“They” Explained


Armstrong Economics Blog/Basic Concepts Re-Posted Apr 25, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

People often ask who I am referencing when I refer to “they.” THEY are the leaders of the pack; the neocons. They are the people who create endless wars and use the people as their toy soldiers for war games—we are the toys.

None of these wars affected our way of life and we had no need to be involved in Ukraine, Vietnam, Afghanistan, you name it. But they will create false flags to bring us into wars. It may be a conspiracy but it is not a theory. They conspire to create these wars and use fake news. There were the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that never existed. The sinking of the Lusitania that propelled us into World War I was intentional. Former President Johnson admitted that Vietnam never attacked us, and leading neocon Robert McNamara admitted before his death that America was wrong for condemning Communist nations. But he died with the guilt of sacrificing 58,000 American lives on the neocon altar of war.

The neocons have a theory that a regime change will save the day. They demonize the head of state and convince themselves that people will cheer once that individual man is overthrown. Saddam, Gaddafi, the list goes on. They think they can overthrow these leaders and simply install a democracy. The problem is that we do not have a democracy; we have a republic. We cannot vote on whether we go to war or if we want to die for the neocons.

They are the aggressors and the ones who created the current conflict. They are on both sides of the political aisle and are installed in positions of power throughout the world. They create division internally to promote civil unrest so that they can elect the person of their choice who will claim to solve the problems they created. They want to create digital currencies to control everything we do while plundering what they allow us to have. They are pushing society as a whole to a breaking point, and unfortunately, their next war game will not end well.

BREAKING, Thundershock – Fox News Fires Tucker Carlson, Last Show Was Last Friday. This is the End of the First Amendment and “Free” speech.


Posted originally on the CTH on April 24, 2023

In a stunning development at Fox News, it appears they have fired the #1 television news host/pundit in the industry.

In a terse statement [LINK HERE]:

NEW YORK — April 24, 2023  FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.

Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named.

Tucker Carlson had the number one rated news and broadcast show across the entire media industry.

An immediate firing with no further shows?

This is a stunning breaking development!

Then again….

….. There are Trillions at Stake!

Stoltenberg: Ukraine’s Rightful Place is in NATO


Armstrong Economics Blog/War We-Posted Apr 24, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that there would be a global world war on Friday when he announced that Ukraine will be invited to join NATO. Stoltenberg, who recently took a trip to Ukraine to show his full support, said that Ukraine will be permitted to join after the war ends. Zelensky is begging for NATO to permit Ukraine to join NATO immediately.

At a joint news conference in Kyiv, Zelensky and Stoltenberg spoke on NATO’s unwavering support for Ukraine. “Over the years, NATO Allies have provided training for tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers. And since last February, NATO Allies have delivered more than 150 billion euros of support, including 65 billion euros of military aid,” Stoltenberg said. “Let me be clear: Ukraine’s rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO. And over time, our support will help you make this possible.” He said their approach will take multiple years to “ensure full interoperability with the Alliance.”

Stoltenberg went on to explain why NATO was helping an unaffiliated nation. He hit on every trick in the book, from it being “morally right” to demonizing the head of state (Putin) as if removing him could solve this crisis:

“I expect the NATO Allies to do so both because it’s the morally right thing to do. A sovereign independent nation in Europe, Ukraine has been attacked, as a victim of a brutal war of aggression and therefore it's Ukraine's right to defend itself and it's our right to support Ukraine in upholding the right of self defense, a right which is enshrined in the UN Charter but it's also in our self-interest. Because if President Putin wins it will make the world more dangerous and us more vulnerable, because then the message is that when authoritarian powers, like Russia, like President Putin uses forces, they get what they want. So it's in our security interest, it's in the security interest of NATO Allies to support Ukraine.”

Zelensky said, per usual, that the efforts of the West have not been enough. “There is not a single objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance and now, when most people in NATO countries and the majority of Ukrainians support NATO accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions,” the comedian who is running a country said.

If Ukraine joins NATO, World War III will begin immediately. Stoltenberg is buying time, as they did with the fake Minsk Agreements. NATO is afraid that Hungary and Turkey will turn away from the alliance if Ukraine is openly admitted. The comment section on the video I posted above shows how the public does not understand what is happening. People are cheering and saying Zelensky should win the Nobel PEACE Prize when he has turned down every olive branch Moscow attempted to extend. All these people want is war and they think of nothing else. Ukraine is nothing more than cannon fodder to them and the latest plot for the neocons to conquer Russia.

Panic of 1857 & Gold


Armstrong Economics Blog/Gold Re-Posted Apr 23, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Didn’t you also buy gold bars from the SS Central America ship that was discovered? The gold bugs hate you and say you are bearish gold but you buy a lot of it.

All the best

JE

ANSWER: Oh yes. I tend to collect important relics from major economic events.  The sinking of that ship set off a financial panic in NYC because the banks were counting on that gold shipment. I did buy bars. There were some 30,000 pounds (13,600 kg) of gold and about 15 tons were recovered.

They are a piece of history. I would not melt them down.

Central Bank Hoard of Gold


Armstrong Economics Blog/Gold Re-Posted Apr 23, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

It is very interesting that I just purchased a hoard of $20 liberties, all uncirculated like the day they came from the mint and all dated 1904. The source was a foreign central bank. They were going through their reserves and came across this exciting hoard. It just goes to show that sometimes being disorganized results in new discoveries and excitement all the time. This batch was 500. The fact that every coin has the same date demonstrates that it was indeed a reserve asset directly from the Philadelphia Mint.

The Great De-Dollarization


Armstrong Economics Blog/USD $ Re-Posted Apr 23, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

All we hear is the same claims that the dollar is dead and it will be totally worthless any day now. Over the last few weeks, all we hear from the majority now is that the dollar is finished. Virtually every page you turn or site you visit claims the death of the dollar. They are calling this the de-dollarization of the world economy and that the future of the US dollar as well as the American empire itself is now collapsing. The general claim is that the group of economically-aligned nations known collectively as BRICS is a major threat to the greenback. That was the same story we heard about the Euro back in 1997.

As their scenario goes, the BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa] have moved to form an anti-dollar colation and Saudi Arabia is considering jumping on board. They insist that once that happens, the “petrodollar” will die and cease to be a reserve currency.

This is then followed by the forecast that the economy will suffer and that any bounce in exports will be short-lived simply because the dollar will be dead for the long term. Of course, this has been the favorite forecast that they keep putting out since Bretton Woods collapsed. They were wrong back then for the dollar rose between 1972 and 1976 against the British pound, with the collapse of Bretton Woods. To try to explain why the dollar did not collapse, that is when they claimed that the dollar was backed now by oil rather than gold. That was just an excuse as always to cover up their wrong forecast.

They sold that story to Newsweek and now the dollar rally was because of oil which replace gold. Suddenly the dollar became de facto backed by oil. They needed an explanation to explain why all the old theories were wrong. They sold this theory and it made the front cover of Newsweek. Everyone said YES! That must be the reason. OPEC priced oil in dollars! Naturally, everything was priced in dollars because, under the fixed exchange rate of Bretton Woods, everything from wheat and corn to copper and gold was all priced in dollars.

Now they are saying the American empire is threatened by the potential commercial real estate collapse and the BRICS anti-dollar venture. So they are forecasting a great depression-style crash is possible in the not-too-distant future. They spin this to forecast the end of the America Empire. The London FT, always anti-American/Pro WEF, reports that the dollar as a reserve currency has declined from  73% in 2001 to around 55% by 2021. Yet the FT did state an obvious fact:

“But if you are a reserve-rich central bank elsewhere that isn’t going to be a lot of comfort. Moreover, would you really feel more comfortable in, say, the renminbi? Even if it was fully convertible and liquid, would you honestly feel more sure that Beijing will behave lawfully than DC? The dollar still looks like the proverbial least dirty shirt in the closet.”

COVID actually has played a major role in shifting the world economy. In 2020, the US economy was 24.75% of the world’s GDP. By the start of 2022, it had fallen marginally to 24.15%. What these dollar-forecasting jockeys do not understand, is that if they were correct and the dollar collapsed, then the very BRICS would collapse even further. Economically speaking, when the United States gets a head cold, the rest of the world catches ammonia. You can’t have it both ways. The strength of the dollar is not gold or oil, it is the American consumer.

The risk to the entire world is runaway inflation thanks to Biden pouring untold amounts of money into the black hole known as Ukraine. The Neocons, who control Biden, are planning to launch a war against Russia and China before 2024. This will only continue to accelerate inflation. That reduces the spending power of the American consumer and in the process, the US economic growth declines in real terms and with it, the rest of the world plunges into recession.

While Macron has figured it out that the Neocons are in charge of US foreign policy and he is telling Europe to stop being the puppet of the USA, that all sounds nice but Europe is marching into war with Russia. NATO is firmly in control of the American Neocons and they need war or face losing power. With Trump in the lead, they must stop him at all costs for he is anti-war, would haul the Neocons out by the necks, and defund NATO, as well as stop the climate change agenda.

The US dollar in the global economy has been supported by the size and strength of the US consumer-based economy. Its stability and openness to trade and capital flows without restrictions and it has never been canceled, are the major foundation of the dollar in addition to strong property rights and the rule of law. That is why Russians and Chinese buy US property for they are secure in their ownership of US property which cannot always be guaranteed outside the US.

Consequently, the depth and liquidity of US financial markets remain unmatched. For institutions parking billions, the United States represents a large supply of extremely safe dollar-denominated assets. Are they really going to switch to China or buy debt from Brazil?  Not a single institutional client will take that bait.

China has been divesting of dollar reserves because it KNOWS that the American Neocons want war. You do not fund your adversary who intends to wage war against you. China cannot shift reserve assets to Europe or Japan. They have been buying gold because it is geopolitically neutral territory. They are NOT buying gold as an investor thinking it will rally. That is irrelevant. If gold drops 25%, that does not translate into them becoming a seller.

The dollar in international reserves stood at 60+% at the start of 2022 against the US share of GDP at 24.25%. This comparison belittles the argument that the dollar is finished. Eventually, the US will lose the wars it is starting and the dollar will be replaced perhaps as soon as 2028. The IMF is already licking its lips and rubbing its hands together eager to get control of the reserve currency. But they too will collapse. We have a Directional Change next year and a Panic Cycle in 2025. So buckle up.!

Remember one thing, even with the debasement and collapse of the Roman Denarius between 260AD and 268AD, it still took 224 years for Rome to completely collapse. When war breaks out, capital flight will still be to the dollar. It will not be to public assets, but private. The United States is still supporting the entire world economy. The BRICS need the US consumer to keep their economies functioning. All this talk of the dollar being finished is really nonsense. That day will come, but when the US consumer no longer buys.

Remember 1997? The Euro was going to dethrone the dollar. They claimed the new EU will be a bigger economy than the US. The problem was, they lacked a consumer economy, and low taxes, and they routinely canceled their currency to force people to pay taxes. It is always the same story over and over again.

The Contagion of War


Armstrong Economics Blog/Civil Unrest Re-Posted Apr 23, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: You have suggested that we will end up at war with China, Russia, North Korea, and even Iran simultaneously. How does Socrates conclude such an event that perhaps never happened in the past?

ER

ANSWER: Your assumption that such a thing has never happened is not correct. Periods of war of this nature unfold like a contagion of the flu. The English Civil War (1642-1652) which ended with the beheading of the King in 1649 was instigated using religion as the rallying cry.

In France, there was also an uprising that dramatically interrupted monarchy in 1648 by the uprising of a series of challenges to the absolutism of the King that came to be known collectively as the Fronde.  The Fronde (1648-1653) plunged France into civil disorder.  The king was even driven from his capital as several provinces revolted. This was a revolution demanding a right to participate in government. When the Fronde ended, the king was restored to absolute royal authority.

Of course, the Fronde may not have changed the French system of government, but it set the stage for the final French Revolution. Nevertheless, the American Revolution then spread with that spirit to overthrow monarchy becoming the France Revolution in 1789.

Throughout history, if we correlate the civil uprisings and forget about the claimed cause, we will see an amazing correlation. Throughout Europe, there was the communist revolution that spread to all the countries in 1848. When you allow the computer to correlate the world, what pops up is that the same Communist Revolution spread to Spanish Latin America, with Revolutions that appeared in New Granada that led to the fall of the government there.

Looking closer, you will see in Brazil there was the Praieira Revolt between 1848-1852. You also see the Mexican-American War, which was also in part inspired by the Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836).

If we look closely, we will see that 1848 was a”world revolution” for revolutions broke out almost simultaneously in fifty countries from Europe down to Brazil. This era created resentments that lingered beyond domestic revolution and international war just as the reparation payments demanded by the French following WWI led to the rise of Hitler and WWII. The Revolutions of 1848 set the stage for the period that continued into 1880, marking a bloody century with 177 different conflicts.

Even the American Civil War ended slavery and became a contagion that spread to Russia and inspired the 1861 termination of serfdom in Russia.

Socrates has correlated everything. I am sad to report that we are looking at a global uprising. This time, it will be our pretend democracies that are no different than authoritarian monarchies that meet their demise post-2032.

Tucker Carlson Keynote Speech During 50th Anniversary Celebration of The Heritage Foundation


Posted originally on the CTH on April 22, 2023 | Sundance 

Fox News #1 rated television host Tucker Carlson delivers a keynote speech at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Heritage Foundation.  Strong off-the-cuff remarks.

While outlining the largest challenges that we all see and feel surrounding us, Tucker Carlson notes there are some positives that deserve to be recognized.

First, no matter how widespread the herd mentality is; no matter how entrenched it becomes amid the mass population; there will always be those voices who do not bend to the pressure of the effort.  There will always be those people who have strength of character, the strongest internal compass heading, that refuse to kowtow to the acceptable narrative.  When you see those people, recognize them, celebrate them, hold them up and cherish their strength.

Second, accept that our current status is no longer a battle of ideas.  Our current battle is a contest between good and evil.  Once you make this admission, first to yourself, then to those around you, only then can you select the correct armor to defeat that enemy.  This is critical, even for the nontheological minds that approach the issues of largest consequence.  The war around us is bigger than an argument about social constructs.  This is a fight between two universal forces, good and evil.

Every action taken within what at times will be an insurgency, must be predicated against these acceptances.  WATCH:

Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil’s evil tricks.  For we are not fighting against human beings, but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers of this dark age.  So put on God’s armor now.  Then, when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy’s attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground“…

INTERVIEW – WORLD WAR 3 IS WHAT “THEY” WANT AND ARE ON TRACK TO GET IT


Armstrong Economics Blog/Armstrong in the Media Re-Posted Apr 22, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

US Troops on the Ground in Ukraine


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Apr 18, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

It’s official – the US is at war with Russia. This is no longer a proxy war regardless of whether an official declaration has been made. Washington confirmed that there is “a small U.S. military presence,” but only made the admission after the Pentagon data leak. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby insists American soldiers are not fighting on the battlefield.

“I won’t talk to the specifics of numbers and that kind of thing. But to get to your exact question, there is a small U.S. military presence at the embassy in conjunction with the Defense Attachés office to help us work on accountability of the material that is going in and out of Ukraine,” Kirby said, claiming the troops are connecting to a specific embassy. The initial data leak showed that there are also at least 50 troops from the UK on the ground in Ukraine, along with military personnel from 33 NATO nations.

The New York Times reported on Monday morning that NATO members are amassing their troops along the border. “NATO is rapidly moving from what the military calls deterrence by retaliation to deterrence by denial. In the past, the theory was that if the Russians invaded, member states would try to hold on until allied forces, mainly American and based at home, could come to their aid and retaliate against the Russians to try to push them back,” Steven Erlanger wrote. But NATO is going on the offensive rather than the defensive this time around. “To prevent that, to deter by denial, means a revolution in practical terms: more troops based permanently along the Russian border, more integration of American and allied war plans, more military spending and more detailed requirements for allies to have specific kinds of forces and equipment to fight, if necessary, in pre-assigned places,” the journalist wrote.

The war in Ukraine has already cost more than any war since World War II. Ukraine is not a NATO member, and there has never been a situation where NATO prepared its troops to battle a country unaffiliated with its alliance. Russia is completely backed into a corner now and the war must escalate. Putin will not retreat or surrender. Russia does not have the option to surrender as the world powers would swoop in and take over the nation, including its very valuable resources, which they’ve wanted all along. Zelensky is no longer running the show, and the global elites will decide how quickly to escalate this battle. Countless men, women, and children will die, all for the pride of a few who want to destroy the world to Build Back Better.