Armstrong Economics Blog/China Re-Posted Jan 26, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

Chinese President Xi Jinping at Davos in Switzerland attended by video. He continued to defend globalization also referring to multilateralism and climate change. However, he never mentioned either Trump or Biden but he did criticize the US trade war with China. He did warn that any conflict between Beijing and Washington would be bad for the entire world. You will recall that Biden said he would return to the UN Paris Accord to force China to comply. So his remarks were pointed at Biden with respect to confrontation and at Trump for the trade war.

Nevertheless, he played the game well and called for global collaboration on climate change, public health, technology, and saving the global economy, which the Wo9rld Economic Forum has been destroying behind the curtain with its lockdowns to reduce CO2 which is only weakening the economies in the West.  Xi Jinping made a pledge to become carbon-neutral by 2060, not 2030. He said that China will continue to promote sustainable development. China will fully implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development but it will do more on the ecological front by transforming and improving its industrial structure and energy mix at a faster pace and promoting a green, low-carbon way of life and production. He said: “I have announced China’s goal of striving to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.”

That is to disarm the Gates contingent who have their clock in New York counting down for 7 years to support the Agenda 2030 put out by Schwab. No doubt they will try to pressure Xi to bring that to 2030, but that will fail.

China has seen its economy recover far more than in the West which is obsessed with using the virus for climate change. China will see growth come in at about 2.3% for 2020 and it will perhaps surge to 5%-8% in 2021 rejecting the nonsense of lockdowns that are destroying businesses everywhere. Anyone who has gone to Times Square will often visit Carmine’s famous Italian restaurant. With zero tourism, plays dark, and offices empty, there is no business at all. These lockdowns for the manufactured pandemic have devastated New York. There is nothing to return to. The landlord filed a notice of default for unpaid rent against the once-popular Italian restaurant. The culture of New York is gone and the only people cheering are the environmentalists. They won. They ended tourism and commuting all at once. China never took such crazy actions so their economy has survived unlike those in the West.

Trump was wrong in blaming China for the COVID virus when Fauci was experimenting with this very virus from bats and when told to shut it down, he sent it off to Wuhan. Trump was clearly dead wrong on that but the press was so supporting Fauci that it would have been political suicide to blame him. Still, Xi Jinping said international institutions, including the World Health Organization, should be strengthened.

Concerning international geopolitical relations, Xi Jinping warned everyone not to “meddle” in China’s affairs, by which he means Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Taiwan, or Tibet. That was a clear warning to Biden to stay out of China’s affairs. He added that “to build small circles, or…wilfully impose decoupling, supply disruption, or sanctions…will only push the world into division and even confrontation.”

China is pushing to be the world leader in AI. This is also why we may be the only forecaster allowed in China on a major scale because they also know our reports on all the Chinese stocks are entirely written by a computer.

Armstrong Economics Blog/Collectibles Re-Posted Jan 26, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

The collectible market has been exploding. The first vintage issue of “Batman #1” recently sold for more than $2.2 million at auction, breaking the record for the highest amount ever paid for a Batman comic book. Even ancient Athenian Owls we were selling from a hoard that at $1,000 have been bringing $2,000-$2,750 +20% auction premium.

Even a Sicilian dekadrachm off-centered estimated at $50,000 sold for almost $90,000.

A Mark Antony and Octavia gold aureus, which had sold for 74,000 CH in 2008, sold at nearly $265,000 or a 256% increase.

Previously, the Brutus gold aureus Eid Mar, meaning he killed caesar on the Ides of March, which was estimated to bring $500,000, sold for $4.3 million.

The dramatic increases in prices being paid in the collectibles market are really turning some heads. At this point, it clearly appears that people are starting to dump the cash in anticipation of a digital currency coming this way and what the future will be now that Biden has also joined this “Build Back Better” movement. On his very first half day, he rejoined the United Nations which will only lead to rising unemployment as jobs will be deliberately destroyed and people will try to be retrained without success. They are deliberately creating what is being called the future “useless class” who will be permanently unemployable.

Armstrong Economics Blog/Forecasts Re-Posted Jan 25, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

When we look around the world the final say in every election is always the vote of capital – which is international rather than confined to local politics. Biden has already shut down the pipeline from Alberta which will only be symbolic for whatever substitute will mere be brought in by ship and pumped into another pipeline. But politics is never about reality – it is only concerned about appearance.

When we look around the world, we must do so through the eyes of the FX markets for only then will we begin to see the real trends. The German DAX has made a new high in euros, but not in the main global currencies. In both dollars and Japanese yen, the DAX has not yet come close to making new highs.

Then we have the confusing trend in gold. So many have been asking for a Gold Report ASAP because nothing has made sense after all of these years touting gold is a hedge against inflation and the dollar will collapse. There is even the most bizarre analysis claiming that just a few months before Covid appeared, the Fed was busy pouring boat-loads of dollars into the US banks into the inter-lending market known as REPO to prevent bank-runs which were starting to develop. They claimed these were the same “tectonic fissures that developed prior to the 2008 crisis” when banks became so distrustful of each other’s solvency. They concluded: “If unsuppressed the lending rates would continue to rise, laying a path to bank failures and a contagion which would eventually derail the economy and undermine the dollar itself.”

This illustrates an inherent bias and how a little bit of knowledge is highly dangerous. The US banks withdrew from REPO, primarily J.P.Morgan, not because of US banks, but because of European. When Merkel said Deutsche Bank would not be bailed out, no US bank was willing to lend to Europe. The Fed had to step in to become the market maker. The misinformation is just astonishing.

The markets are totally confused. The real trend is laying before our eyes yet mainstream media calls any mention of the Great Reset is a conspiracy theory which is no a confirmation that it is the real trend or they would not be trying to play it down when we have Klaus Schwab telling the world we need this Great Reset.

The entire World Economic Forum’s advice is to default on national debts and the way to do that is to pretend it is for your benefit. They will eliminate all your debt from mortgages to credit cards and student loans, but the government would then own all the property in true Marxist style. I have been arguing behind the curtain to convert the debt to perpetual bonds and raise the interest rate to 3%. In addition, end all government borrowing, cap expenditure to GDP, and allow pension funds to invest in the equity markets. They say the rich get richer but they never explain how – INVESTMENT! Gates, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Dorsey, and Musk are all touted are super-rich but it is based on their stock holdings – not cash. Eliminate the requirement to invest in government bonds for pension funds including Social Security and the economy will boom with the creation of many jobs.

Schwab is a bottom-line Marxist. He thinks he can seize control of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and steer it in the direction he desires. I am a programmer. He is not! He has no idea how innovation takes place. It cannot be directed from central governmental power. How many times do we have to crash and burn on Marxist theories until we finally learn the lesson?

We are preparing a number of reports for this confusing year where what should be up is down and what should be down is up. Socrates will be writing the technical sections. What we face cannot be influenced by opinion. Capital flows are the ONLY real indicator of the future.