Tag Archives: European Army

Jan 6 2023

Bidenomics – Amazon Announces 18,000 Layoffs, and They Are Not Alone – Imports and Exports Drop


Posted originally on the CTH on January 5, 2023 | Sundance 

That slow grinding creak you hear in the background; that’s the U.S. economic engine running without oil and beginning that slowdown phase just before it stutters and stalls completely.  Alas, the pretending continues…

As noted by the Wall Street Journal, an economic gaslighting institution with a central mission to maintain pretenses, “business surveys show U.S. factory activity declined in December, the Institute for Supply Management and S&P Global both said this week. Separately, S&P Global said Thursday that U.S. services-sector businesses reported a decline in output for the third month running in December.” This comes as “U.S. imports dropped more, by 6.4% on the month, as Americans cut back on holiday-related purchases, including items from other countries such as computers and autos.”

Keep in mind, November retail sales—which included consumer spending at stores, online and at restaurants—fell 0.6% from the prior month for their biggest decline of 2022, according to the Commerce Department. Manufacturing output declined in November as well, the Fed reported, while U.S. home sales fell for a record 10th straight month.

Into this mix of economic metrics, driven by a collapse in disposable consumer income and high energy prices, now we begin to see the number one business expense being curtailed.

(Market Watch) […] Amazon.com Inc layoffs will affect more than 18,000 employees, the highest reduction tally revealed in the past year at a major technology company as the industry pares back amid economic uncertainty.

The Seattle-based company in November said that it was beginning layoffs among its corporate workforce, with cuts concentrated on its devices business, recruiting and retail operations. At the time, The Wall Street Journal reported the cuts would total about 10,000 people. Thousands of those cuts began last year. (more)

Amazon is not alone, “Vimeo said Wednesday that it will cut its workforce by 11% as part of a broader effort to reduce costs, citing deteriorating economic conditions” (link).  Additionally, Salesforce Inc. is laying off 10% of its workforce and reducing its office space in certain markets, extending a brutal period for tech job cuts into the new year.”

We can anticipate more reports like this from Reuters, “Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s quarterly profit will likely plunge 58% to its lowest in six years as a global economic downturn saps demand for electronic devices and clouds the outlook for the memory chip industry.  With consumers and businesses reducing spending and investment in the face of high inflation and climbing interest rates, smartphone makers and other clients held back memory chip orders, while smartphones sold for less as demand suffered, analysts said.”

Electronics, cars, furniture, durable goods of all types and varieties are plummeting in sales.  Consumers are being squeezed by inflation, housing, energy and food costs, and spending priorities are being reevaluated yet again.  Compare the impact on ‘real wages’ -vs- the 2007/2008 economic crisis.

From a purely fraudulent accounting perspective, however, the drop in U.S. imports will help boost calculations of U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter because trade deficits subtract from overall output, or gross domestic product.

U.S. consumers not purchasing imported goods makes the health of the U.S. economy look less bad; but it’s an illusion akin to smiles in the bread lines.

In other economic news, I did some real estate analysis over the past several days and it’s safe to say there is a steep downward trajectory in the data I use.   Again, home values are nuanced on a regional level, but my model is pretty close in averaging.

If buyers do not absorb the seller’s loss in equity (which no one should ever do), in my SWFL area a $450k home listing is going to sell around $380k at the high side (actual value based on economic indicators and buyer ability).   That rough estimate, while slightly offset due to general inflation, should trend nationally over the next 12 to 18 months.   That means macro home prices dropping around 15 to 20% nationally over the next 12 months.

If you are a home buyer, put your offers around 15 to 20% below current asking price without any emotional attachment to it.  Don’t flinch, remain ambivalent and walk away if refused.   The recovery to current price will take around a decade.  If you are a seller and get an offer within -10% of asking, consider yourself lucky and jump on it.

Jan 5 2023

Zelensky – The Man Behind World War III


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Jan 5, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Zelensky is just an actor and he has been playing the entire world into handing him money without any accountability. He claims he is fighting for freedom and democracy when he refuses to comply with the Minsk Agreement which falsely was to allow those in the Donbas to vote on their own future. Now he has empowered his government to shut down all dissent. Upon his return from meeting the Biden Administration, he took back some needed advice – restrict ALL media, block ALL websites that expose the truth, and order Big Tech to censor all negative comments about him or Ukraine. This site is not blocked even in China – it will be in Ukraine. So much for freedom, democracy, and free speech.

It was Kyiv that started the war by sending troops to attack the Donbas in 2014 and that was the West’s installed “temporary” government that started the war – not any elected Ukrainian government. Zelensky was elected promising to pursue peace and end corruption. He has done exactly the opposite. So much for campaign promises. They always say whatever they need to win, and then do the exact opposite. When Zelensky was elected, the Russian press cheered. They thought this actor would actually seek peace.

Zelensky Realized it Was His Opportunity To Become a Billionaire

Jan 5 2023

Inflation & the Tricks of the Trade


Armstrong Economics Blog/Inflation Re-Posted Jan 5, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Our inflation models came in at 32% for 2022. This does not include things like paper clips to bring down the entire average. This number is the basic core inflation that consists of food, energy, and transportation. We do not include housing values which rose about 11% in 2022, but because that is the national average, it understands places such as Texas and Flordia and over states California and areas such as Chicago.

Our index attempts to reflect the national core inflation of things that most people use. The largest increase was obvious fuel between gasoline and diesel used in trucking and homes averaging 65%+, eggs were up nearly 50%, flour rose by 25%, cooking oil 23%, Butter was up 35%, Chicken by 14%, and Rice by 18%.

The more things you throw in, the lower the inflation rate. The national average rise in rental rates was 7.8%, in Florida it was 8.5%, and in NYC 1.5% when controlled.

If we broaden the list to include rents and coffee, which was up 15%, we can bring it down to about 27%. The Fed broaden the scope so widely that the rate come down to about 7%. The more you include, the lower the inflation rate. The object is to reduce government spending which is indexed to the CPI.

Jan 5 2023

Belarus Drafts Every Male 18 to 60 for the Inevitable War


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Jan 5, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Belarus has issued a Draft for all men 18 to 60 years old. This war that our leaders are determined to create is going to be beyond anything previously contemplated. Even the US will most likely adopt a draft and it will be highly probable that it will be to at least to age 45 but perhaps even higher.

The Ukrainian people are FOOLS! Zelensky has been paid off to sacrifice his entire country. He is the modern-day Judas betraying his own people for a handful of silver. The West wants this war and they are using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder to weaken Russia before they make their invasion to seek justice and retribution for Ukraine. There was a Donbas Referendum of 1994, in which the whole world turned a blind eye to those people who have been denied basic human rights because they are ethnically Russian. This is a premeditated war that they need to collapse the monetary system and get to create Bretton Woods II with digital currencies and sovereign debt will all simply evaporate.

Welcome to the real world that these people are openly trying to create where they solidify their authoritarian control and the end of any right to vote.

Jan 5 2023

the 1996 Tax Reform Proposals on Capitol Hill


Armstrong Economics Blog/The Hunt for Taxes Re-Posted Jan 4, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

TaxReform1996

For those who have asked for the original 1995/1996 Tax Proposal that was on Capitol Hill in a single file, here it is. For those who just want the sections in a more manageable manner, click on this like here.

Jan 4 2023

Ukraine & Fake News


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Jan 4, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Marty, I am impressed. Your contacts are unsurpassable. You put out two months ago that Ukraine lost 100,000 soldiers. Some did not believe you. It turns out that was classified information. Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the EU, had released a video and then edited it deleting that very information at the request of Zelensky. All this is to hide the fact that Ukraine has been losing the war as you said. With its armed forces down at least one-third.

Here is the video that is now going around.  You also said that Bucha was another false flag where Ukraine killed Russian Ukrainians and left their bodies on the streets to blame Russia. You said there were videos that NATO had and was hiding. My hat is off to you. You really do have reliable sources.

Pete

REPLY: You have to understand that creating false flags is the #1 occupation of Ukraine. They shot down the Malaysia fight and tried to blame the Russians. They shot a missile into Poland and claimed it was a Russian attack on NATO.

On March 31, 2022, the mayor of Bucha was joyful in announcing that the settlement had been liberated. He does not talk about any corpses on the roads and the terrible destruction of mass graves. It was two days later when suddenly photos and videos of people lying along the road appear and horrendous stories about hundreds of dead being thrown in mass graves. These reports did not surface until two days after the Russians left. The Ukrainians were staging another false flag. Why did the mayor appear joyous and made no mention at first of these atrocities?

It is to the advantage of Zelensky who appears before every parliament he can ask for money. In Italy, he claimed Russians were capturing children and torturing them. That allegation vanished. He says whatever he can to get money. He could have just complied with the Belgrad and Minsk Agreements but he is determined to lead the world into war. The US Pentagon has come out and even said that they CAN NOT independently verify what took place in Bucha. There is no way to verify anything in Bucha and there are videos that show people laying in the street pretending to be dead with no blood and then there are videos showing they get up when the camera passes.

The Ukrainians are out to create World War III. They are desperately trying to get the West to invade Russia and their goal is to utterly destroy Russia and the Russian people who they hate passionately. Look at this propaganda video they used to tell the world Russians killed Ukrainian civilians. In this video, the bodies are people just laying down. You see no blood. , the “corpse” on the right is moving his arm  At the 30th second, look in the rearview mirror. The “corpse” sits up! This is why the Pentagon remains silent. NATO has videos also confirming Bucha was a Ukrainian false flag. The rumor is that when the Ukrainians did enter Bucha, they themselves killed any ethnic Russian Ukrainians there.

All of this propaganda is to enrage the people to call for World War III. Zelensky has even called on NATO to launch nuclear weapons and wipe out Russia . Zelensky will destroy the Ukrainian people with this insanity.  He is lying to the world about the devastation of the losses and is searching for a way to get NATO to invade Russia. He uses this propaganda to gain support worldwide. The US has handed him $113 billion when Russia’s annual military budget is at best $65 billion and Germany’s is $56 billion. The US is spending untold amounts of money for the total destruction of Russia.

Jan 4 2023

War Against Conservatives


Blog/Press

Posted Jan 10, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

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People are leaving Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and were moving to Parlar. Google and Apple removed the Parlar APP and then Amazon kicked then off of AWS. This is a complete purge going on of all conservatives. We are in the midst of nothing short of a real live Russian version of a revolution. Cheer up – you get to see what it was like to live history in a major confrontation between left and right. But make no mistake about it, the super-rich remains in power just behind the curtain. They own the press and social media while they use the virus to prevent people from gathering or organizing. It is their way or no way. Their motto: Resistance is Futile!

The SciFi Verison of Communism

Jan 3 2023

The Top 10 Conspiracy Theories That were True in 2022


Armstrong Economics Blog/Conspiracy Re-Posted Jan 3, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Jan 3 2023

Are the Immigrants Part of the Decline & Fall?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Migraction Re-Posted Jan 3, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The invasion of migrants, both in Europe and the United States, is evolving into a major crime wave not seen in decades. In Germany, Berlin looked like a war zone. There were 3,943 incidents, but when recuse workers arrived, they were deliberately attacked. Some 15 firefighters and 18 police officers were injured. The Bild newspaper has reported that these incidents were “particularly bad attacks in the hotspot neighborhoods of Kreuzberg and Neukölln with a high proportion of migrants.” They were setting up barricades, setting them on fire, and when the firefighters arrived, they were attacked by some 200 men. There were even attacking an ambulance, hurling objects inside the vehicle’s open rear doors.

I have been getting emails from people shocked here in the United States from towns that never had any homeless are suddenly inundated. This mass migration into Europe and the United States is reminiscent of the barbarian invasions into Rome. Rome officially fell in 476AD with the last emperor named Romulus Augustus (475-476AD).

The barbarians effectively took over and even issued coins pretending to be Roman. They imitated the Roman Coinage. There had even been laws passed insisting you only marry a Latin. Even to this very day, in Italy, they do not consider those in Sicily Italians in some parts. I had gone into a bakery in Rome and asked for a cannoli. The owner wanted to pull a knife on me yelling that’s not “Italian, it’s Sigii” meaning from Sicily.

These migrations are all part of the decline and fall. Just like in Rome, once that process began, there was no turning back. They bring a different culture that undermined the traditions that held society together creating a civilization that will no longer be. The migration of the 19th century from Europe to America did not take place because of welfare programs. People came to America for the land of opportunity to work and to buy property. They did not come looking for free money and then wage war and violence to out of frustration demanding every more free money.