Tag Archives: Central Planning

Jan 8 2018

Clinton Foundation Targeted by FBI – About Time!


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption

Re-Posted Jan 8, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

What goes around, comes around. The Democrats intend to turn-up the heat on the Impeachment of Trump. That is all they have to run on in the midterm elections in November. They voted against any tax reform and simply oppose anything offered by the other side. Politics has just degenerated into the obstruction and neither side seems willing to work together. With the Democrats trying to use the Impeachment Card to trump Trump, the game is now afoot and the niceties are off the table.

Now the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly targeted the foundation of former President Bill Clinton on suspicion of political favors in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation. The allegations refer to the period from 2009 to 2013, when Hillary was US Secretary of State. A spokesman for Hillary Clinton told “The Hill” that the FBI investigation was “fraud.” This is really an insult to common sense. As soon as Hillary lost the election, all the foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, withdrew their “donation” for a smoke-screen charity.

The Clinton Global Initiative was their pretend centerpiece to which they claimed its goal “convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.” This was their claimed effort to influence world leaders while, of course, raising cash for the Foundation from world leaders. As soon as Hillary lost the election, her position of “influence” came to an end. The Clintons began immediately laying off all staff as of April 15th, 2017. The Clinton Foundation said in a filing with the New York Department of Labor reporting it will layoff all staff citing the discontinuation of the Clinton Global Initiative.

It really would be nice to see this exposed for what it is. Bill sold Presidential Pardons to the highest bidder. Not only Marc Rich, but there were countless others. I knew of one kid in Federal Prison in Fort Dix, New Jersey who was bragging he would be released because his father paid the Clintons $250,000 for a Pardon. The corruption of the Clintons has been notorious and probably has never been surpassed by any political figure in the history of any nation.

Jan 8 2018

The Municipal Debt Crisis Begins


Armstrong Economics Blog/Germany

Re-Posted Jan 8, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

I have previously reported that about 50% of German municipalities are insolvent. This is a global trend and we are witnessing it in the United States as well. The North Rhine-Westphalian Association of Cities has called for help from the future German federal government as the building crisis among financially weak municipalities continue to escalate. This includes the fourth largest by area in Germany with the capital situated in Düsseldorf. The main cities include Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, and Essen. They are pleading for a grand coalition between the CDU and SPD to save the municipal governments. With the end of the historic low-interest phase, interest rates are poised to rise dramatically in Europe and they begin to see that the appetite for new debt from the government is sharply declining.

Politicians have been hiding this municipal crisis in Germany until after the elections when it was assumed Merkel would win as always. Now the cat is coming out of the bag and we will begin to see the real impact of nearly 10-years of subsidizing governments by the ECB rather than actually stimulating the economy that never bounced. This is a fundamental background issue behind the rise in interest rates between 2018 and 2021.

Jan 8 2018

US Taxes Can Expose Wealth of Royal FAMILY in UK


Armstrong Economics Blog/The Hunt for Taxes

Re-Posted Jan 8, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

The marriage of Prince Harry with Meghan Markle, an American, presents a real nightmare for the Royal Family. Meghan is required by law to not merely pay taxes on worldwide income, but if she receives money from her husband or his family, that will be income of gifts both of which will be taxable in the USA even if she never returns to the United States – EVER!

Worse still, Meghan will have to file Form 8938 if she has more than $300,000 worth of assets in any given tax year. She is already a millionaire for her acting career so filing Form 8938 means she will have to reveal in great detail all assets she owns. This may now include foreign trusts and details of the royal family’s estate that was previously undisclosed. One the USA and Japan tax worldwide income. Everyone else is far more civilized. You do not pay taxes if you live overseas. The theory is rather simple. You pay tax because you are using the services. Under USA law, you are owned by the government and are thus the property of the state and whatever you make even living outside the USA, taxes art due.

The tax code is proving a difficult obstacle for the Royal Family.

Jan 7 2018

The Silence of The Shams…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 6, 2018 by

Notice something missing recently?

“Leaks”.

The House Intelligence Committee now has the bank records of Fusion-GPS.  They were turned over Friday after a federal judge on Thursday shot-down a last-ditch effort by attorneys from Fusion to get an emergency injunction.

Chairman Devin Nunes and the House Intelligence Committee now have the records of payments made by Fusion-GPS to “journalists and media companies” during 2016 and early 2017 when Glenn Simpson, Mary Jacoby and Peter Fritsch were shopping the Christopher Steele ‘Russian dossier’ to enhance the “Insurance Policy”.

Perhaps we will find out which journalists and media companies were paid by Fusion-GPS. Perhaps those payments are part of the reason the media apparatus, writ large, made a concerted effort last week to distance the Steele Dossier from the origin of the FBI Counterintelligence operation against candidate Trump that began in July 2016.

Additionally, and I shall easily say ‘predictably‘, there’s been far less visible evidence of congressional or intelligence community leaks to the media.  The Wolff book has provided a deafening cover for the media retreat; but the absence of IC leaks is also deafening.  As we previously shared, this outcome was fully anticipated.

Most of the direct (“small group”) FBI (CoIntel), DOJ (NatSec Division) and Special Counsel co-conspirators are only able to talk amid themselves.  They know by now they are being monitored and they have strong suspicion the size of the surveillance upon them. [Hi guys.] No-one else is willing to put themselves at risk now.  Congressional allies now view the small group as carrying a legal ebola virus.  Contact is now a risk.

All of the ‘Muh Russia’ co-conspirators, and the aggregate DC enablers, along with their media mouthpieces are nervous.  The Wolff book noise is hiding a genuine trepidation that all of the scheming for the past 18+ months is about to come crashing down.

The larger American electorate have NO IDEA the scale and scope of the bigger story behind the vast Russian conspiracy.  The people involved are fully aware of the potential for their visible trail to become increasingly public.

The special FBI and DOJ unit that Rod Rosenstein put together, at the request of AG Jeff Sessions and DNI Dan Coats, is still hunting congressional and IC leak agents.  Almost no-one in the media has discussed this ongoing reality, but their silence on the story doesn’t mean their behavior has not changed directly because of it.

WASHINGTON – […] Gaining access to Fusion GPS’s bank records marks yet another victory for the Republicans in the House Intelligence Committee, which earlier in the week secureddocuments and text messages related to the Trump-Russia collusion investigation.

Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., had pursued the information for months and threatened a contempt of Congress charge against both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray after they refused to turn over the information.

Two Republican senators earlier in the day Friday recommended that the Justice Department criminally investigate the author of the Trump dossier, which contains salacious and unverified claims about President Trump’s ties to Russia. Republicans are concerned the dossier may have been the impetus behind the federal inquiry looking into possible Russian collusion between that country and the Trump campaign.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a senior committee member, told the DOJ they believe Christopher Steele, the former British spy who helped put together the dossier, knowingly lied to federal authorities about his communications with U.S. journalists.

A lawyer for Fusion GPS lashed out at the senators, accusing them of making “another attempt to discredit government sources.”  (read more)

As the Inspector General investigation continues: ♦FBI Agent Peter Strzok has been reassigned to the HR department.  ♦FBI Lawyer Lisa Page, personal legal aide to FBI Asst. Director, Andrew “Andy” McCabe, has been returned to the DOJ side. ♦FBI Chief Legal Counsel James Baker has been relieved of his duties by FBI Director Christopher Wray. ♦FBI Asst Director Andrew McCabe has announced his intent to retire in March.

All of these FBI personnel moves are a preliminary outcomes of the still ongoing Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigation.   All of this has been reported.  None of these moves are speculative.  All of these geese are cooked.  However, this is just one side of the 2016 political “Trump operation”, the FBI investigative Counterintelligence Division side.

The other side, the legal side of the Trump operation, stems from the National Security Division of the DOJ.  A FISA application is submitted from the DOJ-NSD  for use by the FBI Counterintelligence team.   Sunlight upon this side of the collaboration is the reason for all of the current distraction narratives.

The Department of Justice, National Security Division, FISC application(s) and the FISA 702(16)(17) wiretapping and surveillance collection, along with the unmasking that followed, is the focus of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes.  He is tackling the biggest scandal – OUTLINED HERE –

Sometime this month, after the initial Inspector General Michael Horowitz release, House Judiciary Chair Bob Goodlatte and Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley will likely call for a Special Counsel to investigate the upper-level management of the FBI and DOJ.

We should support that approach.  The SC can quickly put a Grand Jury together and start presenting the IG investigative evidence, as well as enforceable subpoenas for witnesses.

There’s a lot of different down-stream legal issues:

  • The unlawful exoneration of Hillary Clinton by political operatives in the DOJ/FBI.
  • The unlawful destruction of evidence; and the manipulation of investigative protocols to gain a specific and pre-planned political outcome. (Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe)
  • The unlawful use of the FISA court for political spy operations by the DOJ/FBI.
  • The unlawful use of the Dept of Justice National Security Division.  For weaponized political benefit.  (Sally Yates, Loretta Lynch, Bruce Ohr)
  • The unlawful use of the FBI Counterintelligence Division. For weaponized political benefit. (James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, James Baker)
  • The unlawful use of a Special Counsel (Mueller) investigation to hide the conspiracy; (James Baker, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Bruce Ohr, Andrew Weissman, Jeannie Rhee, Aaron Zebley)

All of the origination details are part of the minutia that will surface in the next 30 days.  Devin Nunes, Bob Goodlatte and Chuck Grassley using the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees to collect evidence and tell the public everything outlined HERE and more.

Dave NYiii has a terrific discussion thread on the pending OIG Release HERE

THE BIG UGLY

.

RESOURCES:  – The BIG UGLY

IG Stimulated Releases of Information:

♦Release #1 was the FBI Agent Strzok and Attorney Lisa Page story; and the repercussions from discovering their politically motivated bias in the 2015/2016 Clinton email investigation and 2016/2017 Russian Election investigation.

♦Release #2 outlined the depth of FBI Agent Strzok and FBI Attorney Page’s specific history in the 2016 investigation into Hillary Clinton to include the changing of the wording [“grossly negligent” to “extremely careless”] of the probe outcome delivered by FBI Director James Comey.

♦Release #3 was the information about DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr being in contact with Fusion GPS at the same time as the FISA application was submitted and granted by the FISA court; which authorized surveillance and wiretapping of candidate Donald Trump; that release also attached Bruce Ohr and Agent Strzok directly to the Steele Dossier.

♦Release #4 was information that Deputy Bruce Ohr’s wife, Nellie Ohr, was an actual contract employee of Fusion GPS, and was hired by F-GPS specifically to work on opposition research against candidate Donald Trump. Both Bruce Ohr and Nellie Ohr are attached to the origin of the Christopher Steele Russian Dossier.

♦Release #5 was the specific communication between FBI Agent Strzok and FBI Attorney Page. The 10,000 text messages that included evidence of them both meeting with Asst. FBI Director Andrew McCabe to discuss the “insurance policy” against candidate Donald Trump in August of 2016.

Jan 7 2018

Will England Break-Up Not Just the United Kingdom


Armstrong Economics Blog/BRITAIN

Re-Posted Jan 7, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Hi Martin.

In your recent blog posts, you talk about the possible timing of the break up of Britain but you talk about that in terms of the regionalisation or break up of England only. Have you not said before that Scotland is likely to become independent sometime in the next few years? Perhaps you could explain how that possibility fits in this process?

Thanks

CGB

ANSWER: There are two expansions on the island of Britain. The more commonly known is the formation of the United Kington which took place in 1707 under Queen Ann. That saw Scotland under English Rule and the birth of the United Kingdom. However, before the reign of Eadgar (959-975 AD), England was divided into Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. It was Eadgar who instituted a uniform coinage throughout the land and a single government. While Eadgar set the pattern for the ‘reformed’ coinage of the later Anglo-Saxon and Norman period and standardized the use of the king’s portrait as in old Roman tradition, it was all about creating BRITAIN as a nation-state.

If we look back in time, we see that the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom to really become powerful was Mercia. It was the King of Mercia who was the one who actually resurrected the old Roman Empire’s monetary system for all of Europe since the French copied his idea. We see that King Offa of Mercia was the first king to put the portrait of himself and his wife on the coinage as was the tradition in the Roman Empire.

Here is the Roman Emperor Claudius who married Agrippina, Jr. in 49AD. You will find throughout the history of Roman coinage, the Roman family of the emperor was traditionally portrayed on the coinage. Constantine the Great even issued coins with the portrait of his mother. Trajan issued coins depicting his father and Septimus Severus issued coins showing his wife and two sons.

The Romans placed great value on family. This is where the idea of virginity of their women was proposed and to be a woman priestesses of the Roman goddess of the hearth, Vesta, in the state religion of ancient Rome, they must be virgins known as Vestal Virgins( Latin: Vestales).

Evidence of the power of Mercia lies in the coinage of Offa who adopted the Roman culture. It was Offa who actually issued the first gold coin after the fall of Rome in Europe. He was copying the Islamic gold coin for trade demonstrating his contacts beyond Britain. He inscribed his name on the Islamic imitation coinage but obviously could not read what the Islamic legends actually said. This gold issue is extremely rare.

Therefore, we have two historic break-ups that Britain faces in the future. Eventually, the United Kingdom will break apart formally, but with the collapse of Brussels and the EU Project, we are also likely to then see AFTER 2032, the general trend toward decentralization of governments as a whole. Hence, we will see England break apart into the old Anglo-Saxon regions as we will see the United States break apart. This is the cycle of dissolution politically against centralized government, which is why the Communist experiment also collapsed. Then you begin again and reform nation-states in the next major cycle wave. Society comes together for economic efficiency, and then government abuses its power, which in turn then results in the cycle of dissolution and it all begins once again.

Jan 7 2018

Cross the Line & They Go Nuts


Armstrong Economics Blog/AI Computers

RE-Posted Jan 7, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: They use to call you Mr. Yen. They also called you the manipulator of the world. Then it was the legend. Now they will call you Mr. Dow.

All the best

SJ

REPLY: Well, they always have to find someone to blame. Cross the line and try to explore new methodologies and they just go nuts. I can understand Mr. Yen, and I get the crazy allegation by the government that I manipulate the world economy, but the “legend” I really remain clueless as to what that one is about. As to Mr. Dow – well I suppose that’s next in the queue.

They prefer to always claim I have too much influence rather than look at what I am saying and the methodology. It is just human nature to desperately try to keep everything unchanged. Labelling someone is a form of downgrading them.

Jan 6 2018

Intellectual Froglegs – New Year Addition


The long awaited 2018 New Year awards show by Joe Dan Gorman and the Intellectual Froglegs media empire is finally out:

Visit Website HERE

Jan 6 2018

BitCoin Reality Check?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Cryptocurrency

RE-Posted Jan 6, 2018 by Martin Armstrong
Jan 6 2018

The Technology Advance in War will Increase Civilian Casualties


Armstrong Economics Blog/War

Re-Posted Jan 6, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Marty. Hi.

In your article, you stated that when the unemployment goes up, they take us to war to cut down the population. True but now its different.

WW2 was a big historical change in who gets killed. WW1 and previous wars typically it was the soldiers who die. WW1 only saw about 5% > fewer civilians die. Once we got to WW2 we saw 80% of the deaths were civilians. Ever since then, mostly civilians die in wars now.

It was the technology shift that has brought about this.

So now, Kim and Trump push some buttons and millions of civilians die.

OK. Been cold up here. Getting down to -13° this weekend. And were on the warm side of the lake Lol.

N

REPLY: You are correct. The impact of war is much different today. The civilian casualties will be much greater than in previous wars. That’s technology for you. Keep warm. It is even snowing as far south as Tallahassee. This is one forecast I wish would be wrong.

Jan 5 2018

At What Point do we reach Euphoria in the Equity Markets?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Forecasts

Re-Posted Jan 5, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION:

Marty,

John Templeton has said “Bull markets are born in pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria. The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell.” “If you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently from the crowd.”

My question is…….. at what point do we reach euphoria in the equity markets?

ANSWER: Our Energy Models are designed to ascertain that dimension of a market. Naturally, everyone responds to whatever the last event is in recent memory. Therefore, the 2007-2009 Crash lives on in their experience so that means they will be skeptical of new highs. We have witnessed that with analysts constantly calling for every new high would be the last. They keep trying to forecast the last event because they missed that one as well.

The only way to approach this is from a quantitative viewpoint. Human opinion will inevitably be wrong no matter who it is. How the market responds to our Energy Models is critical for long-term forecasting. Look at the chart for 1929. Here you see that there is a huge spike in energy which peaked in February 1929. The market rallied to new highs but note that the Energy Models we not making new highs. This peak BEFORE the major high confirmed a very serious undermining of the market structure warning that this type of high was a Bubble and therefore would not be exceeded for decades.

Now compare this to the Energy Models for the 2007 high. We do not have aBUBBLE formation at all and the high came on the reaction high following the major high for the move. This confirmed this was by no means a BUBBLE and in fact new record highs would be make once again.

Let’s turn to the DOT.COM BUBBLE. The first thing you will notice is that the Energy was clearly in a BUBBLE formation. The slight difference here is that the Energy Model peaked the week after the high rather than before. This confirmed that it was not going to be a 1929 type event and the new record highs would be made which indeed unfolded in April 2015 which was 61 quarters intraday and 66 quarters to close above the 2000 high on a quarterly basis.

Here is gold for the 1980 BUBBLE. Once again you see the extreme BUBBLE formation and here the peak took place with the peak in gold. So while we are not looking at the same type of formation with the peak unfolding in advance of the high as in 1929, this reflected that gold would eventually make new record highs within a mid-term perspective. Unquestionable, it took 19 years for gold to decline before the major low was established. Gold finally exceeded the 1980 high during the crisis of 2008.
Now, let us look at the current situation. Again we do not have a major BUBBLE formation. What we do have is a market that is still expanding and in fact, the high on our Energy Models on the weekly level took place last week. This implies we would still press higher into January and that has been out target once you exceeded the November high.
We are by no means in a 1929 BUBBLE type of formation. Here is the view of the 1987 Crash. Like Gold, the peak came 1 week following the high. Yet we see escalating advances in Energy leading into the 1987 high. So far, we lack that type of pattern warning that the real advance in our Energy Models is yet to come.
Therefore, the answer to your question is rather simple. It is always a matter of TIME rather than price. As markets rally, human interpretation of price will always be wrong. NOBODY is going to call this final high from a human perspective and anyone who claims that will be a fraud. It is not a matter of opinion for we can personally only forecast what we think is possible, to begin with.