Why does the Mainstream Media Suppress the Truth?


COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong; You are the only person who has ever even explain a vertical market. After reading your report, I have come to understand so much more about markets. Thank you for explaining the difference between a Phase Transition blip and a Plateau Move.

However, what has also jumped out at me is the fact that you stand alone in the analysis because you have actually been a hedge fund manager. That begs the question, why has the mainstream media not acknowledged your analysis? The only answer is because they are not interested in reporting news but are simply too corrupt to even expose the truth when it goes against the government.

That is my take on this entire mess. They ignore you because they want to report the fake news.

Cheer

LB

REPLY: That is an interesting perspective. The Wall Street Journal falsely accused Jesse Livermore of turning bullish on the market, as I did following the 2007-2009 correction, accusing him of trying to influence the presidential election. When the market broke out and rallied, all the other publications took swipes at the WSJ saying everyone reported Jesse’s comments except the WSJ.

What we must also consider is that we forecast the entire world, which nobody else does. Consequently, if they dared to report that our forecasts ALONE were correct, then they just might have to acknowledge WHY they were correct and open up Pandora’s Box.

The implications behind that forecast are very deep. On the Private Blog, we showed how the Dow is making new highs and the German Dax has fallen. The real world ramifications of tracking global capital flows undermine domestic analysis, changes politics, and upsets academia. That is a very tall order so it is best to pretend we do not exist.

Evidence of International Trade from the 12th Century


Some Archaeologists in France with the National Center for Scientific Research announced that they have unearthed a hoard of 2,200 silver deniers and oboles, 21 Islamic gold dinars, a very impressive gold signet ring from the Abbey of Cluny, located in Saône-et-Loire, reported by Mining. While they have claimed this is the largest hoard and seem confused as to why there were 21 Islamic gold dinars, their lack of knowledge of the world monetary system has been exposed by their claims.

The gold dinars were minted between 1121 and 1131 under the reign of Ali ibn Yusuf (1106–1143). There was no gold coins issue by Europeans until the 13th century. The gold dinars were replacing the Byzantine coinage, which was being debased going into the Great Monetary Crisis of 1092. The dominant coinage to replace Byzantine was that of the rising Islamic empire.

Further proof that Islamic dinars were replacing Byzantine coinage in world trade is the rare issue of Offa, who was a king in Mercia, England (757-796). It was Offa who reestablished the silver coinage in Europe coming out of the Drak Age. He struck this coin copying the Islamic writing with no real understanding what it even said. He then inscribes his name “OFFA REX” (king Offa) as a statement of power. However, the mere fact he is imitating the Islamic dinar demonstrates it acceptance in international trade as early as the 8th century.

While the archaeologists seem astonished to find gold Islamic dinars in France, they obviously lack the knowledge of the monetary system. Part of the Dark Age was driven by superstition. Bathing fell out of practice because a Roman bathhouse began to imply a brothel so it became un-Godly to bathe. Being able to use charts and maps was the work of the devil. Captains of a ship were usually Jewish who had no religious problem with such instruments.

The Arabs controlled the seas and as such trade. Therefore, we find Islamic gold dinars throughout Europe as evidence of world trade. They are rare since most had nothing to really trade. Nevertheless, a hoard with 21 gold dinars reflects someone of wealth and engaged in international trade.

Soros Throws in the Towel


COMMENT: Marty; You have beaten Soros. Don’t know if you have seen this, but they now report “George Soros finishes his crash bets against the US stock market. The investor legend seems to have lost its way and acts with little fortune. Now he has to reveal himself.”

PC

REPLY: Interesting. Soros became famous with the bet against the pound. But let’s make this very clear. That was a “riskless” trade betting against the break of a peg. If you are wrong, the peg holds and you get your money back. If you are right, you make a fortune. Everyone was betting against the pound. That was the coup against Margaret Thatcher who really wanted to take Britain into the euro. They forced the pound into the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM)  and placed it at a high rate became Europeans still think the higher the currency the stronger the economy, which results in deflation. That was an easy trade. It is no different from going to a casino and betting or red or black and when you lose, they give your money back until you win.

Soros is old school. He still believes in the Quantity Theory of Money and has been a punter short-term, but when it comes to long-term strategy, sorry, I do not believe he actually grasps the entire picture.

Anyone who has been bearish on the US stock market since 2010 constantly calling every new high the final high, is attempting to forecast with personal opinion. That will not survive the type of move we have been in since the 2009 low. Even Barron’s laughed at out forecast that the Dow would make new highs back in June 2011. All of these people (MAJORITY) totally misconstrue even how the economy really functions because they are still influenced by the theories that were indoctrinated into in school after the 1930s. They obviously lacked the curiosity to challenge what was being taught and look with open eyes and mind and simply ask – Did it work?

Top 30 Risky Banks – Does it Really Matter?


The Royal Bank of Canada (RPC) has been added to the list of the top 30 banks posing the greatest risk. The top US bank is JP Morgan which is now the only bank required to hold an extra 2.5% of common equity after its US peer Citigroup moved down a tier required to hold 2% extra.

All of this is very nice, but also misleading. The Stress Tests by no means are realistic. It is assuming a single failure and certainly does not even take into consideration a CONTAGION, which nobody understands and there have been no models that will even simulate such events outside of what we have specialized in. The CONTAGION is what created the Great Depression and Herbert Hoover in his memoirs explain how capital acted “like a loose cannon on the deck of the world in a tempest-tossed ers.” Even the CONTAGION that hit in 2010 when Greece petitioned the IMF for a loan and traders immediately looked to see which country would be next, people do not understand that once blood is drawn, capital responds rapidly in the entire spectrum.

Even during the Long-Term Capital Management debacle in 1998, the crisis was in Russia. That sets off a need for liquidity and then all other markets are liquidated trying to raise cash. This is how a CONTAGION unfolds overpowering the fundamental analysis entirely.

 

Economics to this day still does not comprehend the CONTAGION that hit in 1931. It is the CONTAGION that presents the most significant clear and present danger to society as a whole. This is what reshapes countries and politics. We saw in 1933 Hitler, Mao, and FDR all come to power.

High-End Real Estate Starting to Enter Crash Mode


The high-end market in Connecticut is starting to decline. The hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller bought his estate in 2004 for $23 million. He had it on the market for $31.5 million. The best offer he got was $25 million. He took the money and ran. Smart move! With a real estate tax of about $154,000 annually, looks like a break-even deal after 13 years.

 

The high-end real estate boom is now turning sour. We are looking at property values declining in London, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, New York, and even Miami. The shift will now turn toward MOVABLE assets as capital departs from the fixed asset class.

Canadian Finance Minister Admits Selling Stock but Denies It Was Because He Knew Tax Hikes were Bearish


The Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau is refusing to say whether he sold millions of dollars worth of company stock just days before introducing tax changes that may have caused share prices to drop. This type of insider-trading is what politicians always manage to get away with no matter what the country. This dispute is rather interesting. Here the opposition is accusing him of selling the stock because he knew that raising taxes would cause the stock to drop. This is showing that the politicians were well aware of raising taxes would be bearish for the Canadian economy. That’s just OK as long as they get theirs.

Morneau has admitted selling the shares. What he is disputing is why he sold them. “I’m hearing that shares that I sold after I got into office, around the time I got into office, was somehow something inappropriate.

Société Générale Announces Major Reduction in Staff & Branches


 

COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong; Your warning about the European Banks has come to a head today. Société Générale has announced it is closing 300 branches and firing 3450 staff. Everything you have been saying is proving to be correct when nobody else seems to even discuss the matter.

I hope you come back to Paris. A conference here would be very well attended.

PGS

REPLY: Yes, the French bank Société Générale announced a massive staff reduction jobs. The chairman of the board Frederic Oudea, said that the entire banking industry in Europe is facing serious cuts and the withdrawal of Société Générale is preparing for turbulent times that await us beginning in 2018. It is closing about 15% of its branches. It is also selling off individual business units. He was quoted by the London Financial Times:

“I am convinced that the European banking sector is going through a kind of new industrial revolution that is likely to extend over the next decade.”

What we are being called in about by major banks is far more than simply consulting/forecasting. We are dealing with LEGAL issues that will be unfolding with the coming monetary crisis. More and more major concerns need us to address the restructuring of the monetary system they can see is coming.

The tide is turning and it is a hard turn. There is now appearing a German documentary making its debut concerning the mysterious death David Rossi back on March 6th, 2013, who was the communications chief of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank. He fell out of his office window and died. His death has never been truly explained whether it was a suicide or a murder. This film exposes his death within the context of the tense situation within the bank and financial system in Europe.

Politicians have been finagling banks for a long time trying to hide the truth about the failed Euro. The filmmakers were interviewed by Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten in which they report that the 2009 takeover of Banca Antonveneta by Monte dei Paschi at an insane price was under the supervision of the Banca d’Italia. The state they have a document with the signature of Mario Draghi at the time approving the deal at an extremely high price. The argument is basically that the absorption of  Banca Antonveneta was similar to the bailout of a failed bank which started the 1931 Banking Crisis.

What you must understand is that to sustain the Euro, which is all about keeping the power in Brussels, there have been massive transfers from the north to the south of Europe. This includes Greece, Italy, and Spain. The entire crisis has been the conversions of their previous national debts to Euro. Then the Euro doubled in values. Southern Europe has paid a vast price that has decimated their economies and driven the unemployment of the youth to as high as 60% in regions. This is the LOST GENERATION all to support the power base in Brussels.

The EU and the ECB have completely failed. This is the entire issue. The bailouts of Southern Europe have created a permanent Euro rescue scheme that has completely failed to help anyone. Greece is the poster-child of the Euro. It is impossible for Greece to ever repay the debts. Italy is still in crisis and Spain is on the verge of watching its budget blow-up starting in 2018.

Europe has entered a phase where it is no longer about trying to create jobs and a sustainable economic growth. This is now all about holding on to power in Brussels. Nobody will address the issues in advance. Thus, we are being called in by banks who see the handwriting on the wall and want to survive the chaos. This is more of a LEGAL restructuring than just consulting.

Illinois Supreme Court Rules Against Pensions


The Illinois Supreme Court has used STRICT CONSTRUCTION to defend the State against State Employee pensions that have been bankrupting the State. Previously, back in 2014, the  Supreme Court ruled that health care benefits provided to state employees were a “permanent benefit” guaranteed by the state constitution. That has led to a complete disaster as healthcare costs have risen out of control thanks to Obamacare, which handed insurance companies more money and a monopoly status that everyone had to have insurance even the y7outh who never used it.

Those health care costs are destroying the fabric of the entire economy pushing pension costs over the top. The Supreme Court is mindful of the disaster he caused with its 2014 ruling and they have been obvious under political pressure to reverse it. They figured a way to do this using STRICT CONSTRUCTION. Therefore, the benefit cannot be greater than what was expressed in the statute. Consequently, they now delivered a six-word ruling on Thanksgiving eve refusing to hear the retirees’ appeal of a state Appellate Court ruling that essentially upheld Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s now-completed, three-year phase-out of retiree health care coverage.

The Supreme Court magically taketh away with one hand what the previous hand gave.“For the city, this is a huge benefit. The amount in government pensions for health care is dropping from $137 million a year to between $7 million and $8 million. Effectively, The courts have now held that you cannot rely on anything the city tells you unless you can prove that person had authority to bind the city.

In December 2015, the court ruled that the city employee pension funds have an obligation to provide and subsidize retiree health care with funds provided by the city, but only at levels outlined in 1983 and 1985 amendments to the state’s pension code. That is the key. The statue only guaranteed subsidy amounts to $55-a-month for police and fire retirees not eligible for Medicare and $21 for those who are. For retirees covered by the Municipal Employees and Laborers pension funds, the guaranteed monthly subsidy amounts to just $25. The explosion in health care insurance which Congress has done nothing about is undermining the pensions and will explode in crisis resulting in civil unrest over the next 5 years.

Courts are put in place by politicians. When ruling will go against the government, judges are word-smiths. They know how to ignore the law when they must. This is all part of how the system collapses. Once the Rule of Law fails, nothing will SURVIVE. It is time to turn out the lights.

Renminbi v the Dollar


The dollar haters have been touting that the Chinese yuan, or otherwise known as the renminbi, would kill the dollar and gold will soar. I have warned that China will take the spotlight as the Financial Capital of the World once again but only after 2032. A real assessment of international capital flows reveals the truth. The Chinese renminbi accounts for only a share of 1.85% share of the international cash flows. In fact, the renminbi’s global share has declined from nearly 2.5% of total global capital flows in 2015, for that was its peak in September 2015 actually on target with the Economic Confidence Model. So despite all the fanfare, China has entered a decline since 2015 – not a rally to kill the dollar.

gold-natl-debt-quantity-of-money

The Beijing government has opened foreign capital markets in recent years. Since 2016, China’s currency has officially been the fifth world currency of the International Monetary Fund alongside the dollar, euro, yen and British pound. That was supposed to kill the dollar. That had zero impact contrary to the dollar haters who concoct endless scenarios to paint the picture of the end of the dollar. One has to wonder why people continue to read these people. They have NEVER been right. They have used the scare-tactics that increasing the money supply would devastate the dollar and create hyperinflation. Another failed scenario. They there was the one about China was going to trade “real” gold, not paper futures as in New York COMEX. That one was supposed to kill the COMEX and everyone would rush to China. Well, that did not happen either. They lack any comprehension of how the world functions and were blind to the fact that by starting with gold trading in yuan, it was a tiny test market for the floating of the yuan itself. It would allow arbitrage between New York and China yielding the next difference being the yuan. Buy gold in China and sell it in New York, and the difference is the currency. So they got that one wrong and the both the COMEX and the dollar managed to survive.

There continues to be a willingness of Chinese policymakers and business leaders to help shape the currency, which is the world’s second-largest economy. For example, the Chinese will soon offer oil contracts in yuan as well and all of this is an indirect way of floating the currency. This willingness on the part of the Chineses government is why it will take time, but their economy will become the biggest in the world after 2032. What makes the US economy the biggest? The American consumer and lower taxes than Europe. When you leave more money in the hands of the people, they spend it creating jobs for everyone. Europe is following Marx. They think the government is better equipped to spend other people’s money. That produces corruption, not economic growth.

As long as China keeps its tax rate low and allows the people to spend the benefits of their labour, then it will continue to rise to displace the West and they are blinded by power and pursue this Hunt forever more Taxes.

Middle East Heating Up


An attack on a Mosque in Egypt has left 235 dead. The assault even opened fired on ambulances taking the wounded to the hospital. Meanwhile, the war of words between Saudi Arabia and Iran are heating up. Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman compared Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. In return, Tehran has responded saying that with regard to the Crown Prince:  “No one in the world and in the international arena gives credit to him because of his immature and weak-minded behavior and remarks.”

Tensions in the Middle East continue to expand.