Tag Archives: Neo-Conservatives

Nov 1 2017

The Politics of Change – Iceland – New Zealand – Czech Republic


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Nov 1, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson’s Independence Party won the most votes in the Iceland election but he saw his party’s support eroded as voters turned to smaller parties in protest. This leaves the country in a position of uncertainty as the election has opened the door to power for the nation’s charismatic and very attractive left-wing leader, Katrin Jakobsdottir. Now Jakobsdottir has the chance to form together a narrow majority for a center-left coalition. She is a 41-year-old who is very popular on her own with pre-election polls that showed one in two voters wanted her as the premier.

Meanwhile, in the Czech Republic’s general election, the Populist billionaire candidate Andrej Babis and his party have won the largest cache of votes about 30%, which was three times that of anyone else. He ran on a Eurosceptic platform. He has said that he would not bring the Czech Republic into the Eurozone but he wants the country to stay in the EU. He also wants changes to the European Council on issues like food quality and a “solution to migration”.

The new Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, has declared that capitalism is a blatant failure. She has banned foreign investment in property in the country.

What we are witnessing is 1933. That is when Roosevelt, Mao, and Hitler all came to power. It was not a particular political philosophy, but whoever was in power was being thrown out.

Oct 31 2017

MAGAnomics – U.S. Consumer Confidence “Reaches Highest Point in 17 Years”, Wage Rates Climbing…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on October 31, 2017 by

The U.S. Conference Board is an economic think tank in partnership with Nielsen surveys which provides predictive economic analysis based on consumer and economic surveys within the larger U.S. economy.  The latest monthly report from the board shows a stratospheric level of consumer confidence, 125.9 the highest level since 2000.

Accordingly, “consumers were even more optimistic in October than economists polled by Reuters expected.”  The media and economic teams who thrill at the possibility of being able to talk-down the U.S. economy are apoplectic…

(Reuters) U.S. consumer confidence jumped to a near 17-year high in October, with households upbeat about the labor market and business conditions, which could underpin consumer spending and boost the economy in the final three months of the year.

The economy’s prospects were further bolstered by other reports on Tuesday showing an acceleration in wage growth in the third quarter and sustained increases in house prices in August.  (read more)

.

The only ‘unexpected‘ part is actually the speed of Trump’s MAGAnomics taking hold within the larger Main Street economy; specifically regarding wage increases.   CTH forecast the American labor market seeing the year-over-year comparative wage rate increases around 3 to 5% happening in the second full year of applied MAGAnomic policy. However, there are signs the blue and white collar wage growth is six to eight months ahead of schedule.

American wages and salaries, which account for 70 percent of U.S. employment costs, rose 0.7% in quarter three (July-Sept).  Those same wage rates increased 0.5% in the second quarter (April – June).   This means the year-over-year comparisons for wages and salaries are now trending up 2.5 percent in the 12 months through September (’16 -vs- ’17) after gaining 2.3 percent in the Q2 comparison through June.

With inflation on highly-consumable products, food, fuel, energy holding steady at near zero, the increases in wages mean actual disposable income increases.  This lowered cost of living dynamic is allowing growth in consumer spending for the middle class.

Trump’s MAGAnomics is now entering a phase of self-fulfillment.  Drive down energy prices;… which keep costs down for high consumables;… while simultaneously increasing  overall middle America economic development;… which drives up wages; ….which facilitates the American worker’s ability to spend;… which drives GDP growth.

If President Trump’s economic policies can keep the momentum (note, tax help from congress would be nice), then after approximately two more quarters of this level of GDP growth the economic engine will be running on auto pilot; and once again the common sense free market Main Street (transactional) economy will be operational.

On the housing front you’ll note another dynamic at play which is directly related to growth in the Blue-Collar economy.  Remember, the housing sector is directly related to the regions of the U.S. with the largest expansion of economic growth.  A third report on Tuesday showed the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller composite home price index of 20 U.S. metropolitan areas rose 5.9 percent in August from a year ago after increasing 5.8 percent in July.

In the aggregate housing prices are being driven by a limited number of properties available for sale in the areas of the U.S. with the strongest economic growth.

Record-breaking increases in consumer confidence, combined with rising wages and strong house prices should keep consumer spending very strong for the rest of the year.

Yes, Mr. President, we will be saying “Merry Christmas” again…

Oct 31 2017

Tucker Carlson Expands on Podesta Source Story – Shares Podesta Group Threats Against Him….


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on October 30, 2017 by

Against the backdrop of the Paul Manafort indictment, Fox News host Tucker Carlson expanded on his exclusive source insight (from a former employee) into the Podesta Group and the lobbying activity on behalf of Russian interests.

Additionally, Mr. Carlson shares the legal threats he and his broadcast have recently received from lawyers representing Tony and John Podesta and the DC Lobbying Group they founded.

.

Tucker Carlson and Jonathan Turley (George Washington University Law School) discuss Special Counsel Robert Mueller, his ongoing investigation, the indictments from earlier today, and both ultimately come to the same conclusion CTH shared earlier,

Being intellectually honest it appears that Mueller is focused on the bigger, and more dangerous, dynamic surrounding foreign lobbying efforts and payments to DC politicians therein to shape U.S. policy.  Toward eliminating those lobbyist payments, the legal cases against Paul Manafort and Tony Podesta are tools to send the Swamp a message to stop.

Oct 31 2017

Political Prosecutions are now in Full Swing


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption

Re-Posted Oct 31, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Paul Manafort, a former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, was indicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy against the United States. This is a very serious step yet in a special counsel investigation into Russian links with Trump’s 2016 White House campaign. The real issue is not justice – there is no such thing. This is how the government turns a man against his brother until man exists no more.

Additionally. Muller’s longtime business associate Rick Gates was also indicted by a federal grand jury on 12 charges, including conspiracy against the U.S., special counsel Robert Mueller’s office announced Monday. The worst charge is a conspiracy. They need no proof for that charge. They simply can threaten Gates with life imprisonment and hand him a script to testify against Muller to get Muller to turnover Trump. This is how corrupt the justice system has become.

Manafort will be offered a deal to give up Trump or other people close to him in order to stay out of prison. This is how the system works. It is the dirtiest way of creating political prosecutions to create points to go after a hidden agenda.

Robert Mueller was the longest-serving FBI director since J.Edgar Hoover. He knows the system and how to break people. This is how they do that job. The problem is there is nobody on Capitol Hill who you could not indict on conspiracy from Hillary all the way down. You can even indict Obama because there is plenty of evidence he knew Hillary was using a private email server since he tried to hide his identity in communicating with her.

This is clearly a political prosecution. This was supposed to be a probe into Russia interfering with the US election. Not whether someone did not pay taxes on money they received. It has nothing to do with the subject matter and everything to do with who he is and the position he held.

It turns out that Muller is way too buddy-buddy with none other than James Comey. His office has been the source of leaks to the press – totally out of legal ethics itself. Now many are saying he should resign. What has come out of this is that Hillary paid for the whole Russia claims to attack Trump – something her and her friends all denied. Will Hillary be indicted? Do not hold your breath.

Muller may really be heading a deep state coup to try to get rid of Trump even against the politicians on Capitol Hill. This mess is getting really messy and political prosecutions just have to stop

Oct 31 2017

EU Support Madrid Refuses to Acknowledge Catalonia


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Oct 31, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

 

Madrid has seized Catalonia by force and the EU, of course, backs Madrid saying they do not recognize Catalonia as a free state. This is demonstrating that human rights in Europe mean nothing when it comes to protecting the jobs of those in Brussels. This is clearly sending a statement to the rest of Europe – shut up or you are next. That statement should surprise nobody since the rising separatist movements in Europe are against the power of Brussels.

Meanwhile, Spain is proposing to change the President of Catalonia with treason. They threatened him before that he would end up like the last attempt to break away – dead. The Catalan regional president, Carles Puigdemont, who has been deposed by the central government in Madrid, has called on the population to “democratically resist” the seizure by Madrid. In a televised address on Saturday, Puigdemont said he would continue to work to build a “free country”.

Puigdemont’s speech was also published in writing. This version was signed with “Carles Puigdemont, President of the Generalitat (Government) of Catalonia”. It was the first time since his dismissal following the Catalan Declaration of Independence on Friday that the politician voiced his opinion.

Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría took control of Catalonia’s administration on the weekend. The Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero was also terminated.

Oct 30 2017

Some Logical but Unmentioned Conclusions


Paul Eidelberg

Seven years ago, Caroline Glick exposed “The high price of coalition stability” (Jerusalem Post, June 22, 2010).  Her article involved some unmentioned but logical conclusions regarding Israel’s system of coalition cabinet government.  The present writer has written of these unmentioned conclusions in policy papers, books, and countless articles during the past two decades. Indeed, I have systematically correlated Israel’s political failings with its flawed institutions – all in vain.

Before continuing, let me assure the reader than I am well aware of the fact that political institutions, however wisely designed, cannot prevent the election of inept and even treacherous office holders, including presidents of the United States such as Barack Obama.  In other words, there is no institutional substitute for virtue and wisdom.  It should be emphasized that properly designed institutions can mitigate men’s follies and vices.  Alas, this is not the case in Israel, whose governmental institutions maximize the disarray of politics in this country.

The disarray began and continues as a result of a simple political decision: when Israel’s government was established in 1948, its founders, headed by David Ben-Gurion decided to make the entire country a single electoral district.  This political arrangement necessitates a parliamentary system in which parties win Knesset seats on the basis Proportional Representation (PR). Given a low electoral threshold (it has risen from 1% to 3.25%), PR spawns a multiplicity of parties such that no party has ever come close to winning a majority of the 120 seats in the Knesset.  This fact necessitates coalition cabinet government, which results in a cabinet consisting of several rival political parties.

Let’s examine the grounds on which virtually every commentator fears to tread.

1) The multiplicity of parties produced by PR prompts major parties – recall Labor in 1992 and the Likud since then – to deceive the public by campaigning on a more or less centrist or more vote-getting agenda, only to shift in the opposite direction once the leaders of these parties become prime ministers.  Thus, Labor leader Yitzhak Rabin, who scorned the PLO in the 1992 election campaign, signed – after a “decent interval” – the Israel-PLO agreement of 1993. Likewise, Ariel Sharon, who campaigned against Labor’s policy of disengagement in 2003, adopted – after another “decent interval” – that very policy!

2) Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also devious.  He said nothing of the “two state solution” preceding the February 2009 election. But after a mind-numbing interval of four months, he endorsed a Palestinian state!

3) Some sixty years ago, David Ben-Gurion denounced Proportional Representation and revealed the pernicious nature of multiparty cabinet government, which remains solidly entrenched to this day.  The reasons are not pretty.  PR not only yields a multiplicity of parties in the Knesset.  It also compels citizens to vote for fixed party lists.  One result is this: the members of the Knesset are not individually accountable to the voters in constituency or regional elections.

4) Moreover, members of the Knesset know that this system of voting for fixed party slates – a system found only in four out of more than 80 countries classified as democracies – enables an incumbent MK to be re-elected without having to compete with a rival candidate (who would surely reveal the incumbent’s political failings).  For this reason alone, virtually all members of the Knesset oppose direct, personal, and democratic election of Israel’s parliament.

5) Furthermore, multiparty cabinet government enables any MK, regardless of his record, to become a cabinet minister – the road to power and political longevity.  This explains Glick’s characterization of Ehud Barak is a “serial bungler.”  One may add Shimon Peres, the father of Oslo, who became a permanent fixture in the Knesset until that conglomeration of self-serving politicians elected him Israel’s president!

Surely a well-informed and perceptive political analyst like Caroline Glick could add many other instances of the disastrous consequences of multiparty cabinet government.

Oct 30 2017

A Warning To Alabama GOP, Breitbart, Steve Bannon, S. Gorka, and Crew…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on October 29, 2017 by

Stop me when you see the parallels:

The time was November and December 2009, right about this time of year in the larger political calendar of things…. One party was completely locked out from influence in Washington DC, as the opposing party held the White House, and majorities in both houses of congress…

The 2009 political opposition groups didn’t like what was happening.  There was very large and significant legislation being debated.  Frustrated common sense citizens stopped looking to ineffective congressional representatives to stop the daily usurpation.

Loosely connected but engaged grassroots political types were looking for routes to stop the White House and congress.

There was also a Senate seat up for grabs, and a necessary special election.  The former seat-holder was considered a stalwart by the party in power; and the seat was considered a “gimme” by the state party apparatus.  No-one was contemplating the possibility of the majority party in power ever losing that seat….. EVER.

The candidate appointed to hold the seat for the party in power was arrogant, condescending, and generally didn’t feel they needed to work for the seat.  After all, the seat was held by one party for decades and generally no-one could fathom losing it.

The election outcome was considered so much a forgone conclusion no-one was even polling the state throughout November or December 2009.   It was also because of that herd mindset the next-in-line candidate just spent time on the cocktail circuit meeting with donors, taking their requests and then a few trips to DC for parties, drape-measuring, and generally snobbing around with the upper-minded ‘betters’.

About a month prior to the actual voting the election outcome was so widely anticipated to be a lopsided victory for the party in power the candidate actually took three weeks off, and jetted away to the caribbean for a Christmas/New Year holiday vacation.

However, under the radar, and entirely missed by everyone -including media- small bands of grassroots political peeps discovered the other parties strength was also their weakness.  There was an invisible path to victory, and, more importantly, a hard working candidate who had quietly put in a stunning amount of groundwork.

Around the same time the overly confident political types were obliviously comparing Christmas decor…. tens, then dozens, then hundreds, eventually thousands of very focused volunteers began to assemble when everyone else was busy with the holiday and not paying attention.

Many, including many I got to know personally, gave up their 2009 holidays to drive half-way across the country and help the quiet assembly.  [“Meet at the Old Mill, we ride at midnight”…]

By the time the party in power woke up from their New Years celebrations and looked to the formality of the upcoming election/coronation, well, it was too late.

The rebel alliance had positioned in every town, village, street corner, venue and simultaneously began overwhelming a completely unprepared political apparatus by drawing attention to their goal: Take the seat from the hands of power, and give it back to the people….

Our strategic advantage was their collective arrogance.

Because they fully expected to win the election, they didn’t even have signs, bumper stickers, advertising contracts, or operational infrastructure or volunteers planned for a campaign.  They were completely caught off-guard.

We had thousands of people with home-made signs in the streets daily.  The momentum was on our side and the candidate messaging so focused that by the time the DC apparatus woke up mid-January it was far too late.   The election day was January 19th 2010.

Yes, in Dec. 2009/Jan 2010 the grassroots movement in Massachusetts to elect Scott Brown caught the Democrats completely off-guard.  Martha Coakley lost, Scott Brown won, the political world was stunned; and yes, Democrats lost the Kennedy seat.

Why does this matter now?

Alabama Republicans, and the group planning to help Roy Moore win the Alabama primary, would be wise to pay attention to that historic reminder because republican candidate Roy Moore is acting just like democrat candidate Martha Coakley in November and December 2009.

  • One party in power.
  • A special election in a deeply one-sided state everyone takes for granted.
  • A seat formerly held by a stalwart of the party in power. (Kennedy / Sessions)
  • A disgruntled opposition party whose grassroots strategy is under the radar.
  • No-one in the media paying attention. (A strategy that benefits from stealth)
  • A generally ‘unlikable candidate‘, who spent more time in DC than campaigning in the state where it mattered.  (see below)

See the parallels?

2017: No Democrat can ever win a senate seat in Alabama they say….

2009: No Republican can ever win a senate seat in Massachusetts they said…

Any questions?

Oct 30 2017

Catalonia (Catalunya) – Legal or not Legal


Armstrong Economics Blog/SPAIN

Re-Posted Oct 30, 2017 by Martin Armstrong
There are many who write in from Spain supporting Madrid against Catalonia. The core of their argument is that the call this movement an independent “socialistic movement” and they argue it is not at all but democratic.
“There’s indeed a strong independence feel in Catalunya, they have been like this for centuries although they never really were able to achieve a country status. … But one cannot claim to be democratic if you plan to force a secession with an election attended by less than half the people who can vote. Most people agreed on the national court’s decision that the referendum was illegal and supported the court rule by no attending to vote, they were 58 percent of the registered voters, those who were against the decision were able to vote anyway.”

Catalonia is an autonomous region in north-east Spain with a distinct history dating back almost 1,000 years. It is a wealthy region that has its own language, parliament, flag and national anthem. It also has its own police force and controls some of its public services.

Maximum of Barcelona

Historically, during the 12th century, Catalonia was taken under the same royal rule as the neighboring kingdom of Aragon. Catalonia has been part of Spain since its genesis in the 15th century when King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile married and united their realms. Nevertheless, the history of Barcelonia extends back into ancient time. It was Maximum of Barcelona (409-411AD) who rose up to be independent of the collapsing Roman Empire.

This idea that Catalonia somehow belongs to Madrid in perpetuity is rather strange. Spain itself did not exist as a country until the marriage of Ferdinand & Isabella during the 15th century. There are coins issued in Barcelona which predate Spain. Back in the 11th century, the Iberian peninsula was divided into three kingdoms; (1) Caliphate of Córdoba in Taifa, (2) The kingdoms of Leon, (3) and The Kingdom of Pamplona and the County of Barcelona. Historically, Barcelona was not conquered by the Arabs who dominated most of Spain during the 11th century. From that period onward, Barcelona has always harbored a sense of independence from the rest of the Iberian peninsula.

So why such intensity against Catalonia? On October 27th, 2017, the Catalan parliament declared independence, in a 70-10 vote. That seems to be a clear majority vote. Granted, this came after an independence referendum on October 1st, 2017, in which just under 90% of Catalan voters backed independence, however, turnout was only 43%. That was, in part, because Madrid sent in troops to try to prevent the vote. Now Madrid has called for a new vote after dismissing the Parliament and thus appears to be setting the stage for a rigged election no different than Russia taking Crimea. The West sanctions Russia for such tactics but not Madrid?

The Supreme Court decision is used by Madrid to claim there is no right for Catalonia to separate. That is clearly a violation of human rights and it is the very same argument the King of Britain made against America so I suppose the United States is a totally illegal entity as well. Someone should serve notice to Trump to hand power back to London and surrender.

Oct 29 2017

Clinton Paid to Have the Dossier Created to Try to Discredit Trump


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Oct 29, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: I am shocked that the Washington Post has come out and admitted that the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier that has been the center of all the investigations even though much of it has been discredited.

REPLY: Welcome to the real world of politics. What they do not understand is this is just one of the reason people voted for Trump. They are sick of government for the government against the people. There is just no “We the People” in their vocabulary.

Previously both John Podesta and former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz denied any knowledge of funding for this dossier. Any surprise at that

Oct 28 2017

CNN’s Sketchy Dossier “Reporting”…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on October 28, 2017 by

Notice how the New York Times and Washington Post are staying away from the CNN story about the upcoming Robert Mueller indictments.  There’s a good reason for that…

….Things That Make Other Things Make Sense:

Back January 10th, 2017, when CNN first began emphasizing the Russian Dossier and how it related to the ‘vast Russian conspiracy’ CTH knew from the way it was being pitched that something was sketchy about CNN’s reporting.   It wasn’t just the story they were selling; it was a very specific cast of characters selling it.   We immediately NOTED IT HERE.

Jake Tapper, Jim Scuitto, Evan Perez and Carl Bernstein was the CNN crew assembled to talk about the Clinton/DNC funded -and Fusion GPS contracted- Christopher Steele ‘dossier’.  Evan Perez had some rather sketchy stories in the weeks prior to their January 10th narrative roll out.  Again the back story is important –SEE HERE–

Well, fast forward to now – and today The Daily Caller is reporting that Evan Perez is actually close friends with the people behind Fusion GPS.  VERY close friends. Like, ‘go on vacation together’ type friends:  VERY IMPORTANT READ

DAILY CALLER – CNN’s reporting on the Trump-Russia dossier has left out at least one crucial fact: the close ties between the network and the opposition research firm at the center of the dossier controversy.

CNN’s reporting on the dossier, led by justice correspondent Evan Perez, has been favorable to the firm, Fusion GPS, and hyped the dossier’s credibility. Left out of Perez’s reporting, which has relied largely on unnamed sources, is his personal closeness to Fusion GPS’ operatives. (continue reading)

The Plot Thickens:

Read Gateway Pundit Story HERE