Tag Archives: Central Planning

Sep 10 2017

Contempt & the Rule of Law – You Have ZERO Rights!!!!!


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law

Re-Posted Sep 10, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The majority of Federal judges are the most ruthless people you will ever encounter. They have ZERO respect for human rights and on this point I seriously disagree with Trump and his undying support for the law enforcement divisions in this country. If you have not been exposed to the Judicial System, you are clueless.

The US government relies on the contempt power claimed by judges asserting right as if they were pre-revolution judges of the kind. The prosecutors are keeping a former police officer in prison until he dies because he claims not to be able to remember the code to decrypt two hard drives under investigation.

Francis Rawls, the former sergeant in the Philadelphia police department, has spent nearly two years in prison for contempt of court after refusing to provide the passcode for two hard drives the Feds took from his home back in 2015 during an investigation into child abuse images.

Rawls claims he can’t remember the passcode for the two drives, encrypted using Apple’s FileVault system. The government says that he’s stalling because he fears that the contents could see him in serious trouble with his former employers. That’s speculation, but what happened to the 5th Amendment since the mere possession of a file is a crime.

Sure, we may have no sympathy for this particular issue. However, the precedent is set and they can do this to you for taxes. They government can claim you have an account on Bangladesh and you say you do not. The judge then throws you in prison for life until you tell them the location of something that may not even exist. They need not prove anything any more, they rely on the judge claiming he has inherent power to effectively kill you. What next – off with your head?

Sep 10 2017

The Dow – To Correct or Not?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Dow Jones

Re-Posted Sep 10, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Hello Martin,

last week i read on your blog about possible fall in Dow Jones, you said it’s possible that we could see biggest fall ever and that should start this September but today you sad you don’t expect major correction. I’m sure there are many readers on your blog who are confused about this topic same as i am so please if you can drop few lines about it for better understanding.

Thank you in advance.

M

ANSWER: No, I have said all along that this is by no means a reversal in trend – a correction yes, but one that does not breach the reversals. If we test the very bottom of the technical channel, we are really looking at perhaps an 8% correction at best.

What I have warned about is that Plan-B is a correction in currency terms outside of the dollar. This tends to produce a more shallow correction. We indeed have that correction in play since February.

There is absolutely NO WAY we are looking at some drastic correction that ends the bull-run. To do that, capital has to flee to government bonds, which does not appear to be likely. We will lay out the extreme points on the Private Blog

Sep 9 2017

U.S. Calls For UNSC Resolution Vote on Monday…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on September 9, 2017 by

Smart move by the Trump administration, Rex Tillerson and Nikki Haley.  After showing the United Nations Security Council members the proposed resolution against North Korea last Tuesday, they are calling for a vote this Monday.

China and Russia are already on record saying additional economic sanctions would be needed; but also pushing the request for diplomatic talks more prominently.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States called for a vote Monday on a U.N. resolution that would impose the toughest-ever sanctions on North Korea, a move that could lead to a showdown with the country’s biggest trading partner China and its neighbor Russia.

The Trump administration adopted a totally new approach with this resolution, circulating an American draft Tuesday and setting a vote six days later. With previous sanctions resolutions, the U.S. spent weeks and sometimes months negotiating the text with China and then presenting a resolution to the rest of the Security Council for a vote.

Several diplomats said the U.S. demand for a speedy council vote was aimed at putting maximum pressure on China and reflected Washington’s escalating concern over North Korea’s latest nuclear test, which its leaders touted as a hydrogen bomb, and its recent ballistic missile launch over Japan.

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, who backs “robust” new sanctions, said Thursday that the U.S. proposals to ban all oil imports and textile exports and prohibit North Koreans from working overseas — which helps fund and fuel the country’s nuclear and missile programs — are “a proportionate response” to its “illegal and reckless behavior.”

Rycroft stressed that “maximum possible pressure” must be exerted on North Korea to change course and give diplomacy a chance to end the crisis.

The proposed U.S. sanctions would also freeze all foreign financial assets of the government and its leader, Kim Jong Un. The U.S. draft also identified nine ships that have carried out activities prohibited by previous U.N. resolutions and would authorize any U.N. member state to stop these vessels on the high seas without their consent and use “all necessary measures” — which in U.N. language includes force — to carry out an inspection and direct the vessel to a port.

Professor Joseph DeThomas of Pennsylvania State University, a former U.S. ambassador and State Department official who dealt with North Korea, said the U.S. demand for quick council action is “an indicator of how the administration thinks time has run out.”

“My sense is they believe that they don’t have time for a delicate diplomatic dance,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday. “The other possibility … is they want to see the color of China’s money. They’re putting down the marker here and saying ‘OK, Are you prepared to do what is necessary to put pressure on North Korea at a moment when we’re simply out of time?’”  (continue reading)

Sep 9 2017

Why Socrates?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Socrates

Re-Posted Sep 9, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Visiting Socrates’ Jail Cell

COMMENT:  Dear Martin,

I was watching a documentary about the making of Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ the other night, and the first name considered for the HAL 9000 computer was ‘Socrates’.

Interesting!

Regards,

N.

REPLY: Interesting. I choose Socrates because he was the smartest man in Greece, but he did not regard himself as such and sought to prove that he was not. The more he tried to prove a negative, the more he proved he was smartest man and thus they killed him for being smart.

Sep 9 2017

The Long-term Cycle of Monetary Crisis


Armstrong Economics Blog/Energy

Re-Posted Sep 9, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, I have been following you for all my adult life and that has exceeded 20 years by now and am shocked to say, I found your article on how things evolve GOLD-Oil-Dollar.  I must say this is a eye-opening evolution you are talking about. Has this always been the case with things changing coming into play and then vanishing?

ANSWER: Absolutely. I have written about how gold vanished from use with the Dark Age following the fall of Rome. Gold did not reappear in coinage for nearly 600 years. The first gold coin to reappear in Britain came during the 13th century issued by Henry III.

The Gold Cups of Mycenae

The same thing took place with the Dark Age in Greece. This is when the Mycenae ruled known as the Heroic Period of which Homer wrote. Scholars thought it was just fiction written by Homer until the ancient city of Troy was discovered. Troy VIIa appears to have been destroyed by war around 1184 BC. However, scholars did not believe the writings of Homer because Homer was born sometime between the 12th and 8th centuries BC. He remains famous for his work The Iliad and The Odyssey. So once again there is about 600 years separating the Heroic Age and the Hellenistic Age.

If we turn to Japan, here too we find that the emperor abused his power to issue money and once again we find money vanish for about 600 years. Each new emperor devalued all previously issued coinage to 10% of his new coinage. People simply refused to accept coins because they were devalued and were no a store of value.

Therefore, throughout economic history we always have long-term structural reform. Do not expect either gold or oil to always be a valuable component. If you go all the way back to a Dark Age, governments collapse as does money because civilization reverts back to a tribal state and then the only value becomes food once again.

Naturally, both the dollar will vanish and oil will ultimately be replaced. Hence, the concept of the “petro dollar” has little to do with the value of the dollar itself. As I have stated before, people who keep talking about oil and the dollar are living in the past. The USA is now a net exporter – not an importer. That has completely reversed from the 1970s and the OPEC embargo. OPEC is just not really relevant any more for they have been unable to manipulate the price of oil.

I have stated many times, we have a counter-trend rally against the dollar as to be expected going at least into the German elections, which could carry on into the first quarter 2018. Nevertheless, ONLY a rising dollar will break the world monetary system. A lower dollar will buy everyone a lot more time because most foreign borrowing is in dollars. When that happens, then we will see the Monetary Crisis Cycle revise once again what we call money. Nothing is ever permanent. Remember that!

Sep 8 2017

Donald Trump Jr. Testifies To Senate Committee – Full Statement pdf…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on September 7, 2017 by

Donald Trump Jr. testified today before the Senate Judiciary Committee.  His four page statement is included below:

Full Statement Below

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/358277259/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-3lUOPeLA44MRekOwRQDe

Sep 8 2017

Why Governments Expand the Gap Between Rich and Poor


Armstrong Economics Blog/Economics

Re-Posted Sep 8, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; You said at your Frankfurt the ECB policy of negative interest rates is actually creating a wider gap between the poor and the rich. Could you elaborate on that comment?

Thank you. Hop you come back to Frankfurt. You do realize that you get twice the crowds here than anyone.

OT

ANSWER: Lowering interest rates to negative was really brain-dead. The rich can move their move and export it to the USA. The poor, lack the sophistication and cannot export their labor no less their meager savings. The people who drive the economy have different roles. The rich provide the capital and create jobs. The middle class to poor are the people who form the foundation and it is their consumer spending that create the underlying economic growth. Attacking the rich always reduces investment and jobs, but lowering the interest rates to negative causes the rich to leave and the poor to middle class suffer lacking the sophistication export both their labor and savings.

The key message from President Mario Draghi’s press conference of the ECB was ro say he was getting ready to slow its QE stimulus, but he’s not in a rush.

Draghi tried to be as vague as possible, because he is trapped. He knows this cannot go on forever. He realizes that once he stops, the bond market crash and there is a risk that the Eurozone government are forced to pay real interest rates and that will blow out the entire EU budget system. Draghi does not know what to do. He confirmed that the governing council had begun ‘very preliminary’ talks about how the quantitative easing might be changed; how much longer it might run, and how much it might pump into the euro economy. He actually said:

“We will announce when we are ready. We think we are going to be ready for much of what we have to decide in October … if we are not then we postpone.”

This idea of lowering interest rates envisioned by Larry Summers, demonstrates that he knows absolutely nothing about economics. He has only read books and never rolled up his sleaves and had to work in the real world to be able to see what I am writing about. Why economic professors are ever allowed to play with the economy is beyond me. You would not ask someone to operate on your brain if they have never practiced surgery.

Sep 8 2017

Trump Acts Like Businessman At Last


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Sep 8, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

There is no doubt that the feud between Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress has been astonishing. Even some Republicans support trying to impeach him thinking he will be a liability in 2018. Trump is responding like a businessman and not a politician, Many of his supporters hoped for this and voted for him to drain the swamp.

The elite Republicans remain anti-Trump because they too like the swamp the way it is. However, the elite Republicans may find that turning their back on Trump may find things get crazier in 2018. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said that Trump doesn’t understand how Washington works. What McConnell does not understand is the people are fed up with the way Washington works.

This all out war against Trump has been waged for months. Trump was clearly annoyed that the Senate failed to pass any Obamacare repeal  in any shape or form. While Trump and the elite Republicans were working from the same political play-book of Republican v Democrats, That suddenly changed. Trump is nowhere close to pushing through tax reform so here you have the two cornerstones of repealling Obamacare and Tax Reform that with a major majority, the elite Republicans cannot deliver either promise.

Trump did what he said he really was – a businessman who makes things happen. When it came time to choose sides between Democrats and Republican leaders in Congress concerning the debt ceiling and relief for Hurricane Harvey, Trump sided with the Democrats, which blind-sided the Republicans who had hoped to tie the emergency funding to an extension of the debt limit for more than a year, taking away a key bit of Democratic leverage until after the 2018 mid-term elections.

Trump was not about to let people suffer for political games. House Speaker Paul Ryan had already shepherded a “clean” version of hurricane relief through the chamber on Wednesday morning. He was running things his way and did not want the debt ceiling tied to the relief. Ryan blasted the Democrats for trying to link the two. But Trump looked at the hard-line Republicans and their total failure on the repeal of Obamacare while frozen in their tracks with tax reform. It has been the elite Republicans who have prevented Trump from achieving what he promised. That is highly unusual and one would expect that to be the Democrats not members of his own party.

 

Sep 8 2017

You Have A Due Process Right to be heard – Not that Judges Must Listen


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law

Re-Posted Sep 8, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Is there anyway the People have a remedy when the court is corrupt?

ANSWER: No. The only remedy historically becomes a revolution. This is by no means restricted to the West. In China, the Judicial minister Chao Cuo (? – 154BC) who served under the previous emperor Ching-ti (Liu Ch’i)(157-141BC), earned the hatred of other ministers and the people after he introduced 30 new laws that were draconian. The outrage become so intense, he was dragged out and executed in his judicial robes in the town marketplace.

Ben Franklin proposed that judges should only be nominated by the private sector. His proposal was rejected only because even those who were framing the Constitution wanted government to still control the people. Had we listened to Ben Franklin, then the Judiciary would be a real check against abusive government. Lacking that, we have no rights whatsoever for any judge can sweep the Constitution aside with some novel new interpretation. You have a Due Process Right to be heard, but not a Due Process Right that they must listen.

Judges should NEVER be part of the government. If they are, politics intervenes and there never can be justice for all.

Sep 8 2017

The Euro & the Dollar


Armstrong Economics Blog/Euro €

Re-Posted Sep 8, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Nothing has yet changed. We are still 500 points away from the start of important resistance. Keep in mind that the ONLY way to break the bank of the monetary system will be a STRONG DOLLAR – not a weaker on. People far too often make a serious mistake and believe that a strong currency reflects a strong economy. Trump wants a lower dollar to reduce the trade deficit, increase sales of US products, and hence create more jobs.

Europe remains caught up in the postwar thinking when the higher the currency the more they were recovering from World War II. A rising Euro is deflationary – not inflationary. It reduces the price of imports from energy to manufactured goods and food.

The counter-trend rally should have been in play going into the German elections due September 24th, 2017. Keep in mind that the Monetary Crisis Cycle begins NEXT YEAR not now. We have the correction in the dollar and the potential pull back in the Dow in dollar terms.

When we look at the Dow in terms of Euros, the peak was the week of 02/27 and we have not yet reached out target to retest the key technical support. This just takes some patience, but we MUST suck everyone in on these counter-trend moves in order to set everything up for the slingshot in the opposite direction next year.