What Will the Fed do in 2024?


Posted originally on Jan 3, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

Powell_Unsustainable_12 1 23

Everyone wants to know what the Federal Reserve will do in 2024. Of course, people want to believe that the Fed will slash interest rates in the New Year. The pundits cling to every word except when, at the start of the month of December, Powell boldly criticized the Biden Administration, saying that his outrageous spending is “unsustainable” and central banks do not criticize their governments. They certainly do not criticize each other. I have met with the boards of central banks worldwide because I understand their predicament. Unless you have been behind those closed doors, you will never comprehend the intricacies that are taking place.

Federal Reserve Bank

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) held rates at the 5.25% to 5.5% range at their last meeting in December 2023. Additionally, the committee indicated the possibility of at least three rate cuts in 2024, as their favored gauges for inflation appear to be easing. The “dot plot,” which reflects individual members’ expectations, suggests the potential for four rate cuts in 2025 and three more in 2026, bringing the rate down to between 2% and 2.25%. Now, that is simply what the public has been led to believe.

The Fed’s last decision reflects a cautious approach to policy tightening, considering multiple factors unknown to the public before any further adjustments. The committee’s PUBLIC decision and future outlook are based on the evolving economic conditions in relation to inflation and the labor market.

The Federal Open Market Committee will meet in 2024 as follows:

  • Jan. 30-31
  • Mar. 19-20
  • Apr. 30 – May 1
  • Jun. 11-12
  • Jul. 30-31
  • Sept. 17-18
  • Nov. 6-7
  •  Dec.  17-18
2023 Year End Report

There are simply things I cannot publish on the public blog. I have posted articles on the Socrates private blog that explain the Fed’s direction for 2024 in further detail. Now, consider the dates above and consider what events align with them. Further details will be provided in the Year-End Report, which should be out by the end of this week.

Federal Reserve 1951 Accord

The Federal Reserve cannot criticize the federal government. The most significant issues facing our economy are simply out of the Fed’s hands: war, taxation, and government spending. Chairman Jerome Powell surprised everyone when he called current government spending “unsustainable.” While not a direct criticism, Powell issued a stark warning that aligns with our Revolution Cycle of 72 years. In 1951, the central bank defied the US government by refusing to purchase debt to prevent rate hikes amid the Korean War.

So, there is bad news for the perpetual bulls who insist rates must decline. There is a HUGE divergence unfolding between short and long-term rates. Institutions are buying up government debt without considering the potential that rates may not fall. Absolutely no one is factoring in the largest driver of inflation – WAR – nor are they factoring in the three main pillars of government debauchery (war, taxation, government spending) that the Fed cannot control.

12.30.23: LT w/ Dr. Elliott: Allocate into STRENGTH, Silver/Gold, Phantom Debt, UBI in Canada, Banks, Pray!


Posted originally on Rumble By And We Know on Dec 30 12:00 EST

Deep Dive Radio Interview Pt IV Trailer


Posted originally on Dec 30, 2023 By Martin Armstrong 

The full interview will be available around January 7.

Crazy Stuff – Details of Results from Western Oil Sanctions Against Russia


Posted originally on the CTH on December 29, 2023 | Sundance

I’m very serious when I share with people that almost everything we understand about the geopolitical purposes and impacts of sanctions against Russian economic interests is entirely fabricated.  However, because the scale of the propaganda against us is so effective, breaking the mental/cognitive barrier is almost impossible.

It’s not that situations are ‘shaped’ or information is ‘manipulated,’ like would be the definition of the term “disinformation.”  But rather that the entire construct of reality regarding the economic issues -as presented- is fabricated, created by massive financial interests, and flat-out lies; I mean, total unadulterated nonsense. Complete fiction.

This latest article from Reuters, and the accompanying graphic from ZeroHedge, only scratches the surface.

[SOURCE]

We are through the looking glass folks.  Literally captive to the narrative as sold by our Western government officials, and there’s a huge one-way mirror; beyond which, massive segments of the grey zone are looking at us as if we are pathetic victims of professional propaganda.

The worst part of this dynamic is how the USA looks insufferably weak, because we are playing this massive game of pretending that only the Yellow Zone is participating in.

MOSCOW, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Almost all of Russia’s oil exports this year have been shipped to China and India, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday, after Moscow responded to Western economic sanctions by quickly rerouting supplies away from Europe.

Russia has successfully circumvented sanctions on its oil and diverted flows from Europe to China and India, which together accounted for around 90% of its crude exports, Novak, who is in charge of the country’s energy sector, told Rossiya-24 state TV.

He said that Russia had already started to forge ties with Asia-Pacific countries before the West introduced sanctions against Moscow following the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.

“As for those restrictions and embargoes on supplies to Europe and the U.S. that were introduced… this only accelerated the process of reorienting our energy flows,” Novak said.

He said that Europe’s share of Russia’s crude exports has fallen to only about 4-5% from about 40-45%. (read more)

What Alexander Novak shares is stunningly accurate, only the ramifications are far more serious.  This is why I am spending so much time trying to break the issue down into digestible portions.

Russia and Iran are now trading oil (and other things) in their own national currencies, not the petrodollar.  This is the epicenter of a process initially triggered by the BRICS economic alliance and is now taking place in real time while the proverbial WEST pretends it is not happening.   Now, it might sound esoteric, as if it is a disconnected or academic issue that doesn’t have real substantive ramifications, but that’s not true.

I can literally see how global trade is now cost-shifting as the dollar starts to weaken (become less used) as a trade currency.  Again, like our domestic social issues, this de-dollarization process is “slowly at first,” but eventually this is going to come all at once.

As USA consumers we cannot see it yet, because we are inside an economic system that is entirely dependent on dollars.  However, as the devaluation of the dollar continues slowly to happen, outside our dollar-based economy, the cost of goods, products and stuff in the ordinary life of people within the GREY ZONE is now stunningly less.  It’s not showing up in currency markets (dollar -vs- fill_in_blank), because the currency trades are not part of the trade/cost dynamic outside the YELLOW ZONE.

Go into the grey zone and compare the price of “product X” to what you would pay in the United States for “product X”, and you will see the difference in the end consumer price is starting to widen faster.   Identical goods in the USA cost much more than goods outside the “west.”

As the de-dollarization continues (mostly driven by the lessening of oil sold using the petrodollar), the disparity in price will get even more stark.   As a result of this dynamic, wages in the USA (or the “west”) must necessarily rise faster; however, that’s only part of the issue.

If I took $200 into a Russian supermarket, buying only consumable food products, I would end up with about 3 shopping carts full of food.  Take that same $200 into the average USA supermarket and you get one shopping cart or less.  This is the scale of what is likely to happen in durable goods.  The “cleaving” is underway.

Let me say that again, the “cleaving” of dollar-based price/value is underway.

Starbucks pulled out of Russia.  The building still exists, the furniture still there, the equipment still there, just a different name, “Star Coffee” lolol.   Starbucks is roughly $6 for whatever, the StarCoffee is $1.  Same stuff.   A cab/uber ride in USA might be $25, or in EU might be €30, but outside the yellow zone around $6 to $10/max.  It’s getting crazy how big the difference is.

Now, the price disparity is not in everything, only in the products that do not originate from inside the yellow zone.  The increased price of the yellow zone goods transfers into the grey zone when the product is moved.  However, if the yellow zone and grey zone both produce an identical product (or service), that’s when you see the massive difference in price.  [And no, this is not a lower cost labor issue]

Conversely, prices of goods originating from the grey zone shipped to the yellow zone will be far less than the comparable product created from within the yellow zone.

What is going to happen?

I suspect we are going to import even more products from the grey zone at a greater rate, because there’s a lower origination price and greater opportunity for profit.  Wait and see.

China needs energy, Russia needs computer chips and tech.  They are trading thusly.  Now watch… if the sanctions are ever lifted, we will start importing Russian made electronic goods, because less expensive.  It’s nuts.

Remember, our ‘western’ government is doing this to us on purpose.

Biden Dept of Energy Continues War on Consumers – New Fridge/Freezer and Fans Regulations Enacted


Posted originally on the CTH on December 29, 2023 | Sundance

We all know the routine. Water-saving toilets that don’t flush (flush twice), water/energy-saving dishwashers and clothes washers that don’t clean (run two cycles), lightbulbs that don’t light, dryers that don’t dry (run twice), and all the ancillary nonsense that comes from the intervention of the regulatory state.

What Biden and the progressive movement call the “green new deal” effort toward “sustainability,” including the ban on gas stoves and internal combustion engines, simply results in a diminished quality of life, a loss in lifestyle productivity, and the exact opposite outcome from their expressed/intended purpose.  It’s an abject mess of stupidity, pushed under the guise of environmentalism.

Today the Biden Dept of Energy (DOE) takes it one step further with rules and regulations on fridges, freezers and fans. {DOE LINK}

Residential Refrigerators and Freezers – The efficiency standards being adopted today for residential refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers, which have not been updated in over a decade, align with recommendations from a diverse set of stakeholders, including manufacturers, the manufacturing trade association, energy, environmental, and consumer advocacy groups, states, and utilities. Compliance will be required either January 31, 2029, or January 31, 2030, depending on the configuration of the refrigerator or freezer. The energy savings over 30 years of shipments is 5.6 quadrillion British thermal units, which represents a savings of 11% relative to the energy use of products currently on the market. DOE estimates that the standards would save consumers $36.4 billion over 30 years of shipments and result in cumulative emission reductions of nearly 101 million metric tons of carbon dioxide—an amount roughly equivalent to the combined annual emissions of 12.7 million homes. 

Commercial Fans and Blowers – DOE also released a proposed rulemaking for commercial fans and blowers that would reduce energy costs for American businesses by $3.3 billion annually. This proposal—the first federal standard for this product—follows the lead of efficiency standards already established by the state of California for general fans, extending savings to consumers nationwide and providing clarity for manufacturers. If adopted within DOE’s proposed timeframe, the new rule will come into effect in 2029. DOE estimates the new rule will reduce utility costs for American businesses by nearly $56 billion over 30 years of shipments, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 318 million metric tons—an amount roughly equivalent to the combined annual emissions of 40 million homes.  (MORE)

Now we will see air conditioning units that don’t cool, fridges that don’t chill, freezers that don’t keep things frozen and fans that do not move air.

Eventually, the compliant generations still to come will be sitting around a campfire eating sustainable algae cakes and bugs, while picking parasites off each other, because progress, environmental justice – or ESG something.

Has Europe Just Committed Suicide?


Posted originally on Dec 29, 2023 By Martin Armstrong 

Merkel_Minsk_Buy_Time_to Prepare for wart

Europe has laid the groundwork for World War III and the destruction of Europe as a whole, all to save its failed fiscal management of the economy. Using the Ukrainian war that the West instigated by promising democratic elections to the Donbas in BAD FAITH just for being Russian, the European Union Council adopted a 12th sanctions package against Russia. This time, they sealed the fate of the world and Europe by also announcing that the end of this contrived Ukrainian war would not be lifted after the conflict ended. From the very beginning, Europe negotiated in BAD FAITH with the intent of creating war. They promised to allow the Donbas the dignity and respect every human society deserves – the right to determine their own fate by a free election.

The Donbas was to be allowed to vote on their independence all because Nikita S. Khrushchev had merely redrawn borders for administrative purposes, designating that they would be governed from Kiev. The New York Times has put out real propaganda just as they once hailed Stalin as the economic model for the United States back during the Great Depression. When Gareth Jones (1905-1935) in March of 1933 exposed the New York Times reporting as propaganda, the truth finally began to appear. However, it still took the New York Times until 1990 to admit they engaged in fake news pushing communism on America. The NYT wrote that their reporting on the Russian Revolution constituted “some of the worst reporting to appear in this newspaper.” Their journalist Duranty even supported Roosevelt’s New Deal. He helped install drastic progressiveness in taxation. This time, the New York Times outright lied:

“Mr. Putin is repeating his longstanding argument that Ukraine’s borders are an artificial creation of Soviet planners who unjustly cordoned rightful Russian land within the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.”

Is the New York Times just cheering on World War III in hopes of resurrecting a totalitarian state in the aftermath?

Mariupol_Maps Ukraine

Anyone with any sense of history knows that there was NEVER a Ukraine, and the border of Russia under the Tsars was the Dnieper River. The very name “Ukraine” means borderland. They joined with Hitler, who promised them their own country upon his victory. Kiev was the birthplace of the Rus (Russians), whose city was destroyed by the Mongol invasion of 1240AD. They were dispersed, and eventually, Moscow began to rise as a city.

Ukraine Map

This is why, to this very day, much of Eastern Ukraine is still the homeland of Russians who were promised to be able to hold their own election to separate from Ukraine to rejoin their own ethnic people. It was Khrushchev who redrew the borders, as Putin stated during the Soviet Union period.

Khruschev Brezinski

Not only did Khrushchev rise through the ranks to head Russia after being in charge of rebuilding Kiew after World War II, but his successor, Brezhnev, was born in the Donbas, which the West wanted to now claim was Ukraine to provoke war.

Volodymyr nthe Great

There are NO Ukrainian coins. The earliest coins of Kiev are that of the Rus or Russians. After the fall of Kiev to the Mongols in 1240, there were no coins. Money became foreign Byzantine coins or silver ingots known as hryvnias. During World War I, there was a brief attempt West of the D River, creating the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917 to 1921. This involved some paper money that was briefly issued. The first coinage of Ukraine as a nation was in 1992. Because the Rus displayed a trident on their coinage, today, the Ukrainians try to claim they were their coins, but this was just not true.

The war for the territory that was NEVER the borderland and thus NEVER occupied by Ukrainians amounts to a territorial grab. It would be as if Mexico seized Texas and then outlawed English as a language. Over 500,000 Ukrainians have died in these proxy war games waged by the West. Merkel has so much blood on her hands that it will NEVER be washed off. She will go to her grave with the stain of so many people who have died for her treachery. Is it truly worth the destruction of Europe all for this nonsense of personal hatred of Russians because they were once communists? Or is this really just a cover-up for the economic collapse of a failed Western economy that borrows every year with no intention of ever paying off any such debt?

The Ukrainians hate Russians so profoundly that they have outlawed their religion, and now Ukraine has even abandoned Eastern Orthodox Christianity. They have now announced that Christmas will be that of Western Christianity – December 25th. Whatever they can do to offend every Russian living in what they claim is Ukraine, they are doing, and the West supports this abuse, even denying the freedom of religion. All of this is because the West needs war as the excuse for the collapse of the monetary system.

The people of Russia never wanted to return to the days of the Soviet Union. Once they tasted freedom, all the propaganda that Putin wanted to resurrect the old Soviet Union was just nonsense. Rome was the greatest empire ever to exist, with decades of peace because everyone benefited from the common market. Europe has chosen hatred rather than prosperity driven by the Neocons, who now also control NATO. The future is being determined right now. Europe has just condemned its own people to war. For what? To deny the people of the Donbas what the West had promised under the Minsk Agreement? Or are they, too, just pawns in this game to retain power?

Geopolitics

The new sanctions package they recently announced includes a ban on the import, purchase, or transfer of diamonds from Russia beginning on January 1, 2024, and tightens enforcing a Western price cap on Russian oil at $60 a barrel. Worse still, they have violated international law and set a highly dangerous precedent whereby some 61 people and 86 Russian companies were also sanctioned, according to a list published by the European Commission. They have even sanctioned Putin’s cousin, Anna Tsivileva, and the son of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Ilya Medvedev. If there is a dispute between countries, this precedent destroys the rule of law and the world economy. So if a war between the US and China unfolds, then each side can confiscate the assets of private citizen based entirely on their race and ethnic background.

ECM Wave 2020 2028 Pi

The world economy has been torn to shreds. It will NEVER return before 2032. We are looking at the economic decline our Model warns will unfold between May 7th, 2024, and 2028 as we head into 2032. The leaders of the West are NOT interested in peace. They are brainwashed by the Neocons and NATO, which has been scared to death that peace with Russia makes them irrelevant. So, to retain all the jobs in NATO, their self-interest is always to talk up war. Peace means they are no longer relevant or necessary.

Intl War Index 12 30 22
Pax Romana 2

This is NOT my personal opinion. If I could stop it, I certainly would. Our leaders are playing with more than fire; they are playing with the destruction of Western Society as we have known it since the end of World War II. These stupid sanctions have ensured that globalization has come to an end. It was that economic interconnection that created the countless years of peace under the Roman Empire – Pax Romana. The cornerstone of civilization is free trade. When everyone benefits by joining together, the economy expands, and peace flourishes.

What our illustrious leaders are doing is following the Neocon recipe for war. Impose sanctions, wage economic war, and the people will overthrow their governments. The Russians and Chinese are NOT stupid. They know who is waging this economic war, and it is the West. The West has undergone a coup like Rome many times. The Neocons are in complete control of the White House and the EU, not to mention the NATO – The North American Terrorist Organization. These people are trying to conquer the world, not much different than the ambitions that drove Alexander the Great (336–323BC), Hannibal (221–202 BC), Julius Caesar (58-44BC), Attila the Hun (434-453), and Genghis Khan (1206-1227), Napoleon (1799-1815), Adolf Hitler (1934-1945), Josef Stalin (1924-1953).

72 USA Revolution Extended Raised
1833 Russia 12 Roubles Platinum

Cyclically,  2024 is right on schedule with Russia’s 72-year revolutionary cycle. Many have dreamed of the conquest of Russia, for it is one of the wealthiest nations in natural resources, which include gold, platinum, and diamonds. Russia produced platinum coins between 1828 and 1845. No Western Nation was ever able to produce Platinum coinage.

Kolchak Alexander Vasilyevich

Indeed, just before the Communist Revolution of 1917, Russia had the largest gold reserves of any nation on earth. For nearly 100 years, people have been searching for those gold reserves, which weigh nearly 500 tons (a ton equals 32,150.7 troy ounces of gold). That is 16,075,350 ounces or $32.150 billion at $2,000 an ounce. The Russian Empire’s gold reserve fell into the hands of Alexander V. Kolchak in November of 1918 when he overthrew the government in Siberia supported by the Triple Entente allies. Kolchak was the leader of the White Anti-Bolshevik movement in Siberia during the years of the Russian Civil War. The gold was transported from the capital, Petrograd, during WWI because of the German threat of invasion of the city.

Kolchak’s gold, as it has been called, has been looked for on the Yamal Peninsula. Others suggest carts with Kolchak’s gold might have been found in the Altai Region. Still, others have said that Kolchak’s gold was dropped into Lake Baikal. These headlines have been following the search for the Russian Empire’s gold.

Lithuania Map

For the first time since World War II, German troops have crossed Poland, moving to Lithuania to defend the border with Belarus/Russia being stationed there until 2027. NATO cannot admit Ukraine as long as it is at war. Therefore, NATO is seeking to create the same situation in the Baltics, and the people of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are now to be sacrificed on the altar of the Neocons along with the more than 500,000 dead troops of Ukraine and the 8 to 10 million Ukrainian refugees who have fled to Europe with no intention of returning home.

Estonia has passed the same law as Ukraine, outlawing the Russian language to discriminate against the Russian population that lives there. Can you imagine if the US outlawed Spanish or Canada outlawed speaking French? This is a deliberate act to invoke a response from Russia as they did to the people in the Donbas.  NATO wants war, and they are determined to create World War III. Nobody is interested in peace whatsoever.

Lithuania is now considering imposing a “WAR TAX” on its people, as reported by the local press- BNS. Yet, BNS interviewed 16 economists, who agreed that increasing defense funding is necessary. However, they disagree on whether it needs a separate tax, with only five supporting that. This tax they seemed to foolishly tell the people they are seeking to boost their deterrence capabilities, insisting that it will not be possible to rely on borrowed funds alone.

News agency BNS asked sixteen economists and experts to evaluate the defense tax idea this year. Five would tend to support it; eight believe that a separate tax is not necessary. BNS also noted that the tax can be debated, but would the taxes collected be used transparently and according to the intended purpose? Another emphasized the priority is to have not only resources but also robust and efficient government institutions.

1 Kohl Dictator
Death of Euro

The design of the Euro was unsustainable in the long term. The ONLY way the Euro could have competed with the dollar was to consolidate the debts. However, Chancellor Kohl knew he would have lost 7:1 had he allowed the German people to vote on joining the Euro. So, he admitted he denied any democratic principle, took Germany into the Euro, denying the people a right to vote, so the compromise was that there would be no debt consolidation. I know since the commission came to our 1998 London Conference, and I warned then there would NEVER be a single interest rate in Europe for the member would be no different from the states in the USA – each pays a rate based upon their credit score.

Unfortunately, now, with debt crumbling beneath the surface, they need to escape responsibility for the coming sovereign debt crisis. The way to do that is W A R! They are pushing hard to get Sweden into NATIO.

This is the unspoken agenda. Sadly, these people in power do not care about the people. There are too many of us anyway, according to Bill Gates. They are deliberately seeking to use the Baltics to try to get Russia to take the bait to justify World War III. NATO is also expanding its authority to Asia, knowing that this will be a war between the West, Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, just for starters.

Kaja Kallas

The small nation of Estonia is also desperately trying to sacrifice its people for NATO and the Neocons. Prime Minister Kallas is using Estonia’s strategic position to further this proxy war with Russia. She has outright stated that negotiating a peace deal with Putin is off the table. She is willing to sacrifice her own people for personal safety before she gets a free flight to the USA.

For us, it is important to not make that mistake again like we did in Crimea, Donbas, Georgia,” she said. “We have done the same mistake already three times, saying that, you know, negotiations, negotiated peace is the goal. … The only thing that Putin hears from this is that ‘I can do this because no punishment will follow.’”

She deliberately fails to mention the Minsk Agreement and how the West negotiated peace in bad faith because this has been the intention from the very start – to create World War III to end democracy and move to a totalitarian state proposed by Klaus Schwab and the end of the United States as all power is then usurped into the United Nations.

States to Deem Silver and Gold Legal Tender


Posted originally on Dec 29, 2023 By Martin Armstrong |  

silver coins bags

Several US states are considering legislation to reclassify gold and silver as money rather than commodities. Bills filed in Oklahoma and Missouri aim to eliminate state capital gains taxes on the sale of gold and silver, and to treat these metals as currency. Other states like Arkansas and Utah are also considering introducing similar legislation. The proposed laws also include provisions to authorize the state to invest in gold or silver and to prevent state entities from seizing gold or silver bullion.

These measures are seen as steps toward reducing barriers to using gold and silver as money and lowering the investment cost of precious metals. On the plus, gold and silver may be used in transactions without an additional fee. If I purchase something for $100, I am not charged an additional fee for using USD – but let’s not give the government any ideas. Proponents of the bill say the Federal Reserve has a monopoly on our banking system, and deeming precious metals legal tender would prevent the central bank from having total control over fiat currency.

Not so fast – the government will not relinquish their control over the monetary system. They have told us their plan for digital currencies and deeming gold and silver currency will only make it easier for the government to confiscate. The entire problem that people do not grasp with regard to any return to a gold standard is that if the money supply is FIXED in any way, that necessitates the collapse of SOCIALISM. The two are directly linked. Politicians only know how to run with deficits. “Vote for me and I will give you everything!”

The Bretton Woods gold standard collapsed because they FIXED the price of gold at $35, but they continued to print money far beyond the supply of gold at that fixed price. Then there is the largely ignored business cycle. No matter what the money might be, there will be boom times when the value of money declines and the asset values rise. There is a natural course of a business cycle to the economy you cannot flatline or eliminate no matter how many schemes you invent from central banks, Keynesianism, Monetarism, Socialism, or Communism. It just cannot be accomplished.

Gold Hedge

The problem is not the physical money we use. The problem is that governments continually abuse their power and recklessly dive deeper into debt with each new spending package. Bretton Woods collapsed, as did every attempt to create any monetary system of some fixed value. Yes, they are not considering a gold-backed system here, but deeming gold and silver legal tender misses the mark. Gold and silver were hedges AGAINST government. The people have been able to use commodities to trade amongst themselves since the dawn of civilization. This legislation permits the government to intervene and naturally impose regulations.

The year 2025 will bring a turning point in Marxism as we reach the midpoint of the 224-year cycle (1913-2025).

A Feature, Not Flaw – REPORT: Western Banks Drop 60,000 Employees in 2023


Posted originally on the CTH on December 27, 2023 | Sundance

If you followed my research on banking and the reality of the Russian sanction regime, this report takes on an entirely new dimension.  The article is from ZeroHedge, and the topline is not the real story.

ZEROHEDGE – The collapse of three US regional banks – First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank – marked some of the largest failures in the banking system since 2008. Central banks contained the “mini-crisis” earlier this year with forced interventions and the mega-merger of Credit Suisse and UBS. Despite the interventions, global banks still axed the most jobs since the global financial crisis. 

A new report from the Financial Times shows twenty of the world’s largest banks slashed 61,905 jobs in 2023, a move to protect profit margins in a period of high interest rates amid a slump in dealmaking and equity and debt sales. This compared with the 140,000 lost during the GFC of 2007-08. (more

Look carefully at the graphic labeled “global banks.”  What do they all have in common?

These are not global banks, they are all “western banks.”  Do you remember a key component of my trip to eastern EU {Password Protected}.   That part of my research trip was specifically to understand the contradiction between what the west says about the Russian financial sanctions, and the reality of the irrelevance of those sanctions in Russia.

I didn’t talk, I watched; I listened.

Here’s how it really looks from the outside looking at the USA.  The same way the Patriot Act was not designed to stop terrorism but rather to create a domestic surveillance system. So too were the “Russian Sanctions” not designed to sanction Russia, but rather to create the financial control system that will lead to a dollar-based western digital currency.

BRICS+ was creating a non-dollar-based currency alternative for trade. Then comes the western financial sanctions, under the auspices of punishment for the Ukraine conflict. However, think “stopgap.” The sanctions didn’t block Russia, they walled-in the WEST.

The sanctions were not designed to keep Russia out of western banking, they were designed to keep us in.  Start thinking from that perspective, and all of the downstream activity, including the aggressive USA govt/banking response to crypto markets, makes total sense.

♦GROUND REPORT – You might ask how I know the Russian sanctions are ineffective – here’s an example.  After doing advanced research, I went to three separate banks as a random and innocuous customer.  I put my reason in the kiosk at each bank, got my ticket number and sat down to listen to the conversations. When my ticket number came up on the digital board, I just ignored it and sat for hours listening to conversations.  No one ever noticed or questioned me – not once.

At every one of the banks, the majority of the customers, at the “new account” desk, were foreign nationals asking about setting up business accounts to trade with Russia. In every bank the conversations were friendly and helpful, with the bank staff telling the customers exactly how to set up their account to accomplish the transactions.  No one was saying no; instead, they were explaining how to do it in very helpful detail.

Within Russia, there are now 3rd party brokers with international accounts, an entirely new industry, which creates a layer of transactional capability for the outside company to sell goods into Russia.  A Samsung TV travels from South Korea to the destination in the RU with the financial transaction between manufacturer and retailer now passing through the new ‘broker’ intermediary. Essentially, that process is what was happening in the banks for small to medium sized companies.

The USA led “western” sanctions against Russian interests were not designed to keep Russia isolated financially, they were designed to keep USA and Western banking customers walled in.  The end goal?  To create a dollar based CBDC for western finance.

In order to accomplish that goal, WESTERN govt/banking needs full control.  Any alternative (BRICS+ currency/trade) is a threat.

The Western sanctions created a financial wall around the USA, not to keep Russia out, but to keep us in.  The Western sanction regime, the financial mechanisms they created and authorized, creates the control gate that leads to a “dollar based” digital currency.

In essence, the Ukraine war response justified a system that creates a digital dollar.

The loss in “western banking” jobs, the downsizing within the banking system, is a feature – not a flaw.

AMERICAFEST is LIVE! Ted Cruz, Dennis Prager, Jack Posobiec and others. Join us! #AmFest2023


Posted originally on Rumble By Turning Point USA on:Dec 19, 10:49 am EST

The Chronicles of the Revolution – Part 1 The French Terror


Posted originally on Rumble By Steve Bannons War Room On: Dec 26, 8:00 pm EST