Democrats and Republicans Agree – Biden is Too Old for Office


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Aug 31, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Biden mumbles through every teleprompter script he’s forced to read. He is clearly suffering from a severe cognitive decline, and yet, his administration want to keep him in office. I believe this comes down more to cognitive functions rather than age, as Trump is considered an older candidate but extremely sharp. A new poll published by the Associated Press shows that Americans on both sides fear Joe is too old to run the country.

Overall, 77% of respondents said that Joe Biden cannot handle four more years due to his age. Around 89% of Republicans agreed, as did 69% of Democrats. Around half of respondents said that Trump, who is four years younger than Joe, is too old to lead. However, that view was overwhelmingly more present among Democrats.

Around 67% of respondents believe Supreme Court justices need an age limit, and 68% believe all politicians should be forced to retire by a certain age. We have 90-year-old politicians Dianne Feinstein clinging to both power and life. Senator Chuck Grassley remains in his position at 89-years-old. Pelosi was 5 when WWII ended. There are plenty of politicians who would be considered too old to be left at home alone, let alone to make major decisions on behalf of the public.

People hate Trump enough to vote for Joe Biden even though they know he’s unfit to serve. America needs term limits. I have long stated that permanent politicians must be removed from office. They are leeches to our society and serve no purpose other than serving themselves and their donors. Trump himself has stated that anyone running for the office of President of the United States should be required to take a full mental competency test. Age aside, look at people like Fetterman. Imagine if we allowed surgeons, pilots, or others in positions of power to work while knowingly mentally compromised? “Politician” should not be a permanent career choice, rather people should choose to serve their country for a fixed duration of time while bringing skills from other areas to the table.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Has Another Episode


Posted originally on the CTH on August 30, 2023 | Sundance 

This one is worse, significantly worse.  Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell freezes again while taking questions from reporters on Wednesday at an event in Kentucky.  This very disturbing cognitive disconnect is raising additional concerns about the 81-year-old’s health.

The episode happens after a reporter asked him about running for re-election in 2026.   WATCH:

WASHINGTON – […] Senators quickly sought more information about McConnell’s health after the incident, according to one person familiar with the dynamics. Shortly after the Wednesday incident, McConnell held calls with his closest allies including Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), Conference Chair John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), according to people familiar with the calls. All of them are potential successors to McConnell.

Confidence Declining


Armstrong Economics Blog/Gov’t Incompetence Re-Posted Aug 30, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Marty, I just wanted to thank you for opening my eyes. The logic that the market commentators make no sense. Bloomberg wrote, “Bets on a rate hike in 2023 fell after worse-than-expected economic numbers bolstered hopes the Fed can pause in September.” So you are right. They are cheering worse economic numbers because interest rates will decline. You are correct. Rising interest rates show demand for money and an expanding economy. But rates decline with economic declines, and stocks typically drop. I feel stupid that I never saw that for myself. It seems people are losing confidence in the government with this persecution of Trump and hiding the corruption of the Bidens. Everyone you talk to is just fed up with politicians.

No wonder the mainstream press will never quote you because you make sense.

Cheers

HL

PS Stay safe with this storm. We do need you.

REPLY: I understand what you are saying. I realized that the analysis changed after 1929 because we became socialists when I wrote The Great Bull Market in History in 1986. What did the Fed want us to do? How high should we jump? The economy is preparing to turn down with the ECM by May 2024. Consumer Confidence among Americans dropped the most in two years. Many of my clients overseas now see the fate of America much more clearly than domestic Americans. They view that once the Democrats have used the law to persecute Trump legally while the evidence about corruption with the Bidens goes unanswered, the confidence in government is collapsing.

I fear they will rush this whole CBDC agenda and move toward a much more Totalitarian State because they can feel their power slipping through their fingers. This abuse of the law is one of the critical issues that precede the decline and fall of a nation.

There is clear evidence that supports an impeachment trial is not a criminal prosecution of Biden and his son. Documents have surfaced that show that Joe Biden was NOT acting in line with U.S. policy as VP when he threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine until Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin was fired! That was personal and not the policy of the US government. The prosecutor Shokin was investigating the precise corruption at Burisma Holdings, which paid Hunter Biden over $1,000,000. Shokin says that the Biden’s were bribed to terminate his investigation. While the Democrats want to imprison Trump, they refuse to discuss any of these documents because they knowingly used these exact lies as the pretense of impeaching President Trump.

There is now an October 2015 memo that summarizes the recommendation of the Interagency Policy Committee. That task force was created to advise the Obama White House on the notorious corruption in Ukraine and whether they were trying to clean it up. That was necessary for more aid. These documents show that U.S. policy did not call for a threat to withhold funding unless this prosecutor investigating corruption was fired.

Biden made the threat in December 2015, two months after the memo was published, and no other documents show the U.S. policy called for Shokin to be fired. On top of that, even the IMF in FEBRUARY 2016 threatened to cut off funding for Ukraine unless they showed progress in reforming corruption.

By November 2016, Biden is telling Poroshenko not to ask for any more money for Trump may start to investigate. I know Ukraine. I was asked to take them on as a client, and the first words were we can pay you offshore so you do not have to pay taxes. I said thank you very much, but I declined. You cannot imagine the level of corruption in Ukraine. It is the MOST corrupt government perhaps ever to have existed anywhere in the world, no matter what decade or century.

Prosecuting Trump and all of these prosecutors coordinating these attacks while the Justice Department does NOTHING with the Bidens is indeed collapsing the confidence in government. This is all part of the decline and fall of Republics, which is what 2032 is all about. I have a lot on my table right now. Another book I am working on is a review of the various forms of government and what worked and what failed – the good – the bad – the ugly. This will probably be read in January.

The last book is now out at Barnes & Noble on the truth behind Cleopatra – the real version, not the WOKE nonsense that she was black. I used the coinage to show the real story, where there was no steamy love affair; she was a brilliant woman who used Mark Antony to create a civil war in hopes that the once great empire of Alexander the Great would defeat Rome and her son by Julius Caesar would restore the throne of the Ptolemies. The Legionary Denarii of Mark Antony was funded by Cleopatra, and up to 100 years later, the amount of money was so great that these coins accounted for 20% of the money supply a century later. Sorry, whatever movie you watched or were taught in school was fake news.

Politicians With Student Loans Push for Cancelation


Armstrong Economics Blog/USA Current Events Re-Posted Aug 29, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Politicians will always vote in favor of their self-interests. The invisible hand is fully visible here. The Supreme Court reminded Biden that he could not bribe voters with taxpayers’ funds to cancel student debt. The enormously unpopular president needs all the bargaining chips he can get and continues fighting for student loan forgiveness. Democrats in recent history (see: Glass Steagall) could not care less about the students and handed them to the bankers on a silver platter with loans that could not be discharged in bankruptcy. As it turns out, numerous Democrats supporting this measure are seeking to have their own student loan debt discharged.

These politicians earn nearly $200,000 annually on salary alone and work a handful of days out of the year. They are unable to accomplish anything and leech onto the political system for as long as they can. At least 14 Democrats hold $1.7 million in combined student loans and none of them believe they should pay it back. Ninety Democrats recently penned a letter to Joe Biden asking him to cancel student debt by “early 2024,” meaning prior to the election. The far-left “Squad” members hold $200,000 in student loan debt, with AOC accumulating $50,000 in debt alone. Interestingly, she paraded around the Met Gala in a dress promoting socialism; tickets to that event were $50,000 per person.

According to the Washington Examiner, these are some of the politicians who will benefit:“That includes Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Omar, Bowman, Reps. Grace Meng (D-NY), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Nanette Barragán (D-CA), Brendan Boyle (D-PA), Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Nikema Williams (D-GA), Salud Carbajal (D-CA), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), and Greg Casar (D-TX). Separately, Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) disclosed up to $250,000 in loans through the Education Department and didn’t sign the document.”

The penned letter to Biden highlights the impact that student debt has on Black and Latino families since they love to divide us by race. They are urging him to keep his promise of canceling up to $20,000 in debt for as many as 43 million Americans. Student loans have been postponed under the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 due to COVID and will resume on September 1, 2023.

Everyone has had time to get their affairs in order. Those who blindly believed that Joe could make up to $1.6 trillion vanish in thin air need to go back to school. These socialistic policies force others to pay for services they did not receive. What about the people who chose not to attend school for financial reasons? Those who dropped out? Now they are expected to pay for others who actively made the decision to take on debt.

Teaching Hedging


Armstrong Economics Blog/Trading Re-Posted Aug 27, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Marty, I just wanted to thank you. I attended your 1985 World Economic Conference, and you taught me how to hedge. That made my career, and now I am about to retire. Nobody was teaching hedging in the early 1980s. You have impacted the world far more than you realize.

I will be at the WEC this year in my official capacity. Next year, it will be for me personally. I sincerely wanted to thank you, and you should post this. The newbies need to know you were there decades before anyone else.

God bless.

GK

REPLY: George, it has been a long journey. I am glad I helped you in your career. You have always been there for me and I appreciate old friends. BTW, they still do not teach hedging in universities. Just amazing.

The Video of Reality


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ethics Re-Posted Aug 26, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Crime Rose 82% in Chicago in 2 Years – Controlled Chaos in Blue Cities


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Aug 24, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

It was hard to imagine a mayor WORSE than Lori Lightfoot, but Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson managed to surpass her in corruption and crime as Chicago crumbles. Johnson’s first three months on the job, compared to Lightfoot’s, saw 4,321 more car thefts, 41 more murders, and 38 more deadly shootings. Crime in Chicago is up 82% since 2021, according to the Chicago Police Department. Let me explain why the rise in crime is a deliberate attempt by the government to expand its power.

For starters, no one even wants to be a police officer in Chicago as the mayor forbids them from arresting blatant criminals. There are stories of murderers getting a slap on the wrist. Over 1,000 officers have handed in their badges and left the force. The city spent $126 million in overtime pay for the dwindling police force, and they expect to surpass an additional $210 million in 2022. Crime is up, but there has been a 50% drop in arrests in 2019.

“The Democratic Party as a whole definitely can model its work off of what we’re doing in Chicago,” Johnson told Politico, as he believes all blue cities should look to Chicago for advice on enticing chaos and empowering criminals. Unlike other Democratic mayors, Johnson is not backing down on Chicago’s “sanctuary city” status. He has no plans for funding the influx of migrant, or Chicago’s already growing homeless population. Johnson believes he has done such a incredible job paving the way for rapidly demolishing cities that he created a blueprint for other Dems. Chaos is needed for the Great Reset.

As for helping the city economically:“The Economic Vitality and Equity subcommittee uplifts the importance of addressing wealth inequality as manifest in Mayor Johnson’s references to the ‘tale of two cities.’ They suggest both conventional and innovative community-centered strategies to generate revenue, allocate resources, build community wealth, and combat poverty and all its attendant ills. Economic vitality and equity are essential to realize the goals of all the other subcommittees. Greater economic vitality will require revitalizing commercial corridors and galvanizing development and infrastructure improvements throughout our neighborhoods, with local advisory panels to make sure development projects meet community needs. A thriving downtown hub continues to be important, but one that feeds into neighborhood development and is accessible to all.”

This sounds like the suggestion of a pageant queen requesting world peace despite never having left her small town. The report later states:“The 2022 Global Cities Index ranks the Chicago metro as 7th in the world, just behind Los Angeles and Beijing. We have conflicting narratives about our city’s economic reality. On one hand, we have a thriving economy with the 2nd most Fortune 500 companies of any U.S. city; over the last 2 years we saw over 100 corporate relocations and over 200 significant corporate expansions; in 2021 & 2022 we received record level of investment influx into Chicago based startups (close to $20B in Venture Capital and Private Equity Investments in each year). On the other hand, we continue to see a significant gap in wealth, employment, and opportunities between decades-long underinvested neighborhoods on the South & West sides and the rest of the city, resulting in inequitable access to housing, education, justice, and healthcare along racial and ethnic lines.”

Not for long! Companies are fleeing Chicago as crime grows rampant. The rich are always the first to flee when a city or nation crumbles as dictated by the annals of history. The section about public safety focuses on police accountability, not the responsibility of the people not to commit crimes. How can Chicago dream of competing against Beijing when people are afraid to travel there due to the crime? Los Angeles is already in ruin – who compiled this list of the 2022 Global Cities Index? Upon further digging, it was none other than the WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM! Kearney, the company that compiled the report, lists the WEF as their top partnership.

Chicago is following the plan of strategic chaos, as discussed in the Cloward-Piven Strategy. They are allowing chaos to ensue so that the government can take control over that chaos in time. Allowing mass immigration when resources are null ensures that the state’s welfare system will become overburdened.  Cloward and Piven noted that civil unrest was necessary to create change and encouraged the government to antagonize the masses. “The poor are most visible and proximate in the local community; antagonism toward them (and toward the agencies which are implicated with them) has always, therefore, been more intense locally than at the federal level.”

The media has successfully created a generation of entitled victims who believe their crimes are justified. The family unit has been demolished if not demonized, and the schools cannot raise the youth, who are the main perpetrators. The government has permitted the crime to occur and punishes anyone who dares to interfere. The strategy also involves class and racial warfare to conquer and divide the people so that they do not see the real enemy – government.

“Once eligibility for basic food and rent grants is established, the drain on local resources persists indefinitely,” the Cloward-Piven Strategy states. Soon, they will claim that the housing crisis and poverty leave cities like Chicago with no choice but to adopt 15-minute cities where people are housed in ADUs, abandon the need for cars, and receive free public transportation. Everyone will be dependent on government and, therefore, will be under its thumb.

Ukraine to Bribe Whistleblowers


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Aug 24, 2023 by Martin Armstron

The corruption is so widespread in Ukraine that the government is offering whistleblowers payment for reporting any fraud. The National Agency of Corruption Prevention has created a digital portal for Ukrainians to report any suspected corruption to receive a reward. Tell-tales may receive 10% of the bounty up to 14 million hryvnias ($380,000).

A recent poll found that nearly 80% of Ukrainians admitted Zelensky is responsible for ongoing corruption. The same survey found that 89% of the population believes corruption is the #2 problem facing the nation, with Russia being #1. A second poll by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation found that 77.6% of Ukrainians believe Zelensky is “directly responsible” for ongoing corruption. Nobody in Ukraine thinks Zelensky is a good guy despite the Western media praising him as a fearless, noble leader. This is why they skipped over the most recent election because the people do not want Zelensky, who was installed by the West, to remain in power.

Zelensky laid off his recruitment officials after finding out they were accepting $10,000 bribes. His administration tracked down men who paid a fee to avoid the draft. “This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is high treason,” Zelensky ironically stated.

This new program will cause internal strife as neighbors begin to fear one another. Everyone recalls the tactics of the old Soviet Union where citizens were made to believe that their loyalty should reside in the government over their neighbors, friends, and family. We see the same thing in North Korea today and in many other nations. Even the US has a kickback for those who report corruption. I suppose this is the system Joe Biden used when he received his 10% for the Big Guy through Hunter’s dealings. This will not prevent corruption, but rather it will encourage the people to accuse their neighbors of being criminals for a government bribe. Is someone reporting Zelensky through this portal for funneling billions into Ukraine for a war that was planned out nearly 10 years ago?

The Migrant Civil Unrest Is Part of The Collapse of Society for 2032


Armstrong Economics Blog/Uncategorized Re-Posted Aug 24, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

History repeats largely because those in power NEVER consult history before they hand down some decree. The scheme behind letting all these migrants infiltrate the country is that they will vote Democrat and keep them in power forever. As I have said before, I was asked by Hong Kong to negotiate with Australia to try to buy land because it was being handed back to China in 1998. I met with the former Prime Minister Paul Keating. who at the time was the Treasurer. I explained I had a blank check and could pay off the national debt of Australia. The answer was always no. Out of frustration, I finally asked if this was a racist thing. He said no. He was Labour, and if they let these people into Australia, they would all vote conservative and change the politics of Australia.

This is why the Democrats are allowing the country to be flooded with migrants with ZERO skills and handing them $2200 a month, which is more than many get on Social Security. This is all politics. The migrants will be told who to vote for in 2024. After that, they intend to draft these people and send them to fight Russia in Eastern Europe.

During the 1840s, that is when the Sovereign Defaults were taking place at the State level. This unleashed what was called the “Hard Times,” coinciding with the migration from Ireland to America in the wake of the Great Famine of the 1840s. The proximate cause of the famine was a potato blight that infected potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s, causing an estimated 1 million deaths in Ireland from famine and an additional 100,000 deaths outside Ireland. This also contributed to the civil unrest in Europe that became widespread and evolved into the European Communist Revolutions of 1848. This would eventually also influence Karl Marx (1818-1883) and his first edition of the Communist Manifesto in 1848.

We must refer to history to see society’s past mistakes and understand what will unfold. The United States’ emerging market was engulfed in a Sovereign State Debt Crisis of the 1839-1844 period because Andrew Jackson wanted to destroy the central bank because his opponents had borrowed from the Bank of the United States. He moved the federal government funds to his “pet” state banks, unleashing what became known as the broken banknote era. Without a central bank, all the individual banks began to issue their own currency. The frauds were enormous. Nobody knew if the banks were solvent or not or where they even existed. Brokers in NYC would buy notes at a discount from questionable one-branch banks and place them into circulation.

The Panic of 1837 began the Sovereign Debt Crisis, unfolding into the Hard Times period. This economic event also destroyed the credit standing of ALL states and the Federal Government. Because people were already suffering from the economic crisis, the immigrants pouring into the United States sparked a real uprising, for they would work for little pay, taking jobs from the Americans. This became the Nativism movement (native American residents), which was anti-immigrant. On top of that, the old English feud between the protestants v. Catholics merely resurfaced in America since the immigrants were Irish Catholics.

The population of Philadelphia more than doubled during the 1840s from 161,410 to 388,721. It spilled beyond the original city limits (from South to Vine Streets between the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers) in all directions, which put a strain on the city not designed to accommodate such rapid growth. There was also no professional police force in Philadelphia at the time. Previously, during the 1830s, there was also the national abolition movement. Many blacks migrated to Philadelphia, taking jobs from the locals, which was the origin of the Navitism Movement. This manifested in the Pennsylvania State Constitution of 1838, which rescinded the right to vote among the free Blacks. This was not racist; it was sparked by the economic decline and the rising unemployment. The Democrats today intend to give the new migrants the right to vote in 2024 so they can keep Biden in place.

In 1844, the rise of Nativism appeared because of the economic depression taking the form of a political position of demanding a favored status for certain established inhabitants of a nation as compared to claims of newcomers or immigrants. Nativism typically means opposition to immigration and support of efforts to lower the political or legal status of specific ethnic or cultural groups because the groups are considered alien to the natural culture, failing or unable to assimilate, taking employment from native sons.

Then the migration of the Irish Catholics sparked the Nativist/Protestant sentiment to explode in 1844. The Catholics objected to having their children use the Protestant King James Bible in public schools. The Nativist groups spread a false rumor that Catholics were trying to remove the Bible from public schools. The old hatred from the English Civil War rose again. On the evening of Friday, May 3rd, 1844, a Nativist organization called for a meeting in the Kensington district. They reconvened on the following Monday, and this turned violent as gunshots were exchanged and a riot ensued. Nativists converged on the Irish Kensington district over the next three days and burned more than thirty buildings, including a Catholic school and St. Augustine’s Catholic Church at Fourth and Vine Streets.

Order was restored only by the government calling in the military to suppress the riots. As always, once the first blood is drawn, vengeance follows. Again, riots broke out on July 6th and 7th, 1844. It was really about people migrating to Philadelphia during the hard times and rising unemployment. Just with the blacks previously, this was with the Irish, and this too was manifesting in anti-Catholic sentiment at the growing population of Irish Catholics.

Nativist Riots broke out again in July after it was discovered that St. Philip Neri’s Catholic Church in Southwark dared to arm itself for protection against the protestant mobs using religion as an excuse for violence. This time, fierce fighting broke out between the Nativists and the soldiers who were sent in to protect the church. The protestant Nativists attacked the soldiers, and numerous deaths and injuries took place. The violence helped nationally fuel criticism of the Nativist movement, which claimed to be victims. The Nativist Riots also exposed the need for local police rather than troops to maintain order. Eventually, the police department was formed and consolidated in Philadelphia in 1854.

With all the immigration both into Europe and the United States, this Soros theory of an Open Society is purely an academic fantasy. They totally ignore culture, which is the key to understanding that such a mixture undermines the unity of the state. The Civil Unrest that our computer is projecting, especially from 2024 onward, will be accelerated as it was during the 1840s by the economic downtrend from May 7th, 2024, to 2028. When the Democrats grant voting rights to these migrants in 2024, the election results will only add to a massive uprising of civil unrest, and we may yet face a separatist movement on a major scale.

The Biden Crime Family – Just Insane


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Aug 22, 2023 by Martin Armstrong