Washington’s reckless spending comes with a cost to US taxpayers. While the fed may simply roll over their debt and issue new debt to pay off the old, the American public is on the hook for immediate liquidity every single year via taxation. The misconception that Biden would only target the wealthy needs to be dispelled as a recent study reveals that 63% of new audits targeted Americans earning under $200,000.
Now, Biden initially claimed he would send his troop of IRS agents to target Americans earning double that amount. The billionaire class was not targeted, as 80% of all audits were on filers earning under $1 million. Yes, there are far more taxpayers in the middle and lower brackets. However, the IRS merely claimed they would prioritize hunting higher earners; they never explicitly said they wouldn’t come after ALL Americans.
The entire hunt for taxation has been a war on the middle class, who is unable to file massive write-offs and cannot afford to continue paying Uncle Sam on every incoming and outgoing transaction, plus savings, income, and everything else from birth to death. Washington effectively lowered our purchasing power by fueling inflation through absurd fiscal and social policies, and now they are asking people to give them even more of whatever money that remains. Washington continues to spend taxpayer funds on initiatives that the people have never once voted on, and ahead of election season, Biden is going on yet another spending spree with your money to buy off voters.
The highest earners know how to avoid taxes. Trump famously told Hillary during a debate prior to the 2016 US Presidential Election that he obviously used the loopholes in the tax system, as do all financially savvy businessmen. “Her donors took massive tax write offs… and other things that Hillary as a Senator allowed,” Trump stated during the debate. “So do Warren Buffett, so does George Soros, and so do other people Hillary is supported by,” he added. Note that the Democrats in control have never repealed restrictions on these tax loopholes that only help their wealthy donors.
Every new war, aid package, climate change package, social program, and migrant who crosses the border is now the responsibility of the US taxpayer. They wrongly believe that our money belongs to the federal government, with the state also taking out their share. Then, they create new taxes, such as targeting capital gains, to ensure that every American is stretched thin. Did anyone vote for this nonsense? We do not live in a Democracy and anyone who says otherwise is either misinformed or lying.
It will become far easier for governments to extort the people when they introduce CBDC in January 2025. Uncle Sam will think you have hidden any cash on hand from him, cash that belongs to him, once they force us to digitize our dollars. Inflation will continue to rise above GDP and we will enter a period of stagflation. This is why I have warned countless times that private and tangible assets are a safer bet compared to cash as we move into 2028.
The problem with people’s attitudes toward the national debt is that everyone has forgotten why we borrowed in the first place. The theory was that if you borrowed rather than printed money, you were NOT increasing the existing money supply, and therefore, in theory, it would not be inflationary.
However, the Democrats forgot how to run for government without their Marxist agenda of bribing the people to vote for them. This led to always creating deficits. Add to this the NEOCONS who have done nothing but wage wars ever since World War II to defeat Communism and have spent money lavishly on trying to conquer the world.
During the Presidential Third Debate of 1960, the question about the outflow of gold from the USA reserves arose. This sparked a Gold Panic in the London gold market, whereby gold rallied to $40 for the first time, showing that the Bretton Woods System was beginning to collapse. The United States’ outflow of gold was not really from a trade deficit but from the fact that the USA was defending the world with its military establishing bases everywhere. That meant capital was leaving. Gold rallied again to $40 in the late 1960s, and finally, it forced the collapse of the convertibility of gold under the Bretton Woods System in 1971. Kennedy’s words were:
“Now, on the question of gold. The difficulty, of course, is that we do have heavy obligations abroad, that we therefore have to maintain not only a favorable balance of trade but also send a good deal of our dollars overseas to pay our troops, maintain our bases, and sustain other economies. In other words, if we’re going to continue to maintain our position in the sixties, we have to maintain a sound monetary and fiscal policy. We have to have control over inflation, and we also have to have a favorable balance of trade. We have to be able to compete in the world market.”
The dollars were being spent not to benefit our economy but to fulfill the dreams of the Neocons; when Communism fell, they refused to accept any real change.
Rome takes care of widows and orphans.
We borrow, which is worse than printing because we have to pay interest on constantly rolling the debt. This year, we will spend about $1 trillion on interest, the total national debt when Reagan took office in 1981. At times, 70% of the national debt is accumulative interest. That means it went nowhere to improve society or care for widows and orphans, at least as the Romans did. Had we printed the money instead of borrowing, it would have been less inflationary and the capital would have created more jobs instead of investing in government debt which has only funded the Neocons’ wildest dreams.
Posted originally on May 6, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
Eleven states may face capital gain taxes to comply with theBiden Administration’s 2025 budget, in which the government must hunt the people for taxes to pay for a fraction of their spending. The concept of capital gains was not within the original Constitution. The Founding Fathers established a completely new nation in an attempt to flee government tyranny, but yet again, Democracy has fallen into a Republic where the people have no say.
Capital gains were introduced in 1913, The 16th Amendment granted US Congress the power to levy income via taxation, which remained at around 7% until 1921. Congress quickly determined that they needed to extort citizens for more money and created two brackets. The 7% tax became a standard for income tax, but investors who held for over two years, an insignificant amount of time, were punished for saving and forced to pay 12.5% to Washington. Fast forward to 2025, and we are looking at the top marginal rate rising to up to 57.9%! The current capital extortion rate is around a quarter of one’s capital.
This idea of hunting down the rich is utter nonsense as it becomes an excuse to eliminate the middle class. The big money can take the risk, but the average investor cannot. This will deter small business investment and entrepreneurs who greatly contribute to innovation as they bring creativity and imagination to business.
Naturally, the 11 states are primarily blue. Californians really destroyed their state by voting for Gavin Newsom, and now they may face a top tax of 57.9% to cover the state’s excessive spending and growing deficit. New York and New Jersey, two states that should have stayed red, will face the second-highest capital gain taxation at a rate of 55.5%. These states already pay astronomical taxes on things such as property. Minnesota is looking at a tax of 55.45%, Oregon 54.5%, and Maine 51.75%, with the remaining states (Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Georgia, and Idaho) all facing capital gain extortion rates above 50%.
Why on Earth would anyone want to conduct business in these states? If Biden remains in power, it will be a wonder if major corporations continue to choose to do business in the United States at all. Businesses could go literally almost anywhere else and face lower rates of taxation. Additionally, the American consumer has been stretched so thin through dollar devaluation, inflation, and taxation that they are not spending the way they once did. Capitalism is under attack; success is a punishable offense.
America’s consumer economy will continue to decline while places like China see their middle class grow and the consumer economy rise. China is not creating worthless spending packages on climate change. Remember, they told us clear as day that the goal is to destroy America’s standing as the world’s leading superpower. Klaus Schwab has been aiming for 2030, but the computer has been honing in on 2032 before Schwab released plans for Agenda 2030. Unfortunately, this is all precisely on schedule as America enjoys its final time in the spotlight as the world’s financial capital.
Posted originally on May 2, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
“I don’t see the ‘stag’ or the ‘-flation’,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said during his Wednesday address.
Powell believed inflation would be “transitory.” He believed that the economy would come down for a “soft landing.” He believed we would enter the year and see numerous cuts due to waning inflation coming closer to the fictional 2% target. Yet again, Chairman Jerome Powell has missed the mark on stagflation.
If you really look at it, objectively, interest rates always rise during boom periods, and they decline during recessions and depressions. We will see increased inflation, probably into 2028 caused by shortages and war. But you’re looking at a declining economic growth, so that ends up being more like the economy of the 1970s, and you’re looking at what we call “Stagflation” where the inflation rate will be higher than economic growth.
Chair Jerome Powell said officials are prepared to hike again if price pressures return. He indicated that they were now considering when to cut rates as inflation subsides to their fictional and arbitrary 2% goal. Rate cuts are only sustainable once you see the economy decline. The events that unfold around May 7, primarily regarding war, will highlight what we need to know.
Inflation rising above economic growth is STAGFLATION, which is precisely what the economy experiences during war. Inflation will rise faster than GDP, causing the purchasing power of the USD to decline.
One major factor that is never included in the inflation numbers is TAXATION. Their theory is that taxes are the citizens’ obligation and not part of our cost of living. Yet, those at the top are seeing half or more of their wealth siphoned by Washington. We already know that the jobs reports are grossly distorted. To calculate GDP, they include total personal income and government spending. In March, we saw the public sector multiply, which only causes more of a burden on the taxpayer. The ADP that was released today indicated a spike in hospitality among the private sector, but we tend to see that before the summer months in the US. The public sector contributes absolutely nothing to GDP.
WAR WILL LEAD TO STAGFLATION. Of course, the Fed cannot come out and say that they see a looming escalation of war on the horizon, and Washington certainly would not come out and say to prepare for war. Socrates is impartial to bias and was correct about this inflationary trend into 2024. We are poised for a directional change in Q3 of 2025, implying an escalation in the war cycle post-2024.
Posted originally on May 1, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
I do not agree with Donald Trump’s view of the Federal Reserve. I speak on behalf of sound economic policies that benefit the people. I do not blindly support a political candidate for the sake of being on the right side. Now, I criticized Trump during his presidency for constantly pressuring the central bank to lower interest rates. There are rumorsswirling that Trump, if elected, would set the price of interest rates himself without the advice of the Federal Reserve. While this may be an extreme side of the rumor, Trump and every other president would like more power over the Federal Reserve — BAD IDEA!
What we must keep in mind is that the Federal Reserve’s original design, which lasted for about one year, was brilliant. The classic banking model involved borrowing from depositors on a demand basis and lending long-term, making a profit on the spread in interest rates, such as for business loans and mortgages. This was relationship banking, not today’s transactional banking model.
This was fractional banking insofar as about 8% of the money needed to remain free to service demand requirements. The crisis comes during an economic contraction when people run to the bank for a loss of confidence and demand to withdraw their funds. This results in the value of cash rising in purchasing power compared to assets, so asset values collapse.
The idea of “elastic money” was to increase the supply of cash during such a crisis to meet the demand for withdrawals and that would offset the need to sell assets by calling in long-term debts. By increasing the money supply on a temporary basis, the Fed could offset the contraction in theory smoothing out the business cycle.
This was a brilliant scheme. However, it has been Congress, and not the Fed, that corrupted that mechanism. The banks technically owned the Fed as this was supposed to save the taxpayer money. The banks should contribute to their own bailout fund. Furthermore, the Fed’s design was also about buying in corporate paper when banks would not lend money. This was a mechanism used to offset rising unemployment if corporations could not fund their operations. They supplemented this by the management of regional interest rates to balance the domestic economy. Each branch of the Fed could raise or lower their local interest rate autonomously to attract capital when there was a local shortage or deflect capital when there was too much.
Congress began to manipulate the Federal Reserve for their own self-interest when World War I broke out on April 6, 1917. The alteration to the design of the Fed was to direct it to buy government bonds, not corporate. In this first step, they never reverse this decree after the war. They removed the brilliant design to stimulate the economy directly by purchasing corporate paper during a recession. In the last 2007-2009 crisis, the government wrote a check to TARP and hoped that the banks would lend money, but they did not. Removing this first pillar of the independent Fed distorted the entire system. It then made little sense for bankers to own shares in an entity that was no longer privately controlled.
Banks became traders during the 1929 Boom-Bust Cycle. Goldman Sachs became deeply involved in the bull market, establishing numerous trusts and mergers. Goldman Sachs expanded the leverage going right into the eye of the storm that was about to hit starting on September 3, 1929. The crash wipes our 70% of Goldman’s entire market.
The Glass-Steagall Act, also known as the Banking Act of 1933 (48 Stat. 162), was passed by Congress in 1933 and prohibited commercial banks from engaging in the investment business. Around 5,000 banks failed during the Great Depression largely because banks sold trusts and foreign sovereign government bonds to the public in small denominations. Bill Clinton later repealed Glass-Steagall and handed the power back over to the bankers. Disaster strikes every time the government tries to manipulate the free market.
People believe the Fed has the power to create money out of thin air, yet never explain why the Fed was given that power. You cannot have a fixed money supply as the population increases, then you end up with DEFLATION, which is the rise in the value of money. You can double the money supply, but if the people hoard it, as they tend to do during private waves when the public loses all trust in government, you will never create inflation. There was a huge contraction in the velocity of money during the Great Depression for this very reason.
The Biden Administration, as has the Trump Administration, has come after the Fed. Politicians merely want the economy to appear strong under their reign and fail to see the long-term impact of policies. Politicians have no knowledge of economics or the insight to run the Fed. Not to mention that law does not permit Washington to bark orders at the Fed, although Washington does oversee the Fed and can force the central bank to change its policies to align with government spending or repel debt buyers.
Trump is a borrower, not a lender. His bankruptcies were the result of the business cycle and he leverages himself to the hilt so when the recession comes, he gets in trouble and when it is booming he claims to be a fantastic investor. But he is no trader. He could have hedged the business cycle but did not.
Chairman Jerome Powell and Trump clashed repeatedly. Not so coincidentally, Powell and numerous Fed bank presidents have their terms expiring in 2028 – a key year, as indicated by our models. The Biden Administration has already driven the economy off a cliff. The central bank is merely trying to heal an already injured economy with a limited medical kit.
The Fed is INDEPENDENT and will not be bullied by Biden or Trump. The Fed understands that it has become the world’s central bank and its actions in raising rates have had a far greater impact externally particularly in emerging markets because so many other nations issue their debt in US dollars.
Posted originally on Apr 30, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
In 2021, the Extreme Left Labour Government seized power in Norway, overthrowing the eight years of Conservative rule. Labour won 48 of the 169 parliamentary seats, one less than in 2017, but the Conservatives lost nine seats and were left with only 36. We can see that 2021 was low for the US dollar after COVID against the Norway Krone, and ever since the leftists seized power, they have been steering Norway in that direction where all Marxist regimes have died violently and inevitably.
All leftist governments impose their will to crush any individualism. They are obsessed with someone who has more than they do. Every leftist government ends in utter disaster. They reduce the standard of living and inevitably drive the most talented people out of their domain. Every Marxist government, from Russia to China, has committed suicide by suppressing innovation, and the most talented people will always seek to leave. In the case of Communism, they built the Berlin Wall in 1961 to prevent people from fleeing. These LEFTIST governments are now moving to impose an EXIT tax if you seek to leave their depressing economic domains. Human nature will ALWAYS prevail, and this is why every single government that has abused its power and then tried to prevent people from leaving with EXIT TAXES or a version of the Berlin Wall crumbled to dust and is all buried in a common grave by history.
The Bible is a very interesting historical document. Socialism violates the Ten Commandments, and I am shocked that nobody has challenged this progressiveness of taxation as a violation of their religious beliefs. This very reason this prohibition against LEFTIST political agendas is in the Ten Commandments is because human nature has never changed, and such LEFTIST experiments have been tried for thousands of years and have always failed.
Communism first appeared in historical records back in Ancient Greece. This was a classic battle, like our modern Cold War. Athens was a capitalistic system that had its own internal battle between the Oligarchy and Democracy, which we still have today. Sparta was a communist state, so much so that it NEVER adopted coinage, and these spits were maintained to PREVENT people from hoarding wealth—sound familiar with electronic money and canceling currencies? The Spartan system was based on the idea that the collective came before the individual. This is the cornerstone of all LEFTIST regimes.
Marx believed Communism would prevail because Sparta defeated Athens in 404 BC. However, Sparta was in league with its neighbors, especially Corinth, whose coinage competed with Athens in trade. So Sparta was the Communist state, but it was aided by other capitalistic cities to knock out the financial capital of the world so they could replace it.
This division eventually led to the opening of the door for the northern Macedonians to take all of Greece under Philip II (359-336BC) and his son Alexander the Great. This Cold War between effectively Spartan Communism and Athenian Capitalism weakened Greece and allowed them to be conquered by Macedonia, which was not originally part of Greece.
To be a Spartan citizen, one had to undertake the Agoge’s rigorous military education. Only those who had completed their education in the Agoge were entitled to be citizens. The criteria for a Spartan citizen were very high. While the system ensured that the Spartans were well-trained warriors, it also led to problems replacing those who died in battle. To be a citizen, the Spartan had to pay his way into the agoge, such as supply his armor. The economic burden upon the common people was its undoing. Lacking a flourishing economy because people were steered into the military for the state, it sealed its fate with a gradually declining economic base. With the rising costs over time, fewer and fewer people could afford to pay their way into agoge.
Sparta emerged victorious during the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC, and by 400 BC, it had replaced Athens as the greatest military power in the Greek world. However, it neither contributed to the economy no less art and creativity. Then, in 371 BC, in just about 31.4 years by Thebes, the Spartans were defeated in the battle for the first time. They lost that military power and Greece’s leadership. Nothing lasts forever. During that entire period, Sparta never issued any coinage because it was an anti-capitalistic state.
Whenever a LEFTIST government turns to restrict the movement of people by building Berlin Walls to keep them in or an EXIT tax to confiscate their wealth as a punishment for leaving since they are not being taxed to pay any fair share of the state when they are not there, the end is merely inevitable. The LEFT will always impose dictatorial decrees and refuse ever even once to consider that what they are doing is against human nature and the basic human right to live in peace.
In recent developments in Norway, the failure of the government’s economic policies has been taxing the “hated” rich; they are planning to introduce a more stringent exit tax to punish anyone who leaves their draconian policies. This move has attracted much criticism from many sources, but historically, the LEFT has never listened. Even in the United States, just look at those states that have extreme LEFT regimes, and you will find EXIT Taxes as well.
California in the US is an absolutely horrible place, and it is following the same path as Norway. California is no longer a place to invest, as is the case with New York and most of the New England states. New Jerseyhas an EXIT Tax applied if you sell your home and buy something in another state. Connecticut has a 2.25% EXIT Tax. New Jersey has an Exit Tax. All of the LEFTIST government sees you as just an economic slave. It has nothing to do with paying your fair share – they are only interested in economically punishing you. If you do not get the hell out of these states, it will only get worse because they NEVER have enough and will NEVER change their policies until there is a political revolution and they are voted out of power. But the brightest will always leave, and in the end, they commit economic suicide, no different than ancient Sparta.
Spearheaded by Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, the initiative aims to deter affluent Norwegians from relocating to countries with more favorable tax regimes, such as Switzerland, by imposing a hefty tax on unrealized gains. Here in the USA, Janet Yellen wants investors to pay a tax on the increase in the value of stock every year, even if it is not sold. So if a stock goes from $100 to $150 you must pay tax on that $50. Then there is a crash, and it drops 25%. You will get no tax credit, and then it bounces 10%; you owe on that 10% bounce.
These people are absolutely destroying capitalism and Western Society. We have only 8 years left because this entire economic system will collapse. This is unsustainable. In Australia, the LEFT wants to confiscate all your wealth upon death and you should be prohibited from leaving anything to your children. Everyone should start from ZERO – except LEFTIST politicians of course. This is what 2032 is all about. These people are destroying our future and the very foundation of a free society.
Posted originally on Apr 30, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
People have been leaving California in droves due to Governor Gavin Newsom’s socialistic Utopia that demands everyone be taxed on every penny they earn. I’ve long warned that California was unfriendly for businesses and investors. Those who stayed behind will now need to pay to leave under Assembly Bill 2088.
California plans to implement a one-time tax for businesses and individuals fleeing the Golden State. The government will look at all of your assets and investments to determine how much you will need to pay, which is usually 0.4% of someone’s net worth. Wealth historically flees when taxes rise, and to combat this issue, California plans to tax anyone with an income for $30 million for up to a full decade after they leave the state. Someone leaving the country entirely will still be forced to pay California for the privilege of leaving.
California first implemented an exit tax in August 2020 when they saw businesses and individuals lining up to leave the state that faced some of the harshest lockdown penalties in the nation. Uhaul and other moving organizations reported shortages on shipping vehicles as the demand to flee was so high.
Per usual, this tax was first introduced as an “eat the rich” penalty for those earning over $30M. And again, as usual, the tax expanded to target everyone. Small businesses that are already struggling to survive in California’s climate may feel trapped in the state. Individuals who can no longer afford the cost of living in California are also unable to leave without forfeiting money to the state. Afterall, the majority of people who live in California rent if they actually have shelter. Why anyone would want to conduct business in or through California is beyond me as Newsom is clearly targeting everyone who merely associates with California.
Another reason the Socialists introduced this tax is to steal capital gains. They wanted to tax unrealized gains to no avail but were prohibited by the courts. Now they are worried people will move out of state and cash out elsewhere. So California wants to tax all investments to ensure they get a cut of YOUR money that they do not have a right to claim.
The state dug themselves into the deepest deficit in the nation. The decision-makers do not believe they are the problem. They believe the greedy businesses and individuals are the problem and deserve to pay for their mistakes through unending taxation. Accumulating wealth is now a punishable offense in parts of the “free world.”
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
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