Tag Archives: Hyperinflation

Mar 9 2020

2022 & Repo Crisis


Armstrong Economics Blog/Economics

Re-Posted Mar 9, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

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.

Categories: Economics
Mar 6 2020

The European Bank Scandal Nobody Talks About


Armstrong Economics Blog/Banking Crisis

Re-Posted Mar 6, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

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.

Mar 4 2020

Fed Cuts Rate on Schedule!


Armstrong Economics Blog/Interest Rates

Re-Posted Mar 3, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

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

Mar 4 2020

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


Posted originally on The Conservative Tree House on March 3, 2020 by 

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]

Mar 3 2020

Why Goldbugs Get Crushed


Armstrong Economics Blog/Gold

Re-Posted Mar 3, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

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.

Feb 26 2020

Internet Frauds From Hacking Emails to Dating Site Frauds


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption

Posted Feb 25, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

The amount of fraud taking place on the internet is in the billions. They will hack your email and then have money wired to Hong Kong. That is a popular destination. One guy lost $450,000 in three days. Then there are the fake nurses who claim to be working for the United Nations seeking love on dating sites. They are naturally on their way home, targeting lonely old men. At the last minute, they get robbed or lose their wallet and ask for hundreds to a couple of thousands to be wired, of course, to Africa. The money probably goes into the vault where some guy in Nigeria has hundreds of millions of dollars, and nobody to leave it to unless you give him your bank details.

The more common frauds on dating sites are girls looking to shake down lonely old men with promises of love. They are ready to hop on a plane at a moment’s notice provided you send them the money to buy the ticket. Others have a broken phone and need you to buy a new iPhone so they can tell you how much they love you. There are also guys conning windows with a whole host of excuses to clean out their bank accounts.

We are all aware of credit card fraud. I had it done to me once in an airport about 20 years ago. A legit company wanted me to read my credit card number over the phone and the guy in the next booth was writing it down. Obviously, I will never read my card over the phone again. The other time, I have no idea how someone was using my card to download music from iTunes. When I called the credit card company, they first tried say I had to call iTunes to have them change my account. I had to get angry and explain I did not have an account at iTunes. They finally reversed three months of charges.

Things have changed and they will change even more. We have to realize that we are moving to digital currencies and the unusual hype that has been spun around this coronavirus is very suspicious. A virus can live on paper for some time. China is disinfecting its paper currency. I would not be surprised that the West are hyping this virus to insane levels to use it as an excuse to eliminate paper currency that will aid tax collections.

If you have a family member, tell them to require approval for any wire from their account. Bank of America has a secure pass where they send an authorization to your phone with a number you must type in to send any wire. If your bank does not have something similar, it may be time to switch. As for those with lonely relatives trying out the internet, tell them to NEVER send money to anyone you have never met face to face. Those two precautions are vital in this new world of online fraud. Use some common sense. If some girl is a nurse working for the UN and everything is stolen, the UN will help her — not you.