Timing is everything. When an economy turns, big projects that looked like they were going to be winners suddenly lose big time. That was the case when a world tour had been planned for the world’s biggest airship, the Graf Zeppelin, in 1930 just months after the 1929 Crash. In May 1930, the Graf Zeppelin floated over the Cape Verde Islands and slowed down stopping at the Porto Praia post office. When the ship had maneuvered to just the right spot, its crew threw a big sack of mail. To fund the voyage, they struck a deal to carry mail around the world which would be the first international air mail.

Over the next several weeks, the 775 feet from nose to tail Graf Zeppelin completed its first Pan-American tour stopping in New Jersey, Ohio and flying to Rio de Janeiro and then back over the Atlantic to Spain and its home country, Germany. A lot of publicity and fanfare accompanied the airship’s journey which was funded by carrying sacks of mail. This was the largest flying machine the world had ever seen. Its operating costs were proportionate, clocking at about $4 per mile back then which was a lot of money. Passengers paid very high ticket prices, but the ship could only hold about 20 people at a time. Passenger travel was not a lucrative venture. The Hindenburg ticket prices across the Atlantic was the price of a car about US$400.00 one-way and a round trip was US$720.00.

They also tried to charge admission fees to view it on the ground. That did not prove to be a winner either. The timing was very bad for the Great Depression was just getting started.

Instead, the Graf’s parent company, German Zeppelin Airship Works, decided to recoup costs by commissioning special stamps from the countries on the tour route. Only letters with these stamps on them would be accepted onto the airship, or so they announced. They promised to deliver these letters to their destinations around the world.

This was the only commercial transatlantic airmail option available at the time and was days faster than sending a letter by boat. Brazil, Bolivia, Germany, and Spain all made the Zeppelin stamps, and 93% of the proceeds from each stamp was funneled back into German Zeppelin Airship Works. Finally, after considerable debate, the U.S. Post Office decided to get in on the hype. They assumed that stamp collectors would want the stamps and they would never be used so they would pocket a fortune. The agreed to proceed and they went to designing and printing a run of Graf Zeppelin stamps all in a matter of just weeks. They called this a gesture of goodwill toward Germany, which was the new Nazi government. The pledged to also contribute 93% of all the revenue collected on stamps “used” on the flight to the Airship Works. They cleverly qualified the agreement expecting American stamp collectors would buy up most of the stamps for collections and that would go to the Post Office.

So on April 19, 1930, the Post Office issued three stamps, The  65-cent stamp covered the cost of a postcard one-way. The $1.30 stamp covered the cost of a letter one-way. The final stamp, the $2.60, it covered the cost of a letter being postmark over to Europe and then back again. However, because of the deepening Great Depression, collectors could not afford the $4.55 when a loaf of bread sold for just 9 cents. The Post Office printed 1,000,000 sets of stamps expecting a mad rush. They sold only about 227,000 zeppelin stamps total, and most of that actually did end up on mail delivered by the Graf Zeppelin and the lost an expected big windfall.

The worsening Great Depression undermined the entire trip of the Graf Zeppelin. It was a fantastic idea and it was a show of power for Germany after the hyperinflation of the ’20s and losing World War I. Timing is everything. A great idea foiled by the business cycle.

QUESTION: I found your article on Noah and the flood interesting. However, are there any other sources in the West besides Gilgamesh that it seems many sites point to for the same reason?

EY

ANSWER: This story of Noah even appears on a Roman coin struck by Septimus Severus (193-211AD) long before Christianity became really a growing religion in Rome. The story is illustrated and even the name Noah appears on the Roman coin. This tends to verify that the story was well known outside of the Bible

COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong; I just wanted to comment that I am from Venezuela. My father came here to visit me in Florida where I live with a Green Card. Everything he saved in life for his retirement is now worthless and it does not even pay to travel back to collect his pension. The hyperinflation is a collapse in the confidence of government as you have explained. Those who saved for their retirement and had pensions, lose everything. They will be paid the amount that they were promised, but it will not even buy a single night’s dinner and soon a beer.

Thank you for your contribution to society. I wish more people would listen to you. Experience is the root of knowledge. Opinion is the root of bias. You have proven that

JE

REPLY: To survive hyperinflation requires the holding of tangible assets and never cash or pensions. The way pensions can be devalued is through inflation over the course of time and circumstance. What I paid into Social Security will never come back to me in terms of real purchasing power and that is without hyperinflation. I have stated before, I met with the Treasury back during the Reagan Administration and said these insane levels of interest rates will triple the national debt in less than 10 years. They simply responded; Yes but we will be paying back with cheaper dollars.

All promises of government are simply eroded with inflation. That is why Southern Europe fell into such chaos. The currency doubled instead of declining when they joined the Euro. That is why Europe has been a failure under this political-economic philosophy. The Euro first crashed, and then doubled in value. Southern Europe was used to inflation always reducing their debts. Suddenly, their debts doubled and deflation ruled. And people cannot figure out why the Euro is in such trouble?

I do like your saying though. It is spot on.

Bloomberg is reporting the fate of Christian Bittar who was the top trader at Deutsche Bank AG. He earned a bonus of $126 million in 2008 for betting that as the economy would melt down, banks would refuse to lend to each other until the dust settled so short-term rates would soar. While he is sitting now in prison as the UK went to find the banks in the interest rate rigging scandal, they pursued criminal charges against high-profile traders, unlike the direction that was taken in the USA.

The irony of this entire affair is that the government are criminally charging traders for manipulating interest rates, which is PRECISELY what they do all the time. Let us not forget Mario Draghi who when history is written about how the West Fell, his name will rank very high on the list. It was Drahi who have sought to push rates NEGATIVE to try to manipulate the economy to create inflation.

While traders go to prison for rigging front-running and trying to push trading levels to kick off stops, they have NOT put at risk the ENTIRE financial system. They have not even altered the trend of interest rates or markets. Compared to the deliberate manipulations by central banks, what is at risk now is the entire pension system and European banks are still sitting on the edge of a cliff with no hope of recovery so Draghi simply postpones the accounting to that be that final push. Unfortunately, central banks do not share the same fate as traders.

QUESTION: Dear Martin

As usual, I have no words to thank the sincere and incomparable work that you did for us, and almost for free. People like you should be a reference for future generations. You really are a Punk, in the best sense of the word [anti-autoritaritharism, DIY, direct action..].

I’m writing you because the last events in Spain are terrifying me.
You were writing a lot about it when the Catalonian Issue happened. I did not support it because it is creating strong division among the population for a bargain, and the leaders were (as demonstrated now) completely fake.

However, let me enumerate the latest news:

– A Satiric magazine publishes a picture of a bullfighter with an ‘alien’ body and is fined with 40keur.
– A rap singer is going to jail for 2.5 years for criticizing the power and political classes in a song.
– In a national art expo a picture showing catalan politicians in jail is banned.
– A book explaining with names demonstrated cases of contacts of politicians in Galicia with narcos has been forbidden.

All this in the last 1.5 months

Uncountable cases of journalists fired from TVE (Spanish public television) for giving a different point of view as stated by the gov.

I live in Switzerland and I love my country but I’m afraid that I will not be back soon because of the high taxes and all these issues. However, Switzerland is not a better case. The police control is really intense also here.

I use to go to Mexico very often, and besides the critical situation, I work with really intelligent and courageous people.

Sometimes I’m thinking in abandon Europe and going to Mexico. I would like to think that they are bottoming and they will take off soon.

What do you think, cyclically speaking?

Sorry for such a lo email, and thank you very much again.

Sincere Salutations

Francisco

ANSWER: The next major upheaval in Mexico appears to be on schedule for around 2029. There is a 112-year cycle perfectly in sync with the 224-year Cycle of Political Change. Nevertheless, Europe probably faces a greater risk of political upheaval than what you will see in North America. There are separatist movements everywhere from Canada and USA down into Mexico. Most people do not realize that Greenland is geographically part of North America, but is politically connected to Europe and here too there is a separatist movement to split from Europe.

We rarely hear about the internal struggle for independence within Mexico. I have visited the area Chiapas and engaged in political discussions to seek a better understanding of the issues. This is the home of the ancient Maya. Effectively, this is the home to one of the largest indigenous populations in the country with twelve federally recognized ethnicities. What was explained to me is very interesting. When the Spanis came to South America, they were interested in the lands of gold. Since there was no famed gold in that region, the Spanish never invaded that part. Therefore, you still have the indigenous Maya living there and you can distinctly tell the difference just looking at them. I was told that marriages are normally arranged by parents and Maya marry only Maya.

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation, commonly known as Zapatistas, has been a left-wing revolutionary political and militant group based in Chiapas. This is the southernmost state of Mexico. They are an armed group, formed by a large majority of Southern Mexican natives in Chiapas, who rebelled in 1994 claiming their territory in what has been called the “war against the forgotten” by the Zapatistas.

Once again, we have a line of demarcation between ethnic differences that even include language. Therefore, the position I explained about Catalonia falls in a distinct global trend. Catalonia also is distinct and have their own language. We see the same trend in Ukraine – east v west based upon ethnic differences and language. Politicians may view their countries as fiefdoms, but society moves through a grand cycle like Big Bang and the universe, There is a central point altogether and an event takes place and everything separates and moves apart. Then, gravity will overtake the movement and pull it all back inward to a central core. This is how human society has always worked throughout history. There are the separate states that they ban together typically against a foreign enemy, and then there is a union and a larger consolidated state. This pattern is true for the United States, Canada, Mexico and it has been the ides behind the European Project to federalize Europe.

The Delian League (or Athenian League) was an alliance of Greek city-states led by Athens and formed in 478 BC to liberate eastern Greek cities from Persian rule. It was to also be a defense against any possible revenge attacks from Persia after the Greek victories at Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea in the early 5th century BC. This unification of Greek city-states under Athenian rule led to resentment and finally the Peloponnesian war where Athens was defeated by Sparta and rebelling Delian League members. The number of members of the League changed over time but around 330 are recorded in tribute lists who had to pay into the central treasury much like the EU structure today. Initially, members swore to hold the same enemies and allies by taking an oath.

The actions we saw with Spain invading Catalonia were the very same reactions that Athens took against Naxos who sought to leave the Delian League in 467BC when it became obvious that the purposed to defend against the Persians no longer made sense. The League and its requirement of tribute/taxes was a major factor behind separatist movements. An example of the refusal to relinquish power can be seen when Naxos who sought to secede around 467 BC. Athens responded in dramatic fashion by attacking the island and making it a semi-dependency, albeit with a lower tribute.

I have stated many times that History is a roadmap to the future because the human response will ALWAYS be the same given the same set of circumstances. Therefore, Mexico will also split and the indigenous Maya will reclaim their independence and that may come by 2029. The Mexican Revolution began in 1910 led by Emiliano Zapata. Then in 1911, President Porfirio Diaz, who ruled as a dictator for 35 years, was overthrown and replaced with revolutionary Francisco Madero. The last major event was the adoption of the Constitution in 1917.