Tag Archives: terrorism.

Mar 13 2018

Will US Companies Repatriating Cash Home Create Banking Crisis Outside USA?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Banking Crisis

Re-Posted Mar 13, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

 

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; Do you believe that if American companies do repatriate dollars to get the low tax rate in the USA, will this impact foreign banks as capital withdraws? I figured you are the best qualified to answer that question nobody seems to be discussing.

Thank you for sharing your expertise.

SY

ANSWER: That is a very interesting question and it is indeed unique. I cannot think of anyone who has asked that one yet.  Let us assume that U.S. corporations will repatriate at least 25% of their estimated US$2.6 trillion of offshore funds to take advantage of a one-off 14% tax holiday. It will not matter if they are selling euros, yen, pounds, or yuan. Switching their fund from the offshore dollar funding markets to domestic dollars will have a similar impact to the same trend that took place between 1980 and 1985 that drove the dollar to all-time record highs.

American corporations moving capital sends a powerful impulse through global finance system. Despite the rise of China and the creation of the euro, the world has never been so “dollarized” as it is today. The euro is a complete failure for there is no single market with a centralize debt to compete with the dollar as an alternative. China is rising, but it is not ready for prime time. There is no alternative to the dollar. That is the real crisis in the world economy.

U.S. lending rates are critical to the world economy. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) says offshore dollar funding has risen fivefold to US$10.7 trillion since the early 2000s, with a further US$14 trillion of global dollar debt hidden in derivatives. BIS research also confirms that the rise and fall of the dollar is the major cycle of dollar liquidity which is driving the world’s investment appetite and global asset prices. This liquidity spigot is clearly being turned off. The Fed is not only raising rates, it is also reversing bond purchases exactly OPPOSITE of the ECB which openly admits it will repurchase government debt as it expires. The Fed is shrinking its balance sheet while the ECB is trapped and cannot dare take the same steps.

The BIS is warning that China, Canada, and Hong Kong all have the risk of banking failures that are greater than that of Europe. Apple Inc. said it will bring hundreds of billions of overseas dollars back to the U.S., pay about $38 billion in taxes on the money and spend tens of billions on domestic jobs, manufacturing and data centers in the coming years. That is more than a quarter-trillion. The answer is YES – ABSOLUTELY. US companies will bring back a substantial amount of that money and this will reduce deposits overseas and that will increase the risks of bank failures outside the USA, but probably more so in Asia than Europe. The ECB will most likely prop-up banks no matter what it says.

Mario Draghi will NOT stop Quantitative Easing and he WILL NOT raise rates until he can get out the door. His term at the ECB is for 8 years and sources say he cannot wait to leave. Draghi will extend his signature landmark bond-buying stimulus programme that is just life-support for the member governments at least September 2018 officially but indefinitely until he leaves. He does not want to be blamed for the economic disaster he has created for the world and as such he is trapped in the ECB until October 2019. The question will be can he really keep up this insane losing position that much longer or will the entire house of cards come crashing down.

So look first to bank failure on the rise in Asia, and they will spread to Europe. Nonetheless, there is deep concern about Italian banks and that may be the spark which ignites the next catastrophe.

Mar 13 2018

Lou Dobbs Trade and Tariff Discussion With Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 12, 2018 by

U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross discusses the recently imposed steel and aluminum tariffs and America’s future trade relationships with all nations including the very protectionist European Union.

“Economic security is national security” ~ Secretary Wilbur Ross

Reminder: Regarding ‘European Union (EU) retaliation’, forget it; they won’t.

The protectionist EU hypocrites simply cannot afford to go toe-to-toe with the U.S. on trade. The UK is in the process of formalizing their Brexit terms; the EU (essentially ‘Germany’) needs to find a way to make up for the lost revenue (billions in taxes) from the UK economy. Currently the UK pays Brussels approximately a billion per month on a $2.5 trillion economy; that will stop.

Brexit reduces the overall EU GDP by $2.5 trillion. German Chancellor Angela Merkel cannot -and will not- challenge President Trump. In addition to being politically weak, Merkel has attached her economy to expansive environmental regulations (Paris treaty), though she is now attempting to pale down those regulations. Chancellor Merkel cannot afford to run the risk of losing any access to the U.S. market.

Mar 12 2018

Fifty Former Failed Obama Administration Foreign Policy “Experts” Form Think-Tank To Unite Against President Trump…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 12, 2018 by

This is just too rich. Seriously.

From the insufferable Iran deal… to the appeasement “Russian Reset”… to the Libya fiasco… to the rise of ISIS… to installing the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt… to the explosion of terrorism in Yemen… to civil war in Syria… to the crisis in Ukraine… to the 2010 State Department apology tour (WikiLeaks cables scandal)… to their inability to stop North Korean nuclear ambitions and the rise of China as an influential power… there were/are zero foreign policy successes in eight years of the Obama administration.

There was not a single Obama foreign policy initiative that had any success. Every single place where the prior administration put their attention, the results were complete failure, crisis, chaos and worse conditions in the aftermath. That’s the 2009-2017 reality.

Today it is discovered that fifty of the most well known Obama foreign policy officials  have come together to form a think-tank group called “National Security Now“. Their singular mission is to be the “resistance” to the Trump administration’s foreign policy. You have to see the names to recognize how bad these people were at policy:

♦Ben Rhodes ♦Susan Rice ♦Samantha Power ♦Denis McDonough ♦Tom Donilon ♦Tony Blinken ♦Jen Psaki and more. The list is a veritable ‘who’s-who’ of short-sighted foreign policy, ineptitude and diplomatic failure. There’s literally not a success between them, and they are uniting together to advocate against President Trump.

These Obama Officials are opposing the same President Trump who:

•put the plan in place to destroy ISIS and carried it out in the first year; •initiated massive change in the mid-east which saw Arab countries confronting extremism (including Qatari funding of the Muslim Brotherhood); •expanded international energy partnerships to remove the influence of Russia; •confronted China’s expansive economic agenda and halted it; •smartly used economic influence to bring North Korea to the point of accepting ‘denuclearization’; and •leveraged Pakistan to influence the Taliban to the negotiation table in Afghanistan…

…All of this in the first 14 months of his administration; while simultaneously dealing with three U.S. land-falling hurricanes and numerous national disasters and downsizing the U.S. State Department by 30%.

Go figure.

Mar 12 2018

President Trump Tweets Secretary Ross Reevaluating EU Trade Deals….


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 12, 2018 by

Just a short post to reflect upon.  We have consistently stated the #1 reason for opposition to President Trump is financial (ie. economic); “There are Trillions at stake“.

Everyone admits the past 40+ years of U.S. trade deals have resulted in the massive export of U.S. wealth via jobs and manufacturing gains within other nations.  The financial beneficiaries of those prior trade positions were: Wall Street, multinational corporations and multinational banks. The losers of prior trade priorities was the U.S. middle-class.

So ask yourself, friends and family this very important question:

If prior U.S. trade policies resulted in the export and redistribution of U.S. wealth… What happens when you reverse the process?

In the answer to that question we discover the opposition to U.S. President Trump.

Example Here

Mar 12 2018

The Game Plan of C-Span


March 12, 2018

By Tabitha Korol

C-Span has a dedicated propagandist program that reaches millions of viewers.  It works on the basis of having the viewing audience call in, vilifying Israel or world Jewry, for all the world to hear, while the host broadcasters remain silent and blameless.  The accusations go unopposed, the lies unchallenged, the slander uncensored, and the audience has digested a full dose of uninterrupted, unexpurgated hate speech against Israel, with defamation of the US for our friendship with the sole middle-eastern democracy that shares our values.  So Islam and the left, the enemies of Jews and Christians worldwide, have their own kind of Lord Haw-Haw, the Fascist mouthpiece of World War II, protected from all censure.  The callers should be screened out and the hosts should be ethical and better informed to disallow the vilification and falsehoods.

Here are just a few of about one hundred damaging comments by callers in 2017, to which the journalists were either silent, ineffective or in agreement.

  • 12/23, “Israel attacked the USS Liberty to get the US into a war with Egypt; I really don’t think that it is a really good ally.  Who knows whether they (Israel) coaxed us into war with Iraq and Syria.”  This is a persistent false accusation.  Numerous inquiries and reports have concluded that the Israelis could not properly identify the ship in international waters and had reason to fear an Egyptian attack.  It was human error.  Israel apologized for the harm, and paid millions in compensation to the US government, as well as to the wounded and to families of the men killed.
  • 12/06, “Truman took the European Jews and set them right on top of the Palestinians, now that is our problem today.”  The historical connection and legal rights, by international law, of the Jewish people in all of Palestine were defined in 1922 by the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, the name used by the Romans.  The identification, “Palestinians,” was fabricated in 1967 after the Arabs lost their aggressive war against Israel; the myth of an ancient Arab link to the land was created to undermine Israel and is part of their world jihad, holy war, and al-hijrah, conquest by migration.
  • 11/09, “The best way to stop terrorism [in the world] is to get control of Israel.”  Islamic terrorism is mandated in their scriptures and terrorists have carried out more than 32,651 deadly terror attacks since 9/11 to date, March ’18.  The persecution and killing of Muslims by other Muslims is a severe problem throughout the world.  Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Muslims live in peace and thrive, and this caller has given voice to making Israel the problem.
  • 05/10, “Basically what we’re doing over there in the Middle East is taking care of Israel – we are in like a proactive war for Israel. They do absolutely nothing as far as the Coalition is concerned and we give them money and arms and they still don’t help us.”  America does not protect Israel; the annual aid helps Israel purchase weaponry for its own defense, much made in America, keeping our manufacturing humming and our workers paid, and it is far less costly than deploying US troops to protect other US allies.  Considered the “policeman of the world,” Israel provides us with invaluable intelligence to fight terrorism, combat-tests weapons and makes beneficial modifications. We benefit from their superior innovation and creativity, frontline of defense, cutting-edge technology in agriculture, cyber-security, medicine, military, and in water technology to Third-world countries and California; they deal with Islamic countries so we can concentrate on North Korea.  Israel’s First Responders helped us track the Boston Marathon bombers; helped with California and Texas floods, Mexico and Haiti after their earthquakes, Japan after their tsunami, and provided post-trauma training to Parkland community members.  Our biggest high-tech companies depend on a strong, independent Israel.
  • 04/20, “Hamas, Hezbollah, these are the people who are Palestinians just trying to get their country back. It’s not a difficult situation at all.  My opinion is – it is not Israel, it’s occupied Palestine. China has North Korea.  Russia has Syria. We have Israel.”   There is/was no “occupied” or “country” of “Palestine”; it was a pejorative name given by the Romans against the Jews. There was never a government, constitution, monetary system, language, culture, art, architecture or literature unique to Palestinian people. The Arabs identified as The Arabs identified as southern Syrians until they assumed the name Palestinians after losing their aggressive war in 1967, to create for themselves a bond to the land. A Jewish kingdom existed in the land between 1050 and 930 BCE and a Jewish presence for 3,000 years.  The Balfour Declaration (1917), San Remo Conference (1920), the League of Nations (1920), carved out the Palestine Mandate for the Jewish homeland; Israel was established as the Jewish state (1948) with Jewish majority on purchased, settled land, with full civil, political and cultural rights to all its minorities.
  • 04/07, “But the United States didn’t have any problem with Israel killing 3,000 people in Gaza. I mean, we have also to look at our own government where we’re poisoning our own people in Michigan.”  Where are the bodies to support this outrageous statement?  These are blatant lies and defamation against Israel and America, said out of sheer ignorance, with no one to refute the malicious condemnations.
  • 03/04, “I am strongly opposed to Israeli policy towards Palestinians.  Why is it I am constantly labeled as anti-Semitic?”  Palestinians who live peacefully within Israel are treated equally to other Israeli citizens under the law, but Palestinians are teaching hate of Jews; encouraging stabbing and throwing stones and bombs at Israeli targets; demanding land to which they have no DNA connection, archaeological or historical evidence of attachment as have the Jews.  Palestinians, like other Arabs, are pursuing jihad just as Muslims are overtaking many of Europe’s countries.  The caller is justly labeled anti-Semitic for demonizing and delegitimizing Jews within their own country, but not condemning the Muslims who are invading and attacking the people of other countries.
  • 03/03, “[Israel’s Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu hated President Obama. I don’t think it was because of him being President. It was because of his color. That is one thing we have to deal with.”  Israel is home to Jews of every country of origin and color skin, from Africa, China, and more.  Israel rescued dark-skinned Ethiopian Jews to Israel, in Operation Solomon.

C-Span has repeatedly aired events that denigrate America and Israel, such as Noura Erakat of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in September, known Louis Farrakhan in November, and propagandist Salam Al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in December. They primarily concentrate on resistance to Jews in Israel and the West Bank (Judea, Samaria), and the ethnic cleansing of Jews from their historic homeland.  The Cable-Satellite network continues to air Palestinian propaganda films as factual, and hosted Palestinian panelists who spread anti-Israel propaganda.

C-Span is wreaking harm against Israel and America by providing the venue for the fueling of hate against these keepers of the world’s moral clarity and tricking the uninformed to support the aspirations of totalitarianism to their own detriment.  How does such an organization take it upon itself to work against the very survival of democracy and their own descendants!  If C-Span and Time Warner Cable cannot stop their unprofessionalism and hate mongering and police themselves, perhaps it is time for Congress to step in.

 

Mar 11 2018

Two Free Speech Activists Released After 72 Hour Detention By British Authorities for “Incorrect Thoughts”…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 11, 2018 by

I was waiting to see where this story went, and to hear first-hand from the two people arrested and detained in British prison for daring to want to interview Tommy Robinson, before coming to a conclusion.  In essence two people were stopped, arrested and detained in U.K. prison for having incorrect thoughts as defined by the British government.

The story was such an Orwellian outline; my initial skepticism told me there had to be more to these second and third-hand accounts.  Alas, unfortunately the facts are as disturbing as initially outlined.

Austrian political activist Martin Sellner belongs to a group called Génération Identitaire, a national political group who advocate for national identity.  Mr. Sellner’s girlfriend is an American author and ‘YouTuber’ named Brittany Pettibone.  They were stopped from entering England by British authorities because they were going to interview a British nationalist called Tommy Robinson.

Being stopped from being allowed to interview Tommy Robinson, a person who has not committed any crime and is in all other aspects a free citizen, is bad enough;  however, what is exponentially worse is that U.K. authorities forcibly separated Mr. Sellner and Ms. Pettibone and imprisoned them – while admitting their incarceration was entirely because they were going to speak to someone.

Think about that.

Martin & I were denied entry to the U.K. & held in a detention facility because 1.) I intended to interview “far right leader”, Tommy Robinson. 2.) Because Martin intended to give a speech at Speaker’s Corner which they alleged would “incite tensions between local communities”.

This is political discrimination, plain and simple. @Martin_Sellner and I will release a detailed video statement as soon as possible.

Thank you so much to everyone who helped bring attention to this issue. It’s an absolute disgrace for the U.K. We cannot allow such a precedent to be set in the U.K. or any Western country for that matter.

Lastly, to the U.K. Border Force, I’ll be meeting with “far right leader”, Tommy Robinson, for an interview in Vienna this evening. While you can ban political dissidents from entering/speaking in your country, you can NEVER ban our ideas.  (Ms. Brittany Pettibone via Twitter)

 

Mar 11 2018

President Trump’s Economic Approach Toward National Security Wins – U.S. Media Ignore…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House  on March 11, 2018 by

It must be pointed out; it is up to us to do so. The corporate media are hopelessly deficient in their coverage and explanations of how strategic objectives for national security are being delivered through a geopolitical Trump Doctrine via economic leverage. The results are stunningly effective, yet few have noticed and even fewer seem willing to articulate; perhaps their inability is because they simply just don’t get it.

It must be said, the U.S. is a long way from success in the goal of a denuclearized Korean peninsular; however, where we are today is closer to achieving that goal than ever before. And ultimately where we are is entirely because of President Trump’s strategic economic approach toward national security.  The U.S., heck the entire world, is positioned for a BIGLY security victory; and the anti-Trump media apparatchik continues to ignore how we got here.

What President Trump was able to do with the approach he took with North Korea is jaw-droppingly smart. Stunningly so.  Economic leverage works.  We have been led by “stupid people” who never applied economic leverage in a way that would ultimately matter to secure the best interests of the United States.

President Trump and his team did.  And they are winning… and as a consequence, we are winning…. and the ‘Deep State’ institutions along with their media cohorts are desperate to stop the American electorate from seeing and understanding the path to victory.

The professional global policy think-tanks will never give President Trump credit for securing a national security victory, via strategic policy initiatives that are fundamentally against the 50+ year worldview of U.S. foreign policy “experts”, ie. elites.

President Trump, his strategic economic policy and national security team has done something every think tank said was impossible.  Look at the narrative from the pundits and policy officials in the past year.  At the beginning of 2017 the ‘experts‘ all said China and Russia would be thorns in the Trump approach toward North Korea and they could not be moved.  In essence, they said President Trump would  never succeed.

But Trump did succeed.

Bigly.

“The impossible is just the starting point”.

What CTH wants to emphasize here is how the ‘Deep State’, and their media co-horts, are positioned against the Trump administration, and by extension against the America people, regardless of the scale of accomplishment – no matter what.  Bastards.

Again, for emphasis, here’s how President Trump did it. Here’s how Trump pulled it off:

♦ First, any review of the enhanced sanctions against N-Korea should be incorporated with the larger issue of policy toward the DPRK’s enabler, China.  From the outset President Trump, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Ross positioned a severely consequential trade reset between the U.S. and China.

♦Second: The enhanced U.S. energy export initiatives, in conjunction with lower oil prices, an outcome of U.S. energy policy and a mutually beneficial relationship between President Trump and Arab states in the GCC, severely weakened the economic position of Russia.

Russia’s energy export economy is dependent on energy prices remaining high. President Trump brilliantly worked the geopolitical economic relationships to leverage influence over a large portion of the Russian economy.

♦Third: By focusing on the utilization of economic influence over Russia and China, President Trump set the stage for U.S. led United Nations sanctions that would isolate Kim Jong-Un and cut off his previously utilized financial escape routes.

♦Fourth: While no-one was paying attention to the real end-goal; President Trump instructed Defense Secretary James Mattis to send the largest ever U.S. naval fleet into Southeast Asia in preparation for a naval blockade around North Korea.  The U.S. military is not the leverage, the military helps create leverage. The leverage itself is economic. Financial interests are always the best leverage to use because inherent within the fundamental principles of economics is “self-interest”.

Each of these four elements was independent; each of these moves was a long-term strategy; each of these four elements built upon the step that preceded it.  When we combine these four strategic points we discover the leverage President Trump created (economic), and the enforcement mechanism he deployed to ensure success (sanctions).

President Trump began by creating a situation where China and Russia’s best economic interests were enmeshed with supporting U.S. sanctions against the DPRK.  The Bear (Russia) and Red Dragon (China) were drawn into an economic battle space controlled by entirely the Eagle (Trump-USA).

We have often noted that President Trump is seemingly one man, yet he finds a way to surround multiple enemies simultaneously.  China, Russia and North Korea is one such visible example.

Ultimately President Trump offered a ‘better’ trade outcome (definitions variable, yet all defined by him) for China if they complied with Nikki Haley’s sanctions. Similarly President Trump positioned negotiations with Russia on ‘better’ or “more favorable’ terms (again, definitions variable) for U.S. energy shipments to Eastern Europe, if Russia complied with Nikki Haley’s sanctions.

You might remember President Trump visited Poland and the Three Seas Summit (Baltic, Black and Adriatic Sea States), on the sideline of his engagements with France (Emmanuel Macron) and the G20 members.  President Trump and Wilbur Ross established economic relationships and agreements for energy export between the U.S. and Eastern Europe.  In essence, Russia’s exploitative energy influence over the EU was diminished.

Immediately after taking office President Trump began establishing a positive relationship between his administration and the Mid-East Gulf Cooperation Council.  This set the cornerstone for the larger geo-strategic economics.  Add the EU positioning to the relationship with Trump and the GCC and you see the leverage needed over Russia on issues unrelated to the EU, vis-a-vis North Korea.  Trump’s foresight on this was incredible.

The Outcome – China and Russia holstered their U.N. Security Council veto power, and actually supported sanctions against N-Korea because it was in their economic interests not to oppose the U.S. led sanctions. Brilliant strategy.

 

To complement the August 2017 U.N. sanctions, in September President Trump and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin structured an executive order in such a way that the downstream consequences from any economic engagement with the DPRK effectively cuts off that entity or nation from engaging in ANY commerce or economic activity with the United States.  The result was immediate:  Beijing took action with their central bank instructions and told all institutions to stop engaging in any financial transactions with North Korea.

Five days later President Trump and U.S. Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin used the newly constructed sanctions authority to punish eight North Korean banks and 26 bank workers living abroad.

The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) sanctions {deep dive} relied on the executive order President Trump signed to target North Korea’s access to the international banking system. The Trump/Mnuchin action came as as a separate outcome from the United Nations sanctions package targeting North Korea.

When it comes to the use of economic leverage to create U.S. national security outcomes, well, we are learning at the knee of an economic master player. The media will now do everything they can to stop people from realizing how effective President Trump is…

…”complicated business folks,…. complicated business”…

Mar 11 2018

Sunday Talks – CIA Director Mike Pompeo -vs- Margaret Brennan…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 11, 2018 by

CIA Director Mike Pompeo appears on CBS Face the Nation to discuss the possibility of negotiations with North Korea and other issues around the globe.

Mar 11 2018

Sunday Talks – Maria Bartiromo Discusses North Korea With John Bolton…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House  on March 11, 2018 by

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the latest stunning announcements from North Korea.  The mustache aligns with those who say the talks between Kim Jong-un and President Trump should begin ASAP to see if the DPRK is really serious about denuclearizing the Korean peninsular.

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Mar 11 2018

Sunday Talks – Maria Bartiromo Trade and Tariff Discussion With Peter Navarro…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 11, 2018 by

Maria Bartiromo talks about the steel and aluminum tariffs recently announced by the Trump administration along with the shifted trade perspectives of the Trump administration with White House Trade Policy Adviser Peter Navarro.

While the current trade focus centers around steel and aluminum tariffs, Mr. Navarro expands the discussion when asked about China as a trade target specifically.  Within the expanded discussion Navarro highlights U.S.T.R Robert Lighthizer’s pending 301 review of intellectual property theft by the Chinese government.

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Regarding ‘European Union (EU) retaliation’, forget it; they won’t.

The protectionist EU hypocrites simply cannot afford to go toe-to-toe with the U.S. on trade.  The UK is in the process of formalizing their Brexit terms; the EU (essentially ‘Germany’) needs to find a way to make up for the lost revenue (billions in taxes) from the UK economy.  Currently the UK pays Brussels approximately a billion per month on a $2.5 trillion economy; that will stop.

Brexit reduces the overall EU GDP by $2.5 trillion.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel cannot -and will not- challenge President Trump.  In addition to being politically weak, Merkel has attached her economy to expansive environmental regulations (Paris treaty), though she is now attempting to pale down those regulations.  Chancellor Merkel cannot afford to run the risk of losing any access to the U.S. market.

A 25% decrease within the German auto sector alone would be enough to throw the entire nation of Germany into a recession; and functionally Germany is the EU.   President Trump holds all the leverage within the trade discussions with the EU…

…. WE ARE THE CUSTOMER in this equation.