Category World Economic Form

May 3 2017

Is There Really More Oil in The Golan Heights than in Saudi Arabia? Who’s Genie Energy?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Energy

Re-Posted May 3, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Golan_Heights_Map

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong I live in Israel and today I listened to your podcast with Macrovoices. At some point you mentioned that there is more oil in Golan heights than in Saudi Arabia -and this oil belongs to genie energy. Is it true? How can it be that nobody knew nothing about this in Israel? Are you sure 100 % about this information? I will be happy to know more about this.

best regards

EP

Genie Oil & Gas

ANSWER: Yes. This is one of the best kept secrets. You can imagine that if this went into production, then the disputed Syrian land issue occupied by Israel would come to the forefront. This is why it gets no play but this is one reason Obama was working to overthrow the Syrian government. They would not have political people on the Strategic Advisory Board if they did not need political strings pulled.

Politically, you have the Pipe Line from Qatar being one major issue that was to compete with Russia in selling gas to Europe, which is why Putin is involved. He is not involved in Egypt, Israel, or even Afghanistan. This is the reason why Putin has an interest in Syria and the mainstream media of course championed Obama claiming he was defending children. Then we have Genie Oil and strategic oil reserves within occupied Syria. Just look at the people who are are heavy hitters on the Strategic Advisory Board of Genie Oil!  Not bad for a company nobody has heard of and the glaring issue is why do you need heavy hitters like this just to pump oil? Location! Location! Location! The mainstream media is not going to report on this issue. They even have Rupert Murdoch on their Strategic Advisory Board. This is hush hush in the mainstream media.

Strategic Advisory Board

The Strategic Advisory Board of Genie Oil and Gas advises management on strategic, financial, operational and public policy matters.

Michael Steinhardt (SAB Chairman)
Noted Wall Street investor and Principal Manager, Steinhardt Management LLC. Founder Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co., and noted philanthropist.

Richard (Dick) Cheney
46th Vice President of the United States. Vice President Cheney also served as President and CEO of Halliburton Company and U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1989 to 1993.

Marry Landrieu
United States Senator from Louisiana from 1996 to 2014. Senator Landrieu served as chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. In her capacity as chair, she sponsored and passed the U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Bill. The bill fosters partnerships focused on developing resources such as natural gas and alternative fuels, on the academic, business and governmental levels.

Rupert Murdoch
Founder and Executive Chairman of News Corporation, one of the world’s largest diversified media companies. News Corporation’s holdings include Fox Entertainment, Dow Jones and Company, the New York Post, HarperCollins and significant media assets on six continents.

Bill Richardson
Governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. Mr. Richardson has served asU.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1997-1998), Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration (1998-2001), Chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and as Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.

Jacob Rothschild, OM, GBE
Chairman of the J. Rothschild group of companies and of RIT Capital Partners plc. Chairman of Five Arrows Limited. Lord Rothschild is a noted philanthropist and Chairman of the Rothschild Foundation.

Dr. Lawrence Summers
Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University. Dr. Summers served as the 71st Secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton and as Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama.

R. James Woolsey
Director of Central Intelligence from 1993 to 1995 and as Under Secretary of the Navy from 1977 to 1979. Mr. Woolsey is co-founder of the United States Energy Security Council and is Chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies

May 2 2017

Austria Wants to Tax Any Search, Like, or Communication via Internet


Armstrong Economics Blog/The Hunt for Taxes

Re-Posted May 2, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Schieder Andreas

Andreas Schieder (born 1969) is the parliamentary head of Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern’s Social Democrats. He is a typical career politician since 1997 and the very type of person who has no idea about the world economy no less human nature. He is a highly dangerous bureaucrat who only looks at people like cattle from which the government can extract greater and great sums.

Schieder is obviously a Marxist who wants to now tax human behavior and any interaction you have with Twitter Inc., Google or Facebook among others. He wants to tax every time you do anything from searching, posting, tweeting or just liking someone’s post.

He claims this is really a barter transaction where it appears to be free but you are giving them your personal data that they sell to advertising. That arrangement is a form of bartering and any barter transactions is subject to the value-added tax. He said according to Bloomberg:

“The business transaction that’s going on here is that users are paying with their personal data,” Schieder told journalists in Vienna. “The business model of those internet companies is based on massive revenues that are generated with the help of those data.”

Andreas Schieder is a highly dangerous man. He only looks at what government can extract from people, never how government can reduce its size and cost to save money. It’s always just raise more and more taxes without end.

May 2 2017

Soros At it Again – Trying to Overthrow Polish Government?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption

Re-Posted May 2, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Tokyo-3-1999

Tokyo March 1999 Institutional Seminar

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, I attended your March 1999 conference in Tokyo when I worked for ______ bank. I remember you called out Soros and crew and said they were trying to manipulate the yen for fiscal year end. You warned the Japanese how to defeat the Club. If I remember, he and his crew lost $1 billion when everyone in Tokyo followed your advice. Many assumed what they did to you 6 months later was retribution. Now he is at it in Poland funneling money he made from such trading in through Norway to create political unrest. What is it with this guy? Why does he play God?

KE

Japanese Manipulartion March 1999

ANSWER: Oh yes. I remember that event very clearly. That why they started calling me Mr. Yen because it was me and our clients against the Club and the Club lost. They were trying to to push the yen down for the fiscal year-end roll of March 31st and then run it up into April 1st. They had our clients lock it in and that forced the manipulators out. That was a wild day. 3 big figures in a single day in an outside-reversal was a big move back then.

I know the rumor was that Soros was in on that and the Club lost $1 billion. Not sure how much they lost on that one. It was the good-old fun days of confrontations.

The Polish government wants to stop the distribution of Norwegian money flowing into Poland coming from Soros’ funded Batory Foundation, which manages over 800 million euros with a target of overthrowing the Polish government by 2020. Since 2014, the Batory Foundation has distributed some 130 million zlotys (around 31.7 million euros) to various associations and organizations within Poland to change the government. According to Bloomberg, this includes organizations for the promotion of “parliamentary democracy”,  but only if it agrees with Soros’ agenda. Effectively, Soros is trying to defeat Catholic values ​​in Poland which are supported by the population and government.

Norway is refusing to stop Soros’ agenda being implemented against Poland from inside Norway. Meanwhile, Poland and the head of the EU have been is a battle rejecting the EU policies on refugees and Brussel’s totalitarian position where he has even told Poland to accept the refugees or get out of the EU. The main concern is that the Polish government wants to determine its own future and security. The situation escalated as the EU reelected Poland’s Donald Tusk against Poland’s.

Krakow-Night

Poland should exit the EU and strike its own trade deal with the USA. Many US companies have established back-office operations there in Krakow including New York Banks. It is a very beautiful city on its own besides being a quiet place for back-office operations. Poland has well educated students, fluent in English, and they are free from the Euro. If Poland were to adopt the Euro, there are numerous companies that have expressed they would have to leave Poland or cease any further expansion under such conditions.

Soros has publicly stated he does not believe in God. Many who worked for him said they think he believes he is a god with the right to reshape the world in his image. So have many throughout history and they are responsible for the murder of countless millions. Money does not give you the right to fund revolutions to recast the world in your image.

May 1 2017

North Korea – Beware of Internal Events


Armstrong Economics Blog/War

Re-Posted May 1, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Kim Jong Un

QUESTION: Marty; I find it really amazing how your computer picked Ukraine, then Syria, and then you said in an interview that you regard Korea as the most dangerous of the three. Is this all cyclical based?

Thanks

Looking forward to Hong Kong

PL

ANSWER: Yes. We feed all information into the system that is both economic and social or more specifically war/civil unrest. When you correlate everything into the Economic Confidence Model, it becomes clear that war and civil unrest emerge only from an economic downturn. The only exception is the conquest model from the theory of empire building. We are not “imperialistic” today as was the case during the 19th century. The US model moved from conquest to puppet vassal states – national building rather than occupying.

Nikkei-Y 4-30-2017

IBJYUS-Y 4-30-2017The Marco Polo Incident took place on July 7th, 1937 (1937.515), and is regarded as the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War, which became World War II in the Pacific venue. If we look at this from Japan’s perspective, the peak of that 51.6 year wave picked the high in the Japanese economy and confidence in the Japanese government – 1989.115. If we add 72 years to the 1937.515 target, we come to 2009.515. Adding the War Cycle, this brought us to 2012.605. This lined up with the change in trend for the dollar/yen. The yen peak against the dollar was 2011. Successful launch of the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2 satellite aboard a three stage rocket (December 12, 2012) was in line with the War Cycle turning up 2012.605 with regard to Asia. So far, everything is in sync.

In the conflict with North Korea cannot be solved with posturing or some show of force. The only way to deal with them is to open direct talks. This nonsense of refusing to talk to North Korea until they comply is like kids in a schoolyard. Trump did say in his Reuters interview that the diplomatic efforts could ultimately fail. “There is a possibility that we will end up with a great, big conflict with North Korea.” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has called for stricter sanctions against the communist country. However, this has never worked and only provokes rocket and nuclear tests as a show of defiance and strength.

North Korea cannot reach California yet. The real danger of a North Korean nuclear attack is on Seoul or Tokyo. Keep in mind that this would be a desperate act most likely provoked by a domestic rise in civil unrest. If there is a fear that control will be lost, then an external enemy is needed to retain power. We should be more concerned about internal events right now. As long as his power is not threatened internally, then such an attack would not make sense. He does not have an arsenal of weapon to keep up a war. Beware of internal events – they are often the issue the drives madmen to act in desperation.

Apr 30 2017

President Trump Invites President Rodrigo Duterte To White House…


Re-Posted from the Conservative Tree House on April 30, 2017 by

{{snickering}} Well, who didn’t see this coming?…

(New York Post) President Trump spoke by phone Saturday with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte — praising the strongman for “fighting very hard to rid his country of drugs” and inviting him to Washington.

The two leaders also discussed regional security, including concerns over South Korea, the White House said in a statement.

No details were given on when Duterte would visit the US, but Trump also said he looked forward to visiting the Philippines in November for a summit with other Asian nations. (link)

As we shared five days ago – this is all part of a much, much bigger strategy.  Full explainer about how President Duterte fits in AVAILABLE HERE.  The insufferable media can’t even see it…. their intellectual dishonesty is becoming very annoyi

Apr 28 2017

Google’s New Flying Car & the Future Could Be So Much Brighter


Armstrong Economics Blog/Technology

Re-Posted Apr 28, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Flying Car

I found what I want for Christmas – Google’s prototype for a flying car. It would be really nice if we could ban all people from government who have zero experience in the real world who love to be career politicians to tell the rest of us what to do, and take all the toys away from military armies, for nobody wants to really invade and occupy enemies anymore – it’s just about pushing a button for power or like a domestic fight when dishes begin to fly before a divorce.

It reminds me of the Wagon Wheel scene in When Harry met Sally. Military fight over things like who will control what and at the end of the day, we forget about it. Neither Russia nor China are trying to reinstall communism. If Russia invaded Europe, the socialists will cheer and hand them the bill for their pensions. Putin would turn and run then. If we could actually return the national defense back to the Founding Father’s concept of a militia and eliminate standing armies worldwide, Kim Jong-un would be left with perhaps chasing women instead of power. Neo-Conservatives who are mad at the world for turning them into weak traitors like John McCain, would have to find a real job where he could brewed over being broken by the Vietnamese.

If we could just break-away from these two elements, the future might appear to be a new world of accomplishment.

Apr 27 2017

Democrat Congressional Leadership Now Demand Trump Administration “Punish” China…


Re-Posted from the Conservative Tree House on April 26, 2017 by

It was only a few months ago when congressional democrat leadership were clutching their pearls because President-elect Trump held a phone call with the political leadership of Taiwan.  House and Senate Democrats rose to defend the honor of China around the precept of the Obama administrations’ acquiescence to the “one china” policy, and Trump’s audacity to call it into question.

Then something weird happened.

President Trump took office January 20th, and after many diplomatic contacts within the administration and their Chinese counterparts, President Trump and President Xi Jinping began to formulate a friendship.

April 5th/6th President Trump and President Xi Jinping met in Mar-a-lago for two days and the outcome has been historic and stunning cooperation between the U.S. and China.  China began pressuring North Korea to stop the military drum-beating.

President Trump obviously held a long strategy and outlook toward China and how the geo-political landscape could be remolded to benefit the U.S. if a new era of mutually beneficial action could begin [SEE HERE].

Quick, new talking points are needed.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer along with lesser house and senate leadership underlings tell their political operatives the new Democrat narrative demands that China must be attacked – because Trump.  Even if it means war, or something.

In a hilariously transparent 180° change in direction, the full Trump Derangement Syndrome took over immediately amid the Democrats.  China went from being a country worthy of the U.S. and Obama’s respect, to a country that is now the arch enemy and personification of all things anti-American.   This actually happened in the span of about two weeks.

Today the severity of the TDS was full frontal as Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen demanded the Trump administration begin “punishing” China, and called for “strong economic sanctions” against China to “force North Korea” to heel.

Following the briefing by Rex Tillerson (State), James Mattis (Defense) and Dan Coats (ODNI) of the full senate, many politically obedient democrats were quick to the microphones to demand more aggression by the White House toward China, because Trump.

These Democrat knuckleheads, who previously hailed China as a wonderful strategic ally, would have us go to war with China simply because President Trump is being much more successful diplomatically than the previous Obama administration.

Thankfully the Trump administration is not driven by such insane political ideology:

STATE DEPT – Past efforts have failed to halt North Korea’s unlawful weapons programs and nuclear and ballistic missile tests. With each provocation, North Korea jeopardizes stability in Northeast Asia and poses a growing threat to our Allies and the U.S. homeland.

North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons is an urgent national security threat and top foreign policy priority. Upon assuming office, President Trump ordered a thorough review of U.S. policy pertaining to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.).

Today, along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford, we briefed Members of Congress on the review. The President’s approach aims to pressure North Korea into dismantling its nuclear, ballistic missile, and proliferation programs by tightening economic sanctions and pursuing diplomatic measures with our Allies and regional partners.

We are engaging responsible members of the international community to increase pressure on the D.P.R.K. in order to convince the regime to de-escalate and return to the path of dialogue.

We will maintain our close coordination and cooperation with our Allies, especially the Republic of Korea and Japan, as we work together to preserve stability and prosperity in the region.

The United States seeks stability and the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. We remain open to negotiations towards that goal. However, we remain prepared to defend ourselves and our Allies.  (link)

 

 

Apr 27 2017

Italy to Raise Taxes to Satisfy Brussels – Why the Euro Will Fail


Armstrong Economics Blog/Italy

Posted Apr 27, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Gentiloni Paolo

 

ItalyThe European Union (EU) has been pushing Italy for a very long time to reduce its deficit. Of course, governments are never capable of reducing their own expenditure. This results going in only one direction – raising taxes. Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni had to agree on the concrete measures. The bill is now being discussed in Parliament, which has 60 days to pass. Italy has the second highest debt in the Eurozone after Greece.

This is why the EU is doomed. There will never be any reform that addresses the people. It is always about raising taxes to maintain government power and to hell with the people. The upcoming Germany vote still appears to be fragmented and as a result, Merkel may remain as Chancellor at the end of the day. We will have to run our models soon on the German election.

This is why I have warned that the Euro will fail. Had Brussels consolidated all the debts from the outset, then the Euro would have competed against the dollar. Leaving everyone to hold their own debts only created a single currency and then the fear that if one member expended their debt, it would impact everyone else.

This system is tearing Europe apart and unemployment in each country will turn to civil unrest and point the finger at Brussels. The debts should have been consolidated and the central bank would have then had a single bond issue for reserves. Now, the entire banking system has to be politically correct, owning a piece of everyone. Even the ECB has 40% of all government debt throughout the Eurozone.

It is beyond brain-dead to maintain this system demanding individual countries sacrifice their own domestic policy objectives for Brussels’ demands. In the USA, each state has its own agenda, but their debt is not acceptable as reserves for the banks. The Euro system is simply like being somehow half-pregnant.

Apr 26 2017

More Visible Dots The Media Ignore In Trump’s Strategy Against North Korea…


Re-Posted from the Conservative Tree House on April 26, 2017 by

Hours before the Trump administration briefed 100 senators today on the issues surrounding North Korea, a more consequential announcement was made.

The jaw dropping announcement (hidden by U.S. media) appears to show just how long President Trump has been putting the North Korea strategy together.  However, before discussing that aspect, we review the Senate Briefing at the White House:

Today Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, presided over a meeting meeting to brief Senators.

The details of that meeting have not been made public because of their classification and sensitivity.  The meeting lasted about one hour and discussed various financial and military options available for pressuring North Korea to end its nuclear program. (link)

Here’s where it gets really interesting.

For months the media have, at random, ridiculed President Trump for not distancing himself from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.  President Duterte has been cracking down on Filipino drug gangs in his country and his approach has been severe and extremely tough.  Indeed Duterte’s zero tolerance approach has been brutal.

However, shortly after his election, December 3rd 2016, President Trump chose not to refute Duterte for his approach toward confronting the Filipino drug gangs and drug epidemic.  The media were apoplectic.   Duterte responded by calling President Trump “a deep thinker“. Duterte said he was greatly pleased with the “rapport” he has established with the newly elected U.S. president.

Instead of President Trump calling out President Duterte for the severity of his approach, President Trump moderated any criticism and said he understood that Duterte was confronting the problem the best way he knew how for his country.

That was in December of 2016.

Well, guess who is now the rotating (every year) Chairman of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)?

Yup, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

And just yesterday, after a visit last week from Vice-President Pence, ASEAN announced:

Southeast Asian nations would adopt a softer than usual tone about South China Sea disputes at a leaders’ summit on Saturday in Manila, and exclude references to militarization or island-building, according to a draft of the chairman’s statement.

Although some Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders will express “serious concern” over the “escalation of activities” in the disputed sea, ASEAN will drop references, or even allusions, to China’s construction of artificial islands and the military hardware it has placed on them, according excerpts of the draft seen by Reuters. (link)

China has been expanding its seven man-made islands in the Spratlys (South China Sea) for several years, and the action has been a considerable point of angst for the region and for U.S. geo-political strategists in the former Obama administration.

However, despite the activity, and despite the protestations by the Obama White House and Obama State Department, the general consensus has been there’s nothing any nation can do about it because China exerts tremendous economic leverage in the entire region.  Additionally, the man-made Islands are too far along for any substantive international efforts to thwart them. 

The horse giant panda is now fully out of the barn.

There’s no President Trump policy capable of reversing the position of China in this action.  Done is done.  However, the international view of legitimacy around these islands still carries some major political leverage if applied toward a greater regional need of similar consequence.

Enter the need for the international community, and ASEAN specifically, to see North Korea pull-back from their doomsday nuclear ambitions…. and President Trump understanding that given the nature of entire issue – it all comes down to leveraging China, using complex terms of political currency, valuation and international legitimacy, against North Korea.

The Giant Panda can eliminate the problem that is Kim Jong Un.

ASEAN Chairman, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, modifying the confrontational tone of Asian nations toward China is yet another useful carrot by U.S. President Trump to stimulate China’s increased pressure upon North Korea.

That’s a really big ‘get’ for President Xi Jinping.

“Complicated business folks, ….Complicated business”…  

Again, a review of the activity timeline reveals a long-term strategic approach: 

♦February 10th – President Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Abe at the White House and at Mar-a-Lago, w/both spouses, to discuss regional issues (including N-Korea).

♦February 27th – President Trump and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi meet in the White House Oval Office to discuss regional issues (including N-Korea).

♦March 15th – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visits Japan, South Korea and China to follow up on February’s conversations and discuss the forward path (including N-Korea).

♦April 6th and 7th – President Trump hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping in Mar-a-Lago where they discussed all of the critical bilateral and regional issues (including N-Korea).  President Trump seeded the background by appointing Ambassador Terry Branstad, a 30-year personal friend of President Xi Jinping.

♦April 8th – Secretary Rex Tillerson debriefs the media.  <– CRITICAL READ

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

  • For the first time ever, China did not support Russia in a U.N. Security Council veto vote surrounding Syria.   China abstained.
  • China turned around 12 fully loaded cargo ships laden with imported coal from North Korea.  400,000 metric tonnes refused unloading.   China begins an embargo against North Korean coal.  China begins importing coking coal for steel-making from the U.S. coal mines.
  • Additionally, in furtherance of economic sanctions – China halts oil exports to North Korea.
  • Additionally, in furtherance of political isolation – China halts direct flights between Beijing, China and Pyongyang, North Korea.
  • And in the most stunning seismic shift of geo-political alliances, China says it is now open to discussions of a denuclearized North Korea, meaning getting rid of N-Korean nukes, WITHOUT N-Korea being included in the talks. Hello?  China, the United States, Japan, Russia and South Korea discussing how to de-nuke North Korea.  (A new Marshal Plan of sorts)

♦April 14th – President Trump announces policy directive to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin that there’s no need to label China as a currency manipulator.

♦April 15th – Vice President Pence arrived in Asia for a ten day visit (South Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia, Australia); positioned as the steady, stable and reliable administration policy closer (including N-Korea).

♦April 23rd – President Trump followed up on Pence’s visit with personal phone calls to China’s President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; again, the topic was North Korea.

♦April 24th – U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley brings the U.N. Security Council to the White House for lunch with President Trump.  The President spoke of the need for the U.N. to fulfill its original charter.

♦April 25th – ASEAN (Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte – rotating ASEAN Chairman) releases policy statement saying Southeast Asian nations agree to go easy on Beijing over South China Sea dispute.

Although some Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders will express “serious concern” over the “escalation of activities” in the disputed sea, ASEAN will drop references, or even allusions, to China’s construction of artificial islands and the military hardware it has placed on them, according excerpts of the draft seen by Reuters.

♦April 26th – President Trump invites all U.S. Senators to the White House for a classified briefing on North Korea.

♦April 28th – (THIS FRIDAY) U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be traveling to the U.N. to speak to the Security Council personally.

Apr 26 2017

Does Schäuble want Draghi to Exit the Stage Once & For All?


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Apr 26, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Draghi Schauble

Federal Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble of Germany is starting to show signs of rebellion against the elite in Brussels. With the event of BREXIT, the EU is more concerned about trying to punish Britain than they are in reflecting upon what is going so terribly wrong. They will throw their support behind Macron in France fearing that a Le Pen win may be the end of Brussels. Consequently, the EU Commission is trying to punish Britain, and is actually dividing Europe once again. There will be the EU membership, and then there will be the Eurozone within, limited to those countries who surrender their sovereignty to Brussels relinquishing their currency, but not their debt.

Schäuble is clearly attempting to save the Eurozone and make it operational at the same time to protect German exports within Europe. The driving force behind the Euro was to eliminate foreign exchange risk so German manufacturers could sell to all of Europe on a regular basis without currency fluctuation disturbing their sales.

Yet Schäuble is actually looking at reducing the power of the EU for reading between the lines, he has no confidence in the abilities of the EU Commission to manage Europe. Obviously, BREXIT is restructuring the EU only insofar as they seek to punish Britain rather than reform the problems that caused it. That means the Euro zone will be restructured as a block within the EU leaving the institutions, such as the ECB, applicable to the EU. The rules within the Eurozone are by no means clearly defined. This is how Markel opened the gates to refugees without ever going to a vote first in the EU. Thus, the unilateral decisions of Germany have then been applied to all of Europe without any democratic process whatsoever.

Schäuble is looking at the distinction between the EU and the Eurozone and thus reducing the power of the EU Commission to save the Eurozone – a second Europe within Europe, of which Britain was never a member. Schäuble attacked the ECB and Mario Draghi saying: “The ultralock money policy that exists in many regions is not helpful.”  Schäuble said this opening on his trip to Washington. The ECB, Schäuble argues, is creating risks such as asset price bubbles with its negative interest rate policy. This is the clash of philosophies with Schäuble’s view on AUSTERITY.

Schäuble demanded a change of direction from Mario Draghi. He warned that Draghi was increasing the risk of creating a whole new crisis rather than lessening it. The Federal Reserve reverse course right after 2015.75 on the ECM that targeted October 1st, 2015 with the first rate hike in December 2015. Schäuble remarked that it “would not be a bad idea if the European Central Bank and other central banks followed” the course of the Fed. Schäuble has clashed with Draghi who still considers his stimulus quantitative easing policy of the ECB still necessary. Draghi said on this trip to Washington that a “very significant amount of monetary easing is still needed.”

Schäuble has also proposed that the basic structure of the Eurozone in the form of budgetary policy must be changed. Schäuble remains rightly concerned what happens when Draghi changes course and raises rates. Schäuble is deeply concerned that national debts will then explode with higher interest rates. For this reason, Schäuble wants the euro rescue umbrella ESM in the near future converted to a European Monetary Fund. Schäuble sees this as a European version of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). If a new aid program for a crisis country were to run without the IMF because the IMF has disagreed with the draconian measures imposed upon Greece. Schäuble wants to replace the IMF to impose austerity. Apparently, Schäuble has also convinced Chancellor Angela Merkel of this proposal since the IMF disagrees with the austerity ideas of Schäuble.

Troika-Unelected

This new European Monetary Fund to replace the IMF, which is a member of the Troika, will then be given the task of budgetary monitoring of Eurozone countries. Therefore, we will have the EU, but a separate system within the EU for the Eurozone all based upon extending austerity. This is obviously a disempowerment of the EU Commission.

Greece is still an unsolved problem – and Schäuble also sees that Greece should exit the Eurozone. Schäuble also sees a better partnership with Russia and an emancipation from the USA. This was really based upon German manufacture having a new market to sell into given the rise of Donald Trump. Then Schäuble wanted a nuclear Europe to stand against America and Russia. Schäuble’s view is that the core of Europe is Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. It never included Britain. The Franco-German axis was to become the economic engine of the future. To Schäuble, the core is simply the Euro for that evens the playing field for Germany to sell products into Europe. He has embraced the Euro, but never accepting a federal debt for Europe. This is why he has never seen Italy, Spain or Greece as the core of the EU – just vassal states to sell products to.