QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, the famous economist Paul Krugman says that debt is ok when we owe it to ourselves. He calls it “deficit scolding” as he wrote in the New York Times. Would you like to comment on this statement?
GH
ANSWER: Paul Krugman seems to lack any historical understanding of how nations rise and fall. Anyone who claims debt is OK and can be infinite because “we” owe it to ourselves is clueless. He wrote in the article you referred to that “we have a more or less stable ratio of debt to GDP, and no hint of a financing problem.” The debt to GDP ratio is interesting but totally irrelevant. China’s debt to GDP stands at 250%, the USA at 103%, and Greece buckled at 186%. Obviously, this ratio is rather meaningless as a forecasting tool. I have published this chart on call money rates previously. In my studies, I quickly discovered that you cannot reduce the cause of any effect to a single issue. We can see that the peak in call money rates took place during 1899 and it was the lowest in 1929 when the Great Depression hit. You can’t even claim that if interest rates hit some magical level the stock market would crash. The world is far more complicated than just this one-dimensional approach to everything.
Capital flows were fleeing the USA in 1899 so interest rates went higher with a shortage of money. In 1929, the capital was in the USA for it rushed here because of World War I. The inflow of capital created an excess so the peak in call money rates was lower than 1899 when capital was fleeing. We even have the world of President Grover Cleveland from the Panic of 1893 commenting on the net capital outflow because of the “unsound” financial policy of the Silver Democrats.
The greatest mistake in the analysis is always trying to reduce any effect to a single cause. The world is a complex mechanism. It is indeed like a rainforest. There are countless species and each is interconnected. Exterminate one and you will find that it was the food source for another which dies. That species, in turn, was the food source for yet another and so on. The world economy is equally complex. This is why I say we are ALL CONNECTED. Create a war in one region, we may not be involved with troops, but the capital flows shift.
Everything is interconnected. There is no single cause and effect. Looking at GDP debt ratios is pointless. This is also why fundamental analysis is notoriously wrong. The majority tries to reason the future based upon this one-dimensional analysis and they NEVER got it right. I have posted this video clip of Larry Summers before. He is asked why can’t you guys ever get it right just once. His excuse is blunt. The economy is extraordinarily complex like the weather. He argues nobody can forecast the direction.
For anyone to say that debt can be infinite when we owe it just to ourselves is a fool. At times, 70% of the national debt has been accumulating interest payments. A national debt is the single greatest way we transfer wealth among citizens as well as nations. I kept yelling on Capitol Hill that Quantitative Easing would fail, it would not “stimulate” the economy for a very simple reason. The assumption that the Fed would buy 30-year bonds and then the banks would lend into real estate with lower interest rates was crazy. The debt is NOT owned by exclusively Americans. China was smart and it sold the 30-year bonds and swapped to 5-year or less paper. The money was transferred out of the country. To pretend this is a debt we “owe” ourselves is just fantasy.
Even domestically, if I am the lender and you are the borrower, then you are paying me because you borrowed the money. Your wealth is transferred to me because you could not wait to buy something for cash. Sorry, I believe Adam Smith was someone who tried to observe HOW things actually work instead of trying to support a predetermined conclusion.
Governor Gerry Brown made it a violation of law to shower and do laundry on the same day. The purpose of this law is to “help California be better prepared for future droughts and the effects of climate change.” The limit will be 55 gallonsof water per day. If you exceed that, there will be a fine of $1,000 per day. If this takes place during a declared drought, the fine jumps to $10,000. A 5-minute shower consumes about 15 gallons of water and to do a load of laundry takes 30 to 40 gallons depending upon the machine. If you live alone, then perhaps you may be OK. If you have a family with two kids, you may have to avoid daily showers.
The entire right to privacy was determined by the Supreme Court in a case where Connecticut outlawed using condoms because God said go forth and multiply. The case concerned a Connecticut law that criminalized the encouragement or use of birth control. That case was Griswold v Connecticut, 381 US 479 (1965). The question becomes: How can you enforce such a law? Does the state then have the RIGHT to come into your home and inspect before you engage in sex to ensure you were not using a condom? Do they remain there observing until you are finished to make sure you did not put one on after they left?
In this case, they will track your meter. But what if you live in an apartment building where they do not monitor water usage per unit? Do they then have the right to stand there to investigate who in the building is doing laundry and taking showers on the same day? They will no doubt turn this into a money-making marathon. If you have a leak or your pipe bursts and you lose hundreds of gallons until they can shut off the water, would you then get a bill for $10,000?
The village of Reconvilier, Switzerland, has discovered a law from 1904 that allows the village to kill dogs if their owners don’t pay a 50 Swiss francs annual pet tax. They use it as extortion of pet owners. You pay the 50 Swiss francs or they kill your dog. Very simple. In Zurich, a woman dropped off her recycling on the wrong day. She was given the choice of two nights in jail or paying a fine. Men cannot stand and urinate after 10 PM because it makes too much noise.
The Swiss banned nuke hiking. It went all the way to the Supreme Court. One must wonder why people would want to even hike in the nude in the mountains. I suppose they are preparing for the coming Ice Age.
One of the greatest gifts President Trump provides through his policy discussion(s) is an awakening to how much U.S. voter perspective has been driven by constructed fallacy.
This is especially true in the discussion of domestic economic policy. There are trillions of dollars at stake; and the stakeholders are growing increasingly angry as President Trump places a spotlight on decades of economic fraud and abuse.
Prior to the 2016 election few people understood that DC politicians don’t actually write legislation, lobbyists do. Politicians don’t write laws, their role is to sell legislation created by lobbyist groups. That is the modern legislative model; that’s how it really works. Unfortunately the same bastardized and manipulated process has happened around trade deals and trade agreements.
In modern trade agreements, before the election of President Donald Trump, corporations would write the actual language within the deal. Corporate lobby groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have fully functioning staff that do nothing except write the trade agreement language.
If a multinational corporation wanted to increase its value, it simply needed to pay the indulgency fee to the U.S. CoC and the massive lobbying group would create language inside the agreement to assist their interest. Note the corporation didn’t need to be U.S. centric, currency is multinational. The U.S. CoC then pays politicians, both democrats and Republicans, via campaign contributions for the trade controls. People can debate the nuance and intersections of governmental bureaucracy within the process; however, peel all the skin from the onion and this is how it really was working.
Then came President Trump.
Much like the November 2016 election showed how there were no legislative lobbying groups in DC who aligned with President Trump’s legislative agenda, hence no MAGA laws at the ready, the same is true for international trade agreements. The election of Donald Trump disrupted the entire process. The Office of the Presidency was now looking out for U.S. worker and economic interests; the U.S. CoC lost all influence overnight.
In the decade prior to November 2016 can you remember who the U.S. Trade Representative was? Even just one of them? Or how about any U.S. Commerce Secretary since 2000? …..See the point? They were irrelevant to the process. The executive branch and the legislative branch willingly abdicated their trade positions in exchange for financial payments from corporations direct and indirect.
With enough money thrown into the process politicians became multimillionaires; and even the administrative state benefactors circling the politicians could easily get rich. A fantastic gig for the DC crowd. Who could resist?
Notice all of those DC retirements lately? Not, unrelated to the Trump-effect.
Have you ever really elevated high enough to contemplate what underlies the opposition to candidate Trump, President-elect Trump, or now President Trump? March 2016, Sea Island, Georgia ring a bell? I digress…
Bottom line, there are trillions of dollars at stake; there has been approximately 20 years of selling U.S. trade and economic policy; the functionality of much of the worlds political power brokerage was/is dependent on retention of this system of financial control and influence. Almost all economic trade discussion was centered around hiding this simple truth. Entire fallacies of false choice were, purchased, constructed, created and put into print within economic text books. [Authors well compensated]
As CTH has been sharing, long before Trump, it is all based on a series of necessarily growing lies. Each new lie bigger than the one before it, because the irreconcilable truth needs to be hidden, conflated and obfuscated.
An example of a fallacy of false choice you might find familiar:
Corporate outsourcing is due to manufacturers looking for cheap labor; … AND … also, job losses are due to automation. See the problem?
If automation replaces labor, then why move the manufacturing process? The argument doesn’t add up. Confused? Don’t worry, you’re supposed to be.
If you don’t think the effort at selling economic nonsense has corrupted even generally intelligent people, allow me to present an audio-visual example from yesterday. Pay attention to this abject nonsense closely.
I’ve prompted the video to 40:27 so you can just click for a 30 second soundbite. Seriously, this is an important watch:
Did you hear that?
“Foreign investment is the inverse of trade deficits, because all of those trade dollars have to come back to America somehow. The bigger the trade deficit, the more foreign investment you get”.
I shall break it down, but re-read it again because it’s important to see just how good the psychological gaslighting has been. Jonah Goldberg isn’t stupid; but he actually believes what he just said. He really believes it.
“Foreign investment is the inverse of trade deficits”…
If this were true, Africa would be the world’s dominating economy. The actual inverse of trade deficits is higher taxes and printing money. The wealth redistributed in trade deficits must be made up somehow. If trade deficits were great to have Africa would be the world economic power.
“because all of those trade dollars have to come back into America somehow”…
Says who? This sounds like something heard at a cocktail party that seems intellectual, but is abject silliness. The use of the magic “somehow” is a tell.
“The bigger the trade deficit, the more foreign investment you get”…
That part is the biggest bunch of nonsense ever stated. If deficits were so wonderful, everyone would want them, right? Again, see Africa.
In fairness to Goldberg what is behind his statement is a belief you hear, albeit wrongly stated, all the time. What he’s saying is that dollars spent on purchasing foreign goods come back into the U.S. by way of reinvestment or debt purchase.
However, Goldberg makes a fatal mistake in defining what “foreign investment” means to him; instead of understanding what President Trump means when he says “foreign investment”.
♦Goldberg is defining “foreign investment” as money returning to the U.S. via corporate profits on Wall Street and/or the purchase of U.S. debt via treasury notes.
♦Trump defines “foreign investment” as money spent actually building Main Street factories, physical plants, and creating U.S. jobs.
These are two entirely different reference points.
Under Goldberg’s definition of “foreign investment” Wall Street is the benefactor. That benefit may or may not ultimately end up on Main Street. Under President Trump’s definition of “foreign investment” the benefit ONLY ends up on Main St. See the cognitive difference?
Goldberg is selling the U.S. Chamber of Commerce economic trade fallacies because that’s all he, and his entire tribe, know. They have never questioned the underlying assumptions and have swallowed 30 years of trade nonsense.
This is how pervasive the economic lies have been for almost a generation. It’s pretty darned sad when you witness those who believe it.
Only one person is strong enough to break through these lies….
President Trump affirms the U.S. position to use targeted tariffs to assert reciprocity as the trade standard. Free and fair trade is the goal via removing tariffs and non trade barriers:
The Supreme Court has ruled on the wedding cake issue… but it’s not the ruling that anybody expected. What does this mean? Want even more Right Angle each week? Become a member at BillWhittle.com! https://www.billwhittle.com/subscribe Right Angle is brought to you by the paying members of BillWhittle.com and by donations from viewers like you! Show your support by making a donation at: https://www.billwhittle.com/donate
As the hurricane season officially starts, President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and the majority of the Cabinet attend the critically important 2018 FEMA briefing.
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REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP AT 2018 HURRICANE BRIEFING – FEMA Headquarters, Washington, D.C., 2:06 P.M. EDT [Transcript Link]
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I want to thank you. Great job, Brock. Really fantastic. Thank you very much. And we really appreciate the job you’ve done. It’s been amazing, and you really have kept quite busy, I would say, unfortunately. We had no choice. We were hit hard. But you’ve done a fantastic job. So I want to thank you very much.
ADMINISTRATOR LONG: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Secretary Nielsen, Administrator Long, I want to thank you for hosting this incredible group of people. I’d like to sort of maybe say and pay some respects to some of the people here today. I have a list.
Of course, we have to start with our great First Lady, Melania. Thank you, Melania. She’s doing great. (Applause.) She went through a little rough patch, but she’s doing great. And we’re very proud of her. She’s done a fantastic job as First Lady. The people love you. The people of our country love you. So thank you, honey.
And Vice President Pence. Mike. Mike, another great job you are doing. Secretary Michael Pompeo. We’re keeping him very busy. We’re keeping you so busy. You’re going to be flying — a lot of flying in the next couple of weeks. But what a job you’ve done, and we appreciate it. The whole country appreciates it, Mike. Thank you very much.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Steve Mnuchin. Steve, wherever you may be. He’s working hard on those taxes and keeping the taxes down. We passed the greatest tax cut in the history of our country, and lots of other things. And thank you very much. Great.
I think we say that we have had the strongest — this is the strongest, from an economic standpoint, that our country has ever been. We’re doing better in terms of business, in terms of unemployment. We’ve broken the record with so many different groups. African American, the lowest unemployment in history. The Hispanic lowest unemployment in history. Women, lowest unemployment in 21 years. Seven trillion dollars in worth we’ve created since the election. Seven trillion with a “T.” Not with even a “B.” And that’s a number that nobody would have thought was possible. So thank you to everybody. That’s been fantastic.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you very much. Secretary Ryan Zinke. Keeping very busy. I know that, Ryan. That’s good. That’s good for you. Right? Keeping busy and opening up those lands so people can use them and enjoy them. Largest landlord in the world, Ryan. Nobody knows that. But you’re the largest — by far, the largest landlord. It’s almost half the United States if you think about it. Right? So great job you’re doing. Sonny Perdue. And those farms are doing well, and I did the farmers a big favor last night. Right?
SECRETARY PERDUE: You did. Absolutely.
THE PRESIDENT: I did a big, big favor for the farmers. We love the farmers, and they were happy.
SECRETARY PERDUE: They love you.
THE PRESIDENT: I know that Senator Grassley and Senator Ernst were very happy with what we did. So thank you for your help. I appreciate it.
Wilbur Ross, Secretary. I appreciate it, Wilbur. We’re renegotiating a lot of trade deals, and they’re really fantastic. And it’s going to — we have the worst trade deals ever made. And we’re going to have now fair trade deals. We have made the worst deals ever made. NAFTA is a disaster. World Trade Organization is a disaster. I could go deal after deal, and it’s been very unfair to our country, to our workers, to our companies, and to everybody else involved. And we’re changing them around rapidly. So, Wilbur Ross, thank you very much.
Secretary Alex Azar. Alex, I’m very proud of what you’ve done. And you’re coming up in about another month with healthcare. Maybe even sooner than that. We’re going to have a great healthcare bill planned. And it’s going to be great healthcare for a much smaller price than anybody ever thought possible. And I really appreciate that. And our new project that we’re really working on very hard is reducing the cost of prescription medicine. And that’s going to be something that people will not forget. Some people think that’s almost more important than the healthcare. I’ve had people say, “Which is more important?” They’re both important. But we’re reducing the cost of medicine because of what you’re doing, and we appreciate it.
Secretary Ben Carson, who’s got some things going on at HUD that we’re very excited. We had lunch the other day, and what you’re doing is great, Ben. That’s really inspirational. More than just brick and mortar. It’s really inspirational, Ben. And we appreciate it very much. Thank you very much.
Elaine Chao, Secretary. All you do is produce. You do it in a very quiet way and so effective and so incredible. What a job you’re doing with transportation. It was a great decision. Thank you very much.
Rick Perry. Rick is — I thought you were going to the VA. But we have great people at the VA, so — (laughter) — so now we don’t have to worry about the VA. I think we have great — I always thought Rick — I’d put him right over in the VA, and you would have done great there, too. But you’re doing a fantastic job at Energy. And we’re now the largest in the world in energy, Rick. The largest in the world. And we’re now exporting energy for the first time. Never did it. Now we’re exporting energy. But we have become the largest energy producer in the world. Who would have thought? But we’ve opened it up a little bit, Rick, right? And we’ve let our people go and do their thing. And they’re doing a great job.
Acting Secretary of the VA, Peter O’Rourke. And, Peter, the combination of you and Wilkie, I think that’s going to be an unbeatable combination. So thank you for all your help. I’m hearing only good things.
Secretary Nielsen. I don’t know, what do I say about you? (Laughter.) Huh? You are doing great. And the border is coming along. And the wall is going up. We have $1.6 billion being spent on phase one of the wall and we’ll get additional funding. And every week that goes by, people realize it more and more that we have to have the wall. And we’re doing great in San Diego and different places.
General John Kelly is here someplace. General? Good, General. Great job, John.
Administrator Scott Pruitt. Thank you, Scott, very much. EPA is doing really, really well. And you know, somebody has to say that about you a little bit. You know that, Scott. (Laughter.) But you have done — I tell you, the EPA is doing so well. So many approvals — and disapprovals. If they don’t qualify, they don’t qualify. But we don’t have to wait 15 years to tell somebody they don’t qualify. And people are really impressed with the job that’s being done at the EPA. Thank you very much, Scott.
Mick Mulvaney. He’s got two hats on now, right, Mick? You’ve got two hats, not just one. And you’re doing great at both. But Office of Management and Budget has been good, and our budget this year will be — there will be a lot of cutting, because we want to cut. You know, Mick is really more of a cutter than the other. But we had to get the military through. We got $700 billion approved for military. We needed that.
And in order to get that done, we had to do some things for the Democrats that we would normally not do — because we consider a lot of it waste and a horror show. But in order to get our military and $6 billion for opioid. So we got the — which Melania is so heavily involved in — and we got that taken care of. And very importantly, next year, $716 billion for military. So, Mick, great job. And this time, you can start cutting, okay? Because we have our military taken care of now, so you can start really cutting.
A friend of mine for a long time, Administrator Linda McMahon. And, Linda, I was just being told the other day what you’ve done in small business has been incredible. One of the real stars. And Vince and myself and your family, we’re all proud of you. But what you’ve done is fantastic. So much work. People don’t realize your small business is really — it’s really a very massive business. And you add it all up and those numbers are not small business. They’re bigger than just about any company you can even think of. So congratulations, Linda. Thank you very much.
Governor Rick Scott. We have a lot of people around and watching. You know, we’re on screens all over the country and I think beyond. But we have Governor Rick Scott of Florida is there, and he’s watching and he’s done a fantastic job. He’s now running for the United States Senate. And I won’t get political, but I think you’re going to do very well, okay? That’s not political, is it?
Secretary Patrick Shanahan, Deputy, who is — thanks, Patrick — really doing a job. And you’re bringing in all that money under budget. I know that. You know, you’re going to buy two airplanes instead of one for the same price, right? That’s what we want. He did a fantastic job at the company that he worked for on that. And we appreciate that very much. And it’s so important that when you go out and buy the equipment that we’re talking about buying — you know, hundreds and hundreds of jet fighters and bombers and planes and boats and ships and everything — we got to get the great price. All right? We got to get the great price. And if we can help you, let us know. Because there’s very few things so important.
Administrator Mark Green, U.S. Agency for International Development. And thank you very much, Mark. We appreciate it very much. Thank you.
Assistant Secretary Neil Jacobs and Administrator Brock Long. Vice Chairman Paul Selva. General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy. And, as you know, Charles Ray. Good old — I knew Ray Charles. I didn’t know Charles Ray, but — (laughter) — now I know Charles Ray. So, you know, that’s pretty good, too. I dont know, maybe Ray Charles is even better, right? I don’t know. But we appreciate the great job you’ve done. Thank you very much.
I want to start just by saying that we’ve had three devastating major hurricanes that hit our country within a month’s time. There’s never been really anything like it. And in the case of Texas, it wouldn’t even go away. It would come in. We thought it was gone. It would go back out. It would reload. And this happened three different times, Brock. That was a record raindrop. That was a record water drop on a state, and it wasnt even close.
And shortly thereafter, we dealt with the threat of another hurricane and then destructive wildfires along the West Coast, in California and other places. America has never experienced so many large-scale disasters in so short a period of time. And we have the most qualified staff between the Secretary and Brock, and all of your people. You’ve been fantastic. And it goes a little bit unrecognized, because all you do is see people fighting and working, and getting the fires out and the water off the land, and all of the things.
But believe me, the country has watched, and they’ve seen an incredible job what you’ve done.
Our entire government leapt into action to coordinate the response, along with the state and local leaders. And we did have a lot of help from some really great governors — Florida, Texas. A lot of great people helped us, and it was great.
Families in Texas and Louisiana, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi — they were all affected. Hard to believe. And on tribal lands, where the hit was catastrophic, and the storms were really historic in their severity.
But in the wake of such tragedy, we also witnessed the resilience of the American people and the professionalism, talent, and devotion of the men and women of FEMA. Good group, right?
ADMINISTRATOR LONG: Great group.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s a great group of people, and throughout our government. Last year, more than 17,000 FEMA and other federal employees, as well as 14,000 personnel from the Department of Defense National Guard, were deployed to support the massive response and recovery efforts left by these storms and these tragedies.
Administrator Long, I want to thank you in particular for the incredible job and the unbelievable teams of men and women that you led to take care of these problems. You have done a job. They’re talking about you all over. Don’t leave us, though, okay? Just relax. (Laughter.)
SECRETARY NIELSEN: Oh, he’s here.
THE PRESIDENT: In fact, we could have put him in a different position. We didn’t want to. We want him right there. It’s not an easy position. But you have really stepped forward, and we appreciate it.
I also want to recognize the Coast Guard, our other military services. I have to tell you, the Coast Guard saved 16,000 people. What do you think of that, Ben? Sixteen-thousand people. (Applause.) And I think — you know, honestly, they don’t get enough credit in many ways.
Mike made the commencement address this year at the Coast Guard Academy. I did it the year before. I don’t think the Coast Guard gets enough credit. And I’ve said it, and I even say it to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. I said, I think this year the Coast Guard, maybe in terms of increased branding — the brand of the Coast Guard has been something incredible what’s happened. Saved 16,000 people, many of them in Texas, for whatever reason that is. People went out in their boats to watch the hurricane. That didn’t work out too well. That didn’t work out too well.
So I just want to thank all of the people in the Coast Guard and all of our services for having been incredible. The National Weather Service; the American Red Cross — been amazing;, state and local governments; our brave first responders; law enforcement — always law enforcement; and so many others who came together to save lives, restore hope, and rebuild our communities.
As we enter the hurricane season again — here we go. Right? You’re ready?
ADMINISTRATOR LONG: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: But we’re entering it. This is it. We are marshaling every available resource to ensure maximum preparation for rapid response. That’s what we had last year. Disaster response and recovery is best achieved when it’s federally supported, state-managed, and locally executed. You agree with that, I think, Brock — right?
ADMINISTRATOR LONG: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: This is really the great model that we’ve built, and there’s no better model anywhere in the world. And we do help other countries, also, when there’s catastrophic events, like in Mexico and other places. We’re always there. We’re always there for them.
So I look forward to your briefing and I look forward to a very productive discussion. It’s an honor to be with all of the great people that work so hard in the Trump administration.
And, Mike, I’m going to ask you to say a few words. And thank for having done a great job.
The German public broadcast agency ARD is proposing structural changes. Due to the low-interest rates, the ECB has placed the agency in hard times with its pensions. Karola Wille, the director, has called for structural reform to reduce costs. The proposal centers on technological change to increase efficiency in the performance of its mandate. They are also looking at developing cross-media applications to modernize the agency. The ARD is non-profit so the German government has to fund it. As the low-interest rates have undermined pensions throughout Europe, the governments will have to step up and bail them out. This is going to put tremendous pressure on the entire EU budget and austerity policy embedded within the single currency.
We are looking at the same story being painted throughout Europe. The low-interest rate policy for nearly 10 years has not merely destroyed the bond market in Europe, it has undermined the pension system both privately and publicly. Indeed, adding to this crisis is the mandate that all pension funds hold some or the majority of their investments into government debt. The combination of these policies clashes with the ECB and the nightmare on the horizon and why Draghi can’t leave fast enough to avoid personal blame.
This crisis all stems from the structural design of the EU. They tried to be half pregnant with only a single currency and dictatorial control over member state budgets. The refusal to consolidate the debt emphasized the problem of the great disparities in cultures and the prevailing prejudices that exist through Europe between member states as well as within member states such as Bavaria v northern Germany or Spain v Catalonia, Scotland v Britain, Italy v Sicily, etc.. This prevailing prejudice is also why the bail-in policy was adopted. If Italian banks failed, then a centralized source of funds would amount to transfer payments between one member state to another. This was the very reason the EU rejected debt consolidation, to begin with. True, Greece was offered “loans” but its feet were held to the fire to pay it back. That was again rejecting any idea of a single Europe implied by transfer payments v loans.
Furthermore, as this pension crisis matures, we will have the same problem of transfer payments. This is how and why the EU will break apart because there is no actual resolution to consolidate the debts. The talk of Eurobonds is merely a way for the EU to borrow, but it will still not result in debt consolidation. What they are proposing is the same structure as the mortgage-backed CDO crisis of 2007. Bundling member state debt into a single Eurobond but each member still is responsible for its own debt. The structural failure of the EU has been all about how they could have their cake and eat it too. This is also why none of the leaders in Brussels ever stand for election. They are embedded in a deliberate denial of any democratic process.
With the collapse of the head of Spain, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and the change in hands of the state to the Socialist Pedro Sanchez, the Nationalists retook control of Catalonia’s regional government on Saturday. A new cabinet was sworn in ending just over seven months of direct rule from Madrid by Rajoy. The cabinet is now led by Quim Torra, who was a close aide to former Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont, who the Germans arrestedon behalf of Rajoy who wanted him imprisoned for life or outright dead on arrival. The new head of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, has stated he wants talks on Catalonia reversing the policies of Rajoy. However, he has stated that he opposes any independence referendum.
COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong; I have a friend in the management of the NFL. I sent him your piece on the decline of their industry and how the protests we really turning people off. Well, they have now banned protests during the game. They revised their policy mandating that players and team personnel present on the sideline “shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.”
Just letting you know.
P
REPLAY: Yes, the viewership for the Superbowl peaked with the Economic Confidence Model in 2015 and then it began a three-year decline so far into 2018 it has reached a new 9-year low. This has been 3 years down since the major peak in 2015. Players have no right to protest when they are being paid for a job. No employee can say I am not coming to work because I want to protest Trump but you still have to pay me anyway. Personal time is personal. When you are on the clock, you are being paid for a specific job. We have simply put everything into the computer. Sports also peak with the economy and before it turns down hard.
Here is the attendance of the New York Yankees from 1913 (not TV viewership). We can see that attendance declined during the Great Depression, bounced after the war, dropped into 1972 following the collapse of Bretton Woods in 1971, and then began a broader rally that lasted 36 years until 2008. Baseball was also a leading indicator for the decline in viewership for the NFL. The decline post-2008 is mirroring the decline in liquidity in markets as well.
FLASHBACK – The Dateline is March 9th, 2017: The media is interviewing former DNI James Clapper to push-back against President Trump’s recent tweets about his 2016 campaign, and campaign officials, being under surveillance from Obama intelligence officials. Here’s what Clapper said on Meet The Press:
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This week The New York Times [Here and Here] and Washington Post [Here] have reluctantly admitted the Obama intelligence apparatus: CIA, DOJ-NSD and FBI were conducting surveillance on the Trump campaign through the use of FISA Warrants, National Security Letters, and “informants” used to target the campaign.
The IC narrative has shifted from denial to justification. President Trump responds:
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
Capital flows were fleeing the USA in 1899 so interest rates went higher with a shortage of money. In 1929, the capital was in the USA for it rushed here because of World War I. The inflow of capital created an excess so the peak in call money rates was lower than 1899 when capital was fleeing. We even have the world of President Grover Cleveland from the Panic of 1893 commenting on the net capital outflow because of the “unsound” financial policy of the Silver Democrats.
Everything is interconnected. There is no single cause and effect. Looking at GDP debt ratios is pointless. This is also why fundamental analysis is notoriously wrong. The majority tries to reason the future based upon this one-dimensional analysis and they NEVER got it right. I have posted this video clip of Larry Summers before. He is asked why can’t you guys ever get it right just once. His excuse is blunt. The economy is extraordinarily complex like the weather. He argues nobody can forecast the direction.
Centinel2012 