A Real Fact Check on the Trump Tax Cuts


While the Democrats love to yell at the rich for always getting richer, in 2016, there were 541 US billionaires with wealth totaling about $2.4 trillion. In 2019, there were 607 US billionaires with wealth totaling about $3.1 trillion. Of course, this is based on stock market valuations and is not cash in the bank. There is no doubt that the wealthiest Americans have gotten wealthier under Trump, though others have also gained.

According to the Federal Reserve, the combined wealth of the top 1% of American households, which includes all members of Congress, increased 18% from the fourth quarter of 2016 to the third quarter of 2019 — from $29.18 to $34.53 trillion. However, the combined wealth of the bottom 50% of households actually increased 55% from $1.08 trillion to $1.67 trillion. In truth, there were far more people who have benefited from the Trump Tax Cuts than what the Democrats ever will admit.

That is a REAL Fact Check!

South America – Economically & Politically on Fire


South America has been intertwined with socialism and corruption. Political stability and economic recovery for South America have been a wish that has seemed to be always very elusive. But the hopes and dreams have never been fulfilled. In many countries, politicians with sole claim to power are pushing to power, heavily indebted countries are facing bankruptcy, the rich are getting richer, the poor are poorer, demonstrators and police are fighting bloody street battles. An entire continent is in turmoil — South America is on fire! There appears to be a political-economic crisis that is coming to a boil.

Today, South America appears to be unraveling economically and politically. It was only a decade ago when its future seemed bright and all we heard was about investing in emerging markets. Its economy was growing whereas poverty and income inequality were in decline. Yet, the economic boom came on the back of commodities. The abundance brought by high commodity prices even allowed counter-cyclical policies at the time of the US subprime crisis. As always, foolish investors pour in money without regard to historical problems with repaying debt.

As the economies implode and political chaos rises, commodity production will decline over the next two years and this may set things up for the commodity boom into 2024 based on a SHORTAGE OF SUPPLY rather than outright demand.

 

2022 & Repo Crisis


QUESTION:  Mr. Armstrong I Hope your health is holding up with all the viruses. My first question is Feb 13 the Fed printing money increased by 13 billion however it is buying short term debt as in 1-day debt how long can they keep this up it is a fake stimulative of the stock market right?

The second question Do you still see something happening to Trump in 2021 ?

Thank you

S

ANSWER: The year 2022 looks to be more of an issue for the president. I do hope Trump is there for 2021, because I fear a career politician will not understand the Repo and Monetary Crisis. They will do whatever the Deep State instructs them to do. The Repo Crisis is in no way similar to people’s understanding of the crisis. I am not concerned about the amount of money. They are going to be forced to be the market-maker in Repo permanently.

The European Bank Scandal Nobody Talks About


Last October, the European Union’s (EU) top court ruled in favor of Polish consumers who took out mortgages in Swiss Francs, allowing them to ask Polish courts to convert the loans into the local zloty currency in a blow for lenders. Back in October 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union, based in Luxembourg, gave a judgment in favor of Polish victims of unfair mortgage agreements crafted by the banks. The bankers created mortgage loans in Swiss francs to be reimbursed in Polish zloty claiming that the currency was very stable and it was, therefore, a good deal. When the Swiss franc peg broke on January 15, 2015, mortgages throughout Europe were sent into turmoil for the bankers had been selling their mortgages linked to the Swiss franc.

The banks involved in crafting mortgages linked to the Swiss franc were Santander, BCP, BNP Paribas, and Commerzbank, as well as Poland’s biggest lenders PKO BP and Getin Noble Bank. Crafting such complex structures for the consumer is not something that will hold up very well in Europe moving forward.

Fed Cuts Rate on Schedule!


The Federal Reserve is in full panic mode. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates Tuesday in a rare emergency meeting, responding aggressively to the growing threat the coronavirus poses to the economy and markets. The Fed lowered its key federal fund rates by half a percentage point to a range of 1% to 1.25%, the central bank said in a statement.

We warned over the weekend that Socrates had pinpointed this week and then the week of March 23 for actions by the Fed. The Fed is between a rock and a hard place. It had to act in response to the collapse in economic data for the 1st quarter, but at the same time, rates are rising in the real world due to perceived credit risks. This means that the Repo Crisis will get worse and the Fed will have to become the permanent market-maker to maintain short-term rates at these levels.

The steep cut of 50 bp was an emergency half-percentage point rate cut on Tuesday in an effort to protect U.S. economic growth from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. However, the production lines are already declining. The Fed is looking at how the press has whipped this up into a global panic. But as we can see, volatility will rise further at the end of the month and we should expect this to manifest in a serious escalation of the Repo Crisis as early as May/June

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Statement and Press Conference Following 50 Point Fed Drop…


Earlier this morning the Federal Reserve (Fed) announced a .50 drop in their lending rate in response to the potential for economic impacts from the coronavirus.  Following the rate cut Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered a statement and held a press conference.  [Video Below]

Why Goldbugs Get Crushed


QUESTION: This is what infuriates those that like gold. All of the shorting. Why? No other sector looks like this. So how is it that gold miners are restricted but no other sector sees shorting to the extent that restrictions are in place??? Gold is $1600 and these stocks traded double this price in 2008 with gold at $800. You ask why “goldbugs” are so angry, this is your answer.

S

ANSWER: For decades, I have watched “The Club” rally the metals and then crash them because the goldbugs treat it as a religion rather than a market. Every rally is touted as, here we go, the world will crash and only gold will survive. The Club uses that sentiment against them all the time for they know it is easy money. When they step back and look at the metals as markets, then they will win. Many other markets have made long-term profits but they are always demonized by the goldbugs. Why? I believe that some of the people promoting gold are the very ones involved in selling it to them. Everything has a cycle. It goes up and goes down. These chants from the goldbugs are not realistic and they cost countless people their life savings as they get sucked in by people who act like used car salesmen.

Short sale restriction is a rule that came out in 2010 and it’s also referred to as the alternate uptick rule, which means that you can only short a stock on an uptick. You will note that there is no such thing as a long buy restriction where you can’t buy a stock as it’s going up.

Inevitably, the goldbugs blame shorts. That is NEVER the case in any crash. The real cause is that you have exhausted the buying. When you run out of buyers, that is when markets become vulnerable. The smart do not short, they sell to take profits. That starts the decline and the hated short-player is blamed but never found.

The short selling rule came in only because of shorting Lehman Brothers. When the shorts turned on Goldman Sachs, they pulled the strings. But those were shorts looking at reality, not speculative. There has NEVER been a discovered mythical short position that causes the entire market to collapse.

I have stated countless times that gold will rally ONLY when the general public perceives there is a crisis with the government. Forget deficits, quantitative easing, and fiat currency. They will never convince the average person to take gold seriously. When you begin to look at the market without emotions and trade them up and down, then you will see the light.