Healthcare Still a Mess


healthcare-1

QUESTION:  I read the obamacare repeal blog. I agree with the tax part. But removing pre existing conditions and most of the coverage protections when majority of families in US is one disaster away from bankruptcy and dying without coverage. is that right?

Thanks

T

ANSWER: No. There was a very simple solution. The healthcare industry should be nationalized as are utilities (not ownership) because it is a necessary monopoly. Any price increase must be approved and lawsuits must end. There should be predefined limits for damages not open-ended.

Anyone with problems of health that were uninsured should have been covered by Medicaid. There was no need to change the insurance of 300 million people for 20 million.

They made student loans non-dischargeable in bankruptcy to help bankers. What they should do is the reverse – exempt hospital bills from being able to garnish wages or assets or push anyone into bankruptcy.

Healthcare and Education have become abusive because they bribe politicians to keep their funds flowing. If they really had to compete, prices would decline.

Nobody should suffer and nobody should die because they lack money. That is how the justice system works. You get a court appointed lawyer who job is to lose – that have a near perfect record of losing every case about 99%. Any wins are by stupidity of prosecutors not brilliance of defense lawyers.

Hospitals have been doing their pest to put private practitioners out of business. You join the club, or you are out. Sound familiar?

Obamacare Finally Repealed


TAX CUT

The American Health Care Act (HR 1628) finally passed by the House yesterday reducing taxes on the American people by over $1 trillion. The bill abolishes the most abusive taxes taxes imposed by Obama and the Democrat party back in 2010 known as Obamacare. The Democrats helped the insurance companies and burdened the youth trying to force them to pay for insurance they did not need to get insurance companies to cover people they would not.

Obama as a presidential candidate back in 2008, had promised repeatedly that he would NOT raise any tax on any American earning less than $250,000 per year. That was an outright lie. As always, they claim they will only tax the rich, but it never end up that way.

Antonin ScaliaIn KING v. BURWELL, 576 US –  (2015), the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare claiming it was a tax. There was no constitutional power for Congress to punish someone who did not buy health insurance. The only way to uphold such a power was under the taxing powers. Justice Scalia wrote in his dessenting opinion:

The Act that Congresspassed provides that every individual “shall” maintain insurance or else pay a “penalty.” 26 U. S. C. §5000A. This Court, however, saw that the Commerce Clause does not authorize a federal mandate to buy health insurance. So it rewrote the mandate-cum-penalty as a tax.

With the repeal of Obamacare, tens of millions of middle income Americans will get tax relief from Obamacare’s long list of tax hikes that have oppressed so many. The taxes that will be abolished are:

  1. The Obamacare Individual Mandate Tax which hits 8 million Americans each year.
  2. The Obamacare Employer Mandate Tax. Together with repeal of the Individual Mandate Tax repeal this is a $270 billion tax cut.
  3. Obamacare’s HSA withdrawal tax. This is a $100 million tax cut.
  4. Obamacare’s 10% excise tax on small businesses with indoor tanning services. This is a $600 million tax cut.
  5. The Obamacare health insurance tax. This is a $145 billion tax cut.
  6. The Obamacare 3.8% surtax on investment income. This is a $172 billion tax cut.
  7. The Obamacare medical device tax. This is a $20 billion tax cut.
  8. The Obamacare tax on prescription medicine. This is a $28 billion tax cut.
  9. Obamacare’s Medicine Cabinet Tax which hits 20 million Americans with Health Savings Accounts and 30 million Americans with Flexible Spending Accounts. This is a $6 billion tax cut.
  10. Obamacare’s Flexible Spending Account tax on 30 million Americans. This is a $20 billion tax cut.
  11. Obamacare’s Chronic Care Tax on 10 million Americans with high out of pocket medical expenses. This is a $126 billion tax cut.
  12. The Obamacare tax on retiree prescription drug coverage. This is a $2 billion tax cu

When There is no Justice – It is Time To Turnout the Lights


Just-us

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; I am a law student in London and have reviewed your case after going to the premier here in London of the Forecaster. My professor said your case was “stitched up” and is indicative of how corrupt the American judicial system has become. They ordered you to turn over assets, refused to ever define what those assets are to prevent any compliance, and then when the bank pleads guilty and agreed to return all the money, they simply said there was another fraud without ever charging you with anything. How can the American press simply refuse to ever tell the truth? Is this indicative of American justice?

BW

ANSWER: Sadly to say yes. The US government cannot be sued, only the agents of the government. Consequently, those in the Justice Department are not forthcoming about admitting a mistake. I do not believe that a prosecutor should be able to bring charges. There should be a panel set up where every prosecutor presents his case to them and they are the one’s who bring an indictment. That would remove the personal liabilities.

Wilson Edwin PaulEdwin Paul Wilson (1928 – 2012) was a former CIA and U.S. Naval Intelligence officer who was convicted in 1983 of illegally selling weapons to Libya. His daughter fought to get documents to prove he worked for the government uncovered. When one agency caught him, the CIA denied he worked for them. He was tried and convicted.

You can tell he was innocent because they kept him in solitary confinement – the ultimate torture. They did that to prevent him from having free communications outside the prison.

It was later found that the United States Department of Justice and the CIA had covered up evidence in the case. Wilson’s convictions were overturned in 2003 and he was freed the following year.

Wilson filed a civil suit against seven former federal prosecutors, two of whom are now federal judges, and a past executive director of the CIA. On March 29th, 2007, U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal dismissed his case on the grounds that all eight had immunity covering their actions.

The Supreme Court committed the the worst crime against humanity ever recorded demonstrating their bias. They declared that those who are prosecutors of judges have ABSOLUTE immunity from being prosecuted for wrongful prosecution even if they know they are abusing their authority because they might be afraid to prosecute someone if they could be prosecuted in return. The Supreme Court’s most anti-Constitutional decision ever rendered implemented a nationwide policy declaring prosecutors must have absolute immunity for acts committed in their prosecutorial role. This decision has unleashed the most abusive legal system ever on the face of this Earth. The most notorious court in history had been that of Hitler where it had a 90% conviction rate. That to the Supreme Court, you have been stripped of every possible human right since the dawn of civilization. The conviction rate now exceeds 98% in the US federal courts. Lawyers tell you to just plee because you cannot win. Nobody will hold prosecutors accountable and then most judges are former-prosecutors so good luck of pleading your case. There is not a vein of morality in these people. When you stare into their eyes, all you see is coldness of evil stripped of all human emotion. The Supreme Court has unleashed the total destruction of the Constitution and there is a growing call to acknowledge and address an epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct in the United States, but nobody will listen. The case was Imbler v. Pachtman and its perverse holding is uncivilized in any democratic state for it is the decision of a totalitarian regime.

Paul S AppelbaumThere is nothing you can do. There is so much corruption in the Justice System it is beyond belief. The ONLY reason I was released was because I had been accepted by the Supreme Court. To prevent them from ruling, the prosecutors had no choice but to release me. They had a dog and pony show. Dr Paul S. Appelbaum was put on the stand. He was the Forensic Psychiatry / Psychology from Columbia University. He testified that no time in contempt would alter my position. The Appeals Court recused Judge Owen and handed it to Judge Castel with the job of releasing me. Dr. Appelbaum testified my position was simple. The bankers wanted me silenced because their manipulations were failing after the collapse of Long Term Capital Management in 1998 and they blamed me for exposing what they we doing.

Appelbaum-CFTC Silence Me

Dr Appelbaum had to testify that there was no way I would comply and that civil contempt is coercive so if it lost its coerciveness then I had to legally be released. If you will not comply, then they have to release you. Someone had to say I would never comply in court in order to justify releasing me to prevent the Supreme Court from ruling. The real paradox is after I was released, the court had to rule I did not owe anything or else I would get a trial and I could start calling the bankers to the stand. They had no choice. How can you spend time in prison to turn over something for 7 years and then the court rules you do not owe anything? Anyone with common sense would ask what’s going on here? This was all about (1) having me turn over the code and (2) silencing me so the bankers could manipulate markets undisturbed.

Appelbaum Will Not Comply

When I did the premier for the Forecaster in Amsterdam, the third night was all the bankers in Europe. The moderator wanted to appear impartial and asked me what happened to the $1 billion that was supposed to be missing and nobody knew where it was. I turned to the audience and asked: Is it possible for $1 billion to be missing from a bank and nobody knows where it is? The audience all laughed. You either wire it out, write check, bust into the vault with a tank, or beam it out like in Star Trek. It was a totally ridiculous accusation and not a single member of the press even bothered to ask was that possible? How incompetent is that? It would be like reporting someone is standing trial for murdering his wife while she is present in the courtroom. The press always protected the establishment.

In an interview for the Forecaster, David Glovin of Bloomberg News at least spoke to the director of the film while the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker all refused to be interviewed:

DAVID GLOVIN: And there is a legal issue that develops in terms of whether or not Martin is…this is proper, that he can be held for so long, without being convicted of a crime.

Katrin: So is that a normal thing…?

DAVID GLOVIN: No! It’s totally, completely not normal. (15:12:13:10) Martin…in a white color federal case, Martin was held longer in prison, better known as civil contempt charges, then any one else.

Marcus: It didn’t reach you, that they were hiding the evidence. I think it didn’t even reach the public, because nobody is listening and this is what makes me so crazy, because nobody knows about it.

DAVID GLOVIN: I mean…I don’t know. I can’t answer about what other people did, I can’t answer what judges heard, what did I hear? I heard Martin and I wrote stories about him, I went to prison and I wrote here’s the guy, but again I would present the other side, because that’s what you do. That’s what we do, at least. They say X, they say Y, sometimes X may seem so outrageous and Y may not really hold water or etc. Yes…

(16:13:54:12)

I am by no means unique. Only a fool would believe what government says in any case. Take Bernie Madoff’s case and why did he plead guilty so fast? That was to shut down the investigation for he was protecting someone. The banks claimed they had no idea it was a fraud. Madoff was asked if the banks knew once he was in prison. He said of course. In fact, only a fool would believe the banks were not also involved. I was interviewed by a journalist at the NY Post. I was asked if the bank was laundering money in my accounts for the Russian Mafia and Colombian drug cartels “as they were doing in Madoff?” She knew the truth, but that interview was never published.

There is nothing to be proud of in the American legal system. Fair trials are simply IMPOSSIBL

Mainstream Media is the Third Horseman of Economic Apocalypse


Washington Post - Logo - 1

COMMENT: Martin,

OK, so I don’t follow major media at all.  However, there was a link to a story from the Washington Post on Google.  Silly me–I followed it.  There, in white letters on a black background was the WP’s logo and motto:  “Democracy dies in darkness”.

And there you have it:  They told the truth, but not in the way they wanted.  Their lies and corruption are the darkness that kills democracy.

-DB

PulitzerHearstWarYellowKids

REPLY: It is very sad, but they are doing what history always shows happens. The press champions self-interest. They created the Spanish American war with fake news about the sinking of the Maine in the Spanish harbor. The Pulitzer Prize was created because he made so much money starting that war becoming the father of Yellow Journalism, he donated his money to Columbia University to clean up his reputation after he died. Any journalists are proud to win the Pulitzer Prize named for the very guy who championed fake news.

Four Horsemen-Apocalypse

When the news turns to propaganda, it is one of the last things to take place in the historical sequence of how civilization falls. The mainstream media is the third horseman of economic Apocalypse – Taxes – Corruption  (Politics/Rule of Law) – Propaganda – War.

*(First you have the taxes, then comes the corruption to bribe politicians to get out of the taxes and they use the courts to extract taxes, then comes the propaganda of the media to manipulate society to hold on to power, and then finally comes the war (civil unrest/international)

Civil Unrest in Oregon – Communist Uprising is USA?


Oregon Civil Unrest

 

Oregon Civil Unrest May 2017We have succeeded in moving close toward the Civil Unrest that can erupt into civil war. In Oregon on the Communist May Day holiday,  anti-Trump factions who are calling themselves now “anarchists” have turned violent.  They threw rocks, smoke bombs and just about anything they could at police officers during a May Day rally. Thousands more marched in other major cities around the nation on this Communist day when Russia would display its military weapons and celebrate the people working for the State.

Minhaj Hasan

The press is fueling this for they have been cheering attacks upon Trump and have made this seem acceptable and  normal. Hasan Minhaj even said Trump Tweets at 3Am because he is up for open of business in Russia. No matter what, the press will always blame Trump’s victory on Putin just as the European Parliament blames BREXIT not on themselves, but on the British and that is why they should be punished. The Press in America has the same arrogance and this negativity is what makes anarchy seem acceptable.

2017 Cycle of War

Dominoes – Key to Economic Survival


Dominos

QUESTION: Marty; Will you be going over the type of monetary reform you see coming and how to position oneself for this and when it should arrive? What do you think about the SDR proposed by some replacing the dollar? Any response as to why you always seem to be right?

Thanks

See you in Hong Kong

ANSWER: I had originally proposed the SDR system to replace the dollar back in 1985 as an alternative to G5 (now G20). (see letter to Reagan). You will also see that reply from the White House rejecting that idea. Today, the IMF has become so corrupt, I would no longer support such a system.

Nevertheless, the world economy is going to explode. Politicians are clueless today far worse than ever before. I could have had intelligent conversations 30+ years ago. Today, they are mostly lawyers and rarely do you encounter anyone with common sense.

Yes we will be going over this at the Hong Kong WEC in addition to markets and how to see this coming as well as the timing. Everything is falling in place and it certainly looks as if we will get the hard landing in Europe after 2017 concludes this year from Political Hell. Beware, the stock market is not in crash mode despite what all these perpetual bears proclaim.

Domino Government Intervention

I have been asked many times, how is it possible to be right on so many markets?  It is easy. I keep telling everyone that everything is connected. So, if you can get the first domino correct, you will get all the others correct as well.

Mistakes come in forecasting when you try to forecast a single market ignoring the rest of the world. The wildcard always comes from the outside and you will be unprepared.

Government intervention has ALWAYS failed. It has NEVER succeeded even one time to change the long-term outcome. They stick their hand into the dominoes and think they can stop that one thing because they too do not comprehend how everything is connected. It is not a question of guessing correctly. That is what these WEC events are all about. If you walk away with the understanding how everything is connected, then you can have the confidence to act only if you understand the sequence. When we forecast that the stock market would rally to new record highs, most thought I was crazy. Barron’s reported the forecast tongue in cheek.

Dominoes-1Just look at how everything aligned. Gold peaked showing that the fear in the collapse of banking subsided as was the case with government. The peak in the Euro lined up with the bottom in the Dow as deflation prevailed. If the trend would reverse, then all three markets had to perform like dominoes.

This sequence is still in motion. My objective in these WEC events is to teach you how to see it, and that inspires confidence, which in turn means you will be able to survive it.

Connected-Gold-Dow-Euro

Trump’s Tax Survey – Already Predetermined


TAXES-TEXT

  1. In order to achieve the American Dream, Americans must be able to keep more money in their pockets and increase after-tax wages.
  2. We must work to simplify the tax code by reducing the number of income brackets.
  3. Income Taxes are no longer necessary when money is not tangible. See solution on YouTube
    We must discourage corporate inversions in order to grow the American economy.
  4. We must make America a globally competitive nation again.
  5. Our plan must be fiscally responsible in order to not add to our already staggering debt.
  6. We must eliminate the death tax.
  7. We must reduce or eliminate deductions and loopholes that only benefit the very rich.
  8. Simplifying the tax code and cutting every American’s taxes will boost consumer spending while encouraging savings and investment.
  9. We must cut the corporate tax rate and allow the United States to compete internationally.
  10. Corporations must no longer be able to defer taxes on income earned abroad.
  11. Our lower tax rate must also apply to small business, allowing entrepreneurs and freelancers to grow and prosper.
  12. Our lower tax rates will provide a tremendous stimulus for the economy, significant GDP growth, and a huge number of new jobs.
  13. Our tax code overhaul must return power to the states.
  14. We must eliminate the marriage penalty and the Alternative Minimum Tax.
  15. We must allow working parents to deduct childcare expenses for up to four children and elderly dependents.
  16. We must reduce or eliminate the capital gains tax.
  17. We must have import tariffs from other countries at the same rates as those countries that impose on U.S. products.
  18. We must change the border-adjustment tax so companies can no longer deduct imports as costs.
  19. We must pass tax reform legislation in order to ‘Make America Great Again!’

The Dow Jones for the Close of April 2017


DJIND-W 4-28-2017

QUESTION:  Mr.Armstong in the past you talked of a down trun in the market in May.Since Trums TAX you have gave the impression everything is ok till 2018 is that correct?

THANK YOU

SM

ANSWER: There has not appeared to be a condition where one would warn of a crash in the stock market. The decline into May has been more of a sideways consolidation. The high remains the week of February 27th, 2017 at the 21169.11 level. In cycle analysis, what you look at is the direction. That forecast would have been wrong if the market made new highs above that of the week of 02/27/17. Moving sideways is still a cycle low rather than a high. The key point was the 20,000 level on the Dow. I have stated that a serious correction would only happen with a weekly closing beneath that level.

Today, a Weekly Bullish stands at 20970. We are currently trading at 20954. A close above that level will warn this is starting to firm up. You can see our Energy Models have been declining rather than rising. This has indicated the consolidation and it warns we are not at the precipitous from which a major crash is likely.

On the monthly level, here too we see 20975 as the important resistance and 202881 as the support for the close today. Everything is showing this 20770-20975 level as critical. The failure to exceed that level for the close today warns that the consolidation is not yet complete. Last month’s low was 20412.80. A closing below that would be technically bearish and confirm a drop into May.

We will lay out the longer term in a more detailed published report.

30Y Treasury Yield Jumps Near 3.00% Despite Dismal GDP Growth


Tyler Durden's picture

Nothing says sell bonds like the worst quarterly growth for a Fed rate hike since 1980

 

but that’s what is happening…

Here’s why – Treasuries under pressure after 1Q employment cost index rose 0.8%, largest gain since Q1 2007, a sign of inflationary wage pressures as both pay and benefits accelerated

US GDP Collapses To 0.7%, Lowest In Three Years; Worst Personal Spending Since 2009


Tyler Durden's picture

The Atlanta Fed was right once again, and slashing its forecast over the past 3 months today the BEA confirmed that in the first quarter US economic growth tumbled to just 0.7%, down from 2.1% in the last quarter and below the 1.0% expected, and the lowest print in three years going back all the way to Q1 2014.

Broken down by components, the disappoing number reflected increases in business investment, exports, housing investment, offset by a big slowdown in consumer spending. The increase in business investment reflected increases in both structures and equipment, notably a significant increase in mining exploration, shafts, and wells.

These positive contributions were offset by decreases in private inventory investment, state and local government spending, and federal government spending.

The increase in exports reflected an increase in nondurable industrial supplies and materials, notably petroleum. Also on trade, imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased in the first quarter of 2017. As the chart below shows, the dramatic drawdown in trade as a result of the soybean export surge giveback is now over, and net trade contributed a modest 0.1% to Q1 GDP.

But the biggest culprit for the atrocious GDP print was the collapse in consumer spending, which rose at just 0.23% annualized, the lowest increase since 2009, and reflected an increase in services offset by a decrease in motor vehicles and parts. In short: for whatever reason, spending in the first quarter imploded.

Elsewhere, looking at PCE, prices rose 2.6% Q/Q, above the 2.3% expected, and higher than last month’s 2.0%. Core PCE rose 2.0%, in line with expectations.

Once again, the bulk of the PCE growth came from rising healthcare service prices, with the rest barely registering.

Food prices increased in the first quarter following a decrease in the fourth quarter of 2016. Energy prices increased in the first quarter of 2017 following a larger increase in the fourth quarter of 2016. Excluding food and energy, prices increased 2.3 percent in the first quarter of 2017, compared with an increase of 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016.