Tag Archives: Political Corruption

Dec 20 2021

White House Calls Joe Manchin a Liar, a Deceiver, and Promises to “Push Him” Harder


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on December 19, 2021 | Sundance | 336 Comments

Immediately following the statements by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, earlier today, which effectively ends the Senate Build Back Better bill, the White House releases a lengthy statement [READ HERE] blasting Senator Manchin and releasing the leftist hounds from Hell upon him.

This reaction from the White House is exactly what the communist Democrats do whenever they are rebuked.  We should anticipate the extremely angry Biden administration will retaliate with even stronger economic punishment against all Americans this Tuesday.

WHITE HOUSE – “Senator Manchin’s comments this morning on FOX are at odds with his discussions this week with the President, with White House staff, and with his own public utterances. Weeks ago, Senator Manchin committed to the President, at his home in Wilmington, to support the Build Back Better framework that the President then subsequently announced. Senator Manchin pledged repeatedly to negotiate on finalizing that framework “in good faith.”

On Tuesday of this week, Senator Manchin came to the White House and submitted—to the President, in person, directly—a written outline for a Build Back Better bill that was the same size and scope as the President’s framework, and covered many of the same priorities. While that framework was missing key priorities, we believed it could lead to a compromise acceptable to all. Senator Manchin promised to continue conversations in the days ahead, and to work with us to reach that common ground. If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.

Senator Manchin claims that this change of position is related to inflation, but the think tank he often cites on Build Back Better—the Penn Wharton Budget Institute—issued a report less than 48 hours ago that noted the Build Back Better Act will have virtually no impact on inflation in the short term, and, in the long run, the policies it includes will ease inflationary pressures. Many leading economists with whom Senator Manchin frequently consults also support Build Back Better.

Build Back Better lowers costs that families pay. It will reduce what families pay for child care. It will reduce what they pay for prescription drugs. It will lower health care premiums. And it puts a tax cut in the pockets of families with kids. If someone is concerned about the impact that higher prices are having on families, this bill gives them a break.

Senator Manchin cited deficit concerns in his statement. But the plan is fully paid for, is the most fiscally responsible major bill that Congress has considered in years, and reduces the deficit in the long run. The Congressional Budget Office report that the Senator cites analyzed an unfunded extension of Build Back Better. That’s not what the President has proposed, not the bill the Senate would vote on, and not what the President would support. Senator Manchin knows that: The President has told him that repeatedly, including this week, face to face.

Likewise, Senator Manchin’s statement about the climate provisions in Build Back Better are wrong. Build Back Better will produce a job-creating clean energy future for this country—including West Virginia.

Just as Senator Manchin reversed his position on Build Back Better this morning, we will continue to press him to see if he will reverse his position yet again, to honor his prior commitments and be true to his word. (read more)

This is going to get ugly.

Dec 20 2021

Sunday Talks, Joe Manchin Confirms He Is a Hard No on Biden Build Back Broke Bill


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on December 19, 2021 | Sundance | 172 Comments

Interesting choice of media outlets for his final nail delivery.  Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) appears on Fox News to confirm the Build Back Better negotiations are done, and he’s done, and the $4.5 trillion legislation is dead.   During the expanded explanation by Senator Manchin, he points to two primary issues with the bill.

First, it is a massive takeover of the U.S. economy, and the basic outline of the bill details never changed.  The ‘negotiations‘ that were taking place amounted to the White House putting an ever shorter end date on the legislation.   The Senate was giving the appearance of a lower cost by shifting the sunset clause; however, from beginning to end the scope of the legislation never changed.

Second, the issue of inflation has been created by Joe Biden policy.  Regulations, energy policy, monetary policy, reckless fiscal policy and massive spending have led to massive inflation.  Manchin explains how inflation is not sustainable for his constituents in West Virginia.

In my opinion, Manchin is positioning himself for a Democrat presidential race.

It is not coincidental that Manchin makes this statement today, on Fox News, as polling shows massive drops in support for Joe Biden.  Manchin knows he is sitting in a spotlight of an inflection point.  Manchin is politically astute and cunning to the ways of politics.  Manchin comes across as meek and mild-tempered, a man of reasonable disposition… but that doesn’t accurately portray his cunning.  This is his chance to make a big move.

Senator Joe Manchin also knows that Democrats are going to implode, as the Obama allied communist puppet masters behind Biden have a one term agenda to exploit their control over the dementia patient currently occupying the White House.  Manchin knows the collapse of the Democrat Party is his opportunity.  He also knows THE REALITY behind the released Marist Poll [data here] showing a majority of non-communist Democrats want nothing to do with the senile occupant of the White House.

Manchin is again making a BIG club move by positioning himself as reasonable right now.

Manchin is testing his strength.

Manchin will likely be the #1 contender in 2024, and he knows it.

Manchin is cunning.

Manchin is not only reaching out to ‘moderate’ registered Democrats….

Manchin is reaching the minds of registered Republicans.

Manchin is a very worthy adversary…

Dec 19 2021

Iran to Impose Sanctions on the US Over Human Rights Abuses


Armstrong Economics Blog/Civil Unrest Re-Posted Dec 19, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

The Iranian government is threatening to impose sanctions on the United States due to its mistreatment of black Americans. “Human rights experts confirmed that police brutality in the US against people of color especially, African-Americans, should be considered systemic racism,” Secretary-General of Iran’s Human Rights Office Kazem Gharibabadi. Gharibabadi cited the ever-growing Black Lives Matter Movement and the death of George Floyd for their reasoning. The news comes just days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the US would place sanctions on over a dozen Iranian and Syrian officials for their own human rights abuses.

Other countries are looking (and laughing) at America for our woke movements that have led to no significant changes in policy – at least not for the better. Some cities defunded the police, and now they are experiencing a swift increase in violent crimes, including murder. Certain woke cities told police to turn a blind eye to petty theft, and now countless stores have been robbed blind. The head of the Los Angeles Police Department recently told tourists not to visit, “We can’t guarantee your safety.”

Race-baiting to divide the country has been successful to the point that it has reached the international stage. They know that America is crumbling from within, vulnerable to international threats. Divided we fall.

Dec 19 2021

Why Austrian School of Economics is Outdated


Armstrong Economics Blog/Economics Re-Posted Dec 19, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Marty; would you comment on David Stockman’s assistance that the fundamental consequence of 30 years of Fed-fueled financial asset inflation is that the prices of stocks and bonds have way overshot the mark.

Thank you

HW

ANSWER: David Stockman was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1981–1985) under President Ronald Reagan. He is very old-school and such a statement in economics is like pretending we are still in the world of horse & buggies and you must pull your new-fangled car off the road if it frightens the horses.

The statement presumes everything in the economy is driven exclusively by domestic events. It’s not his fault. They still teach these theories in universities. It is all based upon the old world of Austrian Economics which dates back to when the exchange rate among nations was based solely on the metal content of their coinage. At this point in economic history, no single nation truly provided the dominant monetary system. There were coins that emerged such as the Anglo-Saxon sceats. But they did not carry a premium because of their economic power.

It wasn’t until the 8th century that the French developed the silver denier copying the Roman silver denarius. This became the main coinage of Europe. But once again, it did not carry a premium because of its economic power.

We find that the English King Offa copied the French and created what became known as the English silver penny. This really established forex exchange rates based entirely upon the metal content.

By the 13th century, this is where we begin to see the dominant gold florin of Florence become the more recognized high-value denomination that became a recognized monetary unit of Europe. Other nations then began to issue imitations of the gold florin.

The German bankers, the Fuggers, emerged as the leading Augsburg merchant-banker, who then provided loans to local rulers secured with the produce of their mines. Eventually, by 1525, the Joachimsthaler of the Kingdom of Bohemia was the first thaler ideally with a weight of 31 grams or one troy ounce.

We can see that 600 years later, England issued a silver Florin which represented 24 pence. Florence achieved its independence in 1250 and began to issue the first gold coin for Europe post-Dark Age. The gold Florin was worth 20 silver Grosso. So we can see the gradual inflation whereby the 19th century an English Florin was 24 pence. Equivalent in value of the English Florin was 10 Florins equaled a pound. Even the Hungarian Forint was a reference to the gold Florin of Florence, home of the Medici bank.

The wealth of Spain was consumed by Europe but it did not become the dominant currency. In America, the Spanish coinage became dominant and the one-ounce silver coin modeled on the Thaler (8 reales) became the model for the US dollar which was a rejection of the British monetary system.

The Austrian School was based upon Gresham’s Law whereby the debasement of the coinage of Henry VIII drove the higher silver content coinage out of circulation. These ideas were entrenched in a period where there was no dominant financial capital of the world. What is missing from this view of money is that of the economic power of the state.

There are “imitations” of ancient Greek and Roman coins where the metal content is on par and sometimes even heavier. This proves that gold in the form of a Roman coin carried a premium to simply raw gold or had that peripheral state-issued gold or silver coinage in its own name.

Here we have an Athenian Silver Tetradrachm which became a world currency imitated by Egypt for external trade when Egypt did not issue their own coinage until they were conquered by Alexander the Great.

It was the British pound that emerged as the dominant world currency because of its economic power and imperialism. We then find bonds issued by even China in British pounds just as today nations issue debt in US dollars denominations.

Even the Celts of Europe imitated the coinage of Macedonia. What is missing from the entire Austrian School is that a currency can emerge to be worth more than its metal content based upon its economic power.

Today, in the realm of paper money, fiat is no longer a viable theory. Japan, Germany, and China, all rose from the ashes to become major world economies without gold or tangible resources. What has emerged is the value of a currency is based upon the economic productivity of a nation. That is what backs a currency – nothing else. This Keynesian view of interest rates and money supply are no longer key factors when the dollar is used around the world and even 70% of the paper dollars circulate outside the USA.

The rise in the stock market has NOTHING to do with this nonsense of the Fed. This statement entirely ignores the fiscal spending that the Fed cannot control. Capital rushes around the world and concentrates at times in a country for a profit. When it does, it increases the domestic money supply when a foreigner buys stocks, bonds, or property in your country.

The Roaring Twenties took place BECAUSE of World War I. The capital fled Europe seeking safe harbor in the USA. That increased the dollar and dollar investments. The inflows peak with the peak in real estate in 1927.

So sorry! This idea that the market is up solely because of the creation of money is just absurd. The propaganda of the socialists that capitalism was evil following the Great Depression, which they did not understand, led to investment concentrating on bonds and the Take-Over Boom of the 1980s which I was blamed for advising takeover buyers based on these charts that showed the low in the book value in 1977. Yes, I was advising several takeover tycoons. If you could buy a company, sell its assets, and triple your money, obviously the market was way undervalued following the end of the Public Wave in 1985.

We have to look at the entire world – not just isolated domestic policy.

Dec 19 2021

Good News, Politico Is Rallying Support for Mitch McConnell


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on December 18, 2021 | Sundance | 155 Comments

At first glance, it might seem odd to think that Politico diminishing the MAGA movement in defense of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is a good thing.  However, in the background of that motive exists the reality – they need to defend him.

…”And though the forest was shrinking, the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that since his handle was made of wood, he was one of them.”…

The story of Mitch McConnell as leader of the GOP DeceptiCon wing is well known on these pages.  Heck, for ten years we frustratingly battled against the members of our own team infected with ‘battered conservative syndrome.‘

Mitch controls roughly 20 members of the Republican wing in the Senate.  It’s the same names that repeatedly surface whenever Democrat legislation is supported, or rule changes are made, to support the goals and objectives of the UniParty in the upper chamber: Cornyn, Thune, Porter, Blunt, Portman, Burr, Barasso, Crapo, Murkowski, Gardner, Roberts, Sasse, Tillis, Rubio, Graham and Romney.

The Politico article is basically saying that despite Donald Trump’s repeated attacks against McConnell, the DeceptiCon senators have not followed any effort to replace the minority leader; which, when you know the nature of the system, is not surprising.

[…] To date, just two prominent GOP Senate candidates have called for McConnell’s ouster — Kelly Tshibaka, an Alaska Republican who is challenging incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Eric Greitens, the former governor of Missouri who is running for a seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Roy Blunt. (link)

The good news is that Donald Trump and more Republican voters now see through McConnell’s schemes and manipulation.  Thus, it takes a left-wing outlet like Politico to try and run cover.

Several DeceptiCon senators have already announced they will not run for re-election in 2020 [Shelby, Toomey, Burr, Portman, Blunt].  In the 2022 Senate races there are 34 seats up for grabs.  14 are held by Democrats and 20 are held by tenuous Republicans.  [Breakdown Here] Those exiting senators, among others, know what McConnell’s objective is.  They also know this time the damage is far greater than previous times McConnell set about to destroy the base of the party.

Most casual political observers have absolutely no idea how McConnell works.  However, for over a decade CTH has been trying –slowly succeeding– to awaken the base of commonsense voters.  In 2010, 2011 and 2012, the #1 priority for McConnell was to destroy the threat represented by the Tea Party.  In 2022 we are seeing an exact replay of the same intents and purposes, only this time the target is President Trump’s MAGA movement.

It is a motive and agenda all wrapped up in the Senate power structure.  McConnell does not fear being in the minority; the color of the flag atop the spire of the UniParty Senate does not matter to those underneath it.  McConnell maneuvers with just as much power in the minority as he does in the majority; factually, he makes more money selling his DeceptiCon caucus votes to Chuck Schumer (on behalf of Wall Street) than he does in the majority where he is forced to purchase them.  The entire thing is a rigged game.

Through his power structure, McConnell directly controls about 16 Republican Senators, we have called them “The Decepticons” for years. [Cornyn, Thune, Porter, Blunt, Portman, Burr, Barasso, Crapo, Murkowski, Gardner, Roberts, Sasse, Tillis, Rubio, Graham and Romney].  He also has four more that can join him when needed.

To remind ourselves how Minority and Majority Senator McConnell took down the threat of the Tea Party revisit these old articles:  CNN Part I and CNN Part II  – both showcase how McConnell works.   Then do some research on how McConnell worked with Haley Barbour in Mississippi [SEE HERE].

McConnell must preserve the trough.  Corporations (special interest groups) write the legislation. Lobbyists take the law and go find politician(s) to support it. Politicians get support from their peers using tenure and status etc. Eventually, if things go according to norm, the legislation gets a vote.

Within every step of the process, there are expense account lunches, dinners, trips, venue tickets and a host of other customary financial waypoints to generate/leverage a successful outcome. The amount of money spent is proportional to the benefit derived from the outcome.

When a House or Senate member becomes educated on the intent of the legislation, they have attended the sales pitch, and when they find out the likelihood of support for that legislation, they can then position their own (or their families) financial interests to benefit from the consequence of passage. It is a process similar to insider trading on Wall Street, except the trading is based on knowing who will benefit from a legislative passage.

Yes, Democrats are the opponents; they are ideological enemies to freedom. However, Mitch McConnell is the man who builds the Trojan Horse.

The most transparent example of how DeceptiCon McConnell operates was the Trade Promotion Authority authorization that Mitch constructed in 2015 to help then President Obama advance the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.

The pragmatic conservative base of GOP voters were against the TPP, because we could see how the trade deal would lead to more job losses in the U.S.  However, the Obama White House, Wall Street DeceptiCons and Democrats needed to support it as required by their multinational donors.

Mitch McConnell created a legislative pathway for Obama to unilaterally construct a trade agreement by flipping the votes in the Senate under Trade Promotion Authority.  Instead of Obama needing 60 ‘yea’ votes to support TPP, Mitch flipped the terms so that Obama needed 60 ‘nay’ votes to deny TPP.   That’s what Trade Promotion Authority bill was really all about.

McConnell sneakily created a system so that all Republican Senators could give their base the illusion of voting against Obama’s TPP trade agreement, and yet the agreement still passed (which is what they wanted).  That’s the way the DeceptiCons roll.

If you think this sounds similar to how Mitch recently helped change Senate rules so that Democrats could raise the debt ceiling on their own, you would not be wrong.

WASHINGTON DC – […] The Senate minority leader spent Tuesday selling his members on a convoluted strategy that would require at least 10 Republicans to approve legislation that would later allow Senate Democrats to raise the debt ceiling by a simple majority vote. After a leadership meeting and a Senate GOP lunch, McConnell said he’d done enough work to clinch the deal in a vote expected on Thursday. (read more)

So the Senate DeceptiCons once again *claimed* to be against the multi-trillion ‘Build Back Better’, fundamental change, spending bill.  Yet they have facilitated the Democrats not having to negotiate or eliminate anything inside the BBB bill, by removing the leverage of the debt ceiling raise.

Yep, Uniparty gotta Uniparty – all courtesy of the Senate DeceptiCon caucus.

This, and the Machiavellian scheming and conniving they do to hide their UniParty alignment, is why I have openly said for 15 years, I hate them.

Dec 19 2021

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Pravda…. Everywhere You Turn


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on December 18, 2021 | Sundance | 142 Comments

Interesting short segment from Sky News interviewing the smiling U.K. Health Minister Gillian Keegan about the intense U.K. response to the Omicron variant and the new restrictions announced by government officials.   Great Britain is preparing for hundreds-of-thousands of Omicron cases.

Video prompted to 05:42 just watch for around 45 seconds. No commentary from me needed. WATCH:

Dec 18 2021

Facebook Fact Checkers getting Fact Checked


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Dec 18, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

We really have desperate need of independent investigation of both government and Facebook. But the likelihood of an honest investigation is up there with admitting that climate always changes and there is no global warming. The Office of Inspector General is really the ONLY hope of ever having anyone investigate the government. People ask all the time what can we do? The Biden Administration is as corrupt as it can possibly be and I am not talking about Biden and his family. I believe they use that to ensure that they get to do whatever they want and Biden will look the other way or find himself and id son the first criminally charged President in history.

The Office of Inspector General should be inundated with demand to investigate the connection between BigPharma, the government, and the fact-checkers of Facebook who are costing people’s lives. One of the more respected medical journals that called into question Pfizer’s questionable trial data had their articles black-listed by Facebook. Anything that questions this agenda is black-listed. There is something seriously wrong here and the corruption runs very deep. Without overthrowing the Biden Administration, there is ZERO chance of the Department of Justice doing anything to protect the people against this corruption.

Dec 18 2021

Los Angeles Police: “We Can’t Guarantee Your Safety”


Armstrong Economics Blog/Crime Re-Posted Dec 18, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

The head of the LA Police Protective League, Jamie McBride, has issued a strong warning to tourists — do not visit Los Angeles. After successfully defunding the police, the city has become rampant with crime. “We can’t guarantee your safety. It is really, really out of control. I said it to people before, it’s like that movie ‘Purge,’ you know, instead of 24 hours to commit your crime, these people have 365 days to commit whatever they want,” McBride said.

In October, homicides in the city had increased by 17%. “They’re compounding,” Moore said of city killings. “Homicides are up 17%, and people will say, ‘Well, many other cities are actually higher.’ But when we look over a two-year period, they’re up 49%.” During the same period, there had been 1,202 shooting victims, marking a 20% increase from the same period a year prior, and a 50% increase from 2019.

Los Angeles is one of many US cities facing a surge in crime. The politicians who feel it is unnecessary to fund police departments drive around with heavily armed security guards in bulletproof cars. Resources need to be allocated to stop this rise in VIOLENT crimes across the nation.

Dec 18 2021

Super Saturday Shopping


Armstrong Economics Blog/North America Re-Posted Dec 18, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

A shopper takes part in Black Friday sales at a Target store in Chicago, Illinois, United States, November 27, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young

Retailers have their eyes set on Super Saturday, the last Saturday of December to shop before Christmas. Yes, consumerism is still strong enough to require a third shopping-related holiday in December after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates 148 million consumers will be purchasing gifts this Saturday, down slightly from last year’s estimate of 150 million.

The NRF anticipates that the average consumer will spend $997.73 on holiday purchases this year. Consumer behavior has shifted this year due to supply chain crisis fears. Around 180 million Americans purchased gifts during the five-day period from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. Not to be outdone, the NRF believes sales during the week following Christmas will increase between 8.5% and 10.5% to between $843.4 billion and $859 billion. Sales during the overall 2021 holiday season are expected to increase 11.5% from the last holiday season. This is why around two-thirds of America’s GDP is consumer spending.

Dec 18 2021

Pelosi Fleeing to Florida?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Dec 18, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

Pelosi appears to be preparing to retire. Pelosi said in response to the infrastructure bill, “I just told members of my leadership that the reconciliation bill was a culmination of my service in Congress because it was about the children.” In Washington lingo, they call the “c” word the retirement hint. She has been pushing this Build Back Better bill and there are democrats rejecting this disaster.

Pelosi has been spotted looking at property in Naples Florida. It looks like she is going to retire but she is going to flee California herself for the taxes there are devastating and will only get far worse. The state has been bleeding the high-end taxpayers well beyond Elon Mush. Pelosi’s district, San Francisco, has increasingly devolved into crime, mass homelessness, and open drug use. Some of the city’s historical family residents have been fleeing in search of greener pastures in Texas and Florida. I find it to be the most hypocritical position to have Pelosi retire in Florida, an increasingly Republican state, which amounts to the ultimate example of a limousine/private jet liberals fleeing the consequences of their own policy preferences. She has spent a career bashing the rich but will retire with more than $100 million in assets fleeing to one of the 7 states with no income tax, strongest economy, and stores that are not the targets of wholesale gang shoplifting sanctioned by law.