Scottish judicial system was necessary, although it remains overlooked today. The Scottish system was part of the model for the Framing of Article III in crafting the Judiciary. Unlike the English system of overlapping and primarily original jurisdiction with Chancery (Equity) and the King’s Bench (law), the Scottish judiciary featured a hierarchical, appellate-style judiciary, with one supreme civil court sitting at the top and an array of inferior courts of original jurisdiction below.
Our greatest mistake was the merger of Chancery (Queen’s Bench) and Law (King’s Bench) in American courts. This allows the judges to circumvent the law and deny equal protection of the law at will. So, they can prosecute Trump for a novel theory that was never applied or intended when the law was written. They shift the burden to prove it is unconstitutional to the citizen, and the expense to vindicate your rights becomes impossible, so the state will always win by default. Court-appointed lawyers lose 99% of their cases because to get that job, the government must win. They have NEVER defended a citizen that I have ever known or witnessed. They are beholding to the state for employment and will NEVER bite the hand that feeds them.
Our legal system has collapsed entirely. The sculpture of Jens Galchiot in Denmark of Fat Justice on the shoulders of a starving African man is truly the state of affairs for all of us. There is no rule of law to protect us anymore. The government has stacked the courts with former prosecutors who rule in favor of the government, making the conviction rate in the USA now approaching 99%. Worse still, the government can do as it likes, and you must go to court to say – hey! I have constitutional rights! Good luck.
Jeffrey Epstein (1953– August 10, 2019) was killed. My lawyer warned me to be careful, for I was a target to be killed. I was always told to turn on the light before I entered my cell because they would put baby oil in the bulb, and when you turn it on, you will burn to death and cannot escape. I was attacked and presumed I would die. But to their dismay, I came out of the coma and survived. On July 25th, 2019, I wrote that Epstein would be killed and never be allowed to go to trial. Any case that exposes the depths of the Deep State will NEVER be allowed to go to trial – NEVER! The targets typically hang themselves or are killed in some fight by an inmate.
This is the simple reality of our legal system. There is no rule of law anymore.
The government uses the law to persecute those they disagree with.
John Stuart Mill wrote in his On Liberty in 1859, and nothing has changed.
Jesse Watters of Fox recently took to the streets of Seattle to see how residents were handling the drastic spike in crime. The replies are far from what one would expect and are indicative of the two Americas. Polarized ideologies have drifted so far to the left or right that people are living in different realities.
Violent crime is up 25%, but the residents interviewed say they feel safe. “Crime is a social issue that could be solved by giving people their basic needs,” one woman stated. Nearly everyone interviewed said they supported defunding the police. Doing so has had a direct impact on rising crime, but they do not seem bothered. One woman said there are better ways to spend money, while others said the pandemic was still their main fear.
Seattle police are unable to peruse criminals. There is nothing deterring people from committing crimes. Those interviewed said they do not believe the police should chase or arrest criminals. The general consensus is that crime should be ignored. When the reporter told a resident he saw people “shooting up” in broad daylight, she mocked him and asked if they were bothering him by using drugs out in the open. These liberals believe everyone should do as they please, even if that includes crime. You or I may be shocked and deem numerous store closings due to looting, upticks in homelessness, and violent crime unacceptable. Others do not feel this way because they believe individuals are not responsible for their actions.
Seattle is the fourth largest port in America and was once a major business hub. The city is now a hub for crime and disorder, but this is their version of “don’t tread on me” that the people voted to have. State politics are becoming more prominent than ever as America begins to divide. The left is OK with the government implementing COVID laws and woke policies. The right is OK with the police stepping up and arresting criminals. Both sides believe their versions of utopia create a safe haven.
RealClear Opinion Research conducted a study to see if censorship is a partisan issue in America. What they found was astounding as a portion of the population is begging for government to take over and replace our pretend democracy with something more akin to communism or fascism. Almost one-third (34%) of Democratic voters believe that Americans have “too much freedom.”
That’s right – the land of the free is too free for some. About half (46%) of Republicans believe Americans have too little freedom, with 22% of Democrats agreeing. The aftermath of COVID has changed the landscape for what people find acceptable, and questioning the narrative – be it the science or new societal norms – are not tolerable to some. Independent voters (61%) and Republicans (74%) believe free speech should be protected under any circumstance as outlined in the First Amendment. Yet, the Democrats are divided on 1A as 47% believe there should be some censorship.
Three-fourths of Democrats want hateful speech censored, but we have seen what the government considers “hateful” amounts to anything that goes against the status quo. For example, protesters can burn down cities shouting that white people are slavers who should die and that is perfectly fine for the MSM. But if you question why schools are indoctrinating children with sexual messages and drag shows, you are considered hateful and intolerant. Why should the government and MSM decide what is just and right?
Counter-culture was once the leftist hippies who opposed the Vietnam War. They did not trust the government or authority and were seen as extremists. Today, the extremists are those on the right who oppose war and question the government. If only the Founding Fathers knew how the politicians today would twist the Constitution to fit their rhetoric.
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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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