Tag Archives: police asset forfeiture

Jul 15 2017

They Want to Put Nano-Chips into Currency So they can track every note


Armstrong Economics Blog/The Hunt for Taxes

Re-Posted Jul 15, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Believe it or not, Australia has a Black Economy Taskforce that hunts down citizens in every possible way. They look at where they send their kids to school and then inquire at the school who pays the bills and how. They are using technology to hack people’s phones of anyone suspected of hiding money to get all their messages and emails as well as where they call overseas. Their own website says:

The Black Economy Taskforce has been established to develop an innovative, forward-looking whole-of-government policy response to combat the black economy in Australia, recognising that these issues cannot be tackled by traditional tax enforcement measures alone.

The black economy refers to people who operate entirely outside the tax and regulatory system or who are known to the authorities but do not correctly report their tax obligations.

Michael Andrew, the head of this 1984 style Taskforce to spy on citizens, has proposed that the government should keep track of your $100 and $50 notes by implanting hi-tech nano-chips. He could simply scan your house to see where you are hiding money that the government can confiscate.

What I have been warning about is that government will not reform. Instead they will push us up against the wall and do everything against a free society to survive. This is simply how government responds every time throughout history. It is all about them paying their own pension at the expense of the citizen. They will always pretend the problem is the rich do not pay their fair share, but in reality, the crisis is the government will simply consume everything until it collapses.

So just recognize these bureaucrats are drunk with power for they look upon the people as stupid cattle to be slaughtered for their survival – them against us. Everything that was worth fighting for to preserve our way of life have been eliminated not by some foreign enemy, but by our rulers.

Jul 15 2017

Are We Mushrooms being fed Mountains of Manure by Bureaucrats?


Armstrong Economics Blog/The Hunt for Taxes

Posted Jul 15, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

 

Government bureaucrats connive ways to gain power as they treat the people like mushrooms — they keep  us in the dark and feed us mountains manure and mainstream media conspire to make sure we remain buried so deep we cannot reach the surface for air. They foam at the mouth of the through of creating a cashless society. The abolition of cash would be absolutely “absurd” and it is interesting how they argue against creating voter ID requirements saying it will prevent minorities from voting because they are backward and do not live in the modern world. As stupid and racist as that argument really is by the left, can you imagine eliminating cash from people who are so backward according to their arguments?

The Bureaucrats love their slogan – “Cash is for Criminals” and will distort every possible instance to support the elimination of cash. There was terrorism and then there was drugs. Eliminate cash, they say, and you will eliminate all crime.

So on the one hand they are against any requirement to prove who you are to vote, but then they want to eliminate cash from people they also claim cannot even find where to get ID in a city. Interesting conflicts.

Jul 14 2017

True AI and Fake Neural Net Forecasting Programs


Armstrong Economics Blog/AI Computers

Re-Posted Jul 14, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Hello Marty,just came across an interesting project called Numerai

with the ambitious goal of creating a hedge fund to manage ALL the money in world(!) in an efficient manner using AI (machine learning, neural networks and whatever the data scientists can come up with).

At the core of this project is the historical data made accessible for free to the data scientists in encrypted form, but still usable since the structure is still there. The data scientists then compete with their AI methods against each other in auctions when evaluating their methods on a to them at auction time unknown validation set (latest data set).

The hedge fund will be the combination of the best AI methods driven in a purely evolutionary fashion with the purpose to allocate the money to where it is needed best. A nice feature is that the AI methods developed and put to use by a data scientist can be kept secret from the other data scientists and the hedge fund itself, The data scientist only needs to make the output of the AI algorithm available, pretty much like you do with Socrates :-).

The data scientist can always take his/her algorithm elsewhere if not happy with the hedge fund.

I think this sounds like a really innovative idea, but there might be some pitfalls that you would be able to highlight. For example I would expect your Socrates database to bigger than the Numerais at the moment.

Best Regards

/M

ANSWER: The problem with such a project is that the best of genius will fail. The complexity of the markets globally is far beyond description. Even the Global Market Watch is best in the financial main markets and less in agriculture and individual stocks. Why? It is all complexity. The GMW has now exceeded 150,000 possible patterns each day and counting. I just uploaded the latest 6 months of creation of patterns. It has blown my mind looking at what it has done. Moves greater than 40% on the upside it reclassified as phase transitions.
I have experimented with Neural Nets and other interesting attempts to recreate the structure of the human mind. Neural Nets are notoriously subject to complete failures. There is no such program that has been able to demonstrate consistency. This is all due to complexity.
The effort to create option models known as Black–Scholes completely broken down and resulted in the Long-Term Capital Management debacle. That was covered in the book – When Genius Failed. The failure took place because they did not have the database. They only tested the algorithm back to 1971.
There is no such computer model that can possible accomplish that and quite frankly anyone claiming to have some Neural Net Artificial Intelligence you should beware because it is just a sales pitch. Ask who wrote the code. You will find no real system other than a simple expert system based upon IF this THEN that ELSE expect this.
I was recently approached with a plea to buy into our technology by a very major company offering unlimited resources to help expand it to all sectors. I must admit, that is an interesting concept.
Anyone who claims to have such a system is pulling a sales promotion. You cannot rely upon a program to forecast the future on the cheap without a profound and in-depth database. The British Pound for example, all the data even in major data banks go back to 1971 and many only on a monthly closing basis. You cannot forecast trends without the full picture. A computer will not be able to learn all scenarios if the data does not cover all scenarios. Plain and simple. Just ask – SHOW ME THE DATA and WHERE DID YOU GET IT? 
Jul 14 2017

The Break-in Not a Threat


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption

Re-Posted Jul 14, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION:

Good night, Mr. Armstrong:

I hope you are well and enjoying your front-beach house in the Sunshine State.

I read your blog every day, since 2011. I ask you:

1. Why your office was destroyed, on July 3rd?.

2. It was a threat to your work or to your person?.

3. Are you afraid for your life?.

I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

JV

 

ANSWER: No.  They just broken in it appears looking for system software. We do not keep anything in the office of that nature. Even the Socrates System, all that is on the web is the results – not the program. So they can hack all they want, the system is not accessible in such a manner.

Our office was not destroyed. They targeted our floor when there were banks and other operations in there which would have offered a better target. It was not a direct threat against me or the company. It was clearly an exploratory venture that yielded nothing.

I do not fear for my life. My problem was with New York, not Washington. New York banks control the Federal NY court (SDNY) and have used it to destroy any competition. REFCO, the Chicago Commodity Firm was charged and destroyed in NYC. Drexel Burnham was the Philadelphia firm where Michael Milken worked. It too was charged in NYC and destroyed. Frank Quatrone of First Boston did the DOT.COM IPOs. They were charged in NYC. You will find anyone who takes business from NYC is charged in NYC, destroyed, and then NYC banks absorb their business. It is a very carnivorous operation in NYC so that court is dangerously corrupt.

Compete with New York at your own risk.

When I have gone to Capitol Hill, I was introduced as this is the guy with model they were trying to suppress. The New York courts are the most corrupt in the nation. Judges can change the transcripts altering the words spoke in court in direct violation of 28 U.S. Code § 753.

The US Federal Court of Appeals (Second Circuit) is appalling and if I were president, that court would be closed, everyone fired, and the judges put on trial for treason. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals is supposed to supervise the lower District Court. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals (NYC) R E F U S E S to do its job. In US v Zichetello (see page 97), it had the audacity to admit the Judges are committing felonies changing transcripts, and wrote it did not have the “power” to tell them to obey the law. If the Court of Appeals has no power, then it should be shut down. The Court of Appeals wrote:

“The Southern District of New York follows a practice that is unusual and perhaps unique…. The court reporter does not release a transcript to the parties until after the judge reviews, and in some cases corrects, it. …  Because the parties receive only a printed transcript that incorporates the judge’s revisions, the parties are not informed of such revisions.

…

Courts do not have power to alter transcripts in camera and to conceal the alterations from the parties.11  Given the issues that arose in this case as a direct result of this practice, there appears to be little justification for continuing the practice in its present form.   To be sure, a procedure that corrects obvious mistakes in transmission is useful, and the parties have little interest in closely monitoring such a procedure so long as the alterations are cosmetic.   Monitoring by the parties, however, provides some assurance that only cosmetic changes will be made or, if not, that changes will correctly reflect what transpired in the particular proceeding.   Moreover, there is little cost in informing the parties of cosmetic changes or at least of directing court reporters to give parties access to the original transcript when they request it.

Nevertheless, whether we have the power to order a change in such a practice is unclear.12  We review judgments, and our review of the convictions and sentences here may not be an appropriate vehicle for the fine tuning of this practice.   However, we invite the judges of the Southern District to consider revision.”

Other court reporters as in Virginia call it “improbable conspiracy” theory. They wrote: “Accurate trial records are essential in protecting the validity and verification of trial cases. This is why tampering with court transcripts is considered a serious crime.” They seem to have had inquiries but do not want to admit that in NYC Federal Court SDNY they are still changing transcripts and the court reporters do not sign the transcript swearing they are correct.

Jul 14 2017

The Dow & the Future


Armstrong Economics Blog/Dow Jones

Re-Posted Jul 14, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong,

I am fascinated by what you have accomplished in this model. You mentioned in your post about the Orlando conference a sling shot and phase transition, and I am trying to comprehend what that would look like exactly. Is that to say the DJIA wont complete its advance from 2015.75 to 2018,but that the cycle inversion underlying this market and the ECM will extend the high into 2020? When will the special report on these issues be released?

Thank you for the invaluable education,

NE

 

ANSWER: Yes. We can see from the Global Market Watch that the current year if it closed right here would imply a temporary high. That can change since it is based upon a dynamic view assuming each day that passes were the last trading day of the year. Nevertheless, it warns that we must stay on point.

There are two separate objectives – TIME and PRICE. With regard to PRICE, our three targets given back in 2011 were 18500, 23000, and 40,000. The minimum TIME objective was 2016/2017. Our next target in TIME becomes 2020 followed by 2022. This appears to be setting up for a major vertical move. This is why we will be reviewing how to trade a vertical market.

 

 

The markets are far more precise than anyone could have ever imagined. It is unfortunate that the analytical field is plagued by people pretending to be prophets or gurus like the old snake-oil medicine salesmen of the 19th century. Nobody can forecast anything from as personal opinion perspective on a consistent basis. Sure, everyone can make a single forecasting call based upon a gut feeling. But they cannot accomplish that on any consistent basis. This is all about a journey into a world of hidden order – the chaos theory. It is not being a prophet, guru or physic. Such titles reduce the analyst to a snake-oil salesman.

Jul 13 2017

Illinois Should Just Be Dissolved as the Solution


Armstrong Economics Blog/Sovereign Debt Crisis

Re-Posted Jul 13, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

John Kass of the Chicago Tribune has come out with a blunt article, yet it is the only possible solution since the government is effectively just bankrupt with no hope of recovery. He writes:

“Illinois is like Venezuela now, a fiscally broken state that has lost its will to live, although for the moment, we still have enough toilet paper.

But before we run out of the essentials, let’s finally admit that after decade upon decade of taxing and spending and borrowing, Illinois has finally run out of other people’s money.”

To comprehend what is happening, all we need do is understand that socialism has really been about government helping themselves to other people’s money for their personal benefit. Their constitution set that government pensions come before everything else. How is that helping the poor to paying their debts? The greed of the employees of Illinois has pushed the State to beyond the point of no return. The constitution can only be amended to deny future employees pension. It cannot be altered to deal with the quarter-trillion owed to state employee pension funds. There really is no way out and it because questionable if Illinois can even simply go bankrupt when it is constitutionally owed. So Kass’ solution may sound insane, but it is probably the only way to deal with the crisis – tear-up the state as a state and dissolve it entirely. Krass wrote:

Dissolve Illinois. Decommission the state, tear up the charter, whatever the legal mumbo-jumbo, just end the whole dang thing.

We just disappear. With no pain. That’s right. You heard me.

The best thing to do is to break Illinois into pieces right now. Just wipe us off the map. Cut us out of America’s heartland and let neighboring states carve us up and take the best chunks for themselves.

The group that will scream the loudest is the state’s political class, who did this to us, and the big bond creditors, who are whispering talk of bankruptcy and asset forfeiture to save their own skins.

This is the reality we face going forward. I have stressed get out of all government debt in the state and local level and buy NO MORE!!!!! The party is over!

Jul 13 2017

City of Seattle Runs Out of Things to Tax – Now Wants to Impose Income Tax


Armstrong Economics Blog/The Hunt for Taxes

Re-Posted Jul 13, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The Seattle City Council has run out of things to tax so they have unanimously voted to impose an income tax upon the “rich”, and of course we all know that will eventually move to include everyone. The city claims it will raise $140 million and it will cost $10-13 million to set up, and you can bet that does not include pensions for the new employees. The slogan is “Time for the rich to pay their fair share.” Of course, what is fair? If someone does not use any public services, then paying incomes tax is still fair? Americans have to pay income taxes if they live overseas and use nothing. Fairness is never judges upon what someone uses from the government, but when other people want to rob those who have more then it is suddenly fair. To a homeless person, someone earning just $25,000 a year is rich. It is always relative.

Jul 12 2017

There is Now Enough Evidence to Indict Comey or Snowden Should be Pardoned


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption

Re-Posted Jul 12, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Comey is as guilty as Hillary for treating government work product including top secret information as personal. Comey, just like Hillary, claimed the memos were all “personal” that he made talking to Trump because he did not trust him (contrary to his trust for Clintons). There is no such “personal” qualification and he leaked those memos to the New York Times which he admitted openly in Congress. But those memos contained classified information and that was a CRIME for him to leak them no less pretend their were he “personal” property. Every FBI agents signed a confidentiality agreement as do traders working for a bank. The agreement signed by Comey states plainly: “all information acquired by me in connection with my official duties with the FBI and all official material to which I have access remain the property of the United States of America.” This means (1) he stole government documents obstructing any investigation of him, and (2) he then leaked classified information to the New York Times. Let6’s see; they say Snowden should be indicted for the same thing. Curious!

This is why Comey never recorded Hillary’s “interview” before the FBI to ensure she could never be charged as Martha Stuart was for “lying to the FBI” in such an interview and sent to prison. Comey wrote private memos when talking to Trump, but not Hillary, and then leaked classified information to the New York Times releasing his memos. Legally, he should be prosecuted as they prosecuted Lewis “Scooter” Libby who was Dick Cheney’s chief of staff for leaking information.

In United States v. Libby, he was put on trial for interfering with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s criminal investigation of the Plame affair by lying in an interview with the FBI when he was indicted by a federal grand jury on five felony counts of making false statements to federal investigators, something Comey protected Hillary from by not recording the “interview” which is standard operational procedure. Libby served as Assistant to the President under George W. Bush and Chief of Staff to Dick Cheney from 2001 to 2005. Bush denied giving him even a pardon.

Then Comey granted immunity to Hillary Clinton lawyer Cheryl Mills to protect her against prosecution. In fact, Comey strikingly gave wholesale immunity deals to virtually every person who had intimate knowledge of Hillary Clinton’s illegal private server and emails. This protected Hillary for nobody would testify against her under threat of imprisonment. Comey abused his discretion and made sure that Hillary could not be prosecuted.

There is now more than enough information to hand to a Grand Jury for Comey to be indicted. And he should be indicted to colluding with Hillary not to record her “interview” and then giving immunity to everyone around her. If Congress FAILS to prosecute Comey, then Trump should pardon Snowden!!!!!!!! What happened to “Equal Protection of Law” and where is “justice for all” we indoctrinate children to pledge in school?

Jul 11 2017

Gold


Armstrong Economics Blog/Gold

Re-Posted Jul 11, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

We have not yet broken gold for all the people writing in. So far we have elected three Weekly Bearish Reversals from the July 2016 high in gold and three Monthly Bearish Reversals. We have elected two Weekly Bearish Reversals from the high in June and fallen into the target week of July 10th and last week was the Panic Cycle. We now look to the week of July 24th for the next turning point.

We are getting ready to relaunch Socrates. This is what it wrote for the Detailed Analysis today:

“Focusing on a trading perspective, the market has declined after making its high back in July 2016 at 137750. We did elect 3 Monthly Bearish Reversals warning that we have a more serious bearish shift in trend in play. Subsequently, we have formed a low at 112430 during December 2016 from which we have seen a bounce for the past 6 months. We have also elected 2 Monthly Bullish Reversals from the reaction low of December 2016 and we have now dropped back penetrating last month’s low implying we will retest support. A month-end closing below last month’s low of 123650 will be a technical warning of weakness ahead. Any long position should use a protective sell stop on a monthly closing basis at 121420. Keep in mind this is just a trading suggestion given it is merely a trading observation rule. Buy or sell signals take place on Reversals and Cycles. “

Categories: Gold
Jul 11 2017

The Pension Crisis – & – The Crash & Burn


Armstrong Economics Blog/Pension Crisis

Re-Posted Jul 11, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: 

Hi Marty –

Question:

You have blogged about the pension crisis

and how Illinois and California on the brink of bamkruptcy.

Does this mean that other states which you don’t
mention, like Florida, Texas, and New York, are financially
sound and are going to be able to pay out pensions to their
retirees for the next 20 -30 years?

Thanks for being the main source of “real” information.

Sincerely….Paul

ANSWER: By no means are other states safe. The problem has been that government pretends that socialism is to take care of the poor when in fact they have their hand in the cookie jar before anyone else. The crisis stems from the fact that they have been giving themselves pensions with outrageous benefits like healthcare for life in many states which often includes their family.

The way states have operated (internationally) is that they simply assumed that there was a never-ending bucket of taxpayers to squeeze for money. The problem is that the population growth has declined, the pensions systems have been a Ponzi schemes from day-one, and they are running out of other people’s money.

All the studies show that the Baby Boomers counted upon government and do not have enough saved for retirement. The average person has just $300,000 tucked away. The low interest rates have killed their profits and most have not yet returned to the stock market after losses from 2007-2009. Everything has been destroyed by low interest rates to save banks at the expense of pension funds and private investment. The public has been brainwashed to think that government debt is “safe” when it is the most risky in the field. They have not invested wisely because most remain ignorant of how markets even function. Nothing can be sustained going forward under this model. Even Draghi in Europe now realizez that there is a pension crisis and he is really to blame for 10 years of low to zero interest rates that have utterly failed to save the economy.

This is the Sovereign Debt Crisis. It is inevitable and irreversible. The Solution I have put forth is really the only way out to prevent complete civil meltdown.  But it is unlikely that any such Solution will be adopted until we actually experience the Crash and Burn. That seems to be starting in 2018.

The Best advice is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Under no circumstances ASSUME that any government pension will actually be paid