Things Lost and Things Gained, What a difference they can make!


Mathematics & Dark Age

drawing_math_equation_pc_1600_clr_3804

We tend to judge far too much by our own times. What cannot be overlooked was the lack of mathematics following the dark age. When numbers were Roman numerals, bookkeeping and any calculation was not supportive of international accounting. Interesting enough was where pornography enabled the video streaming it was gambling that gave birth to mathematics. Vices often inspire innovation.

Fibonacci-1

It was the publication in 1202 of “Liber Abaci” (Book of Abacus) by Leonardo Pisano or Bonacci (1l70-l240AD) of Pisa known to most as Fibonacci. When Fibonacci published his Liber Abaci that introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals, this method that allowed calculations was not taught in schools and was unknown in Christian circles except among a very small group of intellectuals who had access to translations of the Arab mathematician al-Khwarizmi (780-850 AD).

Fibonacci’s Liber Abaci introduced vital concepts that enable banking to emerge. The first seven chapters dealt with notation introducing the idea of a place value whereas the position of a figure determines where it is a unit such as 10, 100, 1000 and so on. He also introduced the use of numerals in arithmetical calculations. These techniques were ground-breaking for a culture that lost its identity with the fall of Rome. Fibonacci then illustrates practical problems how to calculate profit margin, moneychanging, barter, conversion of weights and measures, partnerships, and last but not least interest. He even introduced some geometry and algebra. This work was so earth-shattering, it became the topic of discussion and caught the attention of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (1215-1250)(King of Sicily 1198-1250).

Phi

 

Fibonacci solved the problems submitted to him as a test where the third problem x3+2×2+10x=20 (modern notation), he solved using the Babylonian method based upon sexagesimal fractions (base 60), which when translated into modern decimals is 1.3688081075. Fibonacci is strangely best known for his sequence derived from a pair of multiplying rabbits (1, I, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 .•. ) where the progression follows what has become known as the “golden ratio” 1.6180 that was discovered by the University of Glascow mathematician Robert Simson in 1753.

The Arabs and the Jews were always highly educated and were not victims of superstition of the times. Thus, the knowledge of mathematics was highly restricted to these groups back then. Jews were not just moneylenders, but they had also been captains of ships where Christians were ignorant of mathematics. Therefore, Fibonacci opened the door for capitalism by first creating a knowledge base of mathematics introducing the decimal system to Europe. Finally, the secrets of mathematics were starting to resurface from the Dark Ages.

If we did go into a Dark Age, knowledge seems to evaporate. The question remains, what knowledge will evaporate this time if we go back that far?

These trends are very hard if not impossible to stop and the next one is going to be significant — either real freedom or 1984!


The Sixth Wave

Sixth-Wave

security_guard_camera_anim_500_clr_14148Yes, we will be addressing the seriousness of the culmination of the last three waves. 2015.75 was the start of the Big Bang — the midpoint in this immediate 51.6 year wave. This sequence of the 309.6 year wave began with the revolution against the monarchy; what comes this time is either real Democracy or authoritarianism. Government is doing everything in its power to achieve the latter.

They KNOW what is coming. Everything they created is crumbling before their eyes. Socialism has been robbing the people to further the corruption in government. It has lowered the living standards and has subsidized education and medicine to the point where they no longer need to be competitive. These are two areas that will need serious reform. Tracking money and people will not prevent the demise of the political-economic system we find ourselves within. What comes after this crisis is the unanswered question.

What makes money worth something? This is a good account of what it is.


Mainstream vs. Austrian Economics

Gorilla-Thinking

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, I believe the difference between the Austrian school of economics and mainstream economics is that mainstream economists believe recessions are inherent to capitalism and can be controlled by manipulation where the Austrian school argues the causation is fiat money with or without central banking. You seem to ascribe to something in between. Can you explain?

JZ

ANSWER: Both schools are wrong for both assume that the business cycle began with the industrial revolution. The mainstream group follows Marx and Keynes and assumes the business cycle is a flaw within the modern industrial economy; the Austrian schools are fixated on assuming this is caused by paper money.

Both are DEAD WRONG. This is the same limited thinking as global warming where nobody looks at the data before 1900. Forest fires and volcanoes put up more CO2 than cars. Here the assumption is that the business cycle was somehow born with the Industrial Revolution and paper money. Sorry, any investigation of history reveals there has ALWAYS been a business cycle and its cause has nothing to do with the Industrial Revolution or fiat money. It is inherent within human nature, and we swing political systems left and right based upon the same inherent emotional tendencies of people. There will be people who flatly disagree with me that only gold is money. No matter what evidence I put forth, they will never change. The same is true of diehard republicans or democrats. Some just hate the other and they cannot even explain why they belong to those groups.

The problem with both camps is that their assumptions begin with the Industrial Age. Neither has done extensive research before this period nor have they ever bothered to look. They are fixed in their ideas and everything begins with that era. There is no testing their theories over thousands of years. It is like looking at the Dow Jones only since 2011 and concluding it always must rise.

The idea that fiat money is responsible for the business cycle is not very practical when paper-like monetary systems existed in ancient times, such as when Egypt issued coins after being conquered by Alexander the Great. Paper money was also in China, and in fact, China never issued precious metal coinage and their currency was always fiat since the emperor was God’s representative who declared what value money would be, which is precisely fiat. Fiat can be tangible coins that are debased. Gold would be fiat if government declared its value is fixed at whatever price. Fiat is the declaring of value irrespective of any commodity value.

Minoan-Ingots-3-R

Gold has NO real commodity value outside of demand nor does silver. Both were totally dependent upon demand, based upon desirability like art. Cattle and bronze had a tangible value for both served a consumption purpose as food or as plows and swords. Therefore, tangible money must have a “use” other than money.

Gold and silver were prized objects but had no utilitarian “use” value outside of jewelry. Gold was desirable but was not a vital commodity that served a purpose beyond its prized status like art. Therefore, numerous monetary systems have existed that were not gold based since the medium of exchange had to have a “use” value other than as money. That was the core of all barter systems – I give you this for that.

As far as mainstream economists assuming that government can manipulate demand, even Paul Volcker admitted in his Rediscovery of the Business Cycle that this idea of “new economics” has failed.

invisible-hand

I believe more in Adam Smith and the invisible hand. Money is whatever people say it is. Dictating money shall be gold, seashells, cattle, paper, or slave girls as St. Patrick reported in Ireland, is still fiat – the dictating by government what shall be money. Money is not a store of value; it is a medium of exchange. In that case, it is merely an agreed upon medium to supplant barter. That’s all.

We have two camps arguing with each other and at the core of both is the assumption that government is in control one way or another. I disagree. The people are in control and those in power are there ONLY until they go too far. A revolution always takes place. There are no exceptions throughout history. In the end, the people must consent to be ruled and it must be a rule that is fair and equitable. Whenever politicians, dictators, or kings forget that they require the consent of the people to rule, that is when they fall.

If you got this far I have posted a solution here on a New Form of Money

Money is also Perishable – Debasement & Devaluation Easier than Taxing or Defaulting


SAY-JB

QUESTION: Martin; Why in the world anyone would invest in government debt when they all default in the end?

GH

ANSWER: Honestly, most people are oblivious to the fact that government always default in modern times. Jean Baptiste Say took the position that a rational businessman will never hoard money because of inflation and he will promptly spend any money he gets “for the value of money is also perishable.” (A Treatise on Political Economy, Book I Chapter XV; 1803 id/138–9). Before modern times, money was ALWAYS debased or devalued as a means of paying expenses. It was easier to do this even under using metal for coins than to tax or borrow.

EDWARD1In the modern era, the Princes of Europe began to borrow money and quickly learned to imprison and default on their bankers.It was Edward I of England who borrowed from the Jews and when he could not repay, he suddenly discovered they were Jewish and banned them from England while not allowing them to take property.

Honestly, it is just insane. They do not do their research and governments are always responsible for creating wars and destroying the savings of the people. Even Adam Smith in his 1776 Wealth of Nations expressed it best.

Smith-Impertinence-of-Kings

We are just fools. We insanely believe that we can replace one politicians with another and something will really change. The ONLY possible way to achieve change is to change the very system of how government functions. Until we are prepared to do that, suck it up for your future belongs to the madness and corruption of politicians.

Inspirational Quote of the Day: Beware the Free Cheese


What more can you say!

Thomas Malthus was wrong he didn’t understand the human mind and its ability to make things!


World Population

World-Pop-Grand-Canyon

QUESTION: Do you think the world is overpopulated and that is the problem?

ANSWER: Anyone who has flown around the world and looks out the window, knows that there are vast areas where humankind does not exist. We actually occupy about 3% of the landmass which is 29% and 40% of that is just wilderness. If you took the 7.2 billion people and put them in a pile, it would not even fill the Grand Canyon. Indeed, if we took everyone who ever existed and threw them into the pile (106 billion), it still would not come close to filling it

The market always wins in the end!


Market Manipulations: The Greatest Scam of All TIME

Manipulation-2

Throughout history, there has NEVER been a market manipulated TO ALTER its long-term trend – PERIOD. If this were remotely true, then communism would not have collapsed since that was the attempt to eliminate the business cycle. The Swiss peg would not have collapsed, nor would Bretton Woods have collapsed, or anything else in history that has attempt to eliminate the business cycle.

Silver-Trade

It is total nonsense that people even dare to entertain the idea that anything can be manipulated to alter its long-term trend. In the movie “The Forecaster”, a former employee said that before he joined the firm he did his due diligence and called the people at Goldman Sachs to ask about me. They said that they “thought” they could “crush” me but I “usually won.”

 

Silver 04-03-97 1st Try to Manipulate Silver

All the banks lined up to manipulate silver to the upside in March of 1997. My models clearly showed silver would decline, and their attempt to run it up would fail. I stood my ground and took on the whole group. Their attempt to manipulate the market failed. I believe this is when PhiBro ran to Warren Buffet and convinced him to hand them $1 billion to try to manipulate silver up.

PhiBro walked across the ring in September, and this time showed me their orders for Buffet to try to convince me to join them. My models showed that a pop was possible at that time. I did not join, and instead, stepped away. I warned our clients that the target was $7 by January. Their manipulation succeeded, but it forced Buffet to come out and admit he put in $1 billion to buy silver and then quietly sold out afterwards.

The evidence that was a SHORT-TERM manipulation that still could not alter the long-term trend is demonstrated by the charts below. Yes, silver rallied, but gold declined. Claims that silver is manipulated today because it has declined more than many other commodities are nonsense. Evidence of a manipulation must be a counter-trend move. Even the Japanese government lost $1.3 trillion trying to support the Nikkei. They failed. The Chinese government has tried to support their stock market. It has failed.

The amount of capital that will trade against anything that moves against its long-term trend is endless. If you really believe all this nonsense, then you better trade a different market. Why buy something that is manipulated and can never rally? It makes no sense.

There is no secret plot to keep gold down to pretend inflation is lower. Gold has NEVER correlated with inflation and it is such a tiny market that it has no relevance to concerns of inflation when we are in a massive deflationary mode. Just look at all commodities.

Get over it if you really want to survive the years ahead. If you do not invest on reality, you will never exit and will hold on to losing positions because people are swearing they are right; it’s someone else that makes the market decline. This is not the way to survive.

Gold-Silv-1998

A Government is never satisfied until it as ALL THE MONEY & WEALTH


Why Taxes MUST be eliminated

Bug-Stops-Here-DonkeyHotey

The Guardian has obtained documents showing that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is now listening to people’s phone calls and this is showing it has to do with money – not terrorism. The IRS is now also has sophisticated cellphone dragnet equipment known as Stingray, where without search warrants, they are targeting people to get them hiding money..

No economic effect from this — for now!


Yuan to be Added to SDR at the IMF

China-Yuan-Currency

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; If I understand you correctly, should the IMF accept the yuan as a reserve currency, this will have zero impact other than political. Correct?

RH

ANSWER: Correct. The IMF will decide in November whether to expand the current composition (US dollar, euro, yen and British pound) of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) with another currency.Whether this takes place is really irrelevant. The Euro is already in there and that has done nothing to kill the dollar, the yen is not a viable place to park international capital and the pound is too small. The hype people are associating with this is really stupid. Whether the IMF includes the yuan in the SDR is meaningless for the reserve currency must bee deep and a place to park big money. That has not yet been established for the yuan. It should help to get the dollar bears all short so they can add the fuel for the next rally.

Eventually, the yuan will emerge as a real reserve currency. However, it is not yet ready for prime time. This is a political issue that is necessary right now because the Chinese economy is turning down and that is impact the emerging markets and will help to turn Europe into a real depression. So this is political at this time and it to try to help support the yuan which is under serious pressure with massive capital outflows.

This is relevant because we are facing a sovereign debt bubble like one never seen on this planet before.


Debt Forgiveness / Cancellations

Debt Foregiveness

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; What do you think of the Biblical forgiveness of debt which this time was due with the turn of your model?

ANSWER: Debt cancellation or forgiveness actually was a tradition that began under Sumerian rule in Mesopotamia. The Jewish tradition appears to have been adopted from the Sumerian. Do not forget that Abraham came from the Sumerian city of Ur. Therefore, he would have grown up with that tradition.

Summerian Debt Cancellation

Consequently, the debt cancellation practice began in Mesopotamia and can be traced back to 2400 BC extending into 1400 BC. The noted historian on this subject, Michael Hudson, I believe is absolutely correct when he states that general debt cancellation was one of the principal characteristics of Bronze Age societies in Mesopotamia. There were numerous debt cancellations in the Mesopotamian cities which used the words for these debt forgiveness decrees or cancellations such as amargi in Lagash (Sumer), nig-sisa in Ur, andurarum in Ashur, misharum in Babylon, shudutu in Nuzi.

(See:Michael Hudson’s Debt Cancellations)

However, we are way beyond such a solution thanks to SOCIALISM. Countless people now rely entirely upon pensions and social security type systems for their retirement. Many such programs by decree must invest “conservatively” in government debt. To default will set off a blood-bath if not a Mad Max event. During the Bronze Age, debts were private and did not tend to be expectation that you would be taken care of for life. So the debt structure was entirely different. Today, such a debt forgiveness would cause total economic meltdown. This is why we have proposed the solution we have. There is no option to cancel of default without major civil unrest if not revolution.

The debt cancellations of the Bronze Age can be distinguished as PRIVATE. They were not PUBLIC debts borrowed from the people that they just never paid back. This was a debt forgiveness within the private sector. I might add that during the civil war that ended the Republic of Rome, the people cheered Julius Caesar and assumed he too would cancel all private debts. He adopted a different resolution forgiving all past interest applying that to capital with revaluing property and money to the same purchasing power parity. Clearly, the people were aware of the debt forgiveness ideas in that region. (See Anatomy of a Debt Crisis).

Sumerian-Cone

(Note: We have collected economic text from Mesopotamia as part of our research project in reconstructing the historical economic history of civilization. Here I hold one Sumerian cone from our collection. I funded archaeological digs that would further our knowledge of the past in order to reconstruct the history of the world, much of which the academics will not explain for reasons it will contradict prior theories. Then there is their communistic approach to knowledge.

Villa-of-the-papyriI was asked to fund the dig at the House of the Papyri near Pompey in Herculaneum. Half of this villa has still not been excavated. This was a villa of a book collector and the Greek part of the collection is still buried. Here is all the lost books of Greek historians waiting to to uncovered. The Italian government lacks the money so 20 years after I was asked to fund this project, it still remains undone.

Additionally, the latest issue concerns material that arises on the black market rather than a archaeological dig. For example, during the first Gulf War in Iraq, the bombing uncovered a city previously unknown. The archives of all the text appeared on the black market. Academics boycott such things rather than trying to save them. They object to private people using private funds for research and treat the subject as if it were a communistic state that only they should have such cache to play with. Something I seriously disagree with for there is never always public funds available for such projects.

In this particular case, thousands of tablets were on the black market. I bid to get the entire collection. There was a Norwegian collector of documents, Martin Schoyen. I do not recall what my bid was but it was many millions of dollars. Martin and I met in Zurich for dinner. Since he was a specialist in documents, we reached an agreement that my interest was economic. Martin even had an original Magna Carta. So the deal we struck was that I could use the economic text in return for bowing out of the bidding.

Ur-NammuWhat made this find so valuable was it contained legal code predating Hammurabi who academics teach was the first legal code. Here we have the Legal Code of (ca. 2100BC) which is the oldest known, written law code that predates Hammurabi’s law code by about 300 years. The translation of this legal code was provided by Martin Schøyen, a Norwegian collector of manuscripts containing over 13,000 documents. His private efforts have contributed greatly to our knowledge base when government funding for translation is lacking and academic lack the funds to save material on the black market. When the Legal Code of Hammurabi (1792-1750BC) was first discovered in 1901, his laws were heralded as the earliest known examples. Subsequent to that discovery, older collections of legal codes have been unearthed. There are even older Babylonian copies of the Legal Code of Ur-Nammu (ca. 1900-1700 BC).

When I say we have THE largest database known to humankind, I am not exaggerating. You cannot create models if you lack the data to input. How can you forecast a debt crisis or list the possible outcomes without understanding how such a crisis has been resolved throughout history or how they appeared in the first place. People can pretend to do what we do, but how is that possible without the data?