Who Creates Money?


Posted originally on Dec 30, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

big stack of money

To a large extent, there is still much confusion regarding the creation of MONEY. Some people still think the government actually creates money as if it were in ancient times. When I say MONEY is no longer TANGIBLE, but it is VIRTUAL, many seem to fail to grasp just how much the world has changed. In ancient times, the state minted the coins AFTER 600 BC attempting to certify the weight to facilitate commerce. However, the government quickly learned that there was profit to be made, which is known as the “seigniorage,” referring to the difference between the intrinsic value of the metal and the declared value. In such a world, the state predominantly created money supply, discounting leverage from banking and counterfeiting.

Today that is about as far removed from how the economy functions as the next inhabitable planet. In the example I used that if a foreign investor buys domestic real estate, he is increasing the domestic money supply. The conversion of his local currency to the domestic currency is NOT dictated by some FIXED quantity created by the central bank. It is just electronic. Nobody actually prints anything , and the central bank does NOT even create electronic currency. It is just a book entry. Because the foreign investor is bringing in cash and buys a TANGIBLE object (real estate), the net amount of cash in the domestic supply of money increases the same when the Fed bought US bonds under QE2. Banking also LEVERAGES the economy by creating MONEY. If you have $1,000 on deposit and I borrow $1,000, we both now have accounts reflecting $1,000 each. Again, the state did NOT create that money.

It is once more a book entry. This is how a BANK PANIC will take place. You go to the bank trying to get your $1,000, but the bank actually lent it to me. As long as you do not try to take out that $1,000, everything is fine and dandy. Therefore, MONEY is not TANGIBLE, and it is purely VIRTUAL! The idea that MONEY is supposed to be some TANGIBLE object actually ended in 600 BC once government got involved and began to manufacture a profit from creating money. As long as the economy is free, then you are free to keep your wealth in whatever object you desire, be it gold or real estate. MONEY is NOT a store of value, for it has always fluctuated, rising in purchasing power in recessions (NOW) and declining in booms.

President Trump Indicates Bill Gates is Going to Mar-a-Lago


Posted originally on the CTH on December 27, 2024 | Sundance 

On December 19th we noted, “Apple CEO Tim Cook and META CEO Mark Zuckerberg were previous guests at Mar-a-Lago for tech meetings before Bezos. Heck, all that’s needed now is for Bill Gates to show up and a wormhole revealing a parallel universe is likely to open.”…

Well apparently, the universe is folding upon itself. President Trump has indicated that Bill Gates is scheduled to appear in Mar-a-Lago for a meeting with President Trump.

[Source]

The last arrival to the southern White House was Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (AWS), who hedged his bets too long and was late in supporting President Trump before the election.  This has put Bezos in a position of riding his bicycle in slow circles at the end of the driveway while Musk (xAI), Ellison (Oracle) and Thiel (Palantir) have full access ‘insider’ passes along with their ally Vice-President Elect JD Vance.

In term #1, the reacting allies dragged their heels to comply with Trump’s requests and expectations.  In Term #2 I expect one of the more visible elements for us to watch will be how fast those same allies react to requests and expectations. In fact, I think we are already seeing this play out.

Moderna Creates new mRNA Vaccine


Posted originally on Dec 23, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

Moderna

If the aftermath of the first widespread mRNA vaccine was not enough to deter the public, the government and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered with Moderna to create a new DNA-altering vaccination for the bird flu.

And here we go again – Moderna said that their most recent vaccine is specifically for this variant (2.3.4.4b) of the flu, which has not spread from person-to-person contact. The Science Translational Medicine published Moderna’s study of the vaccine in which they exposed ferrets to the virus. Moderna won a $176 million federal funding package back in JULY to develop this vaccination.

There are only 60 known cases of this virus among humans, and nearly everyone who contracted it was exposed to infected cattle. California has already declared a state of emergency, and every politician and pharmaceutical company that enjoyed the power grab of the first pandemic is eager for the next. I cannot fathom why anyone would take this vaccine when the last mRNA vaccination FAILED. It failed to prevent the spread or transmission of the virus and injured far more people than it helped. This is why the current investigations into COVID must remain ongoing — we cannot afford a repeat of 2020.

We seriously need MAJOR political reform. Anyone who supports the absolute immunity for the Pharmaceutical Industry should be removed from office – NOW! If one in every 10,000 General Motors cars blew up when you just turned the key but has absolute immunity from lawsuits, why fix the problem? These people know that even with normal vaccines, there is also a portion of people who will die. That is just a matter of fact. That is why they bribed our politicians for absolute immunity. Why ask for that unless you were getting sued?

Moderna is attempting to combine these flu vaccines. The annual flu vaccine was fairly standard, but no more. I absolutely refuse to be a guinea pig for the pharmaceutical industry. Around 60% of Americans declared they would NOT take a COVID booster this year. Perhaps mandates are the only profitable option for these companies. Sorry but we are no longer blindly “trusting the science” this time around.

Why would they develop a vaccination for an ailment that is not spreading? Perhaps they will say that the next variant is a “super spreader” and far more deadly. The disease cycle is picking back up in 2026, and the powers that be are working hard behind the scenes to declare the NEXT pandemic.

New Regulations on US Dairy


Posted originally on Dec 19, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

Dairy Cow

Two-thirds of American dairy farms have been eliminated within one generation. Cows produce dangerous emissions and have no place in modern society, according to the World Economic Forum and climate change proponents. We are seeing a drastic decline in dairy farms across the world thanks to this mentality. The latest crackdown on dairy farms comes from new regulations by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that demand dairy cattle be tested for the bird flu or H5N1.

There has not been a single case of a person falling ill with the bird flu from drinking milk. Yet, the USDA insists farmers comply with their guidance that is no longer mandatory. The World Health Organization managed to work its way into the situation too as they have criticized the lack of testing. Again, no one has fallen ill from drinking milk. There may have been cases of infection in farmhands who had direct contact with cows, but there is not a single case proving anyone contracted H5N1 in this manner.

This won’t prevent the government from spending recklessly on testing as they have already set aside $200 million. The USDA will ship samples to the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) for testing. Then, the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) stated they set aside $824 million in emergency funding for response and diagnostic efforts.

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that widespread mandatory testing “will give farmers and farmworkers better confidence in the safety of their animals and ability to protect themselves, and it will put us on a path to quickly controlling and stopping the virus’s spread nationwide.” The virus is not spreading through the milk supply so why are they so eager to begin this program?

Better yet, the USDA is offering farmers a measly $75 payment for personal blood and nasal swab samples for the CDC. The government has also said it would provide funding for farmers with infected cattle.

Is this another excuse to add regulations to agriculture? Could there be ulterior motives here? The New York Post said that it is “unclear” whether this program will continue under Trump.

Chrystia Freeland Flees Trudeau and Tariffs


Posted originally on Dec 18, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland

Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned from her federal cabinet position. This may be perhaps the best thing that the Prime Minister has allegedly done for Canada. The fracturing of the left has become a contagion.

Freeland shared her resignation letter on social media platform X this Monday. “On Friday, you informed me that you no longer want me to serve as your Finance Minister and offered me another position in Cabinet. Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from Cabinet,” she added.

The shocking announcement came right before she was set to address the House of Commons to present the fall economic statement. Tariffs. Trudeau and Freeland were deadlocked in a debate over how to handle Trump’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods. Freeland believed the best-case scenario was to secure the Canadian border in an attempt to appease Trump, while Trudeau did not. Freeland said “costly political gimmicks” and “a coming tariff war” were reasons for her departure. Perhaps Trudeau has surpassed her in his alliance to the WEF.

Breakup USA Canada

“Her behavior was totally toxic and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada. She will not be missed!!!!” Trump said, who has had a tumultuous relationship with Freeland. They say that she even refuses to stand in the same room as him.

The left is self-destructing everywhere we look.

This is a Technical Study of the Relationships in Solar Flux, Water vapor and all the other Gasses in the Atmosphere, Using the September, 2024 NASA & NOAA Data


The attached report on Global Weather for September 2024 Data has charts showing the relationship between CO2 growth and Temperature increases going up since we started to accurately measure CO2 in the atmosphere in 1958. These Charts were created by showing CO2 as a percent increase from when it was first measured in 1958, the Black plot, the scale is on the left and it shows CO2 going up by about ~34.0% from 1958 to October 2024. That is a very large change as anyone would have to agree. 

Now how about temperature, well when we look at the percentage change in temperature also from 1958, using Kelvin (which does measure the actual change in heat), we find that the changes in global temperature (heat) is about ~.3% and may reach .5% by 2028. To even be able to see this minuscule change we had to reduce the scale of the Temperature Axis by a factor of ten.

This Chart 8 uses unaltered values from NOAA and NASA properly displayed ,and the Blue and Yellow projections are created by Microsoft Excel not me.

The NOAA and NASA numbers tell us the story of the Very Small Changes in the temperature of the planets Atmosphere As Carbon Dioxide goes up geometrically.

Institutions Can Have Their Entire Portfolio on Socrates


Posted originally on Dec 16, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

GMW Page 2

The Global Market Watch (GMW) was created for one of the top 10 banks in the world. It allowed them to look at their entire portfolio without reading a thousand reports. This allowed them to hone in on what might need their attention. As they commented, this is like having 1,000 trading assistants. We really are too busy advertising or engaging in marketing campaigns. You can die from having too much business. As is the case with offices worldwide, someone is always awake. This was designed for large institutions to save time and provide an important tool for investing.

The comments are a work in progress since the model still identifies new patterns. Socrates is proving that all the theories from the nonsense of Random Walks, etc., are just excuses for people incapable of comprehending how the world functions. The GMW records a pattern REGARDLESS of the market and assigns a number you see under the comment. That same pattern shows up in every market because the instrument is irrelevant – it is how human nature interacts with that market.

We can create a GMW for your entire portfolio to give you a fast glance at your portfolio. We are currently working on providing the same tools that I have used so you can ask question and it will respond. We are considering creating a terminal so it will access our systems and provide you with an impressive assistant.

GC Inve4stor GMW 7 29 2016

We can Add Any Stock Worldwide to Socrates


Posted originally on Dec 16, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

Socrates IPad

QUESTION #1: Mr. Armstrong, you used to provide your reports rebranded to an institution’s name in Tokyo. Would you consider that for other countries?

GL

ANSWER #1: Yes. We would articulate the turning points rather than include the arrays. That would make it too identifiable, tracing back to us. But certainly, we can do that and attack an institution’s name, such as a reputable bank or brokerage house. We can replace the majority of the cost of research. We have a database of virtually every stock in the world.

QUESTION #2: Can I request that a particular stock be added to Socrates?

EJ

ANSWER #2: Certainly.

IMF Wants El Salvador to Repeal Bitcoin’s Legal Tender Status


Posted originally on Dec 10, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

ElSalvadorBukele

The International Monetary Fund is willing to provide El Salvador with a $1.3 billion loan, but the nation must meet two demands. First, El Salvador must commit to reducing its budget deficit to 3.5% of GDP over the next three years. The second requirement is for El Salvador to begin backing away from bitcoin.

El Salvador declared bitcoin legal tender in 2021. The nation holds a bitcoin Treasury worth over $600 million as of lately with bitcoin’s recent price spike and has been purchasing about 1 btc per day. President Nayib Bukele recently took to social media to declare the success of his bitcoin adaptation, claiming gains of over 127%. Yet, the public has not largely adopted the new currency. In fact, the Central American University conducted a study in January that revealed 88% of citizens have not used bitcoin in transactions over the previous year.

Under the new IMF requirement, El Salvador must prohibit the legal requirement that states businesses must accept bitcoin as payment. Under this premise, bitcoin could not truly be considered legal tender.

Bitcoin and Gold

As I have said, global organizations will not permit crypto to operate freely outside their control. I must agree with the IMF that Bitcoin’s volatile pricing presents financial instability and exposes government revenue to greater foreign exchange rate risks. Bitcoin is merely a trading vehicle and not a proper currency. However, the IMF also states that it is concerned about anti-money laundering practices. which simply means they are concerned that they cannot tax it.

Taxation goes hand in hand with lowering the budget deficit, as the nation has been steadily increasing tax revenue. Tax revenues reached 17.64% of GDP in 2017, later advancing to 19.75% in 2022. The government has several measures in place for tax evasion and has improved its digital taxpayer registry to see who has underpaid. There is hope that the recent discovery of gold will offset the hunt for taxation, and the president does seem to be a reasonable man. Perhaps El Salvador will not require a loan if it has truly found trillions worth of gold. It appears that Nayib Bukele will not back away from his stance on bitcoin either way.

Majority of Americans Will NOT Take Updated COVID Vax


Posted Dec 4, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

Vaccine Masks

Gone are the days when people queued for hours to receive the latest and greatest COVID vaccine to protect against the new strain of the season. A new poll by Pew Research Center has found that 60% of Americans will probably not take the updated vaccination.

There are the diehards who “trust the science,” with 24% saying they likely will receive an updated COVID injection and 15% already have. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was revered a few short years ago, but now, the majority is ignoring their guidelines, which state that EVERYONE older than six months of age should get vaccinated.

Republicans are less likely than Democrats to accept the vaccination at a rate of 81% to 39%. About 61% said they will not take the vaccination because they do not believe they need it. Studies have proven it does not prevent transmission or infection. What’s the point? Another 60% are understandably concerned about the potential life-altering or ending side effects.

2021_Biden_Unvaccinated_people_are_costing_all_of_us_presses_Covid_shot_mandates

The survey was taken before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic wrapped up its two-year investigation. We can finally leave the bat theory to rest and stop blaming the pandemic on some wet market in China. The 520-page report concluded that COVID-19 “most likely emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.”

The investigation also found that MASKS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING MEASURES WERE NOT BASED ON SCIENCE. “[P]rolonged lockdowns caused immeasurable harm to not only the American economy, but also to the mental and physical health of Americans, with a particularly negative effect on younger citizens.” Where is the outrage? We were unable to leave our homes or see our own family members due to these draconian laws based on NOTHING. Schools closed, businesses shut permanently, and the entire world came to a halt based on the guidelines from these corrupt health agencies. Dr. Fauci admitted he was uncertain where the six-foot separation guideline emerged from and shrugged it off as if it didn’t utterly change society on a global level.

The subcommittee has also pointed blame at the World Health Organization for lacking transparency in a bid to shield China from criticism. They cannot definitively say that the leak was deliberate nor can they say that governments were studying a bioweapon. But there are countless unanswered questions.

COVID to UKRAINE

The final report suggests that individual states may need to begin stockpiling their own medical supplies. Furthermore, they would like to move away from medicine exported from China. “Many of the medications taken by Americans are manufactured overseas. But further, the active ingredients in these medications, the chemical compounds used to make them, are overwhelmingly made in China. So much so that the supply has been described as China having ‘a global choke hold’ on the chemical components of medications distributed nationwide,” the report says.

It is improbable to think that this virus naturally spread globally at a rapid speed. All the COVID vaccine manufacturers took a major hit in the markets on the very day that Trump announced he was hiring Robert F. Kennedy to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Will they ever release the ingredients in the actual vaccine? Will those who demanded lockdowns, masking, and distancing without evidence face their day in court? Justice has NOT been served, and one can hope that those responsible will be prosecuted. The upside is that people have lost all trust in “the science” and are beginning to think independently.