Posted originally on Dec 10, 2024 by Martin Armstrong
CEO of Lucid Motors and a former VP of engineering at Tesla Peter Rawlinson says his company is stuck in the EV “valley of death” as EVs in America “frankly suck.” Rawlinson admitted that China has an advantage in technology, but more over, they have the ability to produce affordable EVs.
“I think the Chinese do have a fundamental advantage because when the government says go, they all go in the same direction instead of arguing with each other,” Rawlinson said. China has provided over $230 billion to its newly emerging EV sector since 2009. “I’d say they’re still behind in terms of the core EV powertrain technology, but don’t underestimate them,” Rawlinson added.
The CEO also said that he personally drives the competitors cars and believes the “American public has been ill-served by underwhelming EVs.” His company is on track to produce a new electric SUV called Gravity that will retail for $94,900. Quality EVs are available in America but they come at a steep price which is why they have not become mainstream.
He is not alone in his thinking among industry leaders. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares previously believed China’s EVs would have a similar reception to the US public that Japanese autos did back in the 1970s. That was
Batteries account for around 40% of the total cost of EVs, and companies like BYD are able to maintain low prices are they own the supply chain to create these batteries from the raw materials to the finished packs.
The West is unaware how affordable Chinese EVs actually are without tariffs. The BYD Seagull EV Honor Edition starts at about $9,700. The BYD Dolphin EV Honor costs only $13,900 and the BYD Yuan electric SUV is $16,600. You cannot find used cars for these prices in the US, let alone an EV.
If those pushing to eliminate fossil fuels were truly concerned about emissions, they would permit China to import these EVs to Europe, Canada, and America without astronomical tariffs. Capital makes the world flow. They are deliberately preventing the Western public from purchasing affordable, good quality vehicles. Instead, they expect the average man to take on tens of thousands in debt to buy a lower quality car to save on fuel.
Posted originally on Dec 10, 2024 by Martin Armstrong
The International Monetary Fund is willing to provide El Salvador with a $1.3 billion loan, but the nation must meet two demands. First, El Salvador must commit to reducing its budget deficit to 3.5% of GDP over the next three years. The second requirement is for El Salvador to begin backing away from bitcoin.
El Salvador declared bitcoin legal tender in 2021. The nation holds a bitcoin Treasury worth over $600 million as of lately with bitcoin’s recent price spike and has been purchasing about 1 btc per day. President Nayib Bukele recently took to social media to declare the success of his bitcoin adaptation, claiming gains of over 127%. Yet, the public has not largely adopted the new currency. In fact, the Central American University conducted a study in January that revealed 88% of citizens have not used bitcoin in transactions over the previous year.
Under the new IMF requirement, El Salvador must prohibit the legal requirement that states businesses must accept bitcoin as payment. Under this premise, bitcoin could not truly be considered legal tender.
As I have said, global organizations will not permit crypto to operate freely outside their control. I must agree with the IMF that Bitcoin’s volatile pricing presents financial instability and exposes government revenue to greater foreign exchange rate risks. Bitcoin is merely a trading vehicle and not a proper currency. However, the IMF also states that it is concerned about anti-money laundering practices. which simply means they are concerned that they cannot tax it.
Taxation goes hand in hand with lowering the budget deficit, as the nation has been steadily increasing tax revenue. Tax revenues reached 17.64% of GDP in 2017, later advancing to 19.75% in 2022. The government has several measures in place for tax evasion and has improved its digital taxpayer registry to see who has underpaid. There is hope that the recent discovery of gold will offset the hunt for taxation, and the president does seem to be a reasonable man. Perhaps El Salvador will not require a loan if it has truly found trillions worth of gold. It appears that Nayib Bukele will not back away from his stance on bitcoin either way.
Posted originally on Dec 10, 2024 by Martin Armstrong
The Pentagon announced that it will deliver a $988 million aid package to Ukraine ahead of Trump’s inauguration. The Biden Administration is rushing to deliver the remainder of the $5 BILLION pledge to Ukraine before January 20. Worse, Zelensky announced that he has plans to discuss NATO membership with Biden.
“It is difficult to talk to President Trump about this because he is not yet in the White House. By the way, I am going to call President Biden in the near future to raise the issue of Ukraine’s NATO invitation,” Zelensky said. Biden has previously called Ukraine’s request for membership premature and stated that the war must end before membership can be considered. We know that the commander-in-chief had been compromised years ago, but his recent pardon of Hunter may give him less ammunition to yield to Ukraine – unless they could potentially blackmail him personally.
Donald Trump recently came out to say that he has no plans to prosecute Joe Biden. The Biden family turned their hatred from Trump to the Democratic Party after they ousted Joe. Images have even emerged of Jill Biden happily sitting next to Donald Trump at the Notre Dame reopening, an image that Trump is now using in a marketing campaign.
There is hope that Biden will stand firm against Ukraine’s NATO membership. Germany, Slovakia, and Hungary are also against Ukraine joining at this time, but many others are willing to expedite the process.
Despite the required formal unanimous vote among the alliance, the United States is still the breadwinner for NATO and would have the final say when all is said and done. Trump would never permit Ukraine to join, but he could invoke Article 13 of the treaty and withdraw the United States. Those in opposition of Ukraine’s membership could do the same, particularly Hungary as Orban has a solid relationship with Putin and does not feel the need for protection at this time. A lot could happen over the next six weeks and time will tell what Biden has in store for the end of his presidency.
Posted originally on Dec 10, 2024 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, I hope you come to Dubai for a conference next year. After your Syrian forecast that the civil war would end only 13 years from the start in 2011, those of us here are still in shock and awe, as you say there in the States. I know your models have considered the cycles in Syria from Roman times. Is 2027 still the target in the Middle East?
BAF
ANSWER: Syria has a very long history. Antioch was the link to the Silk Road for all the dies and spices from Asia. As you can see, it is sandwiched between Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel. Historically, it has also been known as the Levant and a strategic chess piece in the global war of geopolitics. The Seleucid Empire was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nikator (312-281BC) when the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great was divided after his death among his generals.
Thus, this became known as the Seleucid dynasty until its annexation by the Roman Republic under Pompey in 63 BC, who conquered the region, transforming Syria into a Roman province. This has lent Syria the opportunity to provide a rich database extending centuries for computer analysis. First, you must acknowledge that laws are always silent during war and civil unrest. They are the decorations of civilization and only apply when there is civil discord – not war and upheaval.
The first Syrian to become a Roman Emperor was Elagabalus (218-222AD). This is always the same pattern of the conquered/slave eventually becoming king. Some pointed that out when Obama became President. This is a mere fact of history. The king is dead – long live the king. Another fact of history is when there is a civil uprising, the king may fall, but the victor quickly assumes the same policies as those he vanquished.
The English Civil War tore down the rule of law, and here you see Oliver Cromwell quickly issued coinage styled as the very king he had beheaded for daring to defend against him in the civil war. He put King Charles on trial, found him guilty for losing the civil war, and then beheaded him.
Civil Wars tend to last 4.3 years (American Civil War), 8.6 years (English Civil War), and even 13 years (Cambodian Civil War, 1967-1975). However, go beyond that 8.6-year period, and it will extend to 13 years.
Countless times when there have been civil wars, you find the head of state when captured, is often executed. This seems to be standard. When they are dead, they will routinely topple their statues as they did throughout Eastern Europe, toppling the statues of Lenin.
Civil Wars always invoke deep hatred, and when leaders are not executed, what you find is often assassinations of the victor. They assassinated Julius Caesar after he won the civil war. These are cyclical patterns that routinely take place. There was an attempted assassination of Zelensky, and he fired his head of security because it was Ukrainians – not Russians. There was a similar attempted assassination of Hitler.
Assad is wise to flee with his family to Russia, for they would have all been executed just as the Russian Revolution executed the entire family of the Czar. People who engaged in civil wars and/or revolutions always responded the same way, no matter what culture or nation was involved. The Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi also fled Iran in 1978 during that revolution. These things may appear to be a shock, but they are standard in the playbook of geopolitics.
I have previously warned that Turkey has the largest army in the Middle East, and Erdogan praised the Hamas attack because he dreams of resurrecting the Ottoman Empire and he sees himself as the leader. They are mortal enemies of Greece and that goes back to the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Turkey has funded these rebels, and that became possible only because Israel destroyed Hezbollah. On the one hand, you have the US cheering Al-Qaeda all because the Neocons have been trying for years to overthrow all three dictators they created in Syria, Iraq, and Libya. Now, they can get the pipeline from Qutar to cut off Russia’s energy sales to Europe. So this is all about Russia, Russia, Russia. Meanwhile, they are so fixated on conquering Russia that they have ignored the real threat in the Middle East of the resurrection of the Ottoman Empire.
I will update the prospects for war in the Middle East and the power vacuum that is unfolding that is hidden behind the headlines. Most people have no idea that it was the West that created all of these arab states. They were never independent nation-states. With World War I, the West finally took down the Ottoman Empire. This was when the Sykes-Picot Agreement was established as a 1916 secret treaty between the United Kingdom and France, with the consent of Russia, Italy, and the United States. They were carving up the Ottoman Empire, which they mutually agreed to establish spheres of influence, thereby partitioning the Ottoman Empire. Syria was created, and the rule of Assad was in the economic interests of the West.
I have been asked why I do not write much about the Israeli war and offer a solution. There is NONE!!!! This is a religious war, and a ceasefire will only be temporary. Israel’s enemies is not limited to Iran. It also includes Turkey as we move forward in time.
We will publish an update on the geopolitical future of the Middle East for the Arab world and Israel. This will be released in January.
Posted originally on the CTH on December 9, 2024 | Sundance
The police have arrested Luigi Mangione, 26, in Pennsylvania for the murder of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson.
Apparently, Mangione still had the handgun and multiple items of physical evidence connecting him to the assassination.
(Reuters) -Authorities have arrested the man suspected of killing UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson in a brazen shooting outside a Manhattan hotel last week, New York City officials said on Monday, ending a massive five-day manhunt.
The suspect, identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, was captured in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after he was spotted eating at a McDonald’s by an employee of the fast food restaurant who believed he resembled the gunman, officials said at a news conference.
Mangione was found with a “ghost gun” – a firearm assembled from parts, making it untraceable – and a silencer consistent with the weapon used to shoot Thompson, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said, as well as clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the killer. The ghost gun may have been produced by a 3D printer, said Joseph Kenny, the NYPD’s chief of detectives.
Mangione, a Maryland native, had multiple fraudulent identifications, including a fake New Jersey ID that matched the one used by the gunman to check into a Manhattan hostel days before the shooting, officials said.
Police also found a handwritten document that speaks to “both his motivation and his mindset,” Tisch said. While the document did not mention specific targets, Mangione harbored “ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny added.
Mangione graduated from a private all-boys school in Baltimore as valedictorian in 2016 before earning dual engineering degrees at the University of Pennsylvania, according to media reports, social media posts and school records. His last known address was in Honolulu, officials said. (read more)
Posted originally on the CTH on December 9, 2024 | Sundance
Justice served, albeit painfully long in the outcome.
Veteran Daniel Penny has been found not guilty of the charge of ‘criminally negligent homicide’ by a jury in New York City. The prior charge of ‘manslaughter’ was previously dropped after the jury deadlocked on the count.
(VIA AP) – A Marine veteran who used a chokehold on an agitated subway rider was acquitted on Monday in a death that became a prism for differing views about public safety, valor and vigilantism.
A Manhattan jury cleared Daniel Penny of criminally negligent homicide in Jordan Neely’s 2023 death. A more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed earlier in deliberations because the jury deadlocked on that count.
Both charges were felonies and carried the possibility of prison time.
Penny, who had shown little expression during the trial, briefly smiled as the verdict was read. Both applause and anger erupted in the courtroom, and Neely’s father and two supporters were told to leave after making various remarks — including vulgarities from one of the supporters. Another person also left, wailing with tears.
Penny’s lawyers said he was protecting himself and other subway passengers from a volatile, mentally ill man who was making alarming remarks and gestures. (read more)
Interestingly, Ben Crump didn’t represent the Neely ‘family’ inside this case. However, that will likely not stop the grievance industry from using the not guilty verdict in an attempt to enlist chaotic support from Antifa and the remnants of BLM.
Posted originally on the CTH on December 9, 2024 | Sundance
It’s not AI per se’ that poses the problem, rather it is the ability of AI software to connect, filter and process multiple databases of stored information in real time, creating a tracking and tracing system, that can be weaponized and poses a problem for those who do not want the USA to turn into a full surveillance state.
When you combine government required “Real ID” with, enhanced facial recognition software, then connect the identity to a metadata library of all the public and private electronic information of a person, what you end up with is the ability to conduct total surveillance of a targeted individual without constitutional limits and privacy protections. This is the larger problem with Palantir’s partnership with government systems.
It is a conversation no one is having before the capability is reached.
That said, Palantir CEO Alex Karp appeared at the Reagan National Defense forum, and does a great job advocating for the U.S. to win the artificial intelligence race. Karp believes it is possible to insert “values” into the software at strategic places of connection, and thereby control the outputs. The question within the AI race then becomes, whose values? Ours or our enemies?
🚨 $PLTR CEO Dr. Alex Karp at the Reagan National Defense Forum 2024 thread!🧵🔮
“I probably shouldn’t say this, this is why I thought the democrats were going to lose the election, why they did, because people want to live in peace. They want to go home. They do not want to… pic.twitter.com/Q4j0hjlh7Y
In a series of video segments placed onto a Twitter Thread, you get a good sense for what Palantir, Karp, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and newly appointed White House Czar of AI, David Sacks, are trying to do inside this global race toward artificial intelligence as applied to government systems.
“Palantir is the largest by market cap defense startup in the world. Many of the people in this room are former Palantirians. Basically, your future is powered by us. We were the most hated, most pariah, most disliked. We used to do meetings in the backyard of the backyard because you couldn’t be seen with Palantir.
“The DOGE… this is crucial stuff. We have to measure- what is it being spent on, what is the output. Is the input more than the output? The only thing that will cure a legitimacy crisis I s measurement. Anything else is a platitude.
“No one’s listening. Everyone’s thinking you have an agenda. Everyone thinks you’re working back from who you like. My favorite example of this are analysts on Wall Street. The whole methodology they have is just a way of telling you if they like you.
“In a legitimation crisis, you’ve got about 6 months… we need to prove there is no one who can stand up- we don’t have Ronald Reagan now.
$PLTR CEO Alex Karp at Reagan National Defense Forum on @elonmusk’s @DOGE and rips analysts🔮‼️
“Palantir is the largest by market cap defense startup in the world. Many of the people in this room are former Palantirians. We just did an announcement with @anduriltech. Basically,… pic.twitter.com/eMxD9YMd1G
. “The rubber meets the road for the West and you’re attacked and massacred, you have to fight, and you have to fight to win.
“My sometimes former party, you know it’s like- Israel’s done very well. My version is- that’s how you roll. Why don’t we learn from that? We don’t learn from it because we have way too many people in this culture who are living in the faculty lab of their own ideology.
“Business 101- what worked? We’re not allowed to learn from what worked because a lot of people are committed to an ideology that will not allow them to win. The American people notice that. A lot of this comes down to legitimation.
“We want to know that Americans are being put first. If you’re getting in the way of that, the American people are not happy.
🚨 $PLTR CEO Dr. Alex Karp at the Reagan National Defense Forum calls democrats his “former party” 👀 and speaks on Israel 🇮🇱🔮
“The rubber meets the road for the West and you’re attacked and massacred, you have to fight, and you have to fight to win🔥
“America is in the very beginning of a revolution that we own- the AI revolution. We own it. It should basically be called the “US AI revolution.”
“Every single relevant company in the world, is in this country. The second tier of those companies are in this country. The JV of these companies are in this country.
“There is no other place to do technology really at scale besides America. Europe has basically decided to regulate its basically anemic and nonexistent tech scene out of production. All of those people want to come to America. The American tech community is booming”
$PLTR CEO Dr. Alex Karp at the Reagan National Defense Forum🔮
"America is in the very beginning of a revolution that we own- the AI revolution. We own it. It should basically be called the "US AI revolution."🇺🇸
“These are very dangerous technologies. If we didn’t have the world’s worst enemies, I’d be up here saying we should regulate this, charge energy, slow this down. And we do have to have a conversation about who controls these technologies.
“People didn’t adopt American values because they thought inherently, they were superior, they adopted them because they worked.
“We have to win. We have to be ahead of our adversaries. We can’t have rules that are only for us and not for our China. Because then, we will get rules- their rules. And we will not like those rules.
These are going to be hard conversations. But do not forget, we need to win so we can dominate the conservations. Because we could lose.
$PLTR CEO Dr. Alex Karp at the Reagan National Defense Forum on AI fears🔮
"You can be happy we're asking this question, because the question they're asking in Europe is, "why is this not real."
“I suspect our GDP is going to grow in a very different way from our allies. That’s going to adjust a lot of perceptions about us, for good and bad.
“One of the things we’re going to end up having to do in Europe is- how do we do a tech transfer so that they can have GDP growth?
“Between ’61 – ’92, France’s GDP growth was significantly better than the US’. 85% of the top 50 companies by market cap are American. I would bet that’s going to be above 90% by this time next year.
“You can imagine America healthy and strong in 200 years… but you can’t really imagine that in a lot of other western cultures.
“Palantir… we reduce everything to the core principle.
$PLTR CEO Dr. Alex Karp at the Reagan National Defense Forum on American growth and player haters🇺🇸🔮
"I suspect our GDP is going to grow in a very different way from our allies. That's going to adjust a lot of perceptions about us, for good and bad.
“We have a splendor of riches in this country. We have the most successful builder looking at our institutions. Americans want to know that the institutions are efficient, safe, and correspond to their purpose.
“I’m sure there will be some rough patches, but I don’t know how you do better than Elon looking at these things. I’m pretty supportive.
$PLTR CEO Dr. Alex Karp at the Reagan National Defense Forum in huge support of @elonmusk and @DOGE‼️🔮
"We have a splendor of riches in this country. We have the most successful builder looking at our institutions. Americans want to know that the institutions are efficient,… pic.twitter.com/Og3jidkxyZ
“The difference between A+ in tech and B-, is the difference between a helicopter that flies, and doesn’t. This compounds into every area.
“For the sake of our country, I think we should expose policymakers to Maven. This stuff is determinative for life and death. It’s not a playtoy. It’s going to change everything. Just because the LLM on your desk kind of is, that’s like uranium in the ground. Processed correctly, it changes the world!
“We’re really really focused on the best of the best of the best of the best of the best in building things.
$PLTR CEO Dr. Alex Karp at the Reagan National Defense Forum on the gap between policy makers and Americans🔮
"The difference between A+ in tech and B-, is the difference between a helicopter that flies, and doesn't. This compounds into every area.
Dr Alex Karp also joined Liz Claman on Fox Business to talk software’s role in government efficiency: “Palantir exists to serve this nation. We need to know what’s working and what’s not… Software is enormously efficient. The underlying economics are ‘Both sides get more’… Transparency will not only be cheaper, the output will be better.”
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Bottom Line: It is possible to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the risks and benefits to AI when combined with government surveillance interfaces (DHS) and government-controlled databases (NSA). It is possible to understand the risks and walk into the future with eyes wide open.
However, on the issue of how this makes the surveillance state far more likely, the conversation is not happening.
As Palantir CEO Alex Karp outlines repeatedly there are indeed great risks, and we need to have this conversation as a nation.
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
