Posted originally on May 19, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas believes that the federal government should provide each child $1,000 at birth to be invested in the stock market. “Every child in America will have private investment accounts that will compound over their lives, enhancing the prosperity and economic participation of the vast majority of Americans,” Cruz said. Around 3.6 million children were born in the US last year, meaning that the federal government would need to set aside $3.6 billion a year to fund this program.
Cruz’s program would permit family and friends to add $5,000 annually to these private investment accounts, with the hope that the compounding interest will give these kids a head start in life. “What I’m interested in is giving these kids the ability to climb the economic ladder much, much faster to accumulate wealth,” Cruz told CNBC. “I think there’s a real power to making them investors and stakeholders in the economy.”
This is not a completely new concept. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey proposed providing newborns with funds for investing that would be worth up to $2,000, but rather than investing in the private sector, they would hold treasuries or “baby bonds.” Hillary Clinton also proposed a “baby bond” worth up to $5,000 during her first presidential campaign, costing the public $18 billion annually.
Future generations pay for social programs and the surmounting national debt. Cruz, Clinton, and Booker fail to realize that these programs require funding which comes from these future taxpayers. In a December 2024 interview, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated, “We’re borrowing from future generations. And every generation really should pay for the things that it needs.” Massive spending packages are detrimental in the long run and cause more harm than good.
There’s a strong chance that many parents would simply pocket the funds or not know how to properly invest it in the market. Around 62% of Americans currently hold equities, but the majority own through retirement accounts. Only 21% of American families directly own stocks. The public education system should begin teaching future generations about investment and personal finance, as one in four Americans are financially illiterate.
Suppose lawmakers actually want to improve the lives of future generations. In that case, they need to stop adopting policies that saddle the American public with debt that they then forcibly collect through increased taxation.
Posted originally on May 19, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
Nordic nations have been leading the cashless society revolution. Masked as a manner of efficiency, digital transactions are not demanded by governments globally as they seek to rake in all money off the grid for taxation purposes.
Sweden is nearly a cashless society, with less than 2% of transactions occurring in physical currency as of 2020. Some estimates believe cash transactions have risen to 10% as of 2025, but it is becoming less commonplace. Swish transfer, launched in 2012, is a mobile payment system that enables users to transfer money in real-time. Accounts are linked to bank accounts, and transactions are authorized by Mobile BankID. As of February 2025, Swish had over 9 million users with 8.9 million private accounts and 318,000 business accounts. Only 10.5 million people currently live in Sweden.
The governor of Risbank declared in 2017 that “half of Swedish traders believe they will stop accepting cash by 2025” and Swish would be used for “Transaction that used to be mostly cash based.” In 2010, around 40% of transactions occurred in cash compared to 2-10% today.
Norway is also close to becoming cashless. Similar to Swish, Norway uses a program called Vipps that is owned by DNB Bank. Around 90% of Norwegian bank customers are using this program. Vipps began accepting crypto last year as well.
The National Bank of Denmark reported that cash was used in only 11% of transactions in 2024. Finland has seen a drastic drop in cash transactions, accounting for under 20% of payments.
Customers across Nordic nations report having a high level of trust in their banking institutions and government. Polls and reports vary, but the aforementioned nations typically have a higher level of confidence in their national government compared to other OECD nations. The 2024 OECD poll found 48% of Norwegians had high or moderately high trust in their national government, exceeding the OECD average of 39%. Yet, that figure has declined 16% since 2021. Around 77% of Finns reported having a high level of trust in their government, and 43% of Swedes felt similarly.
Using a credit card or mobile pay option has become the new normal everywhere. Cash transactions are becoming increasingly rare. Cash is still legal tender, and governments have not banished physical currencies—yet. It will be easier for governments to mandate CBDC as the majority of citizens have already gone digital.
Posted originally on May 18, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Well, here we are at the 15th, right on schedule. Your model turns up, and it looks like no deal. Would you care to comment?
Uri
ANSWER: Putin said their purpose would be “to remove the root causes of the conflict and move towards creating a long-term, durable peace in a historical perspective”. Zelenskyy said he was prepared to attend, but only if Putin also showed up, because “everything in Russia depends” on the Russian leader as if that is not the case in Ukraine. Trump also was not attending.
Zelensky is a Neo-Nazi and he takes orders from the EU and NATO. He wants every Russian dead. What would he do if Russia left the Donbas? He has outlawed them from speaking Russian, denied them any right to vote, outlawed Orthodox Christianity, and outlawed them from even celebrating Christmas. The Ukrainian people have a choice. Either to die for the Neocons, or rise up and overthrow Zelensky. Contacts in Romania realize the EU is trying to orchestrate them into war with Russia. The strategy here is to send the Eastern Europeans in to kill as many Russians as possible, and then Macron can invade Russia like Napoleon.
Our model peaked intraday in the last quarter of 2024, with the third quarter of 2024 as the highest quarterly closing. The correction was to be into the first Quarter, and then the second quarter was a Directional Change. We will now head into the third quarter of 2025, which should reflect the failure of any peace deal because any ceasefire is only to regroup and rearm Ukraine. There is no resolution to this, and the EU will NEVER allow Ukraine to have peace.
There was a peace deal. Putin withdrew his tanks around Kiev, and Boris Johnson flew to Ukraine and instructed Zelensky not to sign any peace deal. More than one million Ukrainians are now dead. My sources in the US military confirm that all the claims that Russia has lost 1 million are fake news. This is all to push for war. Europe does NOT want peace. They are broke, and without war, the people will be storming their parliaments with pitchforks to hang these politicians on the street, for everything they were promised will vanish in a sovereign default. They NEED a distraction, and that is war with Russia, the same as Carney ran against Trump in Canada and avoided all domestic economic damage carried out by the Liberal Party.
Posted originally on CTH on May 14, 2025 | Sundance
President Trump previously stated that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and U.S. emissaries Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg would be traveling to Turkey as part of the U.S. support group to assist in negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. However, the Kremlin has announced the delegation that will represent Russia’s interests and President Vladimir Putin is not attending.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously said he would be attending the negotiations, yet doubted Russian President Putin would be present. It appears that prediction by Zelenskyy is accurate. The Kremlin announcement IS HERE.
Russia is sending: Vladimir Medinsky, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation (Head of the delegation), Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; (member of the delegation), Igor Kostyukov, Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff; of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (member of the delegation), Alexander Fomin, Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation (Member of the delegation). {link}
WASHINGTON DC – Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to Turkey to attend peace talks with Ukraine that he himself suggested, the Kremlin announced Wednesday evening.
The news is of little surprise, as Putin had never confirmed he would attend in person. Many observers, including EU High Representative Kaja Kallas, predicted he wouldn’t elect to meet directly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Putin offered the talks to Ukraine on May 11. Zelenskyy responded positively but cautiously, demanding a 30-day ceasefire as a starting point for negotiations. (read more)
Posted originally on CTH on May 11, 2025 | Sundance
In several ways it was likely strategically smart for President Trump to distance himself from the Intelligence Operation in Ukraine known as World War Reddit. The odd and opaque narratives from NATO, EU and CIA elements bear all the hallmark tells of an intelligence operation running amok.
With President Trump slowly exiting the nonsense, the group colloquially known as the “Coalition of the Willing” organizes their latest public relations stunt with a visit to Kyiv. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the goofy Polish Prime Minister who doesn’t do much, Donald Tusk, took the pantomime train into Ukraine for a spring walk with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The U.K, German and French political leaders are all using their Ukraine involvement to deflect from the political chaos that exists back home. Starmer, Zelenskyy, Macron, Merz and Tusk brought their best videographers and photographers to provide the optics and visuals.
The quintet’s performance included a phone call to President Trump in order to collectively wag their finger at Russian President Vladimir Putin, while saying they all agreed to a 30-day ceasefire starting tomorrow (Mon). You can tell this is all theatrically produced as part of World War Reddit because earnest diplomatic negotiations do not take place through media.
If they want a Monday ceasefire, the ‘dramatic acting’ crew needs to have Putin on the call – not Trump. Duh!
In response to the latest chapter in the public relations campaign, Russian President Putin has requested to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkey next week on Thursday. Zelenskyy, speaking on behalf of the international intelligence apparatus that is conducting the proxy war, says he will not meet to discuss the terms for a ceasefire with Putin unless a ceasefire already exists. Again, the confliction is simply more surface evidence of the IC involvement.
Sky News […] Speaking at the Kremlin in the early hours of Sunday, Mr Putin did not directly address the 30-day ceasefire proposal but instead offered to restart peace talks Russia and Ukraine held in 2022.
“We propose the Kyiv authorities resume the negotiations they interrupted at the end of 2022… to resume direct negotiations… without any preconditions… to begin without delay next Thursday 15 May in Istanbul,” he said.
Russia’s own unilateral three-day ceasefire, declared for the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, expired on Saturday, and Ukraine said Russian forces have repeatedly violated it.
During the summit in Kyiv, European leaders secured the backing of Donald Trump after briefing him on the progress made on the so-called “coalition of the willing” plans in a 20-minute phone call.
“All of us here, together with the US, are calling Putin out,” said Sir Keir.
“So we are clear, all five leaders here – all the leaders of the meeting we just had with the coalition of the willing – an unconditional ceasefire, rejecting Putin’s conditions, and clear that if he turns his back on peace, we will respond.
“Working with President Trump, with all our partners, we will ramp up sanctions and increase our military aid for Ukraine’s defence to pressure Russia back to the table.” (read more)
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