Tag Archives: Central Bank Digital Currency

Jun 20 2024

They Rarely Report the Revisions – Three Months of 2023 Job Gains Wiped Out After Updates


June 19, 2024 | Sundance | 20 Comments

One of the Bidenary impacts to economic analysis and/or economic outcome review has been the inability of any government statistical data to make any sense.

Quite frankly, almost every financial pundit in mainstream media pretends the data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) or the Dept of Commerce is accurate.  It’s not, and we all know it.

Just like every other institution in Washington DC, the systems of economic tracking have lost all their credibility.

That said, even with all the pretending intended to prop-up the Biden administration, eventually the results on Main Street are so obvious the data manipulators have to quietly attempt to smooth the disconnect.   This story below is about one small part of that operation.

WASHINGTON DC – […]  Job growth was overestimated by more than 770,000 last year. Put differently, about 1 in 4 jobs that were supposedly added last year never existed. That’s like eliminating all of the jobs gained in three whole months of 2023.

Overly optimistic employment estimates help explain why polling of people’s perceptions of the economy has been so terrible yet the official data from the Biden administration has looked so robust, at least in terms of the number of jobs. Much of the other data has been downright rotten.

With prices rising faster than earnings, the average worker’s weekly paycheck buys 4.4% less today than when President Biden took office. Homeownership affordability has plummeted because the monthly mortgage payment on a median-price home has more than doubled. Three-quarters of Americans now view fast food as a luxury they can’t afford. Gasoline prices are up 46%.

And now, even the job numbers have lost their luster, especially when you consider that millions of those added jobs are from double counting. Whenever someone who is already employed has to get a second — or even a third — job just to help make ends meet, that increases the number of payrolls, without increasing the number of people employed. (read more)

To give you an idea of the scale of the problem, here’s a reminder of SEC Chairman Gensler from last year.

This is the Security and Exchange Commission Chairman.

Jun 19 2024

America’s Consumer Economy is Dying – Weak May Retail


Posted originally on Jun 19, 2024 By Martin Armstrong

American Consumer

America’s robust consumer economy helped it emerge as a global powerhouse. Nations once stood in line, eager to sell to America as our consumer economy composed over two-thirds of GDP. Grappling with the cost of living crisis and amid a private wave where confidence has been lost, Americans are spending significantly less but are more likely to fall into debt.

Retail sales in May rose only 0.1%, according to new data provided by the Commerce Department, falling short of expectations of a 0.3% rise. April’s figure was revised to show a -0.2% decline in retail sales. These figures are not adjusted for inflation as numbers like words can be used as rhetoric.

American consumers spend more on less. Yet as with every private wave, confidence declines and people begin to hoard. Hoarding is not an option for the average American who lives paycheck to paycheck. I reported that credit card debt is on the rise, increasing by $85.8 billion in Q4 of 2022 alone. The average American household has about $10,000 in credit card debt, marking an 8.9% YoY increase. Now, Americans are facing $1 trillion in credit card debt due to rising APR and inflation. As reported by the Federal Reserve, credit card debt rose $250 billion in the past two years but consumer spending is declining. Separate studies have found that nearly half (46%) of Americans cannot make their monthly credit card payments.

Inflation is hitting everyone. I also reported how the “rich” are experiencing higher rates of credit card delinquencies than ever before. Delinquencies across all tax brackets are exceeding pre-pandemic levels, and the central bank has called this a “trend” that is now “accelerating.” These delinquencies will eventually fall on the banks who are already experiencing a liquidity crisis. Every survey shows that Americans are relying on credit more so now than ever before.

Inflation and socialistic policies have damaged America’s strong capitalistic consumer economy. We have created an enemy out of our top trading partner, China, and the recent round of tariffs are merely the beginning. They say consumer spending is “cooling,” but this is indeed an “accelerating trend.” People are spending money on the basics like food and energy, and the demand for goods is simply not there.

Jun 19 2024

The World of Autocrats


Posted originally on Jun 18, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

Biden Secon Term

Biden had the audacity to call Vladimir Putin an “autocrat.” Autocratic governments are often called dictatorships or sometimes autocracies. This is the pot calling the kettle black. The Democrats refused to allow any competitor on the Democratic ticket because they knew Biden would lose. The scene all along has been to draft Hillary in August so she has the honeymoon with the press, and Biden will take the fall in debates with Trump. They do not care and hope he looks really bad. They manipulated the polls just as the British did with BREXIT, trying to inspire people to vote against it because it represented a bunch of losers. The real numbers in the polls for Biden have slipped even below 10%.

Leyen Ursula von der

Let’s be honest. Biden is a hand puppet. The government is run ALWAYS by the people hiding behind the curtain who are UNELECTED. Even in Europe, the head of the EU, Ursula, NEVER stands for election. She is the hand puppet of the Globalists installed by Klaus Schwab. Europeans have no right to vote for the head of state, but we live in a Democracy?

Yet these people claim to want to start World War III all because Putin is an “autocrat” when they are no different, if not worse!

Owen Nuts

I know what Dementia is. The judge I had would forget who I even was. Only after numerous appeals and hints that this insane contempt should end did they finally remove the judge. They had no choice. I had gotten into the Supreme Court, and they ordered the government to explain what was going on. The corrupt Court of Appeals reassigned the case to avoid having the Supreme Court rule, for they would have been liable for billions in damages for a 7-year contempt on an 18-month statute where they stole even all the pension funds of our employee’s 401Ks.

We had 240 employees. The court of appeals knew Judge Richard Owen was senile and probably had dementia but protected judges at all costs against the Constitution. ONLY because the Supreme Court was stepping in were they forced to release me. As I said, New York City DOES NOT follow the Constitution. They are the most corrupt court in the land. It took a gang of lawyers to complain that Judge Owen was out of it. Someone like that can sentence you to death, and nobody will do a dam thing.

And we live in an honorable country? As Thrasymachus warned 2500 years ago, JUSTICE is only the self-interest of those in power. And they want to have our boys & girls die in war for their corrupt power?

2006 Supreme Court
Jun 17 2024

Italy’s Days Ahead


Posted originally on Jun 16, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

Meloni Giorgia Prime_Minister

While we must first go through some hard times, we will NEVER reform until most people see that this is NOT going in the right direction. It is unbelievable. I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who rose to power from virtually nowhere. People were fed up with the BS of career politicians and the collapse of so many businesses and turned to a fresh face who was not a fascist or even a neo-fascist. She’s a right-wing populist-nationalist of a type who seems to be naive and has been conquered by the Neocon agenda. She is more likely to engulf Italy in World War III, but that seems to be the European Agenda as a distraction from the crisis unfolding, and the Euro is drowning in fiscal mismanagement.

Italy Milano M 6 16 24

The Italian share market began to crash one week after the turn in the Economic Confidence Model on May 7th. The major resistance stands at the 35000 level, and that is where the bounce effectively hits a wall of resistance. Meloni’s insane comment that Russia will be forced to surrender if the Kremlin does not agree to the terms of peace that the EU dictates to Russia is just unimaginable. According to Meloni, she made this comment during the broadcast of the second plenary session of the peace summit.

“Defending Ukraine means uniting all the efforts of the international community to protect Ukraine. If Russia does not agree to Ukraine’s terms, we will force it to surrender. We need to set the minimum conditions for this discussion.”

Her total lack of experience is precisely what the Neocons have counted on. She has joined the cheerleaders for World War III and the audacity, if not total ignorance, of the fact that it was the West and Kyiv that started this war intentionally to force Putin into World War III so they could conquer Russia and engage in genocide. Ukraine is the MOST disgusting, corrupt, and untrustworthy country on the face of this planet, and they WILL use whatever means to start World War III.

I apologize to those in Rome that I could not stay longer to meet with Meloni, which many wanted to arrange. But based on her recent comments, it is clear that the Neocons would have told her not to meet with me anyway. She has joined the warmongering crowd. I just hope this was not the last time I will ever see the Roman Forum.

Italy Milano M Array 6 16 24

These failed leaders, who are clearly incompetent to drive a taxi, are steering the world into World War III. This insane confrontation with Russia appears to be heating up in July. Putin is the ONLY adult in the room. He desperately keeps warning is this where you want to go?

MA with Caesar 2

I have always loved Rome. I was surprised at how many restaurants I used to go to have been closed and driven out of business thanks to COVID-19. Sorry to inform Italian readers, but you are headed into a recession, and with Giorgia Meloni taking directions from the Neocons instead of addressing the economic issues, we have the worst crop of leaders in modern history around the globe all hell-bent on creating war. Instead of being neutral, she has thrown Italy into the target zone.

Jun 17 2024

Neil Oliver on the Reality


Posted originally on Jun 16, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

Jun 17 2024

Germany Moving into Recession


Posted originally on Jun 16, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

Germany Recession

COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong, Thank you so much for coming to Germany. Your view is always the best, for it is not based, as you say, on personal opinion. I wish the government would listen and inform the politicians to adopt a new way of managing society.

H

ANSWER: Yes, I know what you mean. But as I have always said, after working and meeting with governments worldwide for over 40 years, they prefer to act in their own self-interest, defined as their personal power – not the benefit of the people. This illustration is of the German GDP in the Euro, followed by the timing array, and then expressed in US dollars.

IBEUUS Y 6 16 24

Currency masks the real trends. I try to explain that, but as you know, most people in these meetings cannot grasp the concept. You are not common in government. There needs to be more like you. More than a simple one-dimensional view seems too complicated for them to understand. When I am gone, hopefully, they will be able to take what I have done without prejudice as to who developed it. That’s just the way it goes. They used to say a prophet is never accepted in his own land. Keynes was criticized in the 1920s. Marx was embraced only after he died.

ECM 2007 Detailed

As you can see, German GDP peaked in terms of real international value in 2007 with the Economic Confidence Model, and the Euro peaked in 2008. The high value of the Euro in 2008 reduced exports, and the recession began with that turning point on the ECM. The Pi Target on that wave was the precise day Greece turned to the IMF for a bailout, launching the European Debt Crisis.

ECM Wave 2020 2028 Pi

German REAL GDP in international value terms will not bottom until 2030. The ECM turning point suggests that Germany is headed into a recession that overall will appear to bottom in nominal terms in 2028, but in real terms, it will extend into 2030.

Jun 16 2024

Estonia’s Date with Destiny


Posted originally on Jun 16, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

Estonian_foreign_minister_on Ukraine

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, You have a large following here in Estonia. It was disturbing for our leaders to talk about breaking up Russia. As you know, this region has been at war with Russia many times, as well as others. Do you have any projections for Estonia from your computer for our future?

Thank you

Rasmus

stonia Share Market Y 6 15 24

ANSWER: Yes, there have been many wars over the years. Your share market peaked 3 years ago for a reason. There is a Directional Change next year and a sharp rise in volatility into 2026. On June 17th, 1940, that is when the Russian Red Army occupied Estonia and Latvia. Then, on August 6th, 1940, Estonia was declared the Estonian SSR and incorporated into the Soviet Union by the communists. Unfortunately, the West is determined to destroy and conquer Russia mainly for wealth, not much different from the motives of Hitler and Napoleon. This is not going to end well. It appears to be headed to a climax in 2026, which is 86 years from 1940.

Your Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, is boasting, telling the BBC that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “afraid” of a war with NATO. She seems to be part of the world leaders ushering us to our end. They really think that they can destroy Russia without nuclear war, and Putin will fold and surrender.

They have all been brainwashed by the Neocons and are pushing for World War III because the Neocons hate Russians and they have risen to the top where they are now in full control of the White House, NATO, and have led the EU leaders down this path where they are told that they can destroy Russia and Putin is just bluffing.

Putin has issued another chilling warning to the West, saying its ‘selfishness and hypocrisy’ has led to a ‘dangerous turn of events’ and brought the world ‘close to a point of no return’. Speaking to foreign ministry officials, the Kremlin, Putin said: ‘Calls to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, which possesses the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, demonstrate the extreme recklessness of Western politicians.

I can tell you that the discussions are absurd. The sales pitch to destroy Russia completely is serious. The entire purpose of allowing Ukraine to now use Western missiles to attack inside Russia was to claim the Ukrainians make their own decisions, and they intend to try to undermine Russia’s nuclear capability. They took at their early warning radar that had nothing to do with Ukraine. That was to warn of a West’s nuclear attack. Ukraine deliberately sought to undermine Russia’s nuclear capability.

They are now claiming that the tide of war is beginning to turn in Kyiv’s favor by allowing them to begin to strike targets inside Russia. They are telling the leaders that they can defeat Russia and to ensure a Ukrainian victory; they must not listen to Putin’s “hollow words,” for its ailing nuclear capabilities are no threat to NATO. This is why your PM said what she did to the BBC.

This will come to nuclear war because the West is in full control of the Neocons, who just hate every Russian on the planet and want to pull off their own genocide.

They Are Wong & This Will Not End Well

Jun 15 2024

UK SHOCK POLL — Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Is For The First Time Now AHEAD Of The Conservatives


Posted originally on Rumble By Bannons War Room on: June 8, 2024 at 02:00 pm EST

Jun 15 2024

Odd Dynamic – G7 Leadership Meet in Italy as Nations They Represent Rebuke Their Leadership


Posted originally on the CTH on June 14, 2024 | Sundance

It is a very strange dynamic to watch the G7 leaders assemble in Italy this year, against a political backdrop there they have essentially been rebuked by the citizens of the nations they are supposed to represent.  It’s a very odd dynamic indeed.

PICTURED: German Chancellor Olaf Schulz just lost his election and now exists in the minority within his country. French President Emmanuel Macron just lost an election, quickly cancelled parliament and called for a snap election because he was crushed in the results.  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a minority government, the lowest approval rating ever, and is tenuously clinging to his position. U.K Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is just a few weeks away from leading his party to a total wipe out in the British election; the only question in Great Britain is how badly Sunak will lose.  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has led his country into a position of lengthy economic stagnation, massive inflation and his approval numbers are the lowest in history…..  Then there’s Joe Biden, sitting in an even worse position without a literal clue about where he is.

The two European reps, President Ursula von der Leyen (far right above) and Council President Charles Michel (far left above) are not even elected by EU citizens and represent nothing but a bureaucracy of insufferable leftist pontification.

This is what’s called “the G7” and supposed to represent the assembly of the largest industrial economies in the world, which isn’t even accurate any longer.  The Russian economy is now larger than Germany, which makes Putin’s economy bigger than any EU nation.  It’s a very sad state of affairs and considering the COVID “Build Back Better” agenda the G7 followed, they did this entirely to themselves.

With Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran now part of the BRICS+ group, and with dozens of countries wanting to join Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the G7 is barely relevant as a shrinking majority economic bloc.

Not coincidentally, this G7 assembly is also the group of nations who organized the economic sanctions against Russia.

Jun 14 2024

UK Requires Residents to Register Chickens – War on Farming


Posted origially on Jun 14, 2024 By Martin Armstrong

Chicken of Egg

The Great Reset requires those in power to usurp our ability to farm and cultivate our own food. What better way to control the masses than to have complete control on their ability to survive. The World Economic Forum has proposed a ban on farming, a ban on gardening, and bans on any attempt to live off the land that already provides us with all we need as humans. Nations are slowly implementing laws to restrict our access to food. In the UK, anyone owning a chicken must register with government.

Beginning in the fall of 2024, anyone in the UK who owns a single chicken in England and Wales will be required to register their bird before October 1, 2024. Those in Scotland have until September 1, 2024, to register. The previous law required anyone with 50 or more birds to register, but the government now wants to know who may have access to eggs and meat. Poultry keepers must renew their registration every 12 months.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) claims that they are simply attempting to prevent diseases from spreading. Are the people who own a handful of chickens really contributing to the spread of the bird flu? Why should people who own a single bird be required to maintain a permit with the federal government? This is government overreach at its finest. Next, they will expect an egg tax or require poultry owners to vaccinate their birds with an experimental substance.

Make no mistake about it – these measures are intended to control the food supply. Will the people of the UK protest or fail to adhere to this asinine law? Germany already requires citizens to register their chickens, and other nations will follow the WEF agenda.