October 15, 2018
President Donald Trump delivers remarks to the media departing the White House for a visit to Florida and Georgia to see hurricane Michael recovery efforts.
Tag Archives: Hunt for Taxes
GDPR Creates an Overwhelming Bureaucratic Nightmare in Europe
Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union
Re-Posted Oct 16, 2018 by Martin Armstrong
The new data protection legislation in Europe known as GDPR. has resulted in simply overwhelming the government with complaints and inquiries from small businesses who do not understand the regs. In Germany, the various agencies are reporting a 500% increase in complaints. Even in Bavaria, 2,974 consultations took place in 2017, and so far this year it has reached 7,000 by October 1st. This legislation was really all about being able to prevent mass email campaigns that were political. They really did not care if people received junk emails. However, creating a law and pretending it is to protect consumers requires broad language to hide the fact it was to prevent political solicitation. They have created a nightmare all to prevent email campaigns that took place in the 2016 US presidential elections.
What is Wrong with Formal Education
Armstrong Economics Blog/Education
Re-Posted Oct 16, 2018 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: I too am French and nobody in school ever connected the weather to the defeat of Napoleon even with so many deaths on his failed invasion of Russia. History is interesting, but it seems to be taught based upon some political agenda. What would you recommend for students to study since the formal education system is such a failure?
PG
ANSWER: Yes, when I was in Paris, I was asked if I would debate the top three economic students. I agreed. However, instead of a confrontation for TV viewers, it turned out to be a question session of how to fix the French economy conceding that what they were being taught was wrong.
From a historical viewpoint, I always refer to contemporary writers. However, you must keep in mind that history is very often written only by the victor. We all learn quite a lot about history in school, but it is typically slanted. Nevertheless, it is also true that who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. However, those of us who know history are also doomed to watch others repeat it. Ever since man has done anything, there has been someone nearby going “huh, maybe I should write this down.”
The way to understand the past REQUIRES a discipline that embraces all the fields of science. Back in the 1980s, I attended a lecture by a Scientist on the findings of the ice core samples from Greenland. When they disp[layed a graf of the energy output of the sun and documented from the ice core samples, I was stunned. I approached the presenter and informed them that their chart projected the rise and fall of empires which matched the Economic Confidence Model.
Back in the 1980s, I knew the model worked, but I could not explain why other than simply saying there were cycles. Suddenly, I saw history impacted by weather. I knew the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake set off the Panic of 1907 due to capital flows and that led to the creation of the Federal Reserves with all its branches that operated independently to manage the capital flows internally within the nation.
By keeping an open mind, I began to look at every field of science for explanations. By putting everything together, the picture became focused and suddenly the light went off. The key is being a diverse explorer. School is the opposite. I would go to Physics class and the professor would say nothing is random. Einstein said he did not believe God played dice with the universe. I then went to economics class and the professor said everything is random so don’t bother trying to forecast something. Because it’s random, that meant government could and should manipulate society to eliminate recessions. They have not succeeded in doing so even once.
Merkel’s Conservative Lose Absolute Majority in Bavaria
Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union
Re-Posted Oct 15, 2018 by Martin Armstrong
It is really mindblowing how politicians simply refuse to admit a mistake with the refugees and reverse course. Merkel has dug in her heels in over this issue and it is just not going to get better. From the outset, I warned that in an economic decline, the last thing you do is accept immigrants. This is not my opinion – it is just patterns from the past. That similar event of immigrants coming in during an economic decline led to street battles in the USA when it was just the Irish during the 1840 Great Depression and Sovereign Debt Crisis. History repeats for the same stupid decisions time and again. Merkel has set the stage for violence in Europe and political discontent that threatens to undermine the entire EU projected.
In a further erosion of Germany’s political mainstream is clearly underway. The Bavarian conservative party, the CSU, has lost its absolute majority. Meanwhile, the Greens have become the second-largest political force in southern Germany. Additionally, the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis continues to brew. European officials are back in the spotlight recently as the debt crisis in Italy has cast Europe directly in the eye of the storm. The loss of the CSU in Germany is undermining the survivability of Merkel. With her demise, we will also see the collapse of the Euro.
The ECB on the Verge of Collapse?
Armstrong Economics Blog/Central Banks
Re-Posted Oct 15, 2018 by Martin Armstrong
The European Central Bank (ECB) will NOT aid Italy with an EU rescue program if the country or its banks are in financial turmoil. The Italian government is taking the view that Italy has become an “occupied” country and that Germany has conquered Europe imposing austerity and its view of inflation upon the whole of Europe without firing a shot. While the spin is that the ECB is making Italy a test case to demonstrate that Europe and its mechanisms work, in reality, it is a realization that the ECB cannot save Italy’s financial institutions because austerity has created the greatest economic depression perhaps in economic history.
The new five-star Movement in Rome and Lega have been on a confrontational course with the EU Commission, as they plan a higher level of new debt to fulfill election promises. The EU Commission, on the other hand, is calling for less spending and the implementation of austerity as demanded by Germany. Italy is already sitting on a debt of around 131% of GDP. The financial markets are nervous for they see a confrontation that could tear Europe apart at the seams. Italy now has to offer investors significantly higher interest rates when placing its government bonds in order to raise money. In addition, the gap to the yield of German government bonds widened. But in reality, stopping the ECB’s Quantitative Easing will result in interest rates rising by at least 300% very rapidly. Italy is getting ahead of the curve BEFORE everything comes crashing down.
The EU rules prohibit the ECB from helping a country unless it has agreed to a rescue program of EU partners. Then, for example, the Euro-watchdogs could buy up Italian government bonds in order to contain a rise in yields. This provides for a monetary policy emergency tool adopted in 2012 – called “OMT”. However, this has never been used before. The ECB, behind the curtain, fears that if they try to use this mechanism and it fails, as our model warns, then the CONFIDENCE in the entire EU system will collapse.
Australia Turning Really Authoritative? Is this How a Dark Age Begins?
Armstrong Economics Blog/The Hunt for Taxes
Re-Posted Oct 15, 2018 by Martin Armstrong
The greed of governments in their pursuit of money is the single greatest threat to creating a Dark Age. With New Zealand imposing a $5,000 fine for just landing there and you refuse to hand over your pen and passwords to your phone for them to search, now we have Australia going really nuts to the point that they risk tech companies simply banning the sale of their products in the country. The Assistance and Access Bill 2018 in Australia will force Google, Apple, Facebook, and other technology groups to help Australian authorities decode certain forms of encrypted communications on their systems, or face fines of up to AU$10 million. The government says the legislation will help protect against terrorism, fraud and child abuse crimes, claiming it aims to ensure criminals “have no place to hide.”
The problem that arises that failure to pay taxes they also call criminal. Hence, the hunt for money is greatly aided by this type of legislation far more than any other pretend criminal activity. While the government has stopped short of demanding backdoor access to tech companies’ systems that would allow the government to tap into end-to-end encryption services such as WhatsApp, it does demand access to data at “points where it is not encrypted.”
Apple, FOR INSTANCE, would not be made to create a backdoor for their iMessage where every user’s encryption key is different. But the government could request access to the single encryption key for its iCloud services. When you send a message to a friend, it’s encrypted as it travels between the two devices, and when it arrives, it’s decrypted for your friend to read, which is when the government should get to read it. The Australian government is cleverly demanding not a backdoor, but a “side door” to gain access to whatever people are sending.
Naturally, the cybersecurity minister claims this will only be allowed under strict guidelines, with companies subject to three levels of escalation: an interception agency requesting the company voluntarily assist; a “Technical Assistance Notice” whereby the companies are instructed to help; and a “Technical Capability Notice”, which can only be issued by the attorney-general and basically means “comply or face a fine.” However, such promises from governments are really worthless. They always go beyond their claims of restraint.
Apple has filed a complaint stating that the Australian government previously stated that they would not to weaken encryption or compel providers to build systemic weaknesses into their products for that would undermine the entire internet and bring commerce to a halt. Apple has made it clear that this legislation poses serious risks:
- Overly broad powers that could weaken cybersecurity and encryption
- A lack of appropriate independent judicial oversight
- Technical requirements based only on the government’s subjective view of reasonableness and practicability
- Unprecedented interception requirements
- Unnecessarily stifling secrecy mandates
- Extraterritoriality and global impact
Governments are in serious trouble and they will be raising taxes dramatically before they ever dare try to reform. In 2016, Apple fought back when the FBI attempted to compel Apple to unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone. Creating backdoors means that sophisticated hackers will discover them and exploit them faster than you can blink an eye. There is a profound risk of bringing down the entire digital e-commerce world and you are looking at the destruction of the entire world economy. Apple has come out and stated that this bill is still unfit for today’s world. Governments around the world have to realize that their greed can topple our very way of life
Angela Merkel Political Allies Crushed in Bavarian Election…
October 14, 2018
In yet another example of voters rejecting the mass-immigration and suicidal pro-jihad policies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bavarian voters delivered the most crushing defeat to her aligned political allies since 1950.
The Christian Socialist Union (CSU) lost more than 10% of their previous support; and their closest allies, the Socialist Democrats (SPD) also lost 10% of their base. The Alternative for Germany (AfD), a party focused on stopping the pro-jihad policies of Merkel, gained a strong foothold; and the Green Party became a landing place for those ‘tweeners’ who do not wish to be argumentative, yet disagree with Merkel’s political allies who accept a few Bavarian deaths as necessary to advance multicultural sensibilities.
[ie. Green Party gains = those who no longer support Germany’s rush to self destructive jihad, but also don’t want to run the gauntlet of being called racist within the AfD.]
BERLIN/MUNICH (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian allies suffered their worst election result since 1950 on Sunday, bleeding votes to the far-right and the ecologist Greens in a setback that raised tensions within Germany’s crisis-prone national government.
The Christian Social Union (CSU) won 37.3 percent of the vote, preliminary results showed, losing its absolute majority for only the second time since 1962 – an outcome sure to stoke infighting in the conservative party, already a difficult partner for Merkel in Berlin.
“Of course today is not an easy day for the CSU. We did not achieve a good result,” Bavarian premier Markus Soeder told a gathering of his party. “We accept the result with humility,” he said, adding that the CSU nonetheless wanted to form a stable government as soon as possible.
The result, which saw the pro-immigration Greens come second and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) enter the state assembly for the first time, means the CSU will need to form a coalition – a humiliation for a party used to ruling alone. (read more)
Break Out Session: Rand Paul Speech During Trump’s Kentucky Rally…
October 14, 2018
It would appear that Senator Rand Paul has embraced the MAGA movement. But seriously… As Godzilla Trump stomps down decades-old constructs of corrupt political enterprise, Senator Paul holds firm to key positions that are essential for the MAGA drive for freedom and individual liberty.
President Trump is the battle axe that makes Senator Rand Paul’s dreams possible.
President Trump is The Strongest and Most Determined Political Force in Our Lifetime…
October 13, 2018
“I am your voice!”…
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They’ve gone too far. “Donald Trump’s supporters are angry“, or “uneducated”, or “unenlightened”, or (fill_In_The_Blank). This hate-filled sentiment is clear within the latest vile,… nay,… evil and horrific smears directed toward Kanye West and anyone who dare defy the Marxist ideology of the political left.
Now the media narrative controllers are fully engaged along with their political brethren. Do not look away. The vulgar lies and filth are extreme as ideological entities utilize their microphones in a brutal attempt to advance their position in the mid-term election…
As we bear witness to the mob, anyone trying to convince us this entire assembly of our union is headed in the right direction, well, they might want to revisit their proximity to the 2018 election ballpark. Because they’re not just out of the city – they’re also out of the same state the election ballpark is located in….. Then again, the media know that.
David Mamet had a famous saying, essentially: …‘in order for democrats, liberals, progressives et al to continue their illogical belief systems they have to pretend not to know a lot of things’… By pretending ‘not to know’ there is no guilt, no actual connection to conscience. Denial of truth allows easier trespass.
This hate-filled Democrat ideology relies on two things: (1) Our willingness to reconcile their presentations and grant benefit within their seeds of doubt; and (2) Their ability to bait us into a physical confrontation the mob can use to define us. Do not look away.
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There is a level of anger far deeper, far more purposeful, and far more consequential than expressed rage or visible mob behavior, it’s called Cold Anger.
Cold Anger does not need to go to violence. For those who carry it, no conversation is needed when we meet. You cannot poll or measure it; specifically because most who carry it avoid discussion… And that decision has nothing whatsoever to do with any form of correctness.
We watched the passage of Obamacare at 1:38am on the day before Christmas Eve in 2009. We watched the Senate, then the House attempt passing Amnesty in 2014. We know exactly how it passed, and we know exactly why it passed. We don’t need to stand around talking about it….
We know what lies hidden behind “cloture” and the UniParty schemes.
We watch the 2009 $900+ billion Stimulus Bill being spent each year, every year, for seven consecutive years. Omnibus, Porkulous, QE1, QE2, Bailouts, Crony-Capitalism. We know exactly how this works, and we know exactly why this ruse is maintained. We don’t need to stand around talking about it…. We’re beyond talking.
We accept that the entire Senate voted to block President Trump’s ability to use recess appointments in 2017. Every.Single.Democrat.And.Republican.
Cold Anger absorbs betrayal silently, often prudently.
We’ve waited each year, every year, for ten years, to see a federal budget, only to be given another Omnibus spending bill by “CONservative” Speaker Ryan.
We’ve watched the ridiculing of cops, the riots, and the lack of support for laws, or their enforcement. We’ve been absorbing all that. We’ve been exposed to violence upon us by paid operatives of the organized DNC machine. We know; the media trying to hide it doesn’t change our level of information.
Cold Anger is not hatred, it is far more purposeful.
We watched in 2012 as the Democrat party thrice denied God during their convention. The doors to evil enterprise opened by official proclamation and request.
Cold Anger takes notice of the liars, even from a great distance – seemingly invisible to the mob. Cold Anger will still hold open the door for the riot goer. Mannerly.
We’ve watched our borders being intentionally unsecured.
We’ve watched Islamic Terrorists slaughter Americans as our politicians proclaim their uncertainty of motive. We know exactly who they are, and why they are doing it. We do not need to stand around discussing it…. we’re clear eyed.
Cold Anger evidenced is more severe because it is more strategic, and more purposeful. Eric Cantor’s defeat, Matt Bevin’s victory, Brexit, Donald Trump’s highest vote tally in the history of presidential primaries or Mark Sanford’s 2018 primary dispatch might aide your understanding.
Cold Anger does not gloat; it absorbs consistent vilification and ridicule as fuel. This sensibility does not want to exist, it is forced to exist in otherwise unwilling hosts – we also refuse to be destabilized by it.
Transgender bathrooms are more important than border security.
Illicit trade schemes, employment and the standard of living in Vietnam and Southeast Asia are more important to Wall Street and DC lobbyists, than the financial security of Youngstown Ohio.
We get it. We understand. We didn’t create that reality, we are simply responding to it.
Deliberate intent and prudence ensures we avoid failure. The course, is thoughtful vigilance; it is a strategy devoid of emotion. The media can call us anything they want, it really doesn’t matter…. we’re far beyond the place where labels matter.
Foolishness and betrayal of our nation have served to reveal dangers within our present condition. Misplaced corrective action, regardless of intent, is neither safe nor wise.
We know exactly who Donald Trump is, and we also know what he is not. He is exactly what we need at this moment. He is our necessary glorious bastard.
He is our weapon.
Cold Anger is not driven to act in spite of itself; it drives a reckoning.
When the well attired lady leaves the checkout line carrying steaks and shrimp using an EBT card, the door is still held open for her; yet notations necessarily embed.
When the U.S. flags lay gleefully undefended, they do not lay unnoticed. When the stars and stripes are controversial, yet the foreign flag is honored – we are paying attention.
When millionaire football players kneel down rather than honor our fallen soldiers and stand proud of our country, we see that. Check the NFL TV ratings – take note.
When a school community cannot openly pray, it does not mean the prayerful were absent.
When a liar seems to win, it is not without observation. Many – more than the minority would like to admit – know the difference between science, clocks and political agendas.
Cold Anger perceives deception the way a long-term battered spouse absorbs the blow in the hours prior to the pre-planned exit; with purpose.
A shield, or cry of micro-aggression will provide no benefit, nor quarter. Delicate sensibilities are dispatched like a feather in a hurricane.
We are patient, but also purposeful. Pushed far enough, decisions are reached.
[…] On the drive to and from the East Coast, I paid attention to the billboards and bumper-stickers. Folks, the people in “Fly over” country are PISSED, from the guy that guides hunters, to the mayors of towns and cities, to state senators congressmen and Governors who are voting to arrest and imprison federal law enforcement officials for enforcing federal gun laws that don’t agree with state law … The political pendulum has never, in the history of humanity, stayed on one side of a swing. The back lash from over reach has always been proportionate to how far off center it went before coming back … right now we’re staring at a whole hell of a lot of the country (about 80-90% of the land mass, as well as about 50+% of the population) that is FED UP. You really don’t want those guys to decide that the only way to fix it is to burn it down and start over… (more)
It’s too late…
MAGA Americans are as unfamiliar with our current enemy as any virtuous community who have never encountered the corrupt, conniving and Godless leftist ideology.
But we see them now. We see the mob. It is our job to stand in support of our nation and support our most effective weapon ever deployed, Donald J Trump.
To appropriately respond we must engage purposefully, as an insurgency. We must modify our disposition to think like an insurgent. Insurgencies have nothing to lose. If insurgents are not victorious the system, which controls the dynamic, wins. However, if insurgents do nothing, the same system, which controls the dynamic, also wins.
Do nothing and we lose. Go to the mattresses, and we might win. The choice is ours.
Right now, through November 6, every day is Saint Crispins day.
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.’
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
The awakened American middle-class insurgency, led by Donald Trump, is an existential threat to the professional political class and every entity who lives in/around the professional political class. Their entire political apparatus is threatened by our insurgency. The entire political industry, all of governance, is threatened by our force, through Donald Trump.
Decision time.
You know why the entire apparatus is united against President Trump. You know why the corrupt Wall Street financial apparatus is united against President Trump. You know why every institutional department, every lobbyist, every K-Street dweller, every career legislative member, staffer, and the various downstream economic benefactors, including the corporate media, all of it – all the above, are united against Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is an existential threat to the existence of a corrupt DC system we have exposed to his disinfecting sunlight. Donald Trump is the existential threat to every entity who benefits from that corrupt and vile system.
Global elites now stand with jaw-agape in horror as they witness our horde. The value of multi-billion dollar contracts dispatched at our leisure. Trillion dollar multi-national trade deals full of scheme and graft, left nothing more than tenuous propositions smashed asunder from the mere sound of our approach.
The fundamental construct within decades of their united global efforts to tear at the very fabric of our U.S.A is being eliminated. They too have nothing to lose; their desperation becomes visible within their apoplexy; and they’re damn sure displaying it.
Do not look away.
Throw aside the sense of discomfort and bear witness to the evil we oppose. Do not turn your eyes from the hatred focused in our direction. Stand firm amid the solace of our number and resolve to the task at hand.
Those who oppose our efforts are merely vile parasites quivering as they stare into the Cold Anger furnace of righteousness.
Who fuels that furnace?
…..US !
It Ain’t Interest Rates – It’s the Elections Stupid!
Armstrong Economics Blog/Interest Rates
Re-Posted Oct 14, 2018 by Martin Armstrong
Jeff Bezos of Amazon loses about $80 million for every dollar the stock goes down. No billionaire was hit as hard by the drop this week in the share market than Jeff Bezos. During the Wednesday selloff alone, the Amazon founder and CEO lost more than $9 billion. This is how they measure people’s worth by the value of shares they hold which is NOT cash. If he ever tried to sell everything, the share price would also crash. At the peak, his net worth reached $160 billion, according to Forbes.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows Bezos total net worth is $145 billion, comfortably ahead of Bill Gates, who sits second at $96.3 billion. Gates lost more than $2 billion, while Warren Buffett lost nearly $4.5 billion. When we look at the Arrays, the week coming up as a key target has nothing to do with interest rates – it’s the elections STUPID
Centinel2012 