The Confusion over Quantitative Easing


Posted originally on Aug 1, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

QE MMT

There has been so much disinformation and sensationalizing of Quantitative Easing that this has led to academic economists who lack any trading experience to propose Modern Monetary Theory for its seems nobody actually comprehends what the hell is really going on. Much of the problem stems from this ancient theory that if you increase the quantity of money, then inflation will follow. This all predates massive government debt.

Henry VIII Debased Groats

Much of this Quantity Theory of Money has its origins in Sir Thomas Gresham (1518-1579), who represented the English Crown on the Amsterdam exchange. People would not lend money to England because Henry VIII was debasing the currency to be able to repay his loans. He confiscated the Catholic Church and started the Church of England all because he was broke and confiscated wealth from the Catholic Church in England. Gresham became an adviser to Henry VIII’s successor – Elizabeth I. Thus, Gresham’s Law became bad money drives out good money, or the undebased currency.

Debt Hole Cannor Climb Out

These theories, which even gave rise to Austrian Economics, were all pre-collateralized debt of governments. There was no such market for posting sovereign debt as collateral to borrow or trade in markets. The economic models all changed, but academics have never understood traders. Lacking that experience, you will never see the actual trends.

Gresham and Law

Where Gresham observes from trading that debasing the money caused higher quality money to be hoarded when the foreign exchange value between currencies was ENTIRELY based upon the metal content, John Law (1671-1729) was also a trader on the same floor of the Amsterdam Bourse. He observed what has become the theory of Supply and Demand. It took two traders to witness how the market moved to develop these ideas. Both men were self-taught since the field of Economics did not begin until 1902. Not even John Maynard Keynes nor Adam Smith held decrees in economics.

Ricardo David C

The other self-taught economist who was also a trader was none other than David Ricardo. At the tender age of just fourteen, David entered his father’s business, but in 1793, he set up his own operation and made a fortune as a trader on the London Stock Exchange. Ricardo’s most important work was Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817). This book deals with all the controversial questions of political economy at the time: value theory, economic growth, rent, etc.

His other works include The High Price of Bullion (1810), which was the origin of understanding deflation; David’s Essay on the Influence of a Low Price of Corn on the Profits of Stock (1815); Proposals for an Economical and Secure Currency (1816); and the Plan for a National Bank (1824).

David Ricardo First Edition

Ricardo is most famous for his ‘Theory of Comparative Advantage’ and ‘Rent’, which effectively argued that, for example, Saudi Arabia could grow lettuce in a desert with tones of water that might cost $10 to grow when it can buy it for 50 cents elsewhere. Thus, a nation should exploit what it possesses with a Comparative Advantage rather than squander its resources and restrict free trade.

confused

Quantitative Easing (QE) does not increase the Supply of Money—it is only a maturity swap. Today’s total money supply includes debt, unlike during the pre-19th century. This has erroneously given rise to Modern Monetary Theory, for they pointed to QE and said there was no inflation, so we could just print without repercussions. It was merely a swap of maturities when you finally realize that debt is now money that pays interest as paper money began during the Civil War.

186410CompoundInt 2

When paper money stopped paying interest, the term “Greenback” emerged, meaning there was no interest payment schedule on the reverse, just green ink. Paper money began as essentially debt or bonds that circulated as cash.

If your Definition of Money is Wrong – So is Everything Else that Follows

Tucker Carlson Interviews Senator Mike Lee About Biden’s Forced Removal and Those Who Control DC


Posted originally on the CTH on July 31, 2024 | Sundance

In the first part of the interview with Mike Lee, Tucker Carlson asks his opinion of the Hersch research discussing how Barack Obama threatened Joe Biden into exiting from the 2024 campaign.  Obviously, this led to the installation of Kamala Harris as the nominee, which was the long game of those within the Obama network who still operate the control mechanisms in Washington DC.

As with all DC interviews of participants, keep in mind that Senator Lee operates within a bubble, a construct of intentionally created information “silos,” and as a result -just like all other participants in the industry of Deep State management- Mike Lee is somewhat limited by what he can see.  Voices like Senator Lee, stuck in the silo operations, do not generally have as much big picture information as ordinary Americans; he sees what is outside his window and that frames his reality.  WATCH: 

Chapters:

00:00 Obama Kicking Biden Out
08:13 Biden’s Impairment
20:33 Biden’s Scripted Phone Calls
23:17 The Federal Government Is Too Powerful
36:02 The Progressive Dream
41:51 How to Fix the Problem
57:04 Could Kamala Harris Win?
1:03:01 Why Is Kamala an Abortion Fanatic?
1:09:35 The Hostility Towards Christianity
1:18:23 The Failed Leadership Class
2:02:59 This Election Is Critically Important

Biden And Harris Want To Destroy SCOTUS Because SCOTUS Stands In The Left’s Way


Posted originally on Rumble By Bannons War Room on: July 31, 2024 at 07:00 pm EST

Kelly: New USSS Acting Director Made Secret Service Look Worse During Senate Hearings


Posted originally on Rumble By Bannons War Room on: July 30, 2024 at 07:00 pm EST

Study: Canadians Experiencing Worst Standard of Living in 40 Years


Posted originally on Jul 31, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

The Fraser Institute conducted a study that found Canadians are experiencing the worst standard of living in the past 40 years. Conditions are beneath what was experienced during the 89 recession, the Great Recession, and even the early stages of the post-pandemic. What is going on in Canada?

Justin Trudeau uprooted Canada’s fiscal landscape and his policies have only further sunk Canada into a decline. I reported that household debt in Canada exceeds 100% of GDPGovernment spending toppled $1 trillion in 2020 in response to the pandemic, decreasing only 7.8% to $969.5 billion the following year. Government spending toppled C$520.17 billion during Q1 of 2024 alone. Justin Trudeau is aiming to turn Canada into a “BUILD BACK BETTER” nation that operates not like a true capitalist society but like the unelected government-driven economy we see in the European Union.

Canada’s immigration policy has become a free-for-all, with its population reaching an all-time high this year after surpassing 41 million. Nearly all population growth (99.3%; 240,955 people) was solely attributed to migrants arriving in Canada. The taxpayers are expected to subsidize the lives of migrants and turn a blind eye to the drastic uptick in crime. Canada was once a safe nation with a high-trust society. Crime has risen by over 40% and the entire landscape of Canadian society is changing. These people are often living in squalor and there are not enough housing units or jobs for all migrants, let alone all Canadians.

BUILD BACK BETTER
Build Back Better

Similar to the US, Justin Trudeau is boosting job postings by ramping up hiring in the public sector, which has grown by over 17% since 2019. For comparison, the private sector only grew by 4% during that same timeframe. The public sector simply does not add to the economy in any meaningful way. These tax-funded agencies simply multiply and deduct from overall GDP.

Similar to other Build Back Better nations, Canada has lost its edge in trade. The countless green initiatives have crippled entire sectors, and rising taxes have made it a less desirable place to conduct business. Canada experienced a 51.2% reduction in mining, oil, gas, and quarrying from 2014 to 2022, as one example. Business investments have decreased by a third under Trudeau, yet he continues to spend.

Build Back Better has failed. As the “Roadmap for a Renewed US-Canada Partnership” details:

‘“Building back better” represents a shared vision for a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery that strengthens the middle class, creates more opportunities for hard working people to join it, and ensures people have good jobs and careers on both sides of the border. Our leaders also recognized the opportunity for clean growth driven by workers, communities, businesses, and innovation.”

These government leaders are utter failures who are incapable of implementing meaningful policies. They destroyed the world economy under COVID and then sought to BUILD BACK BETTER. Instead, they’ve driven away smart money and business, fostered an environment for rising crime, and decreased everyone’s quality of life with inflationary policies. It is time for the voters to wake up and realize that the people they put into office are directly responsible for their deteriorating economic situations.

Senators Hawley, Cruz and Johnson Question Secret Service Director and Deputy FBI Director


Posted originally on the CTH on July 30, 2024 | Sundance

In the interests of reader time, here’s a few key excerpts from Senate questioning of Acting Director of the Secret Service Ronald Rowe Jr. and Deputy FBI Director Paul Abbate.

Senator Josh Hawley focuses on “accountability”:

.

An ancillary point that just keeps nagging me.

DATAPOINT: Everyone knows, literally prior to this event – everyone knew, that Secret Service protection had been continually denied to Robert F Kennedy Jr, by the people behind Joe Biden.  Not only did everyone know this, but RFK Jr and every pundit on the right-side of the spectrum, continually reminded everyone of this.

CONTEXT: Using hindsight as a review of political narrative assembly and knowing how the IC operates within the dark arts of Machiavellian schemes, a question surfaces.

QUESTION: Was the office of the presidency (that’s Biden) prepositioned, by intent or coincidence, to receive the political fallout from an assassination of his political opposition?  Was the RFK Jr security refusal, entirely purposeful and prepositioned for the political intents of a planned event?

Take out Trump with a bullet. Take out Biden with the consequence.

Back to the questioning.  Next up, Senator Ted Cruz:

.

Senator Ron Johnson:

.

Trump Assassination Attempt – Senate Homeland Security Committee Questions FBI and Secret Service – 10:00am EDT Livestream


Posted originally on the CTH on July 30, 2024 | Sundance

The American public want to know what happened, how it happened and the context for how an assassin was so easily able to get within 150 yards of President Donald Trump and take several shots, killing one and wounding several others – including President Trump.

Today, the Senate Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing at 10:00 am EDT with U.S. Secret Service acting director Ronald Rowe and FBI deputy director Paul Abbate, to ask questions about the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump.

In previous House testimony given by FBI Director Chris Wray, he was curiously willing to answer specific questions about the ongoing investigation and the discoveries therein. A substantive change in approach against the backdrop of his years of obfuscation. That said, Wray’s responses were not always factually accurate. Acting Director Ronald Rowe and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate have not yet answered questions and specific lines of congressional inquiry.

The senate hearing begins at 10:00am with livestream links below:

.

[Via PBS} – […] FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress last week that on July 6, the day Crooks registered to attend the Trump rally, he googled: “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” That’s a reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, the shooter who killed President John F. Kennedy from a sniper’s perch in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

New details, meanwhile, were emerging about law enforcement security lapses and missed communications that preceded the shooting.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, released text messages from members of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit that showed how local officers had communicated with each other about a suspicious-behaving man who turned out to be Crooks lurking around more than an hour before the shooting.

One text just before 4:30 p.m. describes a man “sitting to the direct right on a picnic table about 50 yards from the exit.”

In another text at 5:38 p.m., an officer tells other counter-snipers: “Kid learning around building we are in. AGR I believe it is. I did see him with a range finder looking towards stage. FYI. If you wanna notify SS snipers to look out. I lost sight of him.” Photographs of Crooks circulated among the group.

AGR is a reference to a complex of buildings that form AGR International Inc, a supplier of automation equipment for the glass and plastic packaging industry. Crooks scaled the roof of one of the buildings of the compound and is believed to have fired eight shots at the rally stage with an AR-style rifle that was purchased legally by his father years earlier.

The shots were fired at 6:12 p.m., according to a Beaver County after-action report.

Trump said he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” and he appeared in the days later with a bandage on the ear. One rallygoer, Corey Comperatore, was killed, and two others were injured. Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service counter-sniper.

In an interview with ABC News, a Beaver County officer who sounded the alarm said that after sending a text alerting others to Crooks, “I assumed that there would be somebody coming out to speak with this individual or find out what’s going on.”

Another officer told ABC News that the group was supposed to get a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service counter-snipers but that that never happened.

.

Preparing Against Putin – Team Behind Joe Biden Announce Expanded Nuclear Weapon Deployment for UK and Europe


Posted originally on the CTH on July 29, 2024 | Sundance 

The tit-for-tat will take place in the open, yet few will pay attention. We do.

You have to take this announcement in full context: (1) Sanctions against Russia failed.  (2) NATO expanded, creating more provocation. (3) NATO pledged Ukraine NATO membership.  (4) Biden then pledged new long-range missiles will be located in Germany in 2026 able to reach all of Russia. (5) Russia sailed a nuclear submarine into Cuba; and (6) Yesterday, Vladimir Putin pledged to put nuclear weapons close to the USA (likely Cuba) if Biden puts long-range missiles in Germany.

OK, that’s the escalation timeline.  That’s the lead up to this next announcement.

The people behind Joe Biden just told congress they are expanding the nuclear weapon arsenal in the U.K and Europe [White House Announcement]; presumably for use against Russia.  Now ask yourself what you think Vladimir Putin will do next.

WHITE HOUSE – […] The Amendment’s revisions to Article II(B) of the 1958 Agreement clarify that these same types of information may be exchanged related to atomic weapons, including special nuclear materials properties and production or processing technology, as is determined necessary to improve the recipient’s atomic weapon design, development, or fabrication capability.

[…] The provisions of the 1958 Agreement, as amended by the Amendment, are consistent in every respect with United States commitments to the United Kingdom regarding the development and deployment of the United Kingdom TRIDENT Strategic Weapon System, continued cooperation in nuclear propulsion programs, and support for the United Kingdom atomic weapon and nuclear threat reduction programs. 

I have concluded it is in the national interest of the United States to continue to assist the United Kingdom in maintaining a credible nuclear deterrent, which will further improve our mutual defense posture and support our collective interests under NATO. (read more)

God help us….

This is already bananas.

Unfortunately, we are the baddies.

Somewhere along this path of progression, is a predictable process where the USA invades Cuba as a preventative measure to protect our interests from the geopolitical threat that Russia would present in this hemisphere.  Cuba has a lot of valuable beach front for the WEF/International/USA bankers to exploit.

Of course, everyone in the Western “pro-war” media, will avoid noticing that it’s us putting longer range missiles, and now expanded atomic weapons, on/around the geographic borders with Russia.  In order to advance a specific ideological policy, the professional left must always pretend not to know things.

Vote Trump – Vote Peace!

CHECK DATE:

.

DEI the Hidden “REAL” Global Agenda


Posted Jul 29, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

DEI Diversity Equality Inclusion
DEI Text

COMMENT: It’s akin to a multi-billion marketing campaign

I have family in

UK, Sydney, and Galway, Ireland

All are getting “diversity” pushed. It’s like a weapon now to prevent unity, common heritage against govt

I made these for friends. The end game of diversity?

There will be OLYMPIC teams in 30 years!

RL

REPLY:  The real purpose of this Diversity Equality Inclusion global marketing plan has NOTHING to do with caring about people. I think the racist label has greatly died down, for in our own company, we have every religion and race working together. Even this LGBQT movement disrespects everyone else and demands we change our pronouns, and it is offensive to them if we call our mother – “mother.” This excessive abuse creates discrimination when one group demands everyone else must change their actions that have no direct physical impact on them.

1844 Phila Nativism Riot Againt Irish

What made the United States the great melting pot and the largest economy in the world was DISCRIMINATION. It was fair, for whoever was the last off the boat was discriminated against until they learned English to get a job. There were violent incidences, like when the Irish came in during the Hard Times of the 1840s, that resurrected the old hatred of Catholics in Philadelphia by the English Protestants. However, the second generation all intermarried once they spoke the same language. Ask an American what they are; the typical response will be half Irish, half German – or whatever the combination might be.

This is George Soros’ Open Society agenda that neither respects human culture nor anything that makes us individuals. Like Garland, Blinkin, and Nuland, Soros immediately attacks any critic, calling them antisemitic rather than addressing the criticism. As the Atlantic wrote: “George Soros’s name has been used as an anti-Semitic, nationalist dog whistle.”

Popper Karl

Soro’s mentor is Karl Popper (1902-1994), who wrote several books, including “The Poverty of Historicism,” which Popper wrote in New Zealand during World War II. Popper became fixated with this notion of destiny pushed by Hitler and others throughout history. In his “The Open Society and its Enemies,” he writes: “Historicism, which I have so far characterized only in a rather abstract way, can be well illustrated by one of the simplest and oldest of its forms, the doctrine of the chosen people.” Poper describes this “historicism” as follows:

It is widely believed that a truly scientific or philosophical
attitude towards politics, and a deeper understanding of social life
in general, must be based upon a contemplation and interpretation
of human history. While the ordinary man takes the setting of his
life and the importance of his personal experiences and petty
struggles for granted, it is said that the social scientist or
philosopher has to survey things from a higher plane. He sees the
individual as a pawn, as a somewhat insignificant instrument in the
general development of mankind. And he finds that the really
important actors on the Stage of History are either the Great
Nations and their Great Leaders, or perhaps the Great Classes, or
the Great Ideas. However this may be, he will try to understand the
meaning of the play which is performed on the Historical Stage; he
will try to understand the laws of historical development. If he
succeeds in this, he will, of course, be able to predict future
developments. He might then put politics upon a solid basis, and
give us practical advice by telling us which political actions are
likely to succeed or likely to fail.

Popper became caught up in these claims of destiny, which blinded him to the actual driving forces behind society throughout the centuries and why kingdoms, empires, nations, and city-states always rise from nothing, reach a climax, and then disintegrate to dust, only to be buried in a common grave dug by history. In Edward Gibbon’s (1737-1794) Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776), his final chapter tells us about two attendants to Pope Eugenius IV (1431-1447) who are sitting on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome overlooking the Roman Forum. Poggius then comments upon the vicissitudes of fortune, which spares nothing and nobody while it buries empires, nations, and city-states in a common grave.

“Her primeval state, such as she -might–appear in a remote age, when Evander entertained the stranger of Troy, has been delineated by the fancy of Virgil. This Tarpeian rock was then a savage and solitary thicket; in the time of the poet, it was crowned with the golden roofs of a temple, the temple is overthrown, the gold has been pillaged, the wheel of Fortune has accomplished her revolution, and the sacred ground is again disfigured with thorns and brambles. The hill of the Capitol, on which we sit, was formerly the head of the Roman Empire, the citadel of the earth, the terror of kings; illustrated by the footsteps of so many triumphs, enriched with the spoils and tributes of so many nations. This spectacle of the world, how is it fallen! how changed! how defaced! The path of victory is obliterated by vines, and the benches of the senators are concealed by a dunghill. Cast your eyes on the Palatine hill, and seek among the shapeless and enormous fragments the marble theatre, the obelisks, the colossal statues, the porticos of Nero’s palace: survey the other hills of the city, the vacant space is interrupted only by ruins and gardens. The forum of the Roman people where they assembled to enact their laws and elect their magistrates, is now enclosed for the cultivation of pot-herbs, or thrown open for the reception of swine and buffaloes. The public and private edifices that were founded for eternity lie prostrate, naked, and broken, like the limbs of a mighty giant, and the ruin is the more visible from the stupendous relics that have survived the injuries of time and fortune.”

German 1918 Revolution
1922 Forced Loan

Popper rejected cycles because he was focused on these claims of destiny. That may have been the rhetoric of Hitler, but you do not focus your entire theory on trying to disprove such a claim. In the process, Popper never sought actually to identify why; no matter what form of government emerges, they are all buried in a common grave. Chancellor Merkel of Germany pushed economic theories based on the German false assumption that the hyperinflation took place BECAUSE of the printing of money when, in fact, it was the printing of money that was the response to the collapse in confidence of the Weimar Republic.

The Weimar Republic was born of the 1918 German Communist Revolution, during which the German communists even invited Russia to take Germany as part of their Communist Revolution in 1917. These Germans wanted to be part of this Marxist dream. Anyone in the right mind moves whatever wealth they have to other currencies. Then, in December 1922, the Weimar Government confiscated 10% of whatever assets you had in the bank to pay the reparation payments for losing the war.

This German distortion of historical events has poisoned the German economy ever since. It was the very reason why Hitler rose to power for the oppressive of the reparation payments that even Hohn Maynard Keynes warned was detrimental. However, the French had made reparation payments to Germany back in the 19th century, so they wanted retribution in the 20th century.

Gibbon 5
Hobbes 3

Even The Lyviathan by Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was deeply influenced by the English Civil War and the beheading of the King. In his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) was also deeply influenced by the English Civil War between Protestants and Catholics. Consequently, he includes chapters on the rise of Islam and Christianity and attributes much of the cause behind the fall to religion and discord only because he saw that in Britain.

Ptolemy II Arsinoe II AU

I find it very damaging when someone seeks to critique history based on current trends applied to different times. I have written before how William Penn named his city of Philadelphia based on the translation of the word “Philadelphos,” meaning “brotherly love.” That was not in a Christian sense; it referred to incest, where one married their sister, typically to keep the family wealth contained in the family. This was common in Egypt as well as Syria. This is my point. When looking at history, we MUST review it within the context of that period and NEVER apply our current experiences to their lack of understanding of their thinking and motives.

This was Popper’s great mistake in focusing on this claim of destiny, which was really a great sales slogan rather than a true economic trend. Popper may have wanted to improve the methods of the social sciences to promote peace, freedom, and prosperity, emulating the function of the natural sciences and technology to increase the earth’s productive capacity. However, his book’s central theme is his critique of the myth of historical destiny and historical determinism, that is, the idea that history is beyond human control.

Menger Carl

There have been those who have recognized that the individual plays a key role, and this idea of government possessing the power to manipulate society, championed by Marx and Keynes, remains the very core of understanding the true nature of the economy. Carl Menger (1840-1921) is the founding father of the Austrian School of Economics, with his landmark “Principles of Economics,” published in 1871. There, Menger laid the intellectual framework for the subsequent Austrian scholars who followed him.

One of the book’s main themes is that the value of a good is not determined by factors that can be objectively determined (e.g., labor or material costs) but by subjective valuations of the object in question by individuals. As I explained to China when I was invited to help them transition to Capitalism, they were monitoring 249 varieties of tea. The question was, why is this one tea selling for about $5 in one place but $1 in another? I asked where its origin was, and that is where it happened to be $1. I elaborated that there were transportation costs first and secondly that someone would pay more for one tea than another because of personal preference.

Jevons Stanley

In this sense, Carl Menger, Leon Walras, and William Stanley Jevons saw that economics has a human element that goes beyond supply and demand.  ‘Marginalist Revolution’ with Menger and Jevons was added to with elements by Walras, who proposed that the commodities’ relative marginal utilities determined relative prices of commodities and thus explained the discrepancy in the value of goods and services by reference to their secondary, or marginal, utility.

Supply Demand

It was John Law (1671-1729), who was the father of the Supply and Demand theory he observed as a trader on the floor of the Amsterdam Bourse. However, Popper grossly overlooked the individual and that we are raised in a particular culture that forms our fundamental beliefs. You cannot have open borders and assume that everyone will assimilate into some homogenous society. Such a transition period of forced assimilation is highly violent and destructive.

Valens 1.5 Siliqua Head Left

Emperor Valens (364-378AD) allowed the Goths to cross the border, assuming that he could exploit them to build his army. They were trained in Roman tactics and then turned on the Emperor from inside the Roman Empire. Valens met his death on August 9th, 378 AD, in one of the greatest military catastrophes ever suffered by the Roman Legions – the Battle of Aadrianopolis. In this fateful battle to the death with the Goths, the legions of Rome were totally annihilated. The devastation and carnage was so vast that the body of the Emperor Valens was never recovered. This battle was one of the worst defeats Rome had ever suffered. Before, No one had ever destroyed the mighty legions of the Roman army while under the command of an Emperor himself. 

So much for Soros & Popper’s Theory of an Open Society

It is not antisemitic to criticize this theory.

Joe Biden says House Speaker Mike Johnson is “Dead on Arrival”


Posted originally on the CTH on July 29, 2024 | Sundance

Against the backdrop of a recent assassination attempt against Donald Trump, during remarks to the press pool in Austin, Texas, Joe Biden says House Speaker Mike Johnson is “dead on arrival.”  [White House Transcript]

It sounds like the team behind Joe Biden have another target.

Q    Speaker Johnson said it’s “dead on arrival.”

BIDEN:  I think that’s what he is. 

Q    That he is?

BIDEN:  That he is — dead on arrival.

.

I’m sure the media would just brush this off if the scenario was reversed and President Trump said this. /sarc