Tag Archives: Agenda 21

Aug 9 2017

North Korea & Pushing the Button


Armstrong Economics Blog/War

Re-Posted Aug 9, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The United States for the first time in a very long time, won a major victory in the United Nations.  The Security Counsel unanimously approved sanctions against North Korea. Typically, Russia and China have opposed to such sanctions in the past. This is demonstrating that the North Korean problem is serious. Despite all the doom and gloom about nuclear war, China and Russia have no interest in actually pushing the button.

Some think that winning the sanctions at the U.N. removes the possibility of some kind of US attack on North Korea in the near future.  This is wishful thinking for as always, the sanction will NEVER work. The whole idea is you punish the people and they will rise up and overthrow the government. That failed with Russia and all sanctions have ever done is stiffen the opposition. If any such political leader yielded because of sanctions, he would be seen as ineffective and weak. That would open the door to them losing power. It is no different than the Democrats admitting that Obamacare raised the cost of healthcare for everyone. No matter what the issue, politicians will NEVER admit they made a mistake.

Aug 8 2017

Mitch McConnell Complains President Trump Has “excessive expectations” of Republican Congress (video)…


Re-Posted from The conservative Tree House on August 8, 2017 by

During a Monday Rotary Club meeting in Kentucky senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took questions from audience members who asked McConnell to explain why Republican lawmakers have been unable to deliver major legislative accomplishments for the president.

Senator McConnell responded by saying President Trump’s expectations are too high.

“I’d ask for a show of hands, but I know everybody’s saying, ‘been there, haven’t done anything,’ which I find extremely irritating — and I’m going to tell you why. A Congress goes on for two years. Part of the reason I think that the storyline is that we haven’t done much is because, in part, the president and others have set these early timelines about things need to be done by a certain point.”

“Our new president, of course, has not been in this line of work before, and I think had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the Democratic process.”

Fortunately, this ridiculously elitist and arrogant establishment tone will likely not play well. This, along with a host of other ridiculous comments and realities could doom Luther Strange in the upcoming Alabama special election. Luther Strange is the loyal Decepticon favorite of Mitch McConnell and Karl Rove.  Mo Brooks and Roy Moore are more aligned with President Trump.

Aug 8 2017

Red Dragon Plays Panda: China States It Will Enforce U.N. Resolutions Against North Korea….


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 7, 2017 by

We’ll see.  The red dragon has a tendency to say one thing publicly and manipulate another thing privately.  However, the baseline for China to take the role of Big Panda is the reception of Secretary Rex Tillerson’s “Four No” remarks on North Korea during his State Department briefing.

TILLERSON”S FOUR NO’S: The United States does not seek •regime change, •the collapse of the regime, •an accelerated reunification of the peninsula or •an excuse to send the U.S. military into North Korea.

So long as the ‘four-no’s’ remain visible and discussed in the international dialogue, the options for China are to comply or to be called out as a deceiving enabler.  The economic consequences for China to break the sanctions are looming and severely consequential.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will pay the biggest price from the new United Nations sanctions against North Korea because of its close economic relationship with the country, but will always enforce the resolutions, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday that could slash its $3 billion annual export revenue by a third.

Speaking at a regional security forum in Manila on Monday, Wang said the new resolution showed China and the international community’s opposition to North Korea’s continued missile tests, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Owing to China’s traditional economic ties with North Korea, it will mainly be China paying the price for implementing the resolution,” the statement cited Wang as saying.

“But in order to protect the international non-proliferation system and regional peace and stability, China will as before fully and strictly properly implement the entire contents of the relevant resolution.”

China has repeatedly said it is committed to enforcing increasingly tough U.N. resolutions on North Korea, though it has also said what it terms “normal” trade and ordinary North Koreans should not be affected.

The latest U.N. resolution bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. It also prohibits countries from increasing the numbers of North Korean laborers currently working abroad, bans new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures.

Wang said that apart from the new sanctions, the resolution also made clear that the six party talks process, a stalled dialogue mechanism with North Korea that also includes Russia and Japan, should be restarted.

That was promise that all Security Council members made, including China, Russia and the United States, and which ought to be carried out, Wang added. (read more)

Aug 8 2017

California Voter Fraud – 11 Counties Posted Votes in Excess of their Population


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Aug 8, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Judicial Watch has filed a letter of intent that reflects a very serious problem in California voting. Eleven California counties posted more votes for Hillary than the population. We are looking at massive voter fraud in California that could serious rock the nation when we consider that if we eliminate California, Trump won the majority of the vote everywhere else. This is not about supporting Trump. That is long since done. This is about going forward. Can any election be trusted any more?

If we can buy goods online in a secure manner, we can also vote on line. Even those who do not have a computer posses usually a smart phone which can also be used to vote. For those people who do not have either, then they can go to the public library or town hall to vote. Voting online will eliminate voter fraud for you cannot vote without a Social Security card. Plain and simple.

Aug 8 2017

Obamacare is Officially Destroying the Economy & Has Reached 60% of total Retail Sales


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption

Re-Posted Aug 8, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The retail sector has been stagnant and most people are blaming AMAZON. A closer look is really required rather than the typical superficial analysis. Today, online sales represent only 8.5% of total retail sales. Amazon comes in at $80 billion in sales, but this merely amounts to just 1.5% of total U.S. retail sales, since 2016 total retail sales were around $5.5 trillion. What John McCain did to kill the repeal of Obamacare is devastating to the economy. The Democrats refuse to review what they have done and cannot see past their ego that Obamacare is destroy the economy.

The health-care inflation is the greatest rising cost to everyone and the proliferation of high-deductible plans has devastated Millennials. Some are paying $300 a month yet have $3,000 deductibles. In effect, the cost of health-care has been one huge fraud that is enriching the insurance companies who are major contributors to the Democrats. Obamacare has drastically increased consumer direct health-care costs and further chipped away at discretionary dollars far more than AMAZON. Health-care spending in the U.S. is $3.3 trillion, and even a 3% rise in costs would be close to $100 billion. With total retail sales at $5.5 trillion, heath-care now consumes 60% of retail sales and it is retail sales that are the backbone of the US economy that is holding up the entire world economy. What John McCain has done is far worse than anyone in the media is even contemplating.

While politics just basks in the corruption and the Democrats will not review what they have done, from 2018 to 2021, the future is looking darker and darker. Heath-care is single-handedly destroying the entire world economy.

Aug 8 2017

Climate Change & How It Has Made Us Who We Are Today


Armstrong Economics Blog/Nature

Re-Posted Aug 8, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

All we ever hear is how Climate Change is caused by humans and it will destroy the world. They have been yelling that New Orleans and Miami will be UNDER WATER within the next century as rising sea levels put more than 400 US cities ‘past the point of no return’ unless we suddenly raise taxes and hand the power to government to change the climate.  In Princeton, New Jersey, the actual construction of the Harvey S. Firestone Memorial Library was set in motion at the University. Excavation begun January 2, 1946, and the building opened for use on September 7, 1949. This was where I conducted my research that produced the Economic Confidence Model.

The excavation for the underground floors of Firestone was difficult. In the spring of 1946, a group of Princeton geologists found fossils from fish of the late Triassic Age in a section of shale. The fossils, which had been buried there for 175 million years, were amazingly well-preserved and revealed new details about the prehistoric fish. This site proved one of the richest grounds for finding Triassic fish fossils in the world. The fossils were sent to museums. Clearly, most of New Jersey was under water before. The Global Warming crowd make it seem that we are responsible for everything – not nature.

An interesting book Climate Change in Prehistory: The End of the Reign of Chaos, is documenting how humankind dealt with the extreme challenges of the last Ice Age and climate change the Global Warming people ignore. Climate Change has affected the evolution of humankind and is responsible for spreading humanity across the globe. Our genetic history in the context of climate change during prehistory, reveals another dimension to the argument. The origin of many features of our modern world are identified and presented in this work which reviews the aspects of our physiology and intellectual development that have been influenced by climatic factors. Climate Change has impacted our diet, language and the domestication of animals thereby changing our lives. Modern humanity is a product of the Climate Change. Climate Change in Prehistory brings together studies of the climate with anthropological, archaeological and historical studies to paint the full picture.

Aug 7 2017

Gallup Poll: Reaches Highest Level of Small Business Confidence in Decade…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 7, 2017 by

The latest quarterly poll of small business owners shows an overall confidence index of +106, the highest level in a decade.  This 3rd quarter results is a full 11 points higher than the Quarter 2 confidence level that was also high.

This indicates growing optimism in the most important economic index for MAGAnomics, Main Street.  President Trump continues to focus economic policy away from Wall Street and toward Main Street, with removal of burdensome regulations and improvements to capital access and national economic interests.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Small-business owners’ optimism about their business situation has edged up in the past quarter to a new 10-year high. The Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index for the third quarter is at +106, up 11 points since Quarter 2 and the highest since +113 measured in the second quarter of 2007. Index scores between the first and third quarters of 2016 ranged between 64 and 68.

These results are based on July 10-14 interviewing with a random sample of small-business owners nationwide. Owners are asked to evaluate both their present business situation and expectations about their business going forward.

Small business owners are more positive about the future than about their current circumstances, a pattern that has generally been the case historically. But, the overall increase in the index this quarter is mainly the result of an uptick in present situation ratings, rather than expectations about the future. The present situation score rose from +36 in the second quarter to +45 in the third quarter, while the future expectations score this quarter remained essentially constant — +61 compared to +59 last quarter. Both of these measures are as high as they have been since 2007.  (read more)

Aug 7 2017

HUD Secretary Ben Carson Poised to End Obama-Era Section 8 Housing Grants…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 7, 2017 by

Following his reelection victory in 2012 President Obama removed the bidding process from section 8 housing; instead Obama’s HUD initiated grants to their hand-selected organizations.  After years of lost lawsuits the HUD bidding process is set to return.

WASHINGTON DC – […] Section 8 housing is a federal program that pays rental assistance to landlords to help low-income people acquire affordable housing.

Because HUD had problems administering the program, in 1995 it started to contract out the management of Section 8 housing units through a competitive bidding process. However, in March of 2012, HUD suddenly shifted away from the competitive bidding process, and began using funding mechanisms which were more like grants.

Contractors who had previously gained HUD’s business under the bidding process appealed to the Government Accountability Office in 2012, just months after HUD changed course. And by August of that year, the GAO ruled that HUD’s actions were “unreasonable and in disregard of applicable statutory guidance.”

Undeterred, HUD pressed forward with their choice, which then made them the target of a lawsuit. From that point, HUD lost an embarrassing string of rulings which culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court denying to hear an appeal from the agency in April of 2015.

Despite all those rulings, HUD didn’t budge. But the Trump administration is now set to return to the previous methods.  (read more)

Aug 6 2017

2017 – The Year Without an Arctic Summer?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Nature

RE-Posted Aug 6, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

They are calling this in the Year without an Arctic Summer.  The Greenland Ice Sheet is gaining near record amounts of ice this year. Very little melting has occurred this summer, which is about to start coming to an end. Europe has been unusually cool once again after last year ice wiped out crops all the way down into Spain creating shortages of vegetables. With the sun activity declining and the North Pole reversing direction in 2000 heading toward Europe rather than Canada, things are not exactly supporting the Global Warming crowd. Since 1860, the magnetic pole shift has more than doubled every 50 years. That is rather significant. In geological terms, this is extremely rapid and could be the prelude to a pole shift nobody understands.

Still, during the past 150 years, the pole shift has been in the same direction. The most astonishing fact is that since 2000, the magnetic North Pole has shifted nearly half of the total distance of the past 50 years! In other words, the pole shift has apparently picked up speed so much so that they have had to re-calibrate airports and their GPS signals so planes can still find them. Europe is getting colder. Friends in Scotland have relayed that had a spectacular summer this year – it lasted a whole two days! The earth is changing rapidly. We are overdue for a major pole shift (see Maya Report). The poles flip on the Sun every 11 years. We have no idea what the net result will be on Earth since the last flip was well before recorded history.

Aug 6 2017

Diesel Cars in Europe Received Tax Breaks to Compete Against Japan


Armstrong Economics Blog/Nature

Re-Posted Aug 6, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT:  Just to give you the heads up on diesels (Source my brother in the Industry). During the 70’s when Japanese were dominating car imports in Europe. France came up with the idea of giving preferential treatment to diesel cars as the French Car Industry was ahead of the Japanese in diesel engines. (the pollution of Tokyo has meant that diesels were dismissed for cars). The fuel efficiency of diesels was well known as was the particulate problem and the need for better maintenance to maintain emissions. France lowered the tax on diesel fuel to make French cars attractive and competitive. France then lobbied the EU to keep the emissions tests stationary in the lab rather than on the road to hide the particulate problem. This has resulted effectually in much better small diesels but still the particulate problem remains. This could have been helped in cities by moving to LPG for buses and taxis but that never happened presumable for safety reasons. BTW if everyone plugs in a car overnight to charge up what is now provided by liquid fuel we need a seriously new and different electricity system.

DB

REPLY: Your are correct. There has been a significant tax advantage to a diesel in Europe which was to compete against the Japanese.