Tag Archives: Hunt for Taxes

Jun 27 2017

May Forms Government To Retain Power in Britain


Armstrong Economics Blog/BRITAIN

Re-Posted Jun 27, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May has at last secured a governing majority in the UK Parliament by agreeing to spend £1 billion on top of £500 million previously promised to Northern Ireland. Of course the stability of the May government going forward will be delicate as Jeremy Corbyn does his best to bring down the May government and seize control for Labour.

The deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will provide its 10 members to back May’s minority government over the Queen’s Speech. This will relate to the national security of Britain and maintain Brexit. Theresa May made the public statement:

“I welcome this agreement which will enable us to work together in the interest of the whole United Kingdom, give us the certainty we require as we embark on our departure from the European Union, and help us build a stronger and fairer society at home.”
Jun 27 2017

EU Extends Sanctions Against Russia Killing Their Own Economy


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Jun 27, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The EU has extended its economic sanctions against Russia for another six months, which really makes no sense. No sanction will cause Putin to abandon a strategic port in Crimea that was originally Russian territory before it gave it to Ukraine to be administered. President Donald Tusk announced it on Twitter interestingly revealing that Chancellor Angela Merkel calls the shots for all of Europe. True, France’s President Emmanuel Macron also was consulted and agreed, naturally he will do as he is told, and then the rest of the Heads of State and Government at the EU summit in Brussels were informed of the decision.

The punitive measures imposed by the sanctions since 2014 in the wake of the Ukraine crisis have produced nothing but a new cold war. The sanctions are now extended until January 2018. Russia naturally imposed counter-sanctions against the EU which hit the European industrial companies as well as the agriculture.

Demonstrating how successful sanctions have been, Russia shocked the world with a surprise where they have entered the airline industry. They had a successful test flight of a new medium range passenger plane owned by the state controlled United Aircraft Corporation. This new plane, the MC-21-300, flew at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour on its maiden flight.

 

The MC-21-300 has a capacity between 163 and 211 passengers and a maximum flight range of 6,000 kilometers. So the sanctions only produced competition for the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320.

Jun 27 2017

Supreme Court Upholds Trump’s Travel Ban


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law

Re-Posted Jun 27, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ET AL. No. 16–1436 (16A1190) v. INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE ASSISTANCE PROJECT, ET AL.

582 U. S. ____ (2017) (Per Curiam)

Trump-Internation al Refugee Assistance Project

Donald Trump was vindicated by the Supreme Court regarding the dispute over the provisional entry ban for citizens from six countries. The Supreme Court of the United States overturned the provisional injunctions of subordinate authorities. Of course mainstream media is once again misrepresenting the decision. The New York Times wrote: “On Monday, the justices agreed to review both appellate decisions, but their unsigned opinion did not address the merits of those cases. “

The “unsigned opinion” was Per Curiam meaning it was the UNANIMOUS decision of the entire court and this did not requite an opinion written by one Justice. This is a STAY to allow Trump to do what the travel ban was all about – a review. Such stays are typically Per Curiam when granted for the Supreme Court rarely grants such a stay. Here we have two lower courts interfering with the Executive Powers, for which there was absolutely NO historical precedent. If ISIS openly sent in 1,000 people to be terrorists, they would be able to freely enter all because the lower courts were playing politics rather than law.

Of course there is the famous Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944) where the constitutionality of the Presidential Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II regardless of citizenship was upheld. There the Supreme Court upheld held that the need to protect against espionage outweighed Fred Korematsu’s individual rights, and the rights of Americans of Japanese descent. So even American born Japanese were locked up just because they were Japanese.

There is even a statue specifying who may not receive a entry visa: 8 U.S. Code § 1182 – Inadmissible aliens. This even bans people with physical disease or mental disorder with the exception of adopting children under the age of 10. Criminals are barred if their crime was involving moral turpitude (sex crime) or a drug dealers. Those convicted otherwise of two or more crimes are banned or women who have been convicted of prostitution within 10 years. Moreover, the Attorney General may ban anyone he reasonably has grounds to believe is seeking to enter the United States to engage solely, principally, or incidentally in the violation of U.S. law.

So why has the media called Trump racist and treated him with such hatred over a 90 day ban? It is just politics. There is absolutely no legal ground whatsoever to deny the order. The Supreme Court noted the exceptions that Trump himself acknowledge needed some qualification.  The court provided general guidelines — say, a family member of someone living in the country, a student admitted to a university or a worker with an employment offer in hand.

The Fourth Circuit had struck down the ban using the First Amendment claiming it was religious focused saying Trump’s ban “drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination.” That was really a very bad decision since they were bans on six countries not Muslims and that would include even Christians. I have Muslim employees and they come and go with no problem. Clearly, it is not a ban on all Muslims and thus their narrowly focused decision was political, not legally sound. It was a 90 day ban while a review was to be taken. The ban would have been long over by now. In fact, the Supreme Court pointed that out: “We fully expect that the relief we grant today will permit the Executive to conclude its internal work and provide adequate notice to foreign governments” within 90 days, the court said.

The legal grounds for granting a stay by the Supreme Count is straight forward. It must meet a two-prong test (1) whether the stay applicant has made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed on the merits and (2) whether the applicant will be irreparably injured. The mere fact that the Supreme Court issued the stay proves that Trump acted constitutionally and the President has that power.

Had there been only one lower court decision, then the Circuit Justice overseeing that circuit could have issued a stay by himself. In this case, we had two separate decisions from two separate circuits and thus it went to the whole court. That is why the decision a unanimous and thus Per Curiam.

 

 

Jun 26 2017

Sunday Talks: Kellyanne Conway -vs- George Stephanopoulos…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on June 25, 2017 by

White House Senior Adviser to the President Kellyanne Conway is interviewed by former Clinton White House aide ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos about the current healthcare bills on Capitol Hill.

ABC’s Stephanopoulos is one of the most ardent Democrat party ideologues/operatives within media and this interview is a representative example of how he argues exclusively from a position of ideological advocacy against the Trump administration.

The example above explains the following:

Jun 26 2017

European Commission Trying to Seize Control of Euro


Armstrong Economics Blog/Euro €

Re-Posted Jun 26, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

I reported previously that the European Commission is seeking to take the clearing of the Euro derivative transactions from London and move them to Paris. The European Central Bank (ECB) is warning that it must secure strong access rights for the supervision of the cross-border settlement of financial transactions after the departure of Great Britain from the EU. About 90%+ of all euro derivatives transactions are settled via clearing houses in London such as LCH.Clearnet. In the middle of a crisis, the ECB would have no power to shut the market to protect the euro from the free market forces. Of course, what they fail to grasp here is trying to seize the euro clearing and move it by decree to Paris will only undermine the euro even more. What will they do next? Forbid the euro to trade in New York, Chicago, or Asia? Do that and the euro will become a massive short.

The ECB actually came clean and the papers filed at the Commission seems to suggest that the central bank indeed expects the possibility of a very major and serious financial crises ahead. That reflects what I have been warning about that they are trapped. Once Draghi stops buying government debt, we may see a meltdown in the euro altogether. The ECB wrote: “It is to be expected that significant developments on both the global and the European level will increase the risks posed by clearing systems.”

Keep in mind that the European Commission has already outlawed naked short-selling of the sovereign debt and European shares. The ECB is now focusing on clearing houses of financial products to control any emergency they see against the euro.  Mario Draghi has been ringing the warning bell that they would have at best minor oversight of the UK-based clearing houses after a BREXIT. He believes they can simply muscle the markets to prevent a collapse.

The ECB estimates that repo transactions denominated in euro in the daily volume of €101 billion and open positions in interest rate swaps in euro reach daily trading volume of €33 trillion are cleared through clearing houses in Great Britain. Draghi has proposed that Article 22 of the ESCB Statute be amended in such a way that, even after the BREXIT, they still have sufficient control rights over euro clearing. Draghi wants it both ways. He wants the euro to be a world class currency, but then wants absolute control to shut down any undesirable counter trends.

Jun 25 2017

Wow – Standard and Poor’s Threaten Illinois With Municipal “Junk Bond” Status – First State Ever Facing “Junk Bond” Status…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on June 24, 2017 by

There was a widely read Chicago Tribune op-ed written a few days ago outlining an approach to dissolve the entire state and apportion the geography to Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa. –SEE HERE–  It was written tongue-in-cheek, but with an uncomfortable level of reality behind it.

Illinois has been struggling with its finances for a long, long time.

The Illinois long-term labor pension liabilities are ridiculous in the extreme.  However, things just went from bad to jaw-droppingly, gobsmackingly, unbelievably worse.

 

According to the latest financial media reports, Standard and Poors Global Ratings agency has positioned Illinois bonds to drop below “investment” grade; that would make Illinois the first state in the nation to achieve “junk bond” status.

(Via ABC) Illinois is on track to become the first U.S. state to have its credit rating downgraded to “junk” status, which would deepen its multibillion-dollar deficit and cost taxpayers more for years to come.

S&P Global Ratings has warned the agency will likely lower Illinois’ creditworthiness to below investment grade if feuding lawmakers fail to agree on a state budget for a third straight year, increasing the amount the state will have to pay to borrow money for things such as building roads or refinancing existing debt.

The outlook for a deal wasn’t good Saturday, as lawmakers meeting in Springfield for a special legislative session remained deadlocked with the July 1 start of the new fiscal year approaching.

That should alarm everyone, not just those at the Capitol, said Brian Battle, director at Performance Trust Capital Partners, a Chicago-based investment firm.

“It isn’t a political show,” he said. “Everyone in Illinois has a stake in what’s happening here. One day everybody will wake up and say ‘What happened? Why are my taxes going up so much?’”  (read more)

Ouch !

Jun 25 2017

Britain on the Edge of Collapse?


Armstrong Economics Blog/BRITAIN

Re-Posted Jun 25, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

 

So far, Prime Minister Theresa May has been unable to form a majority government. She is now officially on the clock and being unable to strike a deal means her government will fall apart. Negotiations with the Democratic Unionist Party, a far-right Northern Irish outfit whose support seems necessary for her to win the vote, have not gone well.

Jun 24 2017

Judiciary Committee Sends Letter of Inquiry to Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on June 23, 2017 by

The leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking member Dianne Feinstein, have officially launched an investigation into former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.  Their inquiry surrounds Lynch assuring the Hillary Clinton campaign that the FBI probe into Clinton’s emails wouldn’t go too far.

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/352113729/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-t42Dlp6EncjE21sWcnct

(Via Politico) The Judiciary panel announced Friday it had sent letters to Lynch and other officials — the opening bid in what Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said last week would be separate investigations into the firing of former FBI Director James Comey and whether the Obama administration attempted to influence FBI investigations. (more)

Jun 24 2017

Whoopsie – Debbie Wasserman-Schultz Accidentally Proves WaPo Russian Conspiracy Article is Baseless…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on June 23, 2017 by

When people react to questions from a perspective of individual self-preservation they tend to forget their professional obligation to the bigger institutional picture.

Reference Evelyn Farkas on MSNBC for one very visible and specific recent example.

Today we have another unintentional admission thanks to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and CNN.

Currently, the DNC and left-wing media apparatus writ large, are trying desperately to regain footing on the ‘vast Russian conspiracy narrative’, as specifically evidenced by the Washington Post article published early on Friday.

Included within the exhaustive Post article, and specifically as foundational evidence to support the overall conspiracy, the Washington Post highlights Russian “hacking” of the DNC servers.  Here’s an excerpt:

(WaPo) […] Meanwhile, the FBI was tracking a flurry of hacking activity against U.S. political parties, think tanks and other targets. Russia had gained entry to DNC systems in the summer of 2015 and spring of 2016, but the breaches did not become public until they were disclosed in a June 2016 report by The Post. (link)

However, almost simultaneously, in another media format, former head of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, was being questioned about this very issue in the context of former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson’s recent congressional testimony.

What happens next is almost too funny for words. (see video below)

While attempting to defend her professional qualifications from the accusations of ineptitude, Debbie Wasserman-Shultz ends up calling Jeh Johnson a liar and simultaneously destroys the credibility of the Washington Post article.

Seriously.  Watch:

.

“Maybe she can see the Macedonians from her house”…

Jun 24 2017

ECB Declares Two Italian Banks Have Failed


Armstrong Economics Blog/Banking Crisis

Re-Posted Jun 24, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced as of June 23rd, that it was declaring two Italian banks insolvent. Veneto Banca SpA and Banca Popolare di Vicenza SpA have failed since the two banks repeatedly violated the regulatory capital requirements. The determination was made in accordance with Article 18 (1a) and Article 18 (4a) of the Uniform Resolution Mechanism Regulation.

The European banking crisis continues.