Posted Originally on May 16, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
The New York Federal Reserve reported that American households set a new record after plummeting into $17.69 trillion of debt, a 1.1% ($184 billion) increase from Q4 2023. Worse, the number of delinquencies is rising as households struggle to make ends meet amid the cost of living crisis. Inflation is not waning, taxes are rising, and America’s debt burden has become utterly unmanageable.
Mortgage balances rose by $190 billion and reached $12.44 trillion by March. People are paying far more in interest alone than they have in recent years. Those who bought in the hopes of refinancing are not in a good position. Auto loan debt rose by $9 billion, reaching $1.62 trillion.
Americans have been attempting to pay off their credit card balances, with overall credit card debt declining by $14 billion to $1.12 trillion. Yet, that was close to a record-high for credit card debt and we tend to see balances lowered after the holiday retail spending spree ends. Consumers do not want to pay those 20%+ interest rates on cards but many are forced to do so simply to put food on the table.
Delinquencies are rising – this is a major issue. It is difficult to crawl out of debt once someone is deep within the cycle. “In the first quarter of 2024, credit card and auto loan transition rates into serious delinquency continued to rise across all age groups,” said Joelle Scally, regional economic principal within the Household and Public Policy Research Division at the New York Fed. “An increasing number of borrowers missed credit card payments, revealing worsening financial distress among some households.”
Credit card delinquencies have reached their highest levels since 2012 when America was recovering from the Great Recession. In fact, by the end of Q1 2024, around 3.2% of all outstanding debt was in delinquency. The New York Fed reported a rise in missed payments across all debts, including those 90 days past due.
No foreign nation is coming to offer America a bailout check. The Biden Administration has made it clear that American households are NOT Washington’s priority. We are to continue working and paying taxes in order to fund foreign wars and climate change packages. How else will we house those 7+ million illegal migrants and offer them free healthcare and shelter? How else will we pay off the student loans for millions? How else will we continue to grow the public sector and pay for countless new social programs? Americans are in serious debt, and Washington is all but ensuring this trend continues.
Posted originally on May 14, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
Germany is considering forcing the youngest adults in their population to die in the name of a proxy war that in no way affected Germany, the German people or their way of life. Former President Donald Trump warned Germany that it had become too reliant on Russian energy and they mocked him. Sadly, German leadership had known all along that the ultimate goal was to use Ukraine as their gateway to attack Russia. As I’ve stated countless times, Merkel openly admitted that the Minsk Agreement was merely a ploy to weaken Russia’s defenses and buy time for Ukraine to build its military. Russia has not backed down and now the proxy war is becoming a global conflict.
Everyone criticized Trump for condemning his NATO allies in 2018. At the time, only five nations were meeting their 2% GDP spending requirement on NATO defense, with the US paying around 5%. Trump suggested that everyone contribute 4% to build a stronger alliance. He never wanted to back away from NATO to support Putin; rather, he wanted to back away from NATO because he felt the US had been taken advantage of by its European allies. Trump even threatened to remove the US from the NATO alliance because he simply did not see the benefits to domestic interests.
Trump called Ukraine the wall between Russia and Europe and stated that America had become the “sucker country” by shelling out millions to Ukraine when they received far less in return. He warned Europe that their reliance on Russian imported energy would spell disaster and went as far as declaring that Germany was “totally controlled by Russia.” Instead of looking for energy alternatives, Germany went through with the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline and wasted billions as sanctions were implemented before the pipeline was fully functional.
This is yet another reason why they are fearful of a Trump re-election, for he has vowed to remove America from these senseless wars as part of his first plan of action. The globalists and neocons simply cannot allow that to happen.
Perhaps Germany believed they could rely on an alternative supplier for energy. Perhaps they believed Ukraine would have made at least a dent in Russia’s military power. Instead, they are prepared to send their own kids to die for this senseless war. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he is “convinced” that Germany “needs a form of military conscription.”
Since the West has effectively eliminated genders or the need for a family structure, they plan to draft both men and women. Anyone fit to fight will be sent off to die. Pistorius believes Germany needs 200,000 troops to begin training immediately.
The centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) are no longer opposing conscription and now support the “reintroduction of conscription in a step-by-step process,” much to the support of Pistorius. All those virtue signaling with Ukraine flags and cheering each aid package must now acknowledge that their own youth will be sent off to war, and many will never return home. They cheer the “good” guys winning these battles abroad in Taiwan, Ukraine, and Israel, but fail to understand that there is no “good” guy in the game of war. The people are merely chess pieces to be used as pawns by their governments.
The worst part about all of this is that Germany KNEW they were going to fight Russia. Ten years ago, Germany knew they were going to fight Russia. I discuss this in detail in my book, “The Plot to Seize Russia.” The fact of the matter is that the West could not simply enter Russia without giving the public a reason for warfare and creating countless fake flags, demonizing its opponent through propaganda, and attempting to weaken its military through a proxy war. We are now embarking on the beginning of the third world war thanks to the manipulation of the elites in power who have absolutely no regard for human life.
Washington’s reckless spending comes with a cost to US taxpayers. While the fed may simply roll over their debt and issue new debt to pay off the old, the American public is on the hook for immediate liquidity every single year via taxation. The misconception that Biden would only target the wealthy needs to be dispelled as a recent study reveals that 63% of new audits targeted Americans earning under $200,000.
Now, Biden initially claimed he would send his troop of IRS agents to target Americans earning double that amount. The billionaire class was not targeted, as 80% of all audits were on filers earning under $1 million. Yes, there are far more taxpayers in the middle and lower brackets. However, the IRS merely claimed they would prioritize hunting higher earners; they never explicitly said they wouldn’t come after ALL Americans.
The entire hunt for taxation has been a war on the middle class, who is unable to file massive write-offs and cannot afford to continue paying Uncle Sam on every incoming and outgoing transaction, plus savings, income, and everything else from birth to death. Washington effectively lowered our purchasing power by fueling inflation through absurd fiscal and social policies, and now they are asking people to give them even more of whatever money that remains. Washington continues to spend taxpayer funds on initiatives that the people have never once voted on, and ahead of election season, Biden is going on yet another spending spree with your money to buy off voters.
The highest earners know how to avoid taxes. Trump famously told Hillary during a debate prior to the 2016 US Presidential Election that he obviously used the loopholes in the tax system, as do all financially savvy businessmen. “Her donors took massive tax write offs… and other things that Hillary as a Senator allowed,” Trump stated during the debate. “So do Warren Buffett, so does George Soros, and so do other people Hillary is supported by,” he added. Note that the Democrats in control have never repealed restrictions on these tax loopholes that only help their wealthy donors.
Every new war, aid package, climate change package, social program, and migrant who crosses the border is now the responsibility of the US taxpayer. They wrongly believe that our money belongs to the federal government, with the state also taking out their share. Then, they create new taxes, such as targeting capital gains, to ensure that every American is stretched thin. Did anyone vote for this nonsense? We do not live in a Democracy and anyone who says otherwise is either misinformed or lying.
It will become far easier for governments to extort the people when they introduce CBDC in January 2025. Uncle Sam will think you have hidden any cash on hand from him, cash that belongs to him, once they force us to digitize our dollars. Inflation will continue to rise above GDP and we will enter a period of stagflation. This is why I have warned countless times that private and tangible assets are a safer bet compared to cash as we move into 2028.
Putin was inaugurated in the Palace of the old Czars. He at least proved that he (1) could walk, (2) did not require an Easter Bunny to guide him, and (3) he could read a complete sentence. I suppose that, in contrast to Biden, it is rather stunning. But in truth, at least Putin does make the decisions in Russia compared to our unelected people really running the White House
Posted 0riginally on May 6, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
Russia is changing its game. I have been warned that Putin has been under pressure to deal with the real threat to Russia, the US, the UK, and NATO. Ukraine is just a mercenary soldier who is expendable as far as the West is concerned. Nobody cares about Ukrainians. They are just there to kill Russians. As I have warned, nobody in Washington has EVER expected Ukraine to win. The real powers, the US, the UK, and NATO, are all stepping up the game, and they are preparing for World War III and want to destroy Russia utterly.
The game is changing here on May 7th. All I can pray is that Ukraine does not do something really stupid because, on May 7th, Putin will be inaugurated.
Posted originally on May 7, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
As a Christian, I believe the gospel in full, every letter.
The gospel says Jesus, a Jewish man – son of God – messiah, was handed over to be crucified (killed) by the chief priest, the elders, and the Jewish crowd which was prophesied in Isaiah 53.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) May 5, 2024
The internet is in an uproar after the House of Representatives passed an antisemitism bill that outlaws a few common Christian beliefs based on verses found in the New Testament. No – the New Testament has not been banned. However, the ban is a new attack on both freedom of religion and free speech that may particularly target the Christian community. The Christians are merely the first in line, as this bill is the precursor for future legislation that simply outlaws numerous widely held religious beliefs.
Now the bill, passing 320-91 in the House, was presented as a means to prevent antisemitism in the wake of the University pro-Hamas protests. This particular law expands what is considered antisemitism, as there are already laws in place preventing individuals and businesses from targeting citizens based on their religious affiliations. “Right now, without a clear definition of antisemitism, the Department of Education and college administrators are having trouble discerning whether conduct is antisemitic or not, whether the activity we’re seeing crosses the line into antisemitic harassment,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. stated. This bill has been primarily supported by Republicans, which some have found surprising (besides those who understand AIPAC lobbying) due to certain clauses within the bill.
“From the River to the Sea” and other phrases that call for the eradication of Israel will be prohibited. Cosplaying as Hamas or a terrorist organization should already be grounds for threatening harassment. Imagine if people were dressing up as ISIS and parading around on college campuses after 9/11? Absolutely despicable behavior.
The First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause forbids the government from creating legislation that prohibits the free exercise of religion. The First Amendment also protects our right to free speech, but we cannot threaten or cause harm to others simply because of their race, gender, or religion as reaffirmed by the Fourteenth Amendment. States are required by the Fourteenth Amendment to abide by the Equal Protection Clause and prevent blatant discrimination, but there are loopholes that do not protect religious practices that could be seen as criminal, such as polygamy.
So where does Christianity come into play amid this bill? Afterall, Jews and Christians share the Old Testament story as do other Abrahamic religions. Jesus himself was a Jew, descendant of former and shared prophets, who worshipped in the Synagogues. The Christians believe Jesus came as the final prophet, Son of Man, so that those who seek him may find eternal life, while the Jews are still waiting on their final messiah. The problem many are finding within this bill is that it prohibits anyone from claiming that Jews were responsible for killing Jesus.
Pontious Pilate, King Herod, and the Roman authority responded to the pharisee’s repeated warnings that a mortal was claiming to be the Son of God, disturbing the peace, speaking blasphemy, and, most important to Rome, creating a following and potentially civil unrest. The pilot asked the crowd, primarily Jews, whether he should spare Jesus or a criminal named Barabbas. Jesus was crucified with the phrase “King of the Jews” above his head.
Would this new bill prohibit the verses found on this incident from publication? While that is unlikely, there are deeper implications. For you see, this has nothing to do with the Jews or any religious protections. The Republicans would not be championing this bill or ostracizing their Christian voter base if that were the case. This bill is a means for the government to usurp power by preventing religion from superseding government authority. If they pass this measure, what’s to say they won’t outlaw religions or religious texts that criticize homosexuality, for example, or questioning the government as a secondary authority.
America was once unified as a primarily Christian nation. As a relatively new nation, we were unable to keep that shared moral value. Governments have a long history of wiping out religion to usurp control. China for example only allows five religious groups to register with the CCP, and we know where Mao stood. The former Soviet government confiscated churches and banned all religion – the government was to be the highest power.
Marx called religion the “opium of the masses,” and governments have had a long and treacherous road with religion as a rivaling authority. We know Klaus Schwab has a bust of Lenin in his office, and simply put, the new world order cannot occur with religion in the way. It is too divisive and does not abide by the agenda to create the few haves and a mass of have-nots. The governments would love to tax religious institutions and prevent people from paying any form of a tithe. The entire woke agenda goes against absolutely every prominent religion, but it is easiest for government to paint the majority, the Christians, as intolerant.
Church and state were designated to be separate entities. Yet the government may always override the church or religion. In this case, the government is slowly making provisions that enable them to prevent religious ideas from threatening their authority. Every time the government is permitted to take a bit of power, they continue pulling that rope until they override any potential threats.
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