February 11, 2020
Moments before the massive Manchester, New Hampshire rally, President Trump gave an exclusive interview with Trish Regan of Fox Business.
Tag Archives: The Forecaster
President Trump and First Lady Melania Announce Trip to India Feb 24th-25th…
February 10, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi form a trilateral group within President Trump’s Indo-Pacific economic strategy. Essentially a geopolitical alliance based on economic interests.
PM Abe and PM Modi have visited the U.S. several times since the alliance was formed. President Trump has also visited Japan several times but not visited India. (There has been a sticky issue with Modi’s protectionist trade tariffs.) However, today the White House announced President Trump & First Lady Melania will be traveling to India:
[White House] – President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will visit India on February 24 – 25, 2020. The President and The First Lady will travel to New Delhi and Ahmedabad, which is in Prime Minister Modi’s home state of Gujarat and played such an important role in Mahatma Gandhi’s life and leadership of the Indian independence movement.
During a phone call over the weekend, President Trump and Prime Minister Modi agreed the trip will further strengthen the United States-India strategic partnership and highlight the strong and enduring bonds between the American and Indian people. (link)
Judge Sullivan Cancels Flynn Sentencing Hearing Pending Supplemental DOJ Litigation…
February 10, 2020
Judge Emmet Sullivan has postponed the February 27th sentencing hearing until the prosecution and Flynn’s current defense can litigate attorney-client privilege issues surrounding the DOJ effort to evaluate Flynn’s original defense presentations.
Last week the DOJ (sans Brandon Van Grack) filed a motion for an order to waive Flynn’s attorney-client privilege surrounding Flynn’s withdrawal plea and inefective/conflicted counsel claims. In essence the prosecution wants to see the background of Flynn’s original defense communications to evaluate if Flynn was compromised by his original lawyers.
The prosecution request was made in response to arguments inside Flynn’s motion to withdraw the plea. Because the issues of attorney-client privilege are sensitive, the DOJ asked the court to issue and order allowing the prosecution to penetrate the privilege.
As a consequence the DOJ asked for a postponement of the Flynn sentencing hearing until they have time to evaluate the expressed argument of Flynn’s current defense. Today, Judge Emmet Sullivan has agreed to that postponement, and set a schedule for the prosecution and defense to come to an agreement on the privilege material.
In the original motion filed last Sunday; and as a result of the arguments within the current Flynn defense arguments surrounding malicious prosecution; prosecutor Brandon Van Grack has apparently been sequestered from the current issues. It is possible Van Grack maybe a witness to any government counter-claim that malicious prosecution exists.
Politico – Prosecutors have rejected the claims of misconduct, but ina court filing on Sunday said they need more information from Flynn’s ex-lawyers in order to assess his assertion that he got inadequate assistance from them.
Sullivan set deadlines for more filings through early March, making it unlikely the retired Army general and former Defense Intelligence Agency chief will be sentenced anytime soon. The judge has said he may hold a hearing on Flynn’s request to withdraw his plea, and that could involve live testimony from Flynn and his former lawyers. (link)
Government Motion to Amend Schedule:
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Government Motion for Order to Waive Attorney-Client Privilege:
President Trump MAGA/KAG Rally – Manchester, New Hampshire – 7:00pm Livestream…
February 10, 2020
Tonight President Trump heads to Manchester, New Hampshire for a massive Keep America Great rally at SNHU Arena. The New Hampshire primary election is tomorrow, Feb 11th, and Team Trump are highlighting the scale of the MAGA movement to contrast against the Democrat field. President Trump is expected to speak at 7:00pm EST
UPDATE: Video Added
RSBN Livestream Link – Fox News Livestream – Fox10 Livestream – Alternate Livestream
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Peter Navarro: Coronavirus Highlights Need for U.S. to Make Our Own Medical Products Again…
February 10, 2020
White House manufacturing policy advisor Peter Navarro has an important discussion with Maria Bartiromo about the consequences of the Coronavirus which includes the need for U.S. companies to return manufacturing to the United States on key medical products and pharmaceuticals. A very important subject.
Both Navarro and Bartiromo note that our dependency on Asia for medical products is a problem when a global virus erupts, global demand for those products peaks, and the supply of those products becomes most urgent.
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It would seem obvious (to me) that medical products and pharmaceuticals would be two sectors for the Commerce Department (Sec. Wilbur Ross) where a national security review would be well worth the time & effort. The multinationals would fight the administration, but it might be worth this fight.
Trump Acquitted: Has He Learned His Lesson from Impeachment Ordeal?
152K subscribers
What Were the 30 Silver Coins Given to Judas?
Armstrong Rconomics Blog/Ancient Economies
Re-Posted Feb 10, 2020 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Marty, do you happen to know what type/kind of shekel coins Jesus was most likely betrayed for?
Thanks,
A
ANSWER: The Biblical account makes no mention of shekels for they were not the coin of currency. Thirty pieces of silver was the payment for Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus, according to an account in the Gospel of Matthew 26:15 in the New Testament. The Roman Emperor at the time was Tiberius (14-37 AD). The exact date of his crucifixion is not known. Most scholars have provided estimates for the crucifixion to be within the range 30–33 AD, with perhaps April 7, 30 AD to be the majority of consensus. The pieces of silver would have been of the silver denarius. The amount of coinage under Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) was massive. The coinage of Tiberius was very frugal.
The only local coinage was that of tiny bronze coins for small change. To put this in perspective, the wages of a Roman foot soldier in 30 AD was 900 sestertii annually. A silver denarius was worth 4 sestertii. Therefore, 30 pieces of silver was about one and a half month’s pay for a Roman soldier. It was not a huge amount of money, but it was respectable for an average Jew.
The Roman denarius weighed about 3.7 grams in reality when its theoretical weight was supposed to be 4 grams. When the Jews revolted against Rome, that is when they over-struct or melted down other coins and issued their Shekel which was a Sumerian unit of weight. This was the dominant system from Babylon to Carthage throughout Northern Africa. The Shekel was by no means simply a Jewish standard of weight or coin.
Is Chile a Warning to All Western Societies of What Awaits Our Future?
Armstrong Economics Blog/Latin America
Re-Posted Feb 10, 2020 by Martin Armstrong
Chile was believed to be Latin America’s freest, most stable and richest nation. However, it is now in free fall. Public order has collapsed, violence is rampant, and populism is the new creed of the political class. Chile imploded into a social uprising that was initially sparked by a student protest over metro fare hikes in Santiago. This is a global trend to simply raise taxes. People across the country have since mobilized against economic and social inequality, engaging in mostly peaceful but sometimes violent protests. There is a recession, characterized by capital flight and rising unemployment. Income inequality could increase to levels not seen since the 1990s, according to a recent statement by Chile’s Central Bank. The currency has started to see the US dollar rise sharply on a technical basis.
The previous US dollar high was 2002, which was perfectly in line with the Economic Confidence Model. The dollar declined thereafter with the lowest yearly closing at the peak in the ECM in 2007. It was then 2015 when the dollar finally broke through the Downtrend Line from the 2002 high. That implied we should have witnessed a dollar rally into January 2020. After an initial high in November 2019, the dollar declined into the week of December 30th and has started to rally thereafter. There is obviously a risk that exceeded the November 2019 high, and we can see a Cycle Inversion with a rally into perhaps the highest annual closing for the dollar in 2021.
The politics in Chile have been a ping pong match with the extremes battling back and forth between the very left and the very right. For the third time in 12 years, Chile’s two major political figures traded the positions of the presidency. The socialist leader Michelle Bachelet made history in 2006 by becoming first woman elected president in Chile. However, just four years later, voters went in the opposite direction, choosing a conservative billionaire businessman, Sebastián Piñera. Then the Socialist Ms. Bachelet reclaimed the presidency in 2014, which was then followed by a reversal of fortune with Mr. Piñera took coming back yet again in elections of 2018.
Since the 2018 election of President Sebastián Piñera, the clash between left and right took a mere 40 days to take what was once considered the Latin American “oasis” to sheer political chaos. Students began to riot as they did against Trump, taking what had been one of the most stable Latin American economies into a dramatic economic decline in a matter of weeks. What has taken place in Chile should be a warning of what is coming to every Western democracy — the refusal to accept a political loss of any kind by both sides.
President Sebastián Piñera has vowed he will not resign despite the mass anti-government protests. As mentioned, the demonstrations were originally triggered by a now suspended rise in the price of metro fares in Santiago. This is similar to how the French protest began over a tax hike on fuel for global warming. Protesters are now marching to express their discontent over a wide variety of problems much the same as we have seen in France and even in Hong Kong.
Capital investment fell in each year of Bachelet’s Socialist term. Such a consistent reduction in investment hasn’t happened since data was first collected, in the 1960s. Economic growth collapsed from an annual average of 5.3% under the previous government of Mr. Piñera (2010-14) to 1.7% under Ms. Bachelet. Real wage growth took a 50% hit.
The social agenda was being indoctrinated by its universities by telling students that there were economic injustices and an inequality of wealth. They spread the profoundly false narrative by creating the myth that Chile is an extreme case of injustice and abuse. It began with progressive ideologues that spread the idea that there was nothing to feel proud about in Chile. This idea has been fostered and is the backdrop in Chile much as it has been spread in the United States and especially Europe. Bachelet’s second term was all about her social justice-driven agenda.
When Piñera came to power, he too accepted this basic premise of progressive economics and he began to raise taxes to address what he called one of Chile’s main problems: inequality. He then tried to re-establish order by buying off interest groups with benefits and handed out a substantial increase in government spending to support retirees. His higher personal income taxes and more generous health insurance schemes, along with a guaranteed minimum income for all Chilean workers, caused a once conservative government to bend its knee to socialistic agendas.
Chile stands as a warning of what is unfolding on a global scale. The media and universities are pushing this climate change agenda to support the return of Marxism. Chilean elites are now also waging a sustained war against law enforcement. Many police officers will not dare act for fear of sensationalist media coverage and punishments by courts under the sway of progressive elites. The free market has not failed in Chile as the socialists argue. They are seeking to subjugate the investment class which is so needed to start small businesses that the prospect of even looking to invest in the future appears dismal at best. Until confidence is restored in the future, Chile is position to collapse economically going into the global turning point in 2032.
Categories: Latin America
Forthcoming Books
Armstrong Economics Blog/Products and Services
Re-Posted Feb 9, 2020 by Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: Marty; the books you handed out at the WEC are spectacular. One first edition just sold for $2,000 on eBay. The second edition is going for $300 on eBay but there aren’t many of those either. I just wanted to say thank you for your generous gift to the attendees. The book is worth the price of the ticket, lol. I hope you get the time to do the next one.
DF
REPLY: I am trying to have another book for this year’s WEC. I have collected books my whole life. I know the Greatest Bull Market in History from 1986 goes for $2500 to $3000 on eBay. I only have one copy of that myself. One of those was presented to President Reagan back in the day. So First Editions are always worth a lot more. The second edition of Manipulating the World Economy was amazing. It sold out in less than 3 hours. That is the one that some members of the press got their hands on. Not the first edition. We will have a 3rd edition but that will not have the same value as the 1st and 2nd. If that book becomes a major classic when the economy turns down, then its value should rise even more. Keynes first published his work in 1921 despite the fact he wrote it before WWI. His book: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money was published in 1936. They will bring $3,000+. Even a 1799 edition of Adam Smith still brings over $2,000.
I am finishing up two books I really want to get out this year before all my time evaporates. I am trying for the Geometry of Time and the Economic Confidence Model, which is the proof back to the inception of recorded time. I know a lot of people are waiting for the 3rd edition of Manipulating the World Economy. We are working on that too.
Jessie K Liu Senate Confirmation Hearing This Week – Thursday 10:00am…
February 9, 2020
Former U.S. Attorney for DC Ms. Jessie K. Liu, of Virginia, will be questioned by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affiars this week during a confirmation hearing to become the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes at the Department of the Treasury. The hearing is Thursday February 13th at 10:00am.
Unfortunately the Senate Committee is made up of squish republicans [SEE HERE] so the questioning of Ms. Liu will likely be soft and non-controversial.
However, given Ms Liu’s propensity to run cover-up operations, her movement into Treasury and FinCin is problematic.
Some Background: In addition to her prosecution of Lt. General Michael Flynn, what do the following four points have in common?
- The manipulated DC legal case surrounding the Awan brothers; and how they escaped full accountability, likely due to need to protect politicians. (House of Representatives) The sweetheart plea deal.
- The manipulated DC legal case surrounding SSCI Security Director James Wolfe; and how he was allowed to plea only to lying to investigators when the evidence was clearfrom the outset how he leaked classified information to his journalist concubine. Again, likely due to the need to protect politicians. (SSCI, Senate) The sweetheart plea deal.
- The manipulated DC legal case surrounding Obama lawyer Greg Craig; and how he escaped accountability for FARA violations by running out the statute of limitations and burying Mueller’s evidence for 18 months. Again, likely due to the need to protect politicians (Obama White House). Sweetheart double standards.
- The manipulated DC legal case, a non-filing, surrounding former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe for lying to INSD investigators about his media leaks. Again, likely due to the need to protect the administrative state. Criminal referral (April 19, 2018); grand jury (Approx. July 2018); Status?… Oh, wait for it….
If you note the common thread is: U.S. Attorney for DC, Jessie K Liu, well, you would be entirely accurate. Oh, but wait, we’ve only just begun.
Timelines tell a story…
While newly confirmed Attorney General William Barr was “getting his arms” around ongoing corruption within the organization he now leads, there was an announcement on March 5th, 2019, about U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu becoming the #3 official at the DOJ.
Three weeks later, on March 28th, there was an announcement about a change of plans, and U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu’s name was withdrawn from consideration.
In addition to AG Bill Barr “getting his arms around” issues within the department, what else happened between March 5th and March 28th, 2019, that would so drastically change plans for Ms. Liu?:
On March 21st Representatives Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows send a letter (full pdf available here) to Attorney General William Barr wanting to know what is the status of the year-old (April 19th, 2018) criminal referral for fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. (link)
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Answering the letter from Jordan and Meadows would be easy. The AG picks up the phone, calls Ms. Liu, asks the question and then sends back a response. Except, well, there was no response. Instead, a week after receiving the letter Ms. Liu’s name is withdrawn from consideration for promotion…. and later AG Barr admits there was ‘spying’.
Keep in mind Meadows and Jordan obviously suspected –as did we– that no DOJ case against McCabe was being pursued; after all, the evidence was previously gathered, it doesn’t take a year. Additionally, when Mark Meadows is directly asked about the status of this specific issue today with Maria Bartiromo what does he answer? He doesn’t… [watch the interview] he avoids the question completely.
Put it all together and be intellectually honest…. McCabe’s non-worried book-tour status was directly in-line with the politically convenient Awan, Wolfe and Craig approach.
See the picture?
Obviously in April 2019 we did not yet have a history to reference AG Barr’s motive and intentions. However, granting benefit of doubt, CTH can imagine an eyes-wide-opendiplomatic response from any Bill Barr ‘hands-around-it‘ line of inquiry….
Hence, Liu withdrawn.
Now some might ask why Barr would simultaneously make Jessie Liu the chair of the Attorney General Advisory Committee on the same day her name is withdrawn (March 28th announcement); however, Barr doesn’t have a choice about the DC U.S. Attorney sitting on the AGAC. By law [28 CFR § 0.10] the Attorney General can pick all of the AGAC members, with one exception. The DC U.S. Attorney is required to be a member.
[Nice little deep state continuity trick]
Given that Barr is bringing in people from outside the DOJ –specifically from his prior law practice- that he knows he can trust, CTH suspects Barr made Liu Chairwoman of the AGAC for two reasons: (1) keep eyes on her; and (2) busy her with administrative work.
But wait…. it gets better.
Accepting that Ms. Jessie Liu is a career participant in the DOJ aspects of deep state preservation; even acting in a role as Deputy Chief of Staff for the DOJ National Security Division (yes, the DOJ-NSD division at the heart of the FISA issues); and remembering that Ms. Liu was also a member of the Trump transition team…. well, who the hell recommended her for those roles?
Someone ‘inside’ the Trump operation had to recommend Jessie Liu as a member of the transition team knowing full well her ideology would protect the administrative state. Who was that person who recommended her, and brought her in?
Additionally, regarding the recent March 5th, 2019, recommendation for Associate Attorney General (position #3), there has to be a point-of-contact between the DOJ and the inner circle of the White House. A person who would carry a recommendation from the DOJ institution, internally, to President Trump. Who was/is that person specifically?
If the 2016/2017 recommending transition member is the same as the 2019 recommending administration member… well, that’s the person who is directly working to the detriment of President Trump’s agenda.
Again, for those who might prefer to look-away from cold data, go back to the four points of specific reference we started with and research:
- The manipulated DC legal case surrounding the Awan brothers; and how they escaped full accountability, likely due to need to protect politicians. (House of Representatives) The sweetheart plea deal.
- The manipulated DC legal case surrounding SSCI Security Director James Wolfe; and how he was allowed to plea only to lying to investigators when the evidence was clearfrom the outset how he leaked classified information to his journalist concubine. Again, likely due to the need to protect politicians. (SSCI, Senate) The sweetheart plea deal.
- The manipulated DC legal case surrounding Obama lawyer Greg Craig; and how he escaped accountability for FARA violations by running out the statute of limitations and burying Mueller’s evidence for 18 months. Again, likely due to the need to protect politicians (Obama White House). Sweetheart double standards.
- The manipulated DC legal case, a non-filing, surrounding former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe for lying to INSD investigators about his media leaks. Again, likely due to the need to protect the administrative state. Criminal referral (April 19, 2018); grand jury (Approx. July 2018); Status?…
Look up those specific backstories.
Ms. Liu should be questioned about all of it during any responsible Senate confirmation hearing. Unfortunately, the DC system seems incapable of policing itself.
FUBAR.
Centinel2012 