It took President Javier Milei of Argentina a mere two months to push his nation into a surplus. The Economy Ministry declared that the government posted a $589 million surplus, the first surplus in recent memory. Western media has been silent about Milei’s victory as his policies are pushing the nation back on the path of capitalism, whereas the West insists on continually moving toward socialistic policies.
Milei has pushed forth an emergency package in an attempt to balance the budget and introduced an austerity package worth around $1.4 trillion. He famously slashed government agencies that contribute nothing to the economy. Every public employee on payroll for less than a year has been terminated. He is aiming to reduce government by 34% overall. Transfers to local government have ceased.
He has called his measures a form of “shock therapy” for Argentina’s economy. Milei agreed to devalue the nation’s peso from around 350 to 800 pesos per USD. He has eliminated quotas on imports and exports and removed the licensing that was difficult to obtain. There is a temporary rise in taxes for non-agricultural trade that brings it on par with industry standards. Transportation and energy subsidies have been eliminated.
The Western media has only supported stories criticizing Milei for being a right-wing fanatical, the Donald Trump of Argentina. No one wants to report that his policies are effective and the improvements have been immediate. This man was brave enough to stand in front of the crowd at Davos and criticize them for their flawed ideologies. “The main leaders of the Western world have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism,” Milei said to a hostile crowd at Davos. “We’re here to tell you that collectivist experiments are never the solution to the problems that afflict the citizens of the world—rather they are the root cause.”
He said there was no one better to testify to this sentiment than the people of Argentina, who saw their nation fall after adopting collectivism/socialism. He believes unrestrained free market capitalism is the only way to end poverty and cited that the Industrial Revolution marked the first time the global economy truly saw growth. He said that collectivism has become fashionable in the West in recent years, but his nation had been declining for 80 years due to this illogical idea.
Those in charge want us to believe that capitalism equates to greed while collectivism is seen as a form of social justice but, of course, requires the money of others. Free enterprise is under constant attack, and Milei is one of the only world leaders fighting for its existence. “Social justice is not just. It doesn’t contribute to the general well-being,” Milei said to Davos, citing that socialism is “intrinsically unfair” and forces the state to attack the people for taxes. “Can any of us say that they voluntarily pay taxes?” he asked the crowd.
This is the first time Argentina has had a surplus in over a decade. Some may not realize how drastic these changes have been for the nation and undoubtedly proof that reregulation is efficient. Allowing the market to operate freely is the only logical option. The public sector is an absolute drain on a nation’s resources, and slashing tens of thousands of needless jobs and dozens of cabinets has helped Argentina in the short and long-term.
Posted originally on Apr 16, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
The year 2015 was not long ago, and yet the entire world economy has changed. Central banks mismanaged monetary policy through arbitrarily low interest rates and continuous printing to appease the bigger issue—fiscal policy. Fiscal policies are all but nonexistent in most of the modern world, and government spending has become one of the largest threats to the global economy. The COVID lockdown pushed these issues into overdrive, and world leaders usurped power that they have refused to relinquish.
This is a global issue. Canada’s opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has highlighted how much has changed within one ECM cycle, as the last major turning point hit in 2015, and asked Parliament to imagine they had awoken from an 8-year coma.
Eight short years ago, Canada boasted one of the strongest middle classes in the modern world, surpassing that of America. Taxes were actually declining in Canada, falling faster than at any other time in the nation’s history. Crime had decreased by -25%, and people felt safe in their hometowns. The immigration system was efficient, the borders were closed, and there was no migrant crisis. Housing was affordable, costing less than half of what it does today. The nation had a balanced budget.
Poilievre mentioned that there were global conflicts at the time in Syria, Afghanistan, and even Ukraine but none of them were causing inflation at home. Prime Minister Harper had much different policies in place.
Inflationis now rampant, and even after hitting a 40-year high in 2023, it remains 50% above the 2% central bank target. Canada’s economy is shrinking per capita and is expected to have the worst OECD growth of all 40 member countries for the next five years. There is a massive housing crisis in Canada, surpassing that of America, and homelessness is on the rise. The Canadian borders are open, migrants are encouraged to come to the nation despite the lack of housing, and millions of unvetted migrants are now within Canadian boundaries. Taxes are rapidly rising as Trudeau supports World Economic Forum initiatives like carbon taxes and reducing fossil fuels at the expense of the people. Canada has sent a fortune to Ukraineand continues recklessly spending on initiatives that in no way benefit Canadians.
Poilievre is on Trudeau’s tail. It is no wonder that nearly half of Canadians wish to elect a new leader in 2024 instead of 2025. Trudeau is losing his grip over the Canadian people who have become disgruntled with the unsustainable cost of living, rising crime, and increasingly tyrannical government.
It is incredible how much can change within one wave of the ECM. I can assure you that the world will be a very different place by the next one.
Posted originally on Apr 16, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
Aristotle believed that after Pericles died in 429 BCE, the demos continually appointed charismatic demagogues who damaged Athenian democracy. The three main Greek philosophers were against Democracy because the people were too stupid and uneducated. This is where we had even John Kerry claiming Trump’s election was because of “populism,” and this must be prevented.
Once again, the United Nations discourages individualism with this same philosophy that we are too ignorant to understand what they know. As Sir Huxley wrote when forming the United Nations, “unrestricted individualism is equally erroneous.” So much for human rights. We should have no right to vote, and in reality, these people claim to be defending democracy against autocracy when, in fact, we do not live in a democracy at all. They call Russia an autocracy when, in fact, we have no right to vote if we should go to war. We are too ignorant to know what to do in life.
There is an all-out assault on Democracy, and it is not from Trump. Here is Klaus Schwab, who is the poster child for authoritarian government and the suppression of human rights. We are too stupid to be allowed to vote since we are beneath the level of intelligence of those who know better. When Trump was elected, that is when Democracy became Populism – and that was not acceptable.
QUESTION: Many people who are Jewish and Christian would love to destroy the Dome of the Rock. We hear Christian zealots pushing this event to bring about the Second Coming and Armageddon. Does Socrates show anything on this subject?
Do you plan an update on your Middle East War Report? It’s been almost ten years, and 2024 is here.
IW
ANSWER: I have visited the Dome of the Rock and paid my respects. Jerusalem is the crossroads of three major religions – Jewish, Islam, and Christian. Disputes over specific locations abound throughout the city. There has been a long-running and undeclared war between two of Israel and Iran – the Middle East’s most implacable foes. I am deeply concerned that 2024 was the target year for this confrontation to burst to the surface. The October 7th Hamas/Iran attack on Israel was the beginning.
To the Jews and Christians, this is known as the Temple Mount, while the Muslims call it the Dome of the Rock. It contains a huge rock that the Jewish tradition says is that this is where Abraham was told to sacrifice his son. To the Muslims, the rock is the spot from which the Prophet Muhammad was taken up into heaven for an encounter with God (an event known as the Miʿrāj). Thus, it is the same rock, symbolizing the clash between these religions.
There are some Christian Zealots who want to destroy the Dome of the Rock to force the Second Coming and Armageddon. Yet there are also far-right Jewish Zealots advocating the destruction of the Dome of the Rock to pave the way for building a Jewish temple. The initial construction of the Dome of the Rock was undertaken by the Umayyad Caliphate on the orders of Abd al-Malik back during the Second Fitna (691–692AD). It was constructed on top of the very site of the Second Jewish Temple, which had been constructed in c. 516AD to replace the destroyed Temple of Solomon was reconstructed by Herod the Great, the Jewish King of Judea from 37/6BC to 4/1BC. It was that Temple that the Romans destroyed in 70AD.
It was only after the Six-Day War was over by June 10th, 1967 (1967.441) that Israel’s capital city, Jerusalem, was reunited. For the first time in 19 years, the Old City was open to believers of all faiths, and Jews could access their holiest sites. I was fortunate to have visited everywhere in the late 1970s. Cyclically, that was precisely on time under the model.
It was 51.6 years right on target from the Six-DayWar that the negotiations began, and within two months, on March 25, 2019, then President Donald Trump signed the Proclamation on Recognizing the Golan Heights as Part of the State of Israel. It was then, from May 3rd to 6th, that the Gaza–Israel clashes began (May 2019) also on time.
Israel allowed Jews to pray on the Temple Mount. The Jews have been praying at the base of the Temple Mount, where the old Temple Wall still remains. Jordan, the custodian of the Dome of the Rock, demanded that the government cease Jewish prayer on the mount. The Israeli government avoided formally addressing these silent prayers. They occur on the eastern side of the Dome of the Rock/Temple Mount, albeit without traditional Jewish prayer items such as tallit, tefillin, or siddur.
Our computer has been projecting a rising confrontation and has targeted 2024 as the key turning point. I also reported on that in the February 13th, 2023 post in the last update. Yes, I will update this.
Posted originally on Apr 12, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Can central banks not even manipulate the markets?
FS
ANSWER: No. Here is the track record of the central banks when they created the Group of 5 (now G20) in 1985. I warned them they would create a crash within two years. But look at what happened. The fools assumed the central banks could manipulate the dollar. When the Plaza Accord took place, the dollar had already peaked. Because the fools thought the decline was all because of the central banks, when the dollar had fallen too far, they held the Louvre Accord and came out saying the dollar had fallen far enough. When the dollar moved low again, the 1987 Crash too place BECAUSE the central banks were perceived to have no control.
I was named FOREX Person of the year for calling the collapse of the Swiss/Euro Peg. I even met with the Swiss central bank and warned them, They said they would be able to hold the peg and and said now way. I have met with more central banks than probably anyone – ever. I have been in the room when the red phone was ringing between the G5 on manipulating currencies. I need not engage in conspiracy theories. We have first-hand experience.
Even go back to the US Civil War. The dollar was collapsing, and the price of gold soared regarding greenbacks. Lincoln did everything. He shut down gold trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They then traded on the curb and created the Gold Room. Nothing worked.
Here is the New York Times from November 18th, 1864. They observed the “folly of attempting to regulate the price [of gold] or any other article of traffic by forcible interference.” Anyone who claims that gold was suppressed because of manipulation made that up because they do not understand that gold DOES NOT rise linked to inflation. Gold soars when there is a collapse in confidence in government and in times of war, just as it did during the Civil War.
Gold declined for 19 years while inflation rose and the National Debt exploded. Gold has rallied only when the CONFIDENCE in government has declined as we are seeing today. People are getting very tense. In Texas, a guy drove his 18-wheeler into a Texas Public Safety office after being denied a Commercial Drivers License.
CONFIDENCE has collapsed by about 50% since 1980. The movie coming out tomorrow on April 12th is the Civil War. Such a movie 20 years ago would have been unheard of.
Posted originally on Apr 12, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: I just had to say thank you. I kept a copy of your private post What Are the Markets Telling Us? from FEBRUARY 24, 2024. Your model called for a high in January, the false move to retest support in February, and a resumption of the trend into April. You have taught me so much about how markets move. Only a fool buys and holds, expecting every month to be higher.
Keep up the great reports. This is when many say we need you the most.
Jeb
That Post 2/24/24 Was:
The UK has a slightly different pattern from continental Europe. Germany shows a Panic Cycle in June. But the targets are shaping up as May and July. Blending in gold, January was high, and Feb has retested support, yet softly. Volatility should rise now going into March, and April 19/20th is the ECM turning point of the Ukraine/Russia War, followed by the main ECM target of May 7th. Here, too, we see rising volatility in gold from May into August, with a Panic Cycle in September and the peak in volatility in November probably related to the 2024 election.
ANSWER: Thank you. Everything moves in a cycle. Many of the great discoveries come only from observing how markets trade. John Law traded on the exchange in Amsterdam and came up with the theory of Supply and demand.
Sir Thomas Gresham also traded on the floor in Amsterdam, representing the English Crown. He saw how Henry VIII’s debasement of money caused people to hoard the older money, which actually shrank the money supply, forcing the state to debase even more. He came up with the idea that bad money drives good money out of circulation.
I invented capital flow analysis because, in the ’80s, I, too, observed how capital was rushing around the world, driving markets up and down. If you do not open your eyes, you will remain nothing more than the fool on the hill.
Only a fool refuses to learn about the markets. If you cannot grasp this basic fundamental principle, forget investment; you are just a fool who will lose everything. There are always false moves. That is how the market is propelled by moving in the opposite direction, creating bull and bear traps. Every rally in gold for 19 years was touted as this time will be different. When they failed, they blamed the bankers. NOBODY but NOBODY can manipulate any market, altering its trend. They can push the market around within the scope of support and resistance. But they cannot change the trend no matter what.
All the bankers and hedge funds were on the same trade with Russia. I was invited down to the dinner they put on to buy influence in the IMF at the National Gallery. I told them the market would crash and refused to join. When it crashed, they blamed me rather than admit they were all wrong. If they were so powerful, why do they always blow themselves up with Russia, mortgage-backed securities, you name it?
No market can be manipulated against its inherent trend. Anyone who claims gold was suppressed because it was manipulated simply was an excuse because their analysis was wrong. That is total BS to claim any market can be manipulated, converting a bull to a bear market. Everything is arbitraged on a global scale.
The majority is ALWAYS wrong, and that is what creates the crash. They are all long, try to get out, and there is no bid. Look at the Slinky moving down the steps. The opposite side gains the majority of power and then pulls the other side down, and so on. This is how the markets move. It is always a battle between bulls and bears, which is why the markets can never go in one direction. The same is true about everything, including climate change. The climate has always changed the same as markets have always risen and fallen, only to rise again. Marxism did not understand this fundamental, and it, like some gold bugs, tried to make the economy rise and never fall back into recession.
The French physicist Jean Foucault discovered what is known as the Foucault Pendulum. He proved that the earth rotated on its axis. The pendulum was constantly moving back and forth like markets by its own inertia. In the course of 24 hours, the floor moved in a circle. Since you are standing next to this pendulum at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the illusion is that it moves in a circle when you and the floor are fixed on Earth.
NOT EVERYTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS – ONLY A FOOL REFUSES TO SEE
Posted originally on Apr 9, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
One thing that analysts fail to explain is that Americans have begun working multiple jobs since the COVID pandemic that wrecked the global economy. Nonfarm payrolls increased 303,000 in March, but there are millions of Americans holding multiple jobs who can still not keep up with the cost of living even with wages up 4.1% in the past year.
Around5.3% of the US workforce held more than one job, on the books, in 2019 but that slowed during the pandemic when businesses were unable to open. In September 2022, 4.9% of American workers (7.7 million people) held more than one job (on the books) as the economy began to slowly recover but that trend did not stay in motion due to rampant inflation and the cost of living. By October 2023, 5.2% of the US workforce (8.4 million people) held more than one job.
Women are more likely than men to work multiple jobs. And we wonder why there is a birth rate crisis. Around 6% of US women in the workforce had two or more jobs by October 2023 compared to 4.7% of men.
Now these are simply the figures for those working on the books. The Biden Administration killed the gig economy when Americans relied on it the most by imposing numerous regulations that forced companies to classify contractors as employees. Then we have states carelessly raising the minimum wage, eliminating the number of available jobs, and raising costs for businesses overall.
Only 62.7% of abled Americans are participating in the workforce. This does not include the 7.4+ illegal migrants who cannot obtain working permits but rely on government aid. Then they “revise” the jobs report every month, with January’s overwhelming report of 353,000 new jobs now down by 27,000, and February’s posting shedding 5,000. Then if you read between the lines, the number of part-time workers, who do not have benefits, rose by 691,000 while the number of full-time workers decreased by 6,000. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics admitted that the number of Americans holding multiple jobs increased by217,000 or 5.2%, but this is drastically understated as many people work under the table or in odd jobs.
The jobs report is by no means an indication of a strong economy.
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
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
Centinel2012 