Socialist NYC Mayor Zohan Mamdani appointed Cea Weaver to lead the city’s Office to Protect Tenants. Weaver believes that homeownership is inherently racist and must be reformed into “a world in which the housing is owned by a collective.” According to Weaver, the US can simply continually print money to support government spending.
The claim that a government can simply print money to support endless spending is one of the most dangerous myths ever sold to the public. When politicians have exhausted every honest means of funding government, they are left with nothing but deception. This line of thinking is precisely why the government shut down at the end of 2025. Politicians believe they can increase spending indefinitely with no regard for the ticking time bomb that is government debt.
Printing money is another form of taxation, albeit a far more destructive form because it is hidden. Inflation will rise when the money supply expands beyond productive output. Governments print to fund their spending and dilute the currency. Politicians have lost all discipline because government continually votes to raise budgets and prolong the problem. The debt crisis has been rapidly snowballing in magnitude; those in power have zero intention of paying it off, but the time will come when the bill is due.
The irony is that those advocating unlimited money creation claim it helps the poor. In reality, it does the opposite. Inflation destroys savings, raises prices beyond reach, and transfers wealth to the elites controlling the money. It widens inequality while pretending to fight it. Hence why Venezuela went from one of the world’s top economies to poverty-ridden nation in a short period of time. These people are extremely dangerous. Voters propel them into power on the basis of lies, and then they have the ability to begin altering policies. Mamdani may be limited to his city but no economy can be viewed in isolation and voters refuse to see the mirage of easy solutions to complex problems.
Posted originally on Jan 15, 2026 by Martin Armstrong |
What we are seeing with China’s nearly $1.2 trillion trade surplus in 2025 is not merely a statistic to be cited in passing. It confirms the trend that China is On the Rise. Capital, production, and power are migrating East. The raw data shows exports climbing about 5.5% even as imports showed little growth, marking a widening imbalance of historic proportions.
A trade surplus of this magnitude does not arise from a single policy, tariff, or administration’s rhetoric. Decades of economic reconfiguration have led China to become an economic powerhouse. China has integrated itself into the global supply chain and is crucial to the global economy at large.
A friend recently spoke of their business trip to China during the 1990s. Cars were outdated, roads were unpaved, and farm animals were running alongside the roads. The landscape has changed dramatically in an impressively short amount of time. People may claim that China is communist in nature but in actuality they switched to a capitalistic model.
China’s manufacturing base was built during a rising confidence phase when globalization expanded and capital flowed freely. Now, as confidence fractures domestically, that same capacity is being pushed outward at almost any price. This is why we see export volumes rising even as margins compress and global tensions rise.
Exports from China to the US fell by 20%. China’s strength relative to the US indicates that It is supplying the world with goods rather than merely one isolated market. Sanctions and tariffs are not placing a chokehold on the Chinese economy because it has a plethora of outlets and trade partners who are eager to conduct business.
China’s consumption and property sector have struggled to maintain rapid growth. But weakened domestic demand leads to heightened exports as a simple economic cause and effect. A thriving economy ideally has robust domestic consumption, investment, and saving. Surpluses as large as $1.2 trillion tell us that China’s exports are propping up the economy.
China has been experiencing capital flight by its own citizens, tighter capital controls, and declining foreign direct investment. Policymakers should not view this data as a sign of stability, but heavy export reliance often peaks before contraction when global demand weakens.
Posted originally on Jan 15, 2026 by Martin Armstrong |
Governor Gavin Newsom fears losing voters ahead of a likely presidential bid. The proposition of a billionaire tax has caused a massive amount of capital to flee California. The Democrats had banked on redistributing the funds generated from that tax to pay for their ever-expanding welfare state. Suddenly, Newsom is strongly against the billionaire tax proposal.
“The evidence is in. The impacts are very real — not just substantive economic impacts in terms of the revenue, but start-ups, the indirect impacts of … people questioning long term-commitments, medium-term,” Newsom said. “That’s not what we need right now, at a time of so much uncertainty. Quite the contrary.” The eat-the-rich governor then stated he will fight to defeat the liberal bill. “I think people understand what it does versus what it promotes to do.”
Instead, Newsom believes the tax should be imposed at the federal level to prevent smart money from fleeing his state. “It’s one thing to have a [tax] of the [nation], and you can talk about all 50 states,” he explained to The New York Times, contrasting this with the current scenario where “you’re [competing] against all the other states.”
Socialist bureaucrats focus on redistribution instead of economic growth. No nation has ever taxed its way into prosperity, no government budget has ever been covered by advancing taxes when spending continues indefinitely. Smart money moves quickly. A federal wealth tax may not cause the rich to flee the United States, as it is the last safe haven, but it would cause capital to move underground.
Europe abandoned wealth taxes not because the rich complained, but because the tax base collapsed. Investment stopped. Entrepreneurs left, jobs disappeared, and governments collected less revenue than before. The models show this repeatedly because capital is mobile, and confidence is everything.
Posted originally on Jan 15, 2026 by Martin Armstrong |
People are often cheering class warfare for they fail to understand by imposing a billionaires tax in California on UNREALIZED gains of 5%, will necessitate dumping stock to raise cash to pay the tax. Those companies will in in shock and specs will jump in front and sell those companies knowing that massive liquidation will follow. Yet additionally, it will require EVERYONE to file to state under penalty of perjury that you are not a billionaire. The third disaster is they always get such taxes through promising a minimal tax rate. Then, at anytime in the future, they can just raise the rate whenever they need money. When the US Income Tax was installed, the rate on the hated rich was just 1%. That was minimal.
We can see that proposed 1% reach 77% for World War I and the 94% for World War II. The Democrats have shut down the government over Trump’s tax cuts and the top rate is 37%. But worse still, the play with the definitions to get more money.
They also have constantly changed the top tax rate. During World War II it stood at $5 million. Then it came down to $250,000. But it got worse. When the modern income tax was established by the 16th Amendment in 1913, it taxed individuals on their own income. There was no concept of a joint return for married couples.
The First Major Shift from individual to household income came with the introduction of the Joint Return (1948). This is the most significant change that moved the system toward considering household resources. If the husband was in a high income tax bracket, his wife, with even just a part-time job was now taxed at his rate. Many became to see this as a major reason there were stay-at-home-moms for it did not pay to get a simple job to stay busy.
Prior to 1948, they assumed passive income from investments could be shared with each spouse filing separately, reporting only their own income. This created a major disparity because residents of community property states (where income is legally considered jointly owned) could split income between two returns, lowering their total tax bill compared to identical-income couples in common-law property states. This drove the Democrats delirious. OMG, they could beat us out of some money.
Revenue Act of 1948 was intended to resolve this inequity or loop-hole and also to provide a benefit to married couples is how they sold the idea. Congress created the joint return. This allowed a married couple to combine their incomes, be taxed on the total, but use a tax schedule with brackets exactly twice as wide as those for a single individual. This is known as income splitting. It effectively created a “household” tax unit for married couples, though it was still an option (they could still file separately).
Consolidation of the “Household” Concept (Post-1948) The 1948 law established married couples as a tax unit. Subsequent changes refined how different household structures are treated:
1969: The “marriage penalty” emerged. To address the fact that two single individuals could sometimes pay less tax than a married couple with the same combined income, Congress created a new tax schedule for single filers that was less favorable than half the married brackets. This formally established different tax treatments for different household/filing statuses (Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, and later Head of Household).
1970s onward: The introduction of provisions like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in 1975 truly brought “household income” to the forefront. Eligibility for many credits and deductions (like the EITC, Child Tax Credit, IRA contribution deductibility) is based on Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI), which is often calculated on a household basis (e.g., combining income of spouses and sometimes dependents) for the purpose of phase-outs.
Today, the U.S. system is best described as a hybrid:
The Tax Computation Starts with the Individual: You are taxed on your individual income. Filing status then determines the rates and brackets applied to that income.
Household Structure Determines Filing Status. In other words, your household situation (single, married, with dependents) dictates your filing status (Single, Married Filing Jointly, Head of Household, etc.), which applies different tax rates and standard deductions. I know elderly people who got married simply because of the taxes.
Many Benefits are Household-Income Tested. For example, key benefits, subsidies (like for the Affordable Care Act), and deductions phase out based on the total income of the tax household (e.g., combined income on a joint return).
Around 2015, a group of clients asked me to join in buying a bank in Switzerland. They wanted me to design a gold-backed bank which did not lend in an unsecured manner. I designed the bank and how it would eben issue a credit card and allow Giro Banking (transfers between accounts) all based on cash as well as precious metal deposits. The idea was not to avoid taxes, it was to avoid possible banking failures. Between 2009 and 2016, about 45,000 U.S. taxpayers, had taken advantage of IRS tax amnesty programs to pay more than $6 billion in back taxes and related penalties for having offshore accounts to avoid taxes.
Switzerland already has an International Wealth Tax which is a levy on the total value of personal assets, including bank deposits, real estate, assets in insurance and pension plans, ownership of unincorporated businesses, financial securities, and personal trusts. You have to declare everything you own around the entire world. Then, because Switzerland is part of the CRS, they will share that with every other country. Typically, liabilities (primarily mortgages and other loans) are deducted from an individual’s wealth.
The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is a global standard for the automatic exchange of financial account information between tax authorities, designed to combat tax evasion. It was developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2014, it has been implemented by over 100 jurisdictions worldwide. Unlike previous systems that required specificrequests, CRS mandates the routine, annual exchange of financial information. In other words, if you were under investigation, they would request all info on you. Today, they transfer data on everyone just in case.
There was a legal case that became the seminal beginning of the American Revolution known as Entick v. Carrington and Three Other King’s Messengers (1765), reported at length in 19 Howell’s State Trials 1029. This case was the start of the American Revolution and was also based upon abuse of the king’s agents. The action, dated November 1762, was for trespassing and interfering with the plaintiff’s dwelling by breaking open his desks and boxes and searching and examining his papers.
After George III became king in 1760, by February 1761, Parliament enacted the Writs of Assistance that was challenged in court in Boston, Massachusetts. These were writs that empowered the king’s agents to search anything they suspected, like the NSA today at their discretion. The defending lawyer James Otis (1725-1783) pronounced these writs as “the worst instrument of arbitrary power, the most destructive of English liberty, and the fundamental principles of law, that ever was found in an Englishlaw book.”Otis warned that the king placed discretion in the hands of every agent to act as he desired. Nothing has changed, for our current government can do whatever it desires today, and it is always the burden of the citizen to prove he has any rights whatsoever.
John Adams (1735–1826; 2nd President 1797–1801) was in the audience at that hearing that day, and the four-hour speech of James Otis so moved him that he declared:
“Then and there was the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then and there, the child independence was born.”
The CRS and the US version of FACTA were inspired by this very same distrust of the population. Everyone is a criminal and the Writs of Assistance allowed the King’s agents to enter your house and rummage through everything to see if they could prosecute you for something. This is the very same issue. You have money that they want and they are out to get it for we are all criminals and just economic slaves to support the state.
Needless to say, I declined because of the wealth tax. I was told its minimal – progressive but very low (0.1% to 1.0% effective). If it is so minimal, then why bother? The problem is always clear. It may be minimal but so was the Income Tax proposed to be 1% in 1913 and rose to 94% by 1945. This taxed UNREALIZED GAINS, and with war on the horizon, it was far too dangerous to get involved. They can say you house is worth whatever and you now must pay a wealth tax on it in Switzerland even though it is on the beach in Florida.
Hoe do you ever retire voluntarily or because of health? Then you still must pay taxes on its value and if the market is in a downturn, you may not be able to sell it to pay all the taxes every government is demanding.
Just as the billionaires are fleeing California which was demanding a 5% one-time tax, this illustrated these Progressive Democrats do not understand the economy and would be the impact of forcing these people who may be billionaires on paper (NOT CASH) to start dumping shares to pay the tax. We have the MOST incompetent herd of politicians worldwide. After dealing with governments around the world for nearly 50 years, I can honestly say it certainly appears to be a conspiracy to inject the worst possible candidate globally.
I get people asking is there a conspiracy theory from elites to utterly destroy the United States and turn it into a Marxist Utopia like Europe? I cannot confirm that nore deny that. I have dealt with many politicians over my years. I have found that the decline and fall has been systemic on a global scale. It does make one ask yourself, home man coincidences does it take to make a conspiracy. I have tried my best to open the door where LIBERTY and JUSTICE for all actually exists.
We will do an update to forecasts for the 2026 Midterm Elections. Many have written in and asked I have offered advice to the Trump Administration/Republicans. I believe there are plants in some of these people’s staffs and they are deliberately giving bad advice that does not support them for the 2026 midterms. It just appears very strange. As far as the Trump Administration directly, I believe there are some players who actively try to prevent me from offering advice.
So, is this all a coincidence or a deliberate conspiracy? The LEFT is in a battle to take no prisoners. Going into 2028, we should expect a most aggressive attempt to seize power. This idea of the LEFT where individual liberties is just an illustion. Since the Day of Sparta, and the Thucydides Trap which is a concept in international relations that describes the heightened risk of conflict when an emerging power challenges an established ruling power. This is what is playing out on a global scale. We are at great risk of war internationally as well as civil war domestically as there is no compromise. This is all about one side suppressing the other.
Posted originally on CTH on January 15, 2026 | Sundance
The communist leftists are trying to support the corrupt officials in/around Minneapolis, Minnesota, however, the optics around attacking federal and state law enforcement just do not look good.
In the aggregate the majority of Minnesota residents support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) efforts to capture and detain criminal illegal aliens. A narrow segment of hardcore leftists and professional activists are trying to keep the violence and chaos maintained, but as sunlight upon their operation continues they end up losing support.
Last night, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz appears on video begging the criminal activists to continue operations on the streets {VIDEO}, while criminal aliens keep trying to avoid capture.
BREAKING: DHS statement to Fox News: At 6:50 PM CT, federal law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted traffic stop in Minneapolis of an illegal alien from Venezuela who was released into the country by Joe Biden in 2022.
In an attempt to evade arrest, the subject fled the scene in his vehicle and crashed into a parked car. The subject then fled on foot.
The law enforcement officer caught up to the subject on foot and attempted to apprehend him when the subject began to resist and violently assault the officer. While the subject and law enforcement were in a struggle on the ground, two subjects came out of a nearby apartment and also attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle.
As the officer was being ambushed and attacked by the two individuals, the original subject got loose and began striking the officer with a shovel or broom stick.
Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired defensive shots to defend his life. The initial subject was hit in the leg.
All three subjects ran back into the apartment and barricaded themselves inside.
The attacked officer and subject are both in the hospital. Both attackers are in custody.
This attack on another brave member of law enforcement took place while Minnesota’s top leaders, Governor Walz and Mayor Frey, are actively encouraging an organized resistance to ICE and federal law enforcement officers.
Their hateful rhetoric and resistance against men and women who are simply trying to do their jobs must end. Federal law enforcement officers are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them as they put their lives on the line to arrest criminals and lawbreakers.” (link)
INSANE CLIP: ICE agent assaulted FOUR TIMES on camera.
Second half was deliberately clipped to hide the faces of the attackers, but I have the full first half showing everyone.@AGPamBondi these are clear felonies. Throw the book at them.
Video shows chaos: Protesters swarm broken-into ICE vehicles, snatch stack of arrest warrants & intel papers left behind after shooting. Reading them aloud w/ phone lights—now in enemy hands!
Posted originally on CTH on January 15, 2026 | Sundance |
Representative from Denmark, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and his Greenland counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, hold a press conference following a meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Their collective position essentially boils down to, ‘the United States is required to defend and protect our Danish kingdom territory – but the United States will not be allowed to control our Danish kingdom territory.’
“We didn’t manage to change the American position,” Rasmussen told reporters. “It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland. We made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the Kingdom.” Both Rasmussen and Motzfeldt noted the discussions were respectful and friendly; however, there remains major concerns that Greenland is vulnerable to the strategic long-term plans of both China and Russia.
Denmark, a NATO member, is apoplectic at the possibility of the U.S. taking control of Greenland and has repeatedly said that Denmark would defend Greenland if any threat materialized. However, the only way for Denmark to defend Greenland would be to rely on the U.S. military, thus the Trump administration underlines this point in the discussions of Greenland security. WATCH:
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There is a particular irony here embedded in the nuance. Greenland wants to hide behind the security guarantees of the United States; but Denmark wants to retain sovereign control of the protectorate that couldn’t exist without the United States security guarantee.
You can overlay the prior Crimea referendum, or the view of the Eastern Donbas residents in Ukraine and look at this Greenland situation through a similar prism.
Posted originally on CTH on January 14, 2026 | Sundance
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) released the December price information on Tuesday 1/13/26 [DATA HERE]. Overall, the topline inflation number is moderate at 2.7% much lower than economists projected.
However, that’s not the only important element. To get an understanding of the impact from tariffs to imported consumer goods, you can look at TABLE-2 [DATA HERE]. As you skim the categories we import the most, electronics, television, sporting goods, apparel, shoes, tools, furniture, etc. what you will note is that the prices are stable with negligible inflation impact noted.
What this means is that tariffs are not creating any upward price pressure on the imported good. The December ’25 imported good prices are stable despite massive tariffs applied in the second and third quarter of 2025. As expected, based on history from 2018/2019, the exporting nation (and company) are absorbing most of the wholesale price increased due to tariffs.
The imported goods are reaching the consumer with no substantively changed price. Some domestically generated goods (food and housing) are still driving the overall inflation number, particularly in the year-over-year calculation, but no substantive price pressure is coming from the import sector.
Export dependent nations are squeezing their own productivity, their governments are subsidizing the critical industries, and the tariffs are being absorbed before the products leave the docks. This is the USA “rust belt” in reverse. The same scenario played out in the USA for decades as domestic manufacturers tried to retain U.S. industry. Now the foreign countries are experiencing their own economic squeeze.
President Trump has been cutting waste, fraud and abuse in runaway government spending; slashing costly regulations across all sectors of the economy and ending Green New Scam energy policy in favor of drill, baby, drill. As noted by NEC Chairman Kevin Hasset, Trump has reduced deficit spending overall.
There’s still a long way to go, but significant MAGAnomic progress is being made.
That skyrocketing “tariff inflation” the same shocked pundits proclaimed was sure to happen this time, well, that has not surfaced; just like it didn’t surface in 2018 or 2019 when the tariffs were applied the first time.
It was Joe Biden’s economic, monetary and energy policies that created two years of massive inflation. That inflation skyrocketed the cost for goods and services. Those high prices became the baseline and were then handed to the entering Trump administration, under the narrative of the “affordability crisis.”
Having gaslit the American electorate over the issues of Joe Biden’s economic/energy policy which created record inflation, the same media who ran cover for Joe Biden then switched during the Trump administration to calling the subsequent high costs an “affordability” crisis.
In essence, Biden’s economic, energy and monetary policies drove 2021/2022 inflation to record levels, this made all prices rise massively. Those high prices are now the “affordability problem” all U.S. consumers are dealing with.
Posted originally on CTH on January 14, 2026 | Sundance
U.S. Attorney for the District of Washington DC, Jeanine Pirro, goes public explaining the backstory of the DOJ reviewing the Federal Reserve Board and Chairman Jerome Powell.
As noted by USAO Pirro, Chairman Powell refused to respond to questions for two months despite three repeated requests. The DOJ was then forced to issue a subpoena to get a response. Again, Powell never responded; instead, he went to the media to claim he was being politically targeted. WATCH:
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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
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