Is Russia on the Defensive?


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Jun 2, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov is warning the US that they have become instigators in the Russia-Ukraine war. “We believe that the U.S. is deliberately pouring oil on the fire. The U.S. is obviously holding the line that it will fight Russia to the last Ukrainian,” Peskov recently told reporters, according to Reuters.

Peskov’s warning comes shortly after Russia deemed most “unfriendly” nations as “hostile,” and with good cause. In an interview with PBS, Peskov said that President Biden’s suggestion to remove Putin from power was taken as a personal insult as the people of Russia, not the president of a foreign nation, determine Russian leadership.

Peskov speaks clearly and confidently; he does not seem like a madman hell-bent on war. In fact, he stated that Russia never wanted war. For decades, Russia has told the West that they are “afraid of NATO” moving closer into their territory. “Please take care of it and do not push us into the corner,” the Kremlin spokesman explained. In Russia’s eyes, they are on the defensive. Putin strictly warned other nations not to interfere in Russia-Ukraine relations. Peskov now states that the West, not Ukraine, is “leading the war against us.”

As for the claim that Russia will launch nukes, Peskov made it clear that Russia has no plans to do so, but would under an existential threat. He clarified that the “existence of the state” and “special military operations in Ukraine” have nothing to do with one another. Ukraine certainly cannot back Russia in a corner to which it feels it must implode its way out, but the West does and is pushing that boundary daily.

Americans Blame Biden for Inflation


Armstrong Economics Blog/Inflation Re-Posted Jun 2, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Unfortunately for Biden, the Great Unwashed is not gullible enough to accept his explanation that Putin is to blame for inflation. A Convention of States Action/Trafalgar Group survey found that most respondents (59.9%) believe Biden’s policies are the “leading contributor” to rising prices. Around 87.9% of Republicans and 61.1% of Independents cited Biden as the leading culprit, while only 55.2% of Democrats were ready to admit that Biden is destroying the economy.

Biden insists the American Rescue Plan and vast overseas donations did not contribute to inflation. He insists preventing America from being energy independent did not contribute to inflation. Even his own Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen cannot stand by these lies. Yellen insisted in March 2021 that inflation posed a “small risk” for America. In May 2021, Yellen said inflation would not become a problem. Then the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan was signed into law. Biden eliminated oil permits and allowed ports to clog.

This Tuesday, Yellen finally admitted she and the Biden Administration were wrong about inflation. “As I mentioned, there have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy that boosted energy and food prices, and supply bottlenecks, that have affected our economy badly that I, at the time, didn’t fully understand,” Yellen told CNN. “But we recognize that now.”

Although they recognize the issue, there is no plan in place to implement policies to ease inflation. Upon meeting with Fed Chair Powell, Biden simply said that it is the Fed’s place to solve the crisis he created. “My plan to address inflation starts with a simple proposition: Respect the Fed. Respect the Fed’s independence,” Biden said. Since the Fed is independent of the government, he has no choice but to “respect the Fed’s independence.”

More Pretending, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Pretends She Got It Wrong on Inflation, She Did Not


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 2, 2022 | Sundance 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has more financial and analytical resources at her fingertips than thousand hedge funds combined. When Secretary Yellen claims today that she “got it wrong” about inflation, what she is doing is continuing the game of pretending; she’s positioning the administration as incompetent, not deliberate.

The illusion of incompetence plays into the scheme of hiding the fact the administration is working through a purposeful strategy. In the game of pretending; and under the current circumstances; it is better to be seen as incompetent than recognized as working with malicious intent.  This is the illusion behind Joe Biden’s usefulness.

This is also the organized pretending game within DC that too few people will accept or admit. The Treasury Secretary and Federal Reserve Chairman are not making mistakes, they are working on a specific agenda and economic plan. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was not late to raise interest rates, he waited on purpose. He waited for the political reason of waiting until the triggered 2021 inflation spike cycled through the full calendar year.

These are not monetary policy leaders making monetary policy mistakes. These are monetary policy political ideologues, carrying out a political agenda within the U.S. economy. This is part of what National Economic Council Chairman Brian Deese would call the “economic transition.” WATCH this through the correct prism:

Ramstein Airforce Base Cancels Drag Queen Story Time Despite USAF and U.S. Marines Celebrating LBGTQ Pride Month


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 1, 2022 | Sundance

Comrades, if you were hoping to take the kids to the Drag Queen Story time at Ramstein Airforce base tomorrow in celebration of global Pride Month, unfortunately the 86th Airlift Wing has cancelled the event.

After initially telling everyone, “We’re celebrating Pride Month at the Ramstein Library with Drag Queen Storytime! Be sure to wear your brightest and most colorful outfits!,” apparently, the chief of public affairs, Lt. Col. Will Powell, now says the event did not go through the vetting process prior to the announcement.

According to the Washington Examiner: “The controversial event comes amid a growing ideological divide among liberals and conservatives about how and who should be teaching children about sexuality.

Conservatives have argued that these lessons should be left up to the parents, while some liberals in educational settings have begun teaching children about these topics according to their own views, at times without parental consent.” (more)

However, comrade binaries, all is not lost.  The United States Marines and the United States Airforce are putting their best boots forward and promoting inclusive wokeism as part of a new military outlook under the new leadership of a more progressive -and sensitive- commander in chief.

With additional military forward deployment and support for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a male pronoun comfortable in stilettos, the enlightened coalition will soon arrive in the rainbow fields of Ukraine to combat the horribly patriarchal Russian advancement.

The U.S. Marines are well positioned in the cultural battlespace as noted by their announcement earlier today:

The pesky Russians don’t stand a chance against a well choreographed advance reconnaissance team.  The few and very proud, with a well trained twerking division of soldiers ready to bare it all in defense of our allies, are practicing their line-dance formations as we speak.

Joint Chiefs’ Chair Mark Milley has assured Defense Secretary Austin that our fabulous troops will be well protected.  The angels on their shoulders have triggered rainbow air support.

Dear leader has yet to announce who will be bringing up the rear; however, we suspect the U.S. army will rise to the occasion.

Be afraid President Putin and Chairman Xi… be very afraid! 

…The loss of the Donbas is merely a flesh wound.

IEA Warns of Possible Gasoline Shortages and Need for Rationing


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 1, 2022 | Sundance

Does anyone remember during the Jimmy Carter era when odd/even days on license plates to get gas?  Well, if the International Energy Agency is accurate, and the issue extends into the U.S. as predicted by many industry insiders, we could very well see gasoline rationing once again.

Beyond all the obfuscation, denial and continual pretending, the reason for the gasoline shortages is related to this forcible shift in energy policy that is underway in Europe and the United States.  It’s not a shortage of oil, it’s the new era where the Green New Deal is the policy priority.  The people within the Biden administration do not care about the consequences, Biden is pushed in front of the camera as a useful idiot to take the blame.

Business Insider – The US could see fuel shortages this summer once people start taking their vacations — and Europe could take a particular hit from the lack of supply, the head of the International Energy Agency has warned.

“When the main holiday season starts in Europe and the US, fuel demand will rise,” Fatih Birol told Der Spiegel. “Then we could see shortages — for example, in diesel, petrol or kerosene, particularly in Europe.”

Birol also told the German newspaper that the energy crisis now underway will be more severe and longer-lasting than the oil price shocks of the 1970s, given it’s applying pressure on three fronts.

“Back then it was just about oil,” he said in the interview published Tuesday. “Now we have an oil crisis, a gas crisis and an electricity crisis simultaneously.”

Oil prices spiked in 1973 and 1979 as the Yom Kippur War and the Iranian Revolution interrupted Middle Eastern crude exports. Geopolitical events have hit the market again in 2022, as western nations impose sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. (read more)

Joe Biden has no clue what the people running the administration agencies are doing.  Even if he were to ask them, they would simply type something into his teleprompter that he would believe and repeat.  Biden doesn’t care, the entire family is in it for the grift.

NEC Director Brian Deese Defends Policy as U.S. Economy Transitions Away from Oil and Gas to Windmills and Solar Power


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 31, 2022 | Sundance 

Anytime you hear the code-word “transition”, what the explainers mean is the change from traditional oil, gas and fossil fuels to renewable energy and the Green New Deal.  The phrase “economic transition” is used to explain the economic collapse of Main Street that will happen during the switch.   Remember THE GOAL?  It has never changed.

National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, aka the U.S. version of Baghdad Bob, appears before several audiences today in an effort to use as many words as possible to explain the “transition,” without actually explaining the “transition.”  Why?  Because they don’t want the average person to know what the “transition” is all about…. Because if the average person knew what this “transition” is all about, then they might realize all of these massive increases in price are being done intentionally.   WATCH:

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Again, you guys are going to get sick of me saying this…. BUT, the number one problem our country faces is that the vast majority of us are PRETENDING.

The White House is pretending the U.S. government does not have full control over what is happening in the economy.  The media are pretending not to know that the White House is avoiding admitting the agenda and economic pain is intentional and unavoidable.  The republican politicians are pretending the Biden economic transition program is because the White House is incompetent.  All of these -and so many more- are just pretenses.

What is being done by the government, in this decision to switch from an oil and gas economy into a wind and solar economy, is being done on purpose. Yes, everyone at every level of government, both political parties and every agency within it, and the entirety of the corporate media are pretending not to know this is the Green New Deal taking place.

We cannot confront or solve this stuff, until we -including media- stop pretending.  Brian Deese is Baghdad Bob.

I will not eat the bugs.

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GDP Figures Revised Downward, U.S. Economy Shrinks 1.5 Percent in First Quarter, Things are Getting Much Worse


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 26, 2022 | Sundance 

May 26, 2022 | Sundance | 160 Comments

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) originally calculated the first quarter economy at a scale of -1.4% growth. The BEA revises that figure downward today with more data showing a contracted level of consumer spending [DATA HERE].  The economy contracted by -1.5% in the revised numbers.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the dollar value of all goods and services produced in the economy, minus the dollar value of goods and services we import. The percentages discussed are percentages of change over time.

♦ What changed in this revision to make the economy worse?

(1) U.S. inflation was revised upward (prices increased); (2) the estimate of calculated inventories was lowered; (3) the estimate of consumer spending was raised (inflation issue); which leads to (4) a massive drop in the calculation of disposable incomes.  [See the Change Table]

This table shows where the revisions are located:

Look at the revision to disposable incomes:

The Joe Biden’s economic policy is literally: (a) draining our savings and bank accounts, and (b) increasing our personal debt as we struggle to survive.

(Via MSM) – […] The U.S. economic contraction to start the year was worse than expected as weak business and private investment failed to offset strong consumer spending, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

First-quarter gross domestic product declined at a 1.5% annual pace, according to the second estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That was worse than the 1.3% Dow Jones estimate and a write-down from the initially reported 1.4%.

Downward revisions for both private inventory and residential investment offset an upward change in consumer spending. A swelling trade deficit also subtracted from the GDP total.

The pullback in GDP represented the worst quarter since the pandemic-scarred Q2 of 2020 in which the U.S. fell into a recession spurred by a government-imposed economic shutdown to battle Covid-19.  (read more)

These economic conditions are mostly driven by energy policy.  U.S. energy policy underlines almost all economic activity and touches every facet of our lives as a consumer. You cannot change U.S. energy policy so drastically without changing every single economic aspect which is connected to energy policy.

What’s coming next?  WATCH:

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I concur with that prediction.

Prepare your affairs accordingly.

A Technical Study of Relationships in Solar Flux, Water and other Gasses in the upper Atmosphere, Using the April, 2022 NASA & NOAA Data


From the attached report on climate change for March 2022 Data we have the two charts showing how much the global temperature has actually gone up since we started to measure CO2 in the atmosphere in 1958? To show this graphically Chart 8a was constructed by plotting CO2 as a percent increase from when it was first measured in 1958, the Black plot, the scale is on the left and it shows CO2 going up by about 32.0% from 1958 to April of 2022. That is a very large change as anyone would have to agree.  Now how about temperature, well when we look at the percentage change in temperature also from 1958, using Kelvin (which does measure the change in heat), we find that the changes in global temperature (heat) is almost un-measurable at only .4%. As you see the increase in energy, heat, is not visually observably in this chart hence the need for another Chart 8 to show the minuscule increase in thermal energy shown by NASA in relationship to the change in CO2 Shown in the next Chart using a different scale.

This is Chart 8 which is the same as Chart 8a except for the scales. The scale on the right side had to be expanded 10 times (the range is 50 % on the left and 5% on the right) to be able to see the plot in the same chart in any detail. The red plot, starting in 1958, shows that the thermal energy in the earth’s atmosphere increased by .40%; while CO2 has increased by 32.0% which is 80 times that of the increase in temperature. So is there really a meaningful link between them that would give as a major problem?

Based to these trends, determined by excel not me, in 2028 CO2 will be 428 ppm and temperatures will be a bit over 15.0o Celsius and in 2038 CO2 will be 458 ppm and temperatures will be 15.6O Celsius.

The numbers tell us the story of the planets Atmosphere

The full 40 page report explains how these charts were developed .

The Biden Administration Deliberately Destroyed Our Capacity to Produce Energy


Armstrong Economics Blog/Energy Re-Posted May 24, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Everyone who voted for Biden will continue to see their future utterly destroyed. The climate change people are deliberately destroying the capacity to produce energy without any alternative in place. The word from DC is that they “do not give a sh-t” about the people. They want to destroy our ability to produce fossil fuels before they are thrown out of office if that is even possible.

Alaskan Senator Sullivan explains that the Biden Administration is DELIBERATELY creating an energy crisis and then wants to blame oil companies and Putin. Senator Sullivan explains what Biden has done in just the last three weeks.

Then at the same time, they want farmers to grow only green crops and terminate beef production. The Neocons want to wage war against Russian and China. And nobody stands up and asks – “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?”

Biden Admits U.S. Gas Prices Driven by Incredible Transition Away from Fossil Fuels


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 23, 2022 | sundance

During a joint press conference held in Tokyo, Japan, held by Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Biden was asked about the financial pain Americans are feeling with massive increases in gasoline prices.

Outlining how his energy policy is directly related to the gasoline price, Joe Biden said: “Here’s the situation. And when it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over.” Yet again proving the intent of the administration is to implement the ‘Green New Deal’ through executive action.  WATCH:

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This admission is akin to former President Obama saying, “energy prices would necessarily skyrocket” in order to achieve the goals of the administration.