Manhattan Grand Jury Now Scheduled to Break for a Month Before Deciding on Trump Indictment


Posted originally on the CTH on March 29, 2023 | Sundance 

Important reminder, The State Dept use CNN.  The CIA/DNI use Washington Post.  The FBI/DOJ and domestic IC use New York Times and Politico.

About the pending Manhattan indictment, yesterday we noted, “A delay in the timing would seem likely given the nature of the political winds that generally coordinate to manipulate public opinion. An indictment timed in support of, and in concert with a Ron DeSantis campaign launch, would be more appropriate given the nature of the intentions.” (link)

TodayPolitico reports:

NEW YORK — The Manhattan grand jury examining Donald Trump’s alleged role in a hush money payment to a porn star isn’t expected to hear evidence in the case for the next month largely due to a previously scheduled hiatus, according to a person familiar with the proceedings.

The break would push any indictment of the former president to late April at the earliest, although it is possible that the grand jury’s schedule could change. (more)

The common interest?  “DeSantis will head to Jerusalem, Israel, for just his second trip abroad since becoming governor in 2019. Amid the recent turmoil in the country, DeSantis will talk about the importance of the U.S.-Israeli relationship during a April 27 speech at the Jerusalem Post and Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem “Celebrate the Faces of Israel” event.” (link)

Everything in the corrupt world of manipulative politics is connected to itself by the interests of those conducting the manipulation.  An ideological alignment of individual people, institutions and organizations working in concert toward a common goal is not a conspiracy.

Once the objective of the common interest is identified, all benefactory components operate individually.  What becomes visible is the similarity of the actions.

This is where we see patterns and common actions taken toward a common goal. This reality is the context to understand how the political dynamic is constructed in opposition to Donald Trump, and more specifically how the America First policy platform of Presidential candidate Donald Trump is viewed as a common threat.

What will Become Money Post-2032?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ancient Economies Re-P osted Mar 29, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Hello Martin,
Been reading your writings with keen interest for over 15 years now since while you were incarcerated.
My question is: The way you paint a picture of the past economies going back hundreds and thousands of years through the discovery of coinage hoards is brilliant. How will a future “Martin Armstrong” from say 500 to 1,000 years from now be able to utilize that methodology of discovering the history of this era when we’re largely a computer digital transaction society? (Especially if government-planned digital currency takes over?)
Thanks. Jerry S.

ANSWER: I know the crypto-people do not like my view that digital currency is entirely dependent upon the power grid and once money is in any official exchange, it will be subject to government regulation. Just look at Tik Tok. The government wants to ban it because they CANNOT get into the data and who is saying what. It has nothing to do with China. They are not interested if you paid the babysitter next door, but Congress is. They have backdoors into everything – not Tik Tok. That has become the hub for many threats to their form of society called the dreaded CONSERVATIVES.

Reading historical accounts of things would never provide the real picture. The coinage has been the breadcrumbs that lead to the truth. I can see the real level of debasement, and when put together with historical accounts, we can get a real picture of history. We must also respect that some periods are black holes and the coinage is what turns on the light.

For example, it is the coinage that enables us to confirm much of history and I believe we will see the future follow the past. The wife of Augustus, Livia, the first empress of Rome, was a very powerful woman. The real power behind the thrown. I suggest watching the series – Domina. It is far better than any fictional story. It was his mother, Livia, who pushed him to be Emperor.

Livia was renowned for her intelligence but was also one of the most beautiful women in Rome. Tiberius was not her favorite – that was his brother Drusus. Tiberius had a son with his first wife Vipsania who was born in 14BC. Livia compelled Tiberius to marry Augustus’ daughter Julia as a way to the throne. Augustus was not fond of Tiberius for he was simply unsocial. His marriage to Julia was like a mixture of oil and water. She sought sexual parties and ignored Tiberius and was finally exiled by her father.

Frome the coinage, we can confirm that Tiberius responded to a major earthquake that destroyed much of Asia, modern-day Turkey. Tiberius issued coins for the aid of Asia. We also know that he waived all taxes for 5 years and donated 10 million sesterces for relief. What politicians would ever system taxes as a tool of relief today?

Augustus’ heir was to be Germanicus (15BC-19AD) who was the son of Nero Claudius Drusus, the younger brother of Tiberius, and Antonia, who was the daughter of Mark Antony and Augustus’ sister Octavia. He was married to Agrippina, Sr, who was the daughter of Agrippa and Augustus’ daughter Julia. Agrippina seems to have been the independent-minded woman who blamed Livia for the death of her husband.

Agrippina, Sr. was such a disruption politically that Tiberius was compelled to banish her like her mother in 29AD where she eventually died of starvation in 33AD. Her son, Caligula, seems to have inherited her insanity, and her daughter Agrippina, Jr, as well. She is actually the first woman on Roman coinage displaying her name. Livia’s portrait would be used but always styled as some goddess.

Of course, her son Caligula has warranted films exclusively devoted to his. He is famous for insulting the Senators by making his horse a senator. Caligula was born in 12 AD. He was named as Tiberius’ heir in 37AD and it has been long suspected that Caligula smothered Tiberius to death to take the throne. He was notorious for his depravity and cruelty. He was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard on January 24th, 41AD.

The Praetorian Guard needed an emperor or there was no point in them being the Praetorian Guard. They turned to Claudius and made him emperor. You can see from his coinage the image of the Praetorian Guard camp on the reverse announcing that he was made emperor by the Praetorians.

There is a great series of these events done years ago by the BBC. It was based on the book I Claudius and the series bares the same name – I. Cludius. That too is a worthwhile series that was produced decades ago.

In fact, Agrippina Jr, sister of Caligula, was not only the mother of Nero who ordered her killed for her dominance, but she married he uncle Claudius to secure the throne for Nero. Once again, we find her portrait on coins alongside her son, Nero, which also reflected her dominance and effective rule of the empire. Some have likened her to Hillary Clinton for her cunning and effective rule behind the curtain.

To ensure Nero would become Claudius’ heir, she poisoned Claudius’ son – Britanicus. It shows what a bad apple can do to the whole lot. Many have pointed to the fact that it was the dominance and cunning of the women that brought down the Julio-Claudian Dynasty.

Nevertheless, the coinage not merely confirms history, but also provides a window through time for us to see how human nature never changes, and as such, the future becomes merely a repetition of human contrivances.

To answer the question if future historians will be able to do what I have done if the currency is eliminated and we have just electronic digital currency, I believe the answer lies in the past. We can see something rather astonishing right here during the reign of Tiberius (14-37AD).

Augustus/Octavian (heir to Julius Caesar) became the first emperor of Rome following the defeat of Cleopatra and Mark Antony in 30 BC. He was granted the title Augustus in 27BC by the Senate for saving Rome from the proxy war of Cleopatra who used Mark Antony to try to conquer Rome. However, because he was the first emperor, it appears that he blanked the empire with coinage to justify his position as emperor, not king, which was really the same thing. There are over 500 different silver denarii types. I have never even heard of a collector assembling each type.

Against that backdrop, being indeed a reluctant emperor and forced into an unhappy marriage, it is understandable that being an unsocial workaholic, the circumstances most likely drove Tiberius deeper into seclusion. He rarely left Rome. In fact, he would not even attend the gladiator games. This is the extent of his coinage – two types. That’s it! Instead of the proliferation of coinage under Augustus, spending was curtailed and we can determine that from the coinage, not contemporary accounts. This led to a SHORTAGE of money, and in such a recession. That became the Financial Panic in 33AD.

Because of the shortage of money, this is where we find the first time that the private sector began to issue its own coinage. Some have claimed they were some sort of token. But they are confined to this period of Tiberius where there was a Financial Panic and a shortage of coinage compared to the reign of Augustus.

During the Great Depression, because there too the austerity measures of the government created a shortage of currency. Thus, over 200 cities in the United States began to issue their own currency for local use.

Likewise, during the Civil War, there was also a shortage of money There is a whole array of private coinage during that event. Then there was the hard time that followed the Panic of 1837, Again we have private coinage surfacing. The same again took place with the Panic of 1873.

In Japan, because of the corruption of the government always devaluing the currency of the previous emperor, the Japanese finally just stopped accepting the coinage of their own government. The economy reverted to one of barter and they used the coinage of China. Japan lost the authority to even issue coinage for 600 years until the Meiji Era.

Cryptocurrency will fade with the collapse of governments. It will be too dependent on a unified power grid. If history is any guide, we will return to a barter system combined with perhaps old identifiable coinage that the average person will recognize. That is one reason why I do not recommend bars of silver or gold, but the old coinage. Bags of pre-1965 silver coins in the US or similar in Europe and Canada where the average person can look at a date and accept it whereas they cannot tell the difference between a var of silver or nickel.

Do not make the mistake of judging others by yourself. You may know was a bar of silver is, but that will not help you if the other person does not. There are videos on YouTube where people are offered a silver bar or a chocolate bar and they take the chocolate. Not everyone knows what you may know. Keep that in mind.

So at the end of the day, we will have to rebuild society from the ground up post-2032. A currency need not be backed by anything. Its value is ALWAYS based upon a belief system. The same is true with gold and silver. They had no utility value, only as jewelry from the outset. They were valued because at first, the kings reserved gold only for their adornment.

Orichalcum, brass, is the legendary metal mentioned in the story of Atlantis in the Critias of Plato. In fact, orichalcum was considered second only to gold in value and it held a greater value than even silver. It was said to have been mined in many parts of Atlantis in ancient times. These ingots of orichalcum were discovered in a shipwreck that had sunk 2,600 years ago, off the coast of Gela in southern Sicily. The ingots are an alloy consisting of 75–80% copper, 15–20% zinc, and smaller percentages of nickel, lead, and iron. In other words, they are brass. Because the color is closer to gold, this was highly prized.

The Greeks rarely used orichalcum for coinage in the Hellenistic world. It was used experimentally by Romans under the reigns of Octavian and Mark Antony. Where we begin to see orichalcum used in the coinage consistently is dated to the monetary reform of Augustus (23 BC). It was then that he introduced sestertii and dupondii were struck in orichalcum (Cu-Zn alloy) rather than silver and bronze.  The sestertius of the Republican era was a tiny silver coin of about 0.7 grams. Later, the monetary reform Nero made during 63–64 AD,  introduced the use of orichalcum to the denomination of the assemis, and quadrantes.

Following the Civil War with the death of Nero, orichalcum was replaced in the coinage with bronze. It is highly likely that someone figured out how to make orichalcum and its premium just collapsed. Counterfeiters had long figured out how to mix wrap a coin in silver and strike it to make it appear it was silver, but also to use chemicals to cause the silver to appear on the surface. We cannot rule out that someone had figured out how to make brass and thus it lost its premium.

The value of any currency is entirely based on belief. Once the ancients figured out that orichalcum was just an alloy and could be made, then it no longer seems as more valuable than silver. Even cryptocurrency is worthless. Its entire valuation is simply based that others believe it has some value. Money at its most basic core during a financial crisis is predicated upon its utility value. Hence, in Japan, bags of rice became money. It is unlikely that even cryptocurrency will survive the transition post-2032. Precious metals ONLY in the form of some recognizable coin will be accepted like the Japanese accepted Chinese coins. Barter will return as it always has. That will most likely be in the form of food.

The Tech Industry


Armstrong Economics Blog/AI Computers Re-Posted Mar 27, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: The tech industry has been shedding jobs like it’s no tomorrow. Are you still hiring when everyone else is firing?

GH

ANSWER: Yes, but only experienced people in Machine Learning/AI. We are in a different field with completely different end goals. Not a start-up company and not trying to create an AI that will know the name of Lady Gaga’s dog.

The layoffs are because they are focused on consumer spending. We are not directed at that. In fact, the worse the economy gets, the greater our demand becomes. We have always been counter-trend in that regard.

Full Sean Hannity Interview With President Donald Trump – Video


Posted originally on the CTH on March 27, 2023 | Sundance

With a myriad of key and important issues facing the nation, including the fraudulent indictments being presented against President Trump, Fox News host Sean Hannity invites Trump onto his show so the President can listen to Hannity talk about them. {Direct Rumble Link}  WATCH:

Are Markets Irrational or Analysts?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Forecasts Re-Posted Mar 27, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; Who is being irrational? The markets or the analysts?

KE

ANSWER: That’s simple. It is the analysts. The markets are ALWAYS correct. When you have bank failures unfolding, people will withdraw money out of caution. It is the very same reason there are ancient hoards of coins. You find coins in times of economic stress and uncertainty. This is a purely RATIONAL human response to uncertainty. It consistent for thousands of years. For any analyst to claim the markets are acting “irrationally” only proves they should look for another profession.

Sir Thomas Gresham began his career in 1543 working at Mercers’ Company at the age of 24 years old. He left England for Antwerp/Amsterdam which was the financial center of the day much like Wall Street. That was where he became a merchant businessman which was where banking existed in those days. He became an agent for King Henry VIII in the Antwerp/Amsterdam market. He became a trader and in so doing, he began to observe how capital moved.

The interesting aspect was that he was called in as a sort of crisis manager as I have been during financial upheavals. In 1551, Sir William Dansell, who was King’s Merchant there in the markets, ended up putting the English Government into a financial crisis thanks to his mismanagement.  The English turned to Gresham for advice since he became quite astute at trading. They adopted his proposals. It was then that Gresham proposed a very ingenious tact. He advocated a FOREX intervention to push the pound higher on the Antwerp change. His intervention proved so successful that in just a few years King Edward VI had discharged almost all of his debts. By pushing the pound higher, he was able to repay the previous debts by devaluing them.

Therefore, the English Crown sought Gresham’s advice in all their finances until Mary came to the throne in 1553. Gresham was instantly pushed aside for  Alderman William Dauntsey, who lacked trading experience and quickly sent the Crown into financial stress. Gresham was called back to deal with the mess once again.

Under Queen Elizabeth’s reign (1558–1603), he continued as a financial agent of the Crown and also became the Ambassador Plenipotentiary to the Governor of the Netherlands. This was the period of civil unrest in Antwerp which compelled him to return to England in 1567. This is also when the English had the founding of the Royal Exchange to compete with the Netherlands. It was Gresham who made the proposal to build, at his own expense, a bourse or exchange. This demonstrated that Gresham was a trader and understood how capital flowed.
Apart from some small sums to various charities, Gresham bequeathed the bulk of his property (consisting of estates in London and around England giving an income of more than 2,300 pounds a year) to his widow and her heirs, with the stipulation that after her death his own house in Bishopsgate Street and the rents from the Royal Exchange should be vested in the Corporation of London and the Mercers Company, for the purpose of instituting a college in which seven professors should read lectures, one each day of the week, in astronomy, geometry, physic, law, divinity, rhetoric and music.[1] Thus, Gresham College, the first institution of higher learning in London, came to be established in 1597.

Gresham’s Law (stated simply as: “Bad money drives out good“). He concluded this from his observations that foreign exchange back then was based on the metal content and weight of the coinage. Therefore, as debasement took place, people would hoard the old coinage of higher quality and spend the debased.  Thus, the bad money drove out the good and actually shrunk the money supply in circulation.

He urged Queen Elizabeth to restore the debased currency of England. In so doing, you got to repay old debts with debased currency. Governments to this day practice that same trick. Repaying a 30-year bond today the bondholder cannot buy what the money was once worth 30 years ago. The interest does not really compensate for the loss of purchasing power over long periods of time.

Has the US Gone to DEFCON 3?


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Mar 26, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

NATO has effectively declared war on Russia hiding behind Ukrainian surrogates. Ukraine launched new versions of their marine drones in an attempt to sink the Russian Fleet base in Sevastopol. They were blown up just before hitting Russian ships as the Russians managed to intercept them. The Russians know that these attacks are carried out under NATO directives. Meanwhile, NATO has sent 300,000 troops to the border in Poland with Russia. They are strategically placed and could launch an invasion of Russia, which has been the plan all along. In Asia, the US routinely invades China’s claimed territory in the South China Sea simply claiming the US does not recognize China’s territorial border.

The US Administration has launched its early warning nuclear missile detection vessels from Pearl Harbor. The Neocons have been pushing for war very hard and the launching of these ships indicates that we are heading into a major nuclear crisis which may be up there with the 1962 Cubas Missle Crisis which by next year will be 2x Pi – 62 years ago. These Neocons have no interest in the nation, or the people, only their dream of destroying Russia and China and forcing Regime Change. They have pushed for endless wars and have NEVER won a single one so far. Their track record is horrible. But they have seized full control of the Biden White House.

Blinken has come out and said that Putin should be arrested and handed over to the ICC which has surrendered to his fellow Neocons. He knows that would provide World War III. This is their agenda. I have warned that the game of borrowing year after year with no intention of ever paying off the debt has come to an end. There is no outcome other than the default. They need war to cover up decades of fiscal mismanagement and they will get it.

Blinken has most likely taken the United States to a DEFCON 3 situation. US Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, a former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, openly admitted before the Senate Armed Services Committee that Ukraine must win. This obviously is to use the Ukrainian people to accomplish this Neocon goal without US casualties as they have done in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, just to mention a few. He testified stating:

“The reasons for this American interest are many. This war threatens the American-led
international order that our fathers and grandfathers painfully won in the Second World War, and
in the Cold War that followed. Our prosperity right here at home depends directly upon the
maintenance and perpetuation of that order, with America in a leading role. We cannot be secure
in that position while Russia pursues a war of aggression that overturns the global order,
destabilizes commodities markets, and renders food-supply chains unstable. The fact that Russia
does so as a strategic ally and partner of America’s number-one rival and threat, the People’s
Republic of China, only accentuates the danger. Make no mistake: weakness against Russian
aggression is weakness against the Communist-Chinese threat. We know from history that the
dictatorial powers watch and learn, to discover just how far they can get: and we know that
Russian victory in Ukraine today almost certainly means war for Taiwan tomorrow.”

The problem is that the US has back-tracked on the one-China policy under Biden and that is what has suddenly put Taiwan in danger. But to think if Putin wins then China will take Taiwan is nonsense. China has been slapped in the face and it will take Taiwan regardless of what transpires in Ukraine. If anything, it would make more sense to wait for NATO to engage Russia and then move against Taiwan.

It is very clear that the Neocons have taken the US military most likely to DEFCON 3, which is generally seen as a standby level of alert, and it is the highest level of alert during peacetime.

Dick Morris, The Machinery of the Deep Administrative State is Trying to Bait Trump and the MAGA Movement into an Angered Reaction


Posted originally on the CTH on March 25, 2023 | Sundance

Dick Morris is a man who knows the machinery of the leftist state.  As a life-long democrat operative, control agent and emissary of the Clinton machine, he is fully aware of the scheming and conniving ways of the Alinsky tribe.

Morris accurately encapsulates the leftist motive in their targeting of President Trump {Direct Rumble Link}.  The accusations, charges, indictments and full-throated targeted efforts are intended to create a weaponized self-fulfilling prophecy.  The abusers shout incessantly and condescendingly at the target, trying to provoke a reaction so that as soon as the angered response is delivered, they can say “see, we told you how violent and threatening you are“…  WATCH:

.

Liz Harrington – As The Awakening Continues, MAGA Continues to Grow


Posted originally on the CTH on March 25, 2023 | Sundance

President Trump Chief Spokesperson Liz Harrington appears on the Steve Bannon War Room to discuss the status of the America First movement. {Direct Rumble Link}

As Harrington accurately notes, the people who build stuff, create stuff, innovate and bring physical stuff into reality, these are the people within the MAGA movement.  The esoteric pontificating thinkers, the politicians, those only contribute opinion to the system of creation, are not connected to MAGA or worthy of consideration.  WATCH:

Liz Harrington: The corrupt elites are selling us out and destroying us in the process.

.

Bannon also gave a big picture overview below.

Bam 

.

CNN is Dying – Thank God!


Armstrong Economics Blog/Press Re-Posted Mar 24, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Marty, You have a bigger readership than CNN. They dropped to 80,000 primetime. I think you are well beyond 600,000 these days. Maybe put in an offer to buy CNN for $1.49 and hire all new staff and Socrates should get his own show.

WL

REPLY: That is just amazing. I think the price is too high. It should be negative. You fire all the leftist pretend journalists and they will be in court the next day. So there would be a huge amount of liquidation costs. They would have to pay me to take over CNN and even then I think the lights should just be turned out and start fresh with something new. This is just another example of WOKENESS and how it is destroying everything it touches. Quantification, competence, and experience are no longer required for jobs in any company that is WOKE. They are all at the end of the day destined for bankruptcy. In the media, the truth has been sacrificed for fake news to manipulate people’s opinions and steer the country to its doom.

In Germany, being pro-COVID and pro-war, the press is being viewed as part of the whole agenda against the people. There are people now attacking the journalists for hiding the deaths from the vaccines. Many see the press as just evil. Some are still caught up in the vaccines and refuse to admit that there are even side effects. They have lost all sense of honor and independence. It is no longer bout truth, it is just pushing an agenda.

The German mainstream media will also cheer on sending German boys to their death in Ukraine all because that is their directive. They seem to care nothing for society whatsoever and cannot see past the end of their nose. I do not understand how they can look at themselves in the mirror every morning.

If you have any children, tell them to stay away from joining any mainstream media. It will ruin their lives forever for when the dust settles, the people will remember who they were that sent the world to its destruction.