Tag Archives: Russia

May 17 2023

America Has Been Invaded


Armstrong Economics Blog/USA Current Events re-Posted May 17, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The end of Title 42 has been an absolute disaster. There is no telling how many migrants entered the border last week. These are not simply women and children seeking a new life. The majority of those entering are military-aged MEN who feel entitled to enter America illegally. These are not struggling individuals. American Door Dash drivers were sending food deliveries to the border as over 60,000 migrants lined up around the immediate border area in anticipation of midnight on May 11.

One extremely troubling issue is El Salvador’s recent crackdown on gang crime. The nation locked up all affiliated gang members and saw a drastic decrease in crime. The gang members who escaped had nowhere to go, and no one wanted to infringe on Mexico’s feared cartels. Neighboring Honduras was forced to follow suit after declaring a state of emergency over violent crime in November 2022. Guatemala would be wise to go this route as well, but gangs will be more successful when selling to people using the USD.

Haiti is in ruin and people have been attempting to flee for years. Venezuela’s economy is a glimpse at how well socialism works. Nicaragua and Cuba are also unfortunate examples. There is a reason people want to leave their home countries for a better life. Yet, there are no checks and balances. Every border state has said they’ve been overrun and overpowered by the huge influx of migrants.

An Afghan terrorist on the FBI’s wanted list was recently caught trying to cross the border near San Diego. Do people think this man was alone? On the days leading up to the end of Title 42, 30% of apprehended migrants escaped border custody. These are merely the people who were caught. Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn. Admitted “we have no idea who is entering this country and being released into the U.S. interior.” Green commented that it is “chilling” to think of the 1.4 million migrants who already evaded Border Patrol under Biden before Title 42 ended.

The US has been compromised. The border is wide open and those who wish to come in without respecting the nation’s asylum laws may do so with little pushback. Our nation is already facing a housing shortage crisis, and cities with leaders who claimed to be refugee friendly are desperately trying to find a way to house and feed all of these people who cannot legally work in America. The problem is going to worsen in the coming weeks once cities realize what they have done by ignoring America’s border and permitting an invasion.

May 17 2023

Supply Chain Crisis and Inflation


Armstrong Economics Blog/Inflation Re-Posted May 17, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Hello Mr. Armstrong. Thank you for my daily dose of reality. Your blog is one of the last sources of untainted news. I would like to show these pictures my daughter sent me last week. We live in an affluent neighborhood in New Jersey where petty theft does not occur. The news outlets have not mentioned baby formula shortages. I do not believe they are locking up the baby formula to prevent crime. What is going on here?

Thanks — C.G.

REPLY: The supply chain issue has never been resolved. It improved from the days of bare shelves in the grocery stores, but many essentials are stuck in the pipeline. Products that expire will see additional shortages naturally. The supply shortage is fueling inflation and raising rates will not solve the problem.

The Fed thinks that raising rates will curb inflation by raising the cost of borrowing. That is not the problem here. Part of the inflationary crisis we are witnessing is due to demand outweighing available supply across industries. The Fed cannot control government spending nor the money supply. People are viewing the crisis today from the perspective of the ‘60s when it was NOT possible to borrow on T bills. After the collapse of Bretton Woods in ’71, you COULD trade off government debt and that eliminated the idea that it was less inflationary to borrow rather than spend. Artificially low rates that created a borrowing addiction among institutions who believed it was safe to do so.

Powell cannot come out and criticize Congress for their spending. These rate hikes are not good for the supply chain shortages. Inflation went up two years before the Fed even addressed rates due to the supply chain crisis. The central bank only began to hike rates after the war in Ukraine began. Notice how at the last meeting, the FOMC incorporated that they will monitor “international events.” WAR is the primary driver of inflation and there is nothing that the central bank can do to prevent the destruction caused by government and years of poor monetary policy.

May 16 2023

Zelensky: Ukraine Will Win War before 2024 US Elections


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted May 16, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

I have said it countless times – the only way they will keep Biden in power is to enter the war. The US and all NATO nations have already unofficially entered the war by supplying soldiers and a blank check to Ukraine and attempting to nuke Russia’s economy by removing it from SWIFT and placing outrageous sanctions on individual citizens. Now, Zelensky is saying he believes Ukraine will achieve victory before the 2024 US Presidential Elections.

No one is going to “win” this war. Neither side can back down now without a full-scale global conflict. The US will likely officially enter the war before the 2024 US Presidential Election. Zelensky confidently stated that regardless of who wins our independent election, the leader of the free world (allegedly) will still support the war in Ukraine. He’s right! There are neocons on both sides of the aisle and no one will permit Trump to win even if the people elect him.

During Trump’s town hall meeting, the first-time people actually tuned in to CNN, he said that deaths on both sides could have been prevented. Everyone is talking about strategy and winning as if we are playing Battleship. Mothers are losing their sons every day, and human nature never changes. The Ukrainian mother mourns her son the same as the Russian mother, and neither had a say in this completely preventable conflict. DeSantis has also said that backing Ukraine is not a priority for the US. “We cannot prioritize intervention in an escalating foreign war over the defense of our own homeland,” DeSantis declared.

Trump ruffled feathers in Europe as president. He warned Germany that they were too dependent on Russian energy, and they laughed in his face. He threatened to exit NATO is other nations failed to pay their fair share. Trump is still standing firm on his position that the US has less to lose and has accused Europe on unfairly relying on the US. His former vice president disagrees, as Mike Pence, a potential candidate, as stated. “We support those who fight our enemies on their shores, so we will not have to fight them ourselves,” wrote Pence. UN Ambassador (the title gives it away) Nikki Haley also wants to continue fighting the proxy war in the US.

Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy is also against the war. Kennedy tweeted:

“In 2019 actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky ran as the peace candidate winning the Ukrainian presidency with 70% of the vote. As Benjamin Abelow observes in his brilliant book, “How the West Brought War to Ukraine,” Zelensky almost certainly could have avoided the 2022 war with Russia simply by uttering five words — “I will not join NATO.” But pressured by NeoCons in the Biden White House, and by violent fascist elements within the Ukrainian government, Zelensky integrated his army with NATO’s and allowed the U.S. to place nuclear-capable Aegis missile launchers along Ukraine’s 1,200-mile border with Russia. These were provocations that senior U.S. diplomats like post-WWII foreign policy architect George Kennan, former U.S. Defense Secretary Bill Perry, and former U.S. ambassador to Moscow Jack Matlock had long described as “red lines” for Russian leadership. Let’s face it, the Neocons wanted this war with Russia, just as they wanted war with Iraq. Listen here to NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark describe how White House Neocons justified the Iraq invasion.”

I have posted the video he shared with this tweet at the top of this article. I have been criticized for analyzing Kennedy’s economic and environmentalist views, but I am not for or against anyone and would not write someone off simply because of their political party. I believe he is right in his views regarding Ukraine and COVID, although I may disagree with him on other items. Again, anyone against the establishment is going to have a rough time leading up to the election.

Everyone in the establishment craves war; hence, the machine will ensure that the US is positioned where they MUST enter the war. I wish I were wrong, but the computer has always been right. The War Cycle turned up in 2014 and only indicates a further escalation.

May 16 2023

Pasta Prices Soar 20% in Italy – The Return of the Pasta Cartel?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Inflation Re-Posted May 16, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

(image above represents shrinkflation — an additional burden to consumers)

Italy’s Industry Minister Adolfo Urso called for an emergency meeting to discuss the sharp uptick in food prices. Pasta alone is up nearly 20%, and this is a major problem in a country where 60% of residents report eating this item daily. Some provinces are seeing a 58% increase in this staple item. Siena, Tuscany, reported pasta rising from $1.50 a kilo to $2.37 a kilo within in a year. The European Central Bank stated that inflation reached 8.1% in March, so what is driving these food prices?

Some may point to wheat, the main ingredient, as the recent usurping of farmland and the Ukraine war had an impact on prices. However, wheat prices have actually declined in recent months. Durum wheat is down 30% since May of last year. The only other ingredient required to make pasta is water.

Coldiretti, Italy’s biggest farmers association, said that farmers are not seeing an uptick in revenue and are struggling to make ends meet. “There is no justification for the increases other than pure speculation on the part of the large food groups who also want to supplement their budgets with extra profits,” Assoutenti president Furio Truzzi told the Washington Post. Yet, food manufacturers are claiming that this spike in pasta costs in temporary and a result of pasta produced during the beginning of the Ukraine war and energy crisis.

This is not the first time that Italy has seen a rise in food prices. Italian authorities raised 26 pasta manufacturers in 2009 and fined the industry 12.5 million euros for creating what Reuters described as a “pasta cartel.” Around 90% of pasta makers in the country were in on the price gouging scheme that operated from May 2006 until May 2008, during which pasta prices rose 51.8% for retailers and 26% for consumers. Barilla, the largest pasta producer at the time, received the largest fine of 5.7 million euros.

Food inflation is a major problem across the world. In Italy, overall food prices rose 12.6% in April 2023, marking a slight decline from March’s 13.2% reading. This is unsustainably high. The overall inflation numbers put forth by government agencies are always the best-case scenario as they do not want us to see the true damage of inflation.

May 15 2023

Oxford’s Protests Against 15-Minute Cities


Armstrong Economics Blog/WEF re-Posted May 15, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Those who see what is coming are beginning to resist the Great Reset. Ultimately, their plan to create a one-world government will fail but it will take firm resistance. As one reader mentioned, English residents of Oxford began protesting the 15-minute city concept in March. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest what they deemed a “Stalinist-style, closed city.”

Media agencies such as Politico are calling protestors far-right extremists. Yet thousands have joined the “Not Our Future” group to tell the global elite that they will not willingly surrender. Oxford’s city council agreed to implement these cities within the next 20 years. Reporter Mark Dolan said the “dystopian” city planning would create “”a surveillance culture that would make Pyongyang envious.” Tory MP Nick Fletcher called them an “international socialist concept” intended to “take away personal freedoms.”

Bloomberg News condemned the protestors as well, calling them “a case study in conspiracy paranoia.” They also called lockdowns a conspiracy before they happened. The plans for these cities are out in the open. Schwab clearly states his plan for the Great Reset in interviews, books, online writings, and conferences. He boasts about infiltrating cabinets across the globe. Every politician in recent years has had a big “BUILD BACK BETTER” logo on their podium. Everyone is suddenly pushing for the same non-existent issues such as creating legislation against naturally occurring weather patterns. It is in our faces, people. This is public information that the masses choose to ignore because it is upsetting.

As a reminder, here are some of the projections from the WEF for Agenda 2030:

  • All products will have become services
  • There is a global price on carbon
  • US dominance is over. We now have a handful of global powers
  • Virtual health assistants will replace human doctors
  • You will eat less meat
  • Refugees will be CEOs
  • The values that built the West will have been tested to the breaking point
  • Digital tech will close the gender and wealth gap
  • A global family of fun and functional cities
  • Technology in space underpins security on earth
  • You will own nothing and be happy

Again, this is all public information that can be found on the World Economic Forum’s website.

May 15 2023

As They Attempt to Deny Their Trespass, Let Us NEVER FORGET – “The Unvaccinated Are Scum”, Compilation Video


May 14, 2023 | Sundance 

As the politicians and their pretorian guard media attempt desperately to rewrite COVID-19 history (more coming on this issue) it is worth remembering exactly what the situation was in the prior two years.

This excellent compilation video from Tom Elliot reminds us who they were, and how significant the hatred was.  WATCH and share:

.

May 14 2023

Strange “Democracy” – Govt of Turkey Demands Twitter Remove Political Opposition, Elon Musk Agrees


Posted originally on the CTH on May 13, 2023 | Sundance 

The authoritarian government of Turkish President Recep Erdogan, a man of notoriously manipulative and unstable disposition intent on recreating the Ottoman empire, demanded that in advance of their elections Twitter remove the voice of the opposition party.  Elon Musk complied:

This decision is interesting because it shows that despite his questions about the need to defend democracy and free speech, Twitter owner Elon Musk is willing to support the removal of opposition political parties during elections.

Musk justifies this decision by saying the choice was between shutting down a political viewpoint or shutting down all of Turkish Twitter access.  Musk chose to simply eliminate one set of voices in opposition to the existing government in Turkey.

When Rumble was faced with a similar threat from France, Rumble stood with the principle of freedom and refused to block content the administration of Emmanuel Macron did not like.  Rumble left France rather than comply with authoritarian censorship demands.  Twitter remains operational in Turkey, willing to support the authoritarian censorship demands.  An interesting contrast.

I have fielded many calls in the past few days about this seemingly 180° reversal from Elon Musk in his ‘speech’ positions.  The hiring of Linda Yaccarino was one massive datapoint that seemed to indicate the priorities of Musk had changed.  The acquiescent to Turkish government requests less than 24 hours later is another datapoint.

The general questions all fall in the spectrum of ‘what has changed’?

I will answer here, what I have answered privately.

When I published my thesis on the background of Twitter called Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop, the essential outline contained two basic cornerstones.

First, the United States government was operating to control the information on the Twitter platform with direct access to the content.  Second, the USG was subsidizing it.

Two years ago, people thought I was nuts about government control over content.  However, in the last several months the information from within Twitter, specifically the Twitter Files outlining the DHS influence and control, has verified exactly the issue CTH noted in the very first outline of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop.

However, it is the second aspect behind the platform that people have yet to recognize.  When the fulsome story is told in hindsight, you will see that I am correct.

The second aspect is that Twitter cannot financially exist as a viable communication platform without government subsidy.

As it is currently structured, including the AWS cloud-based services for data processing, the costs associated with handling 30 million active simultaneous users (24/7) exceeds the business model for self-sufficiency.  It simply costs too much without ownership of the metal.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), and other cloud-based services (Microsoft etc), are efficient for platforms who do not then need to employ as many engineers to keep the data processing operational; but they are very costly.

Data processing for 30 million simultaneously active users engaging with the platform is extremely expensive.  Every engagement feature makes this issue worse. It is simply an issue of scale.  Unfortunately, unlike traditional business models, the per user costs do not decrease as the number of simultaneous users increase.

There is no viable business model for a ‘free’ or low-cost user-based platform that requires data processing for this scale of simultaneous users without a massive amount of money to create the actual servers (metal-based operations).  A cloud service (AWS) is expensive, and Musk is on the hook for every penny in data processing cost.

There have also been many reports that AWS is technically an endpoint U.S. government operation. Meaning the actual data processing is done by systems attached to U.S. government operations.  While staying away from the granular tech on this issue, it remains most likely that government subsidy underpins the ability of Twitter to exist and function as a platform.

The motive behind the public-private partnership is symbiotic and long precedes Musk purchasing the platform.

The evolution of Twitter from a private to a quasi-public institution under the control of DHS took place over a decade.  Essentially from 2012 (Arab Spring), and the first requests of the U.S. government for assistance, to the present day.  As the public-private partnership relationship grew, Twitter was viewed as beneficial to the interests of the U.S. government as a controlled communication platform, and the financial subsidy to retain the viability of the platform was predictable as an outcome.

As with all things connected to the deep state IC, over time controlling content on the platform became increasingly obvious.  The Twitter files reveal the scale of this issue as it was available to understand via internal communication correspondence. However, as admitted by the journalists requesting the searches of the Twitter database, they really don’t know the full scale and scope of the government involvement in Twitter.  My personal suspicions of govt scale greatly exceed those journalistic reviews, driven in part by my experience as a target of the background actors.

Which brings me back to the question that everyone asks me about the motive for Musk’s ideological reversal.   Surprise, it’s the money!

There is only one force more powerful than the firmly committed and espoused ideology of an altruistic mind, ECONOMICS.

The economics of the thing always supersedes and overpowers the other issues related to the thing.   If the U.S. government wanted to shift the full scale of cost to operate Twitter onto the shoulders of Musk, the platform would not survive.

Tap Musk on the shoulder, or allow Musk to discover this financial dependency organically, and suddenly the reality of the thing changes. Nothing changes espoused opinion faster than money, just ask Steve Cortes.

It is a simple truth in everything: if you see a person change opinion quickly and radically, look at the money behind them.

There are two vectors for economics to change things.  First, the gain of money as an enticement. Ex. you do this, you get paid. The second vector is more powerful, the removal of money as an enticement. Ex. you do this, or the existing payment stops.

If you look at the financial background of an abrupt change, almost every time you will find the answer to the motive that puzzles you.

May 14 2023

Big Picture – Elon Musk Confirms Hiring DEI Advocate Linda Yaccarino as Twitter CEO


Posted originally of the CTH on May 13, 2023 | Sundance 

Twitter platform owner Elon Musk has confirmed the hiring of Linda Yaccarino as CEO of Twitter. Many reactions are happening, but CTH analysis generally likes to stay ahead of the reactions and more into the future of what each datapoint means.  That said, here’s some context.

The general or more common logic, completely understandable, is to look at the hiring of Yaccarino as binary.  Either Musk was previously lying about everything he believed in, or the revenue situation is at a critical mass. Otherwise, it really doesn’t make sense to bring in Linda Yaccarino.

Before going deeper, it is critical to know just how ideological Linda Yaccarino is.  The former head of NBCUniversal is the apex voice in the system of promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) from an advertising perspective.   I’m not talking about a little bit ideological, I mean the full dna-level, metastatic, this is the core essence of what makes Yaccarino believe she has purpose in life.

Changing social culture by leveraging commercial enterprise is Yaccarino’s life work.

Literally Linda Yaccarino believes that advertisers should determine the product being sold. This is not a spoof, exaggeration, hyperbole or a spin on her outlook. Yaccarino believes marketing and advertising executives should be able to control the physical content, the actual stuff, created by the publisher they pay to advertise their product.

A traditional example might be Ford Motor Company telling Motor Trend magazine what positions to place ads for competitors in the auto industry as a contingency for their ad spend.  A modern example might be Disney telling Fox News what content may be discussed by Tucker Carlson.  This is the origin of DEI ideology controlling platform content.

To understand how this mindset applies to Twitter and Elon Musk, watch a few minutes of this previous interview between Yaccarino and Musk at a convention of advertisers. This is an example of how the NBCUniversal executive thinks.  WATCH (prompted):

You can see in the back and forth, how Musk tries to stick to his core principles about “free speech” while Yaccarino uses terms like “partnership”, “collaboration”, and “mutual benefits” to leverage her advertising team’s agenda.

It is important to understand the views expressed by Musk and Yaccarino are mutually exclusive.  There is no free speech when the advertisers are permitted to determine the content of that speech.  Musk tries to negotiate a nuance, but the core of the dynamic is in conflict.

Any good, stable and even-tempered corporate executive will tell you the marketing team is consistently the least valuable mindset at the corporate table.

Factually, most of the people who fail out of business schools fail down into the humanities dept.  However, sometimes those emotionally driven ideologues simply move into the marketing and advertising fields within the business majors.  The outcome of this truism is Alissa Heinersheid and her destruction of the Bud Light brand through marketing.

Linda Yaccarino is the apex voice in the system that has allowed advertisers to determine content.  She would be the ideal candidate within an organization like Google, but she is oil in the water of Twitter.  So, what gives?

Why would Elon Musk hire Linda Yaccarino as the CEO of Twitter?  We return to the binary issue…. Either Musk really doesn’t believe in what he previously advocated, or Musk has hit a wall of acceptance and generating revenue is now more important than the platform itself?   For the latter, essentially the economics of the thing is determining the outcome of the thing.

There is a third alternative; a less familiar dynamic that has surfaced in the past and does provide a reference.  This is what I call the “ino” hiring process within large institutions and organizations; “ino” stands for In Name Only.

An executive is hired to represent the division/organization, in name only.  They have no actual control, influence or power.  They are simply figureheads installed to create the optics needed for the institution to continue operations.

The ino practice is also visible with ‘diversity hires’.  A person is hired not to drive the mission of the organization, but to deflect opposition away from the achievement of the organizational mission.  However, all ‘in name only’ (ino) hires always end up in the exact same conversation within the organization.

When the ino realizes they are essentially irrelevant to the function of the organization, that means their opinions and recommendations are never part of the organizational outcome, there is always a conversation with the following words: “then why did you hire me?”  This conversation always happens, it is the one constant in an ever-changing business world.

So, there’s three basic dynamics:

Elon Musk was not as committed to ‘Free Speech’ as he originally defined it.

Priorities have changed and now Revenue is more vital than Free Speech.

Musk is still committed but needs to create the illusion of DEI acceptance.

In considering the last element, Mrs. Yaccarino does not present herself as an ino-person who will accept a position and then not deliver on the intent of her mission.

So, what does this tell us about the future of Twitter content?

I think we all know the answer….

~ This just happened today ~

WHY?

Because the now-restricted Twitter Account created THIS:

The CNN Town Hall Massacre

Posted in 1st Amendment, Big Tech, Cultural Marxism, Culture, Deep State, Joe Biden, Uncategorized

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May 13 2023

Yellen & Biden Should be Impeached to Save America?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Gov’t Incompetence Re-Posted May 12, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Janet Yellen has become way too partisan to be a trustworthy government official. Since Biden now says he will nominate a Latina for Fed governor regardless if they are qualified or not is precisely why SVB failed for starters. Everyone just wants to be WOKE and hire people based entirely on their race or gender preference. SVB hired risk managers to check a box. Why is Yellen still there? She would be fired being a white over-the-hill official. Or is it that she is just like Biden and says whatever the people writing cue cards instruct her to say next?

All Yellen does now is illustrated if she had any economic qualification, she is either corrupted or senile. Yellen just preached that the Biden Administration should be allowed to spend recklessly and it’s all Republican fault about a default. She said that the US will default somewhere if the debt limit isn’t raised. How about we start with ending the Ukrainian black hole? How about the $3 trillion unaccounted for in the Pentagon budget?

Janet Yellen and Biden should not wear masks, they should be gagged. Yellen only claims doom and gloom and it is all the Republican fault. She said that they will have to renege on “some obligation, whether it’s Treasuries or payments to Social Security recipients,” if Congress fails to act. You can bet that she will default on Social Security before anything else to inflict as much pain on people and then blame the Republicans for the next election.

Neither Biden nor Yellen should be in office. They are spending recklessly with no regard for the economy or the American people. What they have given Ukraine would have paid off ALL student loans. They constantly screw the American people all for the agendas of the Neocons and the Climate Change zealots. Since the FBI infiltrated the Catholic Church because of this gender nonsense, all Catholics should go light a candle and pray for the United States to be spilt soon than later. It is rapidly approaching the time to just turn out the lights on this failed experiment.

Once upon a time, this was supposed to be a country run by We the People.