Tag Archives: Moral Equivalence

Mar 6 2018

Putin’s Address to the Nation & the World


Armstrong Economics Blog/Russia

Re-Posted Mar 6, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

 

Putin’s address on March 1st to the Federal Assembly seems to have sparked a lot of crazy emails with people talking nonsense about things they do not even come close to understanding. Yes, the headline grabber was Putin’s statement about a new invincible cruise missile. I will address that in a moment. Overlooked, however, was Putin addressing the real issues of economic concerns that seem to have gone over everyone’s head. The problem with the Oligarchs where he is implying that things need to change for the good of Russia. China moved to Capitalism directly from Communism and we see the difference with China poised to surpass the US economy by 2032 and is already the second largest economy in the world. Russia, on the other hand, simply moved from state-controlled economic system to one where political friends became Oligarchs and prevented a free market economy. Russia economically ranks 12th in the world behind the USA, China, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Italy, Canada, and South Korea. This is what Putin was addressing, the need to truly open up the economy to competition. If you try to compete against an Oligarch by opening a restaurant in Moscow, you will be lucky to survive beyond 24 hours. Russia is economically a third world country with a lot of weapons. Putin realizes that for all its military power, it collapsed BECAUSE it did not have the economy to support its military ambitions.

Putin also addressed trying to keep people from leaving Russia. Despite the Global Warming movement that is really trying to reduce the population, in fact, the population is declining among the industrialized nations and Russia is no exception. The population of Russia peaked at 148,689,000 back in 1991, just before the breakup of the Soviet Union. Ever since the collapse of Communism, people realize that the State will not simply take care of them. As a direct result, the birth rates have been steadily dropping and there have been abnormally high death rates in Russia as well among the elderly. Russia’s population has been declining at an annual rate of 0.5%, or about 750,000 to 800,000 people per year since 1991. Add to this figure, the migration of Russian women looking for Western men, and you have a crisis brewing in the decline of population in Russia that threatens its long-term viability.

Nevertheless, the area of Putin’s speech that has sparked the wildest claims were those comments which mentioned the invincible strategic nuclear systems in various stages of development. The boast of a missile that can penetrate the US defense system has been known behind the curtain as the RS-28 “Sarmat” system which is a new land-based heavy intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). This is what is being fitted with advanced technology to assure penetration of any missile defense.

Putin definitely made global headlines with these comments. However, I really did not think it warranted comment since Russia’s ability to defeat U.S. missile defenses is nothing new. I suppose I have known that fact but it seems many did not. Let me explain something that may not be common knowledge. U.S. policy has been not to deploy a defensive system that could neutralize a Russian retaliatory response to a U.S. nuclear attack. The reason this is the basic policy is the concern that such a system which was called Star Wars, would destabilize the world and result in a new arms race where Russia would be driven to re-establish a retaliatory capability. Putin’s response was directed at Trump and his administration’s idea of reversing that policy creating a new Ballistic Missile Defense Review. This was part of the February 2018 U.S. Nuclear Posture Review which states that any improvements in U.S. defensive capabilities will be deployed in such a way as to “preclude an arms race” with China or Russia. Therefore, Putin was addressing this very issue and to make it clear that there MUST remain a balance between powers for all the nukes keep everyone in check.

Putin also addressed a maneuverable hypersonic glide the “Avangard” which is a new missile system with a vehicle of this type. Putin also mentioned a long-range nuclear-powered unmanned underwater vehicle that can be fitted with a nuclear warhead, known commonly as “Status-6.” Both of these systems are designed to evade any U.S. defensive measures — Avangard by presenting an unpredictable flight trajectory, while Status-6 is an entirely new sea-based way to deliver a nuclear weapon. Both are designed to maintain the power balance.

The invincible new cruise missile was really a statement to Trump not to start a new arms race. You simply have to understand what is going on behind the curtain right now.

Mar 6 2018

Italian Elections – Another Nail in the Coffin of Brussels?


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Mar 6, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

EU CrisisThe Italian election results are in and once again it demonstrates that correlating economics with voting, you end up with a far more accurate forecast. Trying to predict based upon samples of calling people appears to be not merely questionable, but also prone to human bias. We have been warning that this trend toward nationalism is growing worldwide and especially within Europe. The Italian vote proves that the refugee issue is a major crisis and the people do not support it. Civil Unrest in Ital has been rising, but nobody listens to the people.

The politicians in Europe and even in the United States with respect to Trump, have assumed that this is merely a populist movement that would quickly fade into memory. Career politicians have had it their way for so long, they cannot fathom why after robbing the Treasury for decades and nobody said anything, why are the people suddenly mad now? The Italian vote should be a wake-up call to Brussels, but they will remain in a state of denial. Their attempt to PUNISH Britain they believed would prevent other states from leaving. They are sadly mistaken.

A majority of Italian voters have spoken and they supported the Eurosceptic candidates in the national election. Italy had been a steadfast championed the European project. However, the dreams have fallen to the ground as dusk in the winds of politics. Those in Brussels have been totally dishonest with the European people swearing that a single currency would solve all the ills and that they were not trying to take over Europe making it the United States of Europe with one government. The promise that a single currency would also produce a single interest rate for all proved also a complete lie.

The early results released by the interior ministry pointed to a hung parliament, with the only hope of perhaps a center-right coalition, with about 37% of the vote could perhaps secure a majority once parliamentary seats are allocated ignoring the people as they have done in Germany. Any way we cut this, the Italian vote is a complete repudiation of Brussels following the trend set by BRXIT for Britain to leave the European Union.

The newspapers are reporting that unlike British voters, Italians would NOT support an exit from Europe or a referendum on leaving the Eurozone. Nonetheless, the very populist parties who score big in this vote have previously been open to a referendum on the Euro and will remain as an important barometer of the mood of the country moving forward. The burning question comes down to – are Italians proud to be Italians? Or do they buy into this view that an Italian is nothing without Europe?

The Italian vote on Sunday also marked the rise of two relatively new political parties that had been ignored and laughed at as fringe movements – (1) the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), which early results showed had 31% of the vote, and (2) the anti-migrant and Eurosceptic League, formerly known as the Northern League. Neither group warrants being laughed at or ignored anymore.

The former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi appears to have lost to a younger rival on the far right, Matteo Salvini, who supports radical immigration policies that even include mass deportations of immigrants who are in Italy illegally. Many have called Salvini a racist, as they are using that label in Britain to disparage anyone who votes for BRIXT. However, this is not really a racist issue. During hard times, during the 1840s, there was a nationalist movement in the United States against the migration of Irish. That even turned into gun battles on the street of Philadelphia and it had nothing to do with RACE!

The RACIST label being used against anyone who opposes the mass immigration from Africa under the pretense of war in Syria is simply a tactic used to defend a policy that is indefensible. Regardless of race, this is a crisis created by conflicting cultures and no politician will address the issue because they must have to admit a mistake. The performance of Salvini’s has been a clear warning sign that this entire Refugee Crisis in Europe is indeed tearing the continent apart. It was implemented unilaterally by Merkel who was concerned that her image was being harmed by her position refusing to compromise or foregive any debt with Greece. Germany tried to cover-up the Refugee Crisis without success.  Only when the elections were coming up did Markel suddenly flip and said she too would deport refugees. This was only after Merkel’s party suffered a historical defeat in Berlin local elections. The statistics show that 70% of the migrants are young men who are economic migrants, not political refugees. Whatever happened to women’s rights in the middle of all this?

Salvini made a “gentleman’s agreement” with Berlusconi that if the center-right were to win a majority, whichever party comes out with the most votes within the coalition would name the next prime minister. I have written previously that removing Berlusconi from office was a coup staged by Brussels all because he was beginning to favor exiting the Euro. Salvini also publicly stated that the Euro as a currency was destined to fail, and he also said he would not rule out a referendum on the issue.

Then we have the former Prime Minister Renzi’s leading lieutenant, Maria Elena Boschi, won a safe parliamentary seat in South Tyrol in northern Italy, two other prominent politicians, the interior minister, Marco Minniti, and the culture minister, Dario Franceschini, were defeated. This is clearly demonstrating that there is an underlying rejection of Europe and the Brussels’ agenda.  Consequently, Renzi has stepped down as head of the Democratic party (PD). Renzi has seen his political career go down in flames all because he would not listen to the people.

The politicians have simply backed Merkel, who never put this entire refugee matter to a vote among politicians no less the people. The Refugee Crisis demonstrates that there is no democratic mechanism within the European Union because politicians have viewed that they are smarter than the people and they are just stupid sheep who do as they are told.

 

The results also demonstrated that Sicily, which had traditionally supported Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, also moved toward M5S, which is a broader movement rather than a party that is variously considered populist, embracing anti-establishment, environmentalist, alter-globalist, and Eurosceptic philosophies.

Mar 5 2018

GDPR – Are You Ready?


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Mar 5, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

The new so-called “General Data Protection Regulation” (GDPR) of the EU goes into full force on May 25, 2018. GDPR is a serious measure which is really designed to stem any criticism of the EU Commission. The claimed purpose is to stop propaganda pretending this will boost consumer confidence, revive the economy and generate billions of dollars in savings. What this is all about is the plain fact that this regulation will lay the foundation establishing a new layer of bureaucracy pretending to protect citizens but will burden the private sector since there are no specific injuries that are defined in advance leaving the enforcement arbitrary in the hands of bureaucrats at their discretion.

Across all of Europe, nobody understands exactly what is allowed and what is forbidden, who has to take what action, but the penalties of up to €20 million or 4% of your annual turnover are shocking. If you violate these uncertain rules when using personal data who can find yourself charged for simply doing normal business. This new EU regulation provides for a major threat to all companies in every field without exception. It appears to be clandestinely intended to be a revenue-raising tool that is just undefined. This regulation could be the straw that breaks the back of public patience and economic development in Europe. So far, such actions were always directed against individual industries such as the banks, which everyone else ignored since it was not their pocket being hit. This submissiveness unfolded more like the famous saying of Martin Niemoller (1892-1984) how the Nazi came for each group one at a time and nobody said anything until it was their turn and there was nobody left to ask for help.

Nobody knows if it is even okay to congratulate a customer on a birthday. If you can only send one e-mail to people who have expressly agreed in advance, can you send any sort of greeting even for Christmas? You are not allowed to send these persons any suitable e-mail or ask them for authorization by phone. A letter with a request for permission to send an e-mail is permitted. Lawyers cannot interpret exceptions in the vague formulations for even that will be just opinions that vary from one lawyer to the next. Everyone wants, everyone needs clarity but it does not exist!

This legislation is akin to the Writs of Assistance entered by King George III, which sparked the American Revolution. The defending lawyer against the King’s Writs of Assistance was James Otis (1725-1783) who pronounced these writs were “the worst instrument of arbitrary power, the most destructive of English liberty, and the fundamental principles of law, that ever was found in an English law book.” Otis warned that the king placed discretion in the hands of every agent to act as he desired. Nothing has changed for the government can do whatever it desires today and it is always the burden of the citizen to prove he has any rights whatsoever.

The EU has created the very same type of act. Allowing penalties to be imposed at the discretion of government agents without any clearly defined law is extremely arbitrary. The only thing truly defined are the penalties which can be up to €20 million Euros or 4% of the gross turnover of any business. Government agencies such as the judiciary, the police, the financial and intelligence services enjoy a special status, naturally.

Lawyers cannot even agree on whether the sending of an email by a company to a person is allowed or not for a birthday or holiday. Does there have to be prior consent to receiving an email? Some lawyers have warned that you may not be able to even send an email to ask for permission to send one. A company who sends unwanted emails commits a punishable violation of the regulation. Simply requiring to have an “unsubscribe” feature fails to comply with the law.

There are the countless emails we all get from Nigeria promising you are now a multi-millionaire just send your personal details so they can clean out your account. Just how is an EU regulation going to be applied overseas? Can a company that bombards people with emails constantly every day just because they look at their site but did not buy anything could be charged in Europe even if they are sending them from the USA. There is such a thing as territorial jurisdiction, but then again there is also extradition agreements. It appears that legitimate businesses will be hunted and fined for just doing commerce. The pretend emails that are criminally intended to grab your money or hold your computer for ransom will never be caught in the process.

The entire basis of Microsoft Windows is to push advertising and to take your surfing the net without any warning they are doing it. The latest Windows version was interesting. We turned off auto-update and two separate computers crashed at the same time and forced a reboot and then took 30 minutes to install updates. This seems that you cannot even opt-out even if you pay for the Pro Version. The vagueness of this law could actually call into question Windows when it is up to the discretion of an agent.

BTW – we do not sell anyone’s names, we do not send endless solicitations every day, anything we send as to notices of posts you must subscribe to for free.

Mar 5 2018

Germany Gets a Grand Coalition


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Mar 5, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

The SPD members voted by a two-thirds majority for their party’s entry into a renewed grand coalition. The acting Social Democrats (SPD) party leader Olaf Scholz came out and said: “We now have clarity: The SPD will enter the next federal government.” The SPD had no choice. The polls showed if they returned and put it to an election, they would lose to the rising right-wing. Germany will move into a grand coalition but it truly lacks the majority support of the German people. This means that political unrest in Germany will continue to rise.

Chancellor Angela Merkel finally reached a deal this past Wednesday to form a new German grand coalition government by handing the powerful finance ministry to the country’s main center-left party SPD in an agreement aimed at ending months of political gridlock. Both the CDU and SPD realized that if they failed, both would lose seats to the rising AfD. Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavaria-only sister, the Christian Social Union, and the center-left SPD agreed to a 177-page deal that leads off with the promise of “a new awakening for Europe.”

Germany has already broken its post-World War II record for the longest time in its latest election on Sept. 24 to the swearing-in of a new government. That is still at least several weeks away. Merkel has been leading a caretaker government, which has not been in any position to play any significant role in the debate on the fate of the EU going forward. That spotlight has been taken by France’s President Emmanuel Macron who seems to enjoy his newfound power.

Schulz’s has taken a course in recent months that simply undermined his authority. On election night, Schulz vowed to take the party into opposition against the CDU. He reversed course in November after Merkel’s efforts to build a coalition with two smaller parties collapsed. Merkel needed only the approval of a party congress of her CDU which seems to do whatever she tells them to do. The Social Democrats are set to get the foreign, labor and finance ministries to run. The finance ministry is the major prize, for it was held by Merkel’s CDU for the past eight years. This has been a major influential position given Germany’s status as the eurozone’s biggest economy. The interior ministry, also held by the CDU, would go to Bavaria’s CSU, which has pushed hard to curb the number of migrants entering Germany.

Mar 5 2018

WALKING INTO MORDOR


Oikophobia — fear and hatred of one’s own culture and people. It has brought down civilizations since there have been civilizations. And now we’re infected, too.

Mar 3 2018

Let’s Try Bank Shaming


An article in the NYT suggests that banks should not allow their credit cards to be used to purchase weapons. Unfortunately, it probably wouldn’t work because it’s doesn’t address the root problem: the existence of evil people.

Mar 3 2018

The Final Farewell – Reverend Billy Graham Funeral (Full Video)….


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 2, 2018 by

Earlier today the family, friends, colleagues and thousands of people touched by Reverend Billy Graham gathered for their final farewell.  The service was attended by President Trump, First-Lady Melania Trump, Vice-President Pence and Second-Lady Karen Pence.

The full service is below in two video segments.

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Second video below:

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Mar 1 2018

Why Not Take More?


A professor at UCLA seems surprised that poor people in America don’t vote for more redistributive policies. Maybe they have more moral fiber than intellectuals give them credit for.

Mar 1 2018

The New German Political Hawk?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Germany

Re-Posted Mar 1, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

The German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen was being touted as a possible successor to Merkel. She has spoken at the Munich Security Conference stating that there must be “the common will to actually use the military weight when circumstances require it.” Leyen has come out saying that Germany should no longer hide behind its history, but must accept that soldiers must fight for the security of the nation and the freedom of the people. Leyen’s French colleague, Florence Parly, has also called for closer European military cooperation.

The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has warned against risks that confront Europe as a whole. He came out and said: “The truth is: the European Union cannot protect Europe alone.”

France has been stating that Europe must be militarily independent of the USA. Nonetheless, t defense of Europe without the help of Norway, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, would actually be very hard to imagine.

The scuttlebutt is that Leyen is a hawk who would have little problem going to war against Russia. She was seen as on the short-list of successors to Merkel, but she is going to NATO instead. The Hessian Prime Minister Bouffier is surprisingly distant to Chancellor Merkel as the dissatisfaction with Merkel rises.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer is also being talked about as a successor to Merkel. She is the first woman to lead the government of Saarland and only the fourth woman to govern any German state.
Feb 28 2018

President Trump Remarks Honoring Reverend Bill Graham – Capitol Hill Rotunda Ceremony…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 28, 2018 by

Reverend Bill Graham is honored today during a ceremony at the Capitol Hill Rotunda:

[Transcript] U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. – 11:21 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Speaker Ryan and Leader McConnell. And, most importantly, thank you to the entire Graham family for honoring us with your presence here today. Thank you.

In the spring of 1934, Billy Graham’s father allowed a group of Charlotte businessmen to use a portion of the family’s dairy farm to gather for a day of prayer.

On that day, the men prayed for the city. They prayed that, “Out of Charlotte, the Lord would raise up someone to preach the Gospel to the ends of the Earth.”

We are here today, more than 80 years later, because that prayer was truly answered.

Billy Graham was 15 years old at the time. Just a few months later, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

That choice didn’t just change Billy’s life — it changed our lives. It changed our country, and it changed, in fact, the entire world.

The North Carolina farm boy walked out of those fields, into a great and beautiful history. Starting at a small Bible school in Florida, he soon led a nationwide revival — from a large tent in Los Angeles, to 100,000 people in a single day at Yankee Stadium, to more than 2 million people at Madison Square Garden, over 16 weeks in 1957.

And I remember that, because my father said to me, “Come on, son” — and, by the way, he said, “Come on, mom. Let’s go see Billy Graham at Yankee Stadium.” And it was something very special.

But Americans came in droves to hear that great young preacher. Fred Trump was a big fan. Fred Trump was my father.

In London, Tokyo, Seoul, Bogota, Moscow, New Delhi, Saigon, Johannesburg, and scores of other places all over the world, Reverend Graham shared the power of God’s word with more than 200 million people, in person, and countless others through television and radio where people loved to watch and listen.

In 1978, with the support of the Catholic Bishop who would soon become Pope John Paul II, Reverend Graham went to Poland and spoke of the meaning of the cross to a people suffering under the soulless oppression of communism.

Billy Graham carried his message around the world, but his heart, as Franklin will tell you, was always in America.

He took his message to the poorest places, to the downtrodden and to the brokenhearted, to inmates in prison, and to the overlooked and the neglected. He felt a great passion for those that were neglected.

Everywhere he went, Reverend Graham delivered the same beautiful message: God loves you. That was his message. God loves you.

We can only imagine the number of lives touched by the preaching and the prayers of Billy Graham –- the hearts he changed, the sorrows he eased, and the joy he brought to so many. The testimony is endless.

Today, we give thanks for this extraordinary life. And it’s very fitting that we do so right here in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol, where the memory of the American people is enshrined.

Here in this room, we are reminded that America is a nation sustained by prayer. The painting to my left is of the pilgrims as they embarked for America, holding fast to the Bible and bowing their heads in prayer.

Along these walls, we see the faces of Americans who prayed as they stood on the Lexington Green, who prayed as they headed west, prayed as they headed into battle, and prayed as they marched for justice, and always marched for victory.

Around us stand the statues of heroes who led the nation in prayer during the great and difficult times, from Washington to Lincoln to Eisenhower to King.

And, today, in the center of this great chamber lies legendary Billy Graham, an ambassador for Christ who reminded the world of the power of prayer and the gift of God’s grace.

Today we honor him as only three private citizens before him have been so honored.

And like the faithful of Charlotte once did, today we say a prayer for our country, that all across this land the Lord will raise up men and women like Billy Graham to spread a message of love and hope to every precious child of God.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless America. Thank you very much.

END – 11:28 A.M. EST