COMMENT #1: Marty, you are the only person who tells the truth in markets. If the coronavirus is spreading everywhere outside the USA, then why is money fleeing from the US stock market to run to places where there is the virus? This is fake news at its best. You are right. This is the “Bernie Effect” as you say.

Please live forever! Buck the cycle!

DF

COMMENT #2: Marty,
Even us small time retail investors see the writing all the wall.
…
Today’s headline…
“ Wall Street plunges as coronavirus spread sends investors fleeing”
Common sense asks…
Where are they fleeing to, if there are very little cases of coronavirus here in the USA?
You my good sir are spot on, they are afraid of a Bernie Sanders win and more importantly what’s really going on with the “Repo Crisis”. Honestly, for years I’ve tried to explain to people that markets never lie, people do.
I have some great books from the early 1900’s and those investors as well talked about how the media manipulates everything including the markets. Yet, most still believe, go figure.
Keep up the great work and I hope to make it this year to Florida for the WEC, still waiting for the 3rd edition of “Manipulating the world economy” to hit Amazon.
SR

COMMENT #3: Marty,
Thanks for all that you and your team do! I have been a long time reader and I am a subscriber to Socrates. I must admit the call on the collapse this week was amazing (yet not surprising Socrates was right).
I came across this article today where the Bank of Canada has acknowledged that it is working on its own cryptocurrency. Consistent with your messaging, governments will never allow the private crypto’s to take the lion’s share or surrender control.
Some notables from the article are:
“The Bank sees two main scenarios where the central bank could see the need to issue its own digital currency: firstly, if the use of cash is restricted or eliminated, and second, if private cryptocurrencies were to make serious inroads.” “In both scenarios, there would be an argument for the Bank of Canada to step in.”
“If one or more alternative digital currencies threatened to become used widely as an alternative to the Canadian dollar” then a central bank issued digital currency could be used to defend monetary sovereignty, the Bank said.
Thanks for all that you do!
RA

COMMENT #4: You have too much influence. You posted on the weekend the market would crash on Monday. It did. You posted that gold would peak on Monday. It did. Nobody can forecast markets like you which means you are too influential which is why you tend to be always right.

VE

REPLY: The people who write these stories are not analysts and are probably not even investors. There are pretend analysts who have no idea what is taking place and they just make up nonsense. They use the press to try to sell their analysis for they have no real client base.

Not just me, but all of the key people in the company have REAL LIVE experience. I often joke that we should change the name to Over the Hill Crowd. People on board have worked for banks even setting up dealing desks or have been brokers. They know what really goes on behind the scenes.

The governments are going broke. Cryptocurrencies will be their next solution. Be wise – not foolish.

Ans as to influence, just maybe the people who are in the press all the time are there because they are trying to find clients. They seem to have more influence since the majority is always wrong. I am very tired of this argument. When you have traded all your life, sometimes you can just smell the blood pouring out with the quotes. You sound like one of the bankers who bribe everyone and loses and then blames me for their own loss and corruption.

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; Have you been called in by the World Bank because of the coronavirus? The rumor is you are advising on this pandemic from a financial crisis perspective. Yes or no? Some say you have a financial interest in not calling this a pandemic. Care to comment?

JV

ANSWER: Yes, we have been called in to do studies and forecasts based on the coronavirus. No, we have no financial interest either way. That makes a really stupid rumor. We do not do such projects on some sort of a contingency basis. I am not at liberty to say by who. However, if there is a pandemic, the World Health Organisation gets to keep money and the bondholders lose. You figure out who would be asking for help.

For those who are not part of the conspiracy networks, this is related to the outstanding World Bank Pandemic Bonds which will come due for expiration this July here in 2020. This will be in the neighborhood of $500 million which is perhaps a structured derivative time bomb that most people have never heard of.

These pandemic bonds were sold to investors as a giant gamble in the global financial casino. The World Bank sold “pandemic bonds” which were a scheme like no other. In 2017, these bonds were sold to private investors on the premise that they would lose their money if any of six deadly pandemics hit. They did not pay out in 2019 when the Ebola virus broke out in Africa. The World Bank announced the creation of these structured bonds in May 2016 at the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Governors meeting in Sendai, Japan.

The World Health Organisation will keep the money and will use it to fight the outbreak. Investors bought the bonds and received regular coupon payments in return, which were substantial in this world of negative interest rates. If there is an outbreak of disease turned into a pandemic, then investors don’t get their initial money back. There are two varieties of debt that are scheduled to mature in July 2020.

The first bond issue raised $225 million and features an interest rate of around 7%! That was substantial. Payout on the bond is to be suspended if there is an outbreak of new influenza viruses or coronavirus. The second type of bond was even riskier which raised $95 million with an interest rate of more than 11%. This second type of bond keeps investors’ money if there is an outbreak of Filovirus, Coronavirus, Lassa Fever, Rift Valley Fever, and/or Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever.

Then the World Bank issued $105 million derivative that works in a similar way.

Obviously, we have cyclical models that also cover disease. It does not take much to figure out that we would be called in to project the risk. It would be in the interest of the World Health Organisation to declare this coronavirus a pandemic. They would benefit from the cash. The bondholders will lose. We have NOT been called in by the World Bank. That much I can say