Evidence of International Trade from the 12th Century


Some Archaeologists in France with the National Center for Scientific Research announced that they have unearthed a hoard of 2,200 silver deniers and oboles, 21 Islamic gold dinars, a very impressive gold signet ring from the Abbey of Cluny, located in Saône-et-Loire, reported by Mining. While they have claimed this is the largest hoard and seem confused as to why there were 21 Islamic gold dinars, their lack of knowledge of the world monetary system has been exposed by their claims.

The gold dinars were minted between 1121 and 1131 under the reign of Ali ibn Yusuf (1106–1143). There was no gold coins issue by Europeans until the 13th century. The gold dinars were replacing the Byzantine coinage, which was being debased going into the Great Monetary Crisis of 1092. The dominant coinage to replace Byzantine was that of the rising Islamic empire.

Further proof that Islamic dinars were replacing Byzantine coinage in world trade is the rare issue of Offa, who was a king in Mercia, England (757-796). It was Offa who reestablished the silver coinage in Europe coming out of the Drak Age. He struck this coin copying the Islamic writing with no real understanding what it even said. He then inscribes his name “OFFA REX” (king Offa) as a statement of power. However, the mere fact he is imitating the Islamic dinar demonstrates it acceptance in international trade as early as the 8th century.

While the archaeologists seem astonished to find gold Islamic dinars in France, they obviously lack the knowledge of the monetary system. Part of the Dark Age was driven by superstition. Bathing fell out of practice because a Roman bathhouse began to imply a brothel so it became un-Godly to bathe. Being able to use charts and maps was the work of the devil. Captains of a ship were usually Jewish who had no religious problem with such instruments.

The Arabs controlled the seas and as such trade. Therefore, we find Islamic gold dinars throughout Europe as evidence of world trade. They are rare since most had nothing to really trade. Nevertheless, a hoard with 21 gold dinars reflects someone of wealth and engaged in international trade.

Soros Throws in the Towel


COMMENT: Marty; You have beaten Soros. Don’t know if you have seen this, but they now report “George Soros finishes his crash bets against the US stock market. The investor legend seems to have lost its way and acts with little fortune. Now he has to reveal himself.”

PC

REPLY: Interesting. Soros became famous with the bet against the pound. But let’s make this very clear. That was a “riskless” trade betting against the break of a peg. If you are wrong, the peg holds and you get your money back. If you are right, you make a fortune. Everyone was betting against the pound. That was the coup against Margaret Thatcher who really wanted to take Britain into the euro. They forced the pound into the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM)  and placed it at a high rate became Europeans still think the higher the currency the stronger the economy, which results in deflation. That was an easy trade. It is no different from going to a casino and betting or red or black and when you lose, they give your money back until you win.

Soros is old school. He still believes in the Quantity Theory of Money and has been a punter short-term, but when it comes to long-term strategy, sorry, I do not believe he actually grasps the entire picture.

Anyone who has been bearish on the US stock market since 2010 constantly calling every new high the final high, is attempting to forecast with personal opinion. That will not survive the type of move we have been in since the 2009 low. Even Barron’s laughed at out forecast that the Dow would make new highs back in June 2011. All of these people (MAJORITY) totally misconstrue even how the economy really functions because they are still influenced by the theories that were indoctrinated into in school after the 1930s. They obviously lacked the curiosity to challenge what was being taught and look with open eyes and mind and simply ask – Did it work?

WARNING: Laura Ingraham Interviews Marco Rubio…


There’s a big con job just over the horizon.  All of the elements are there.  The timing, the platform, the personalities, the discussion topics, etc., it’s a familiar script.  CTH would like to direct attention to this interview which took place last night on Laura Ingraham’s new Fox News show.  Listen carefully to three elements:

♦On Tax Reform – on one side of Rubio’s ‘full-throated‘ mouth he wants higher taxes on corporations 22% -vs- 20%. In the almost the same breath, inside the same argument, he says “it’s not their (the government’s) money”.   Try to reconcile that.

♦On DACA – [Remember, three months ago President Trump gave congress six months to fix DACA]  Rubio says the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA) program is not the “Dreamers”.  What? Yes it is. The childhood arrivals ARE the so-called ‘dreamers’.

♦However, much more importantly, listen to what is said on “chain migration“.  Ingraham asks if Rubio supports “chain migration”.   Rubio says no, then immediately says: “I’ve always agreed to limiting chain migration to immediate family members”. WHAT? That is chain migration.

Laura Ingraham suffers from the same interview issue as Sean Hannity. Both conduct interviews where they ask questions but are not listening. Instead, they are waiting to talk. There’s a big difference.

Given the nature of the topics, and the interview on Fox, and knowing the specifics of the 2013/2014 immigration agenda of the Murdoch family specifically on Fox… and the relationship between Murdoch and Rubio… there’s justifiable room for skepticism and cynicism in the narrative construct of this entire interview.

Any reasonable person, receiving those responses, would have called Marco Rubio out for those three jaw-dropping, virtually simultaneous, hypocritical and mutually exclusive positions… Especially the last one on chain migration. Yet Laura Ingraham skipped right over them as if the answers provided were irrelevant and she was simply checking off a list.  [Insert Suspicious Cat Here]

Something is going on in DC that precipitated this interview.

Battered Conservative No-More !

Top 30 Risky Banks – Does it Really Matter?


The Royal Bank of Canada (RPC) has been added to the list of the top 30 banks posing the greatest risk. The top US bank is JP Morgan which is now the only bank required to hold an extra 2.5% of common equity after its US peer Citigroup moved down a tier required to hold 2% extra.

All of this is very nice, but also misleading. The Stress Tests by no means are realistic. It is assuming a single failure and certainly does not even take into consideration a CONTAGION, which nobody understands and there have been no models that will even simulate such events outside of what we have specialized in. The CONTAGION is what created the Great Depression and Herbert Hoover in his memoirs explain how capital acted “like a loose cannon on the deck of the world in a tempest-tossed ers.” Even the CONTAGION that hit in 2010 when Greece petitioned the IMF for a loan and traders immediately looked to see which country would be next, people do not understand that once blood is drawn, capital responds rapidly in the entire spectrum.

Even during the Long-Term Capital Management debacle in 1998, the crisis was in Russia. That sets off a need for liquidity and then all other markets are liquidated trying to raise cash. This is how a CONTAGION unfolds overpowering the fundamental analysis entirely.

 

Economics to this day still does not comprehend the CONTAGION that hit in 1931. It is the CONTAGION that presents the most significant clear and present danger to society as a whole. This is what reshapes countries and politics. We saw in 1933 Hitler, Mao, and FDR all come to power.

High-End Real Estate Starting to Enter Crash Mode


The high-end market in Connecticut is starting to decline. The hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller bought his estate in 2004 for $23 million. He had it on the market for $31.5 million. The best offer he got was $25 million. He took the money and ran. Smart move! With a real estate tax of about $154,000 annually, looks like a break-even deal after 13 years.

 

The high-end real estate boom is now turning sour. We are looking at property values declining in London, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, New York, and even Miami. The shift will now turn toward MOVABLE assets as capital departs from the fixed asset class.

Canadian Finance Minister Admits Selling Stock but Denies It Was Because He Knew Tax Hikes were Bearish


The Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau is refusing to say whether he sold millions of dollars worth of company stock just days before introducing tax changes that may have caused share prices to drop. This type of insider-trading is what politicians always manage to get away with no matter what the country. This dispute is rather interesting. Here the opposition is accusing him of selling the stock because he knew that raising taxes would cause the stock to drop. This is showing that the politicians were well aware of raising taxes would be bearish for the Canadian economy. That’s just OK as long as they get theirs.

Morneau has admitted selling the shares. What he is disputing is why he sold them. “I’m hearing that shares that I sold after I got into office, around the time I got into office, was somehow something inappropriate.

President Trump Tweets Critique and Cover for British Prime Minister Theresa May…


Earlier today President Trump re-tweeted some videos showing radical Islamism and behavior of their terroristic followers.  The videos originated from a twitter account of a U.K. citizen.  Prime Minister Theresa May took exception to the sunlight:

“It is wrong for the President to have done this,” May’s office said in response to the retweeted videos, initially posted by British far-right leader Jayda Fransen of Britain First.

“Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions,” May said in a statement. “They cause anxiety to law-abiding people.” (read more)

Moments ago, President Trump responded (again, via Twitter):

The hidden part of this back-and-forth is the strategic two-layer cover this is providing PM Theresa May.    Here’s what media won’t point out:

#1) Prime Minister May’s government is currently in a furnace within the U.K. over the ongoing Brexit issues.   A criticism from Trump ends up bolstering her support as tenuous allies will now rally to her PC defense.

#2) Prime Minister May’s public defense of European political correctness, well received by the far-left within Britain, when contrast against the internal Islamic threat – will also allow her to take more aggressive action against the local Islamists.

No-one in the U.K. wants an attack where horrible POTUS Trump can say: “Toldyaso” etc.

Brilliant…. and horrible.

Oh, the vulgarian…

Brilliant.

Domestic Approval Ratings:

Third Quarter GDP Growth Revised Upward – 3.3% Highest Growth in Three Years…


I’m getting really sick and tired of economic analysts talking down the U.S. economy even when they are surrounded with resoundingly good news.  These economic control agents are furious that President Trump is deconstructing their decades-long lies; and showing just how manipulated the U.S. economy has been – by elites, to the detriment of the middle-class…. I digress:

Despite the devastating hurricanes in August and September the Third-Quarter GDP grew at a revised upward rate of 3.3%. Third quarter growth was initially reported at 3%.

BLOOMBERG – The U.S. economy’s growth rate last quarter was revised upward to the fastest in three years on stronger investment from businesses and government agencies than previously estimated, Commerce Department data showed Wednesday.

The 3rd quarter (July, Aug, Sept) growth was led by business-equipment spending which rose at a 10.4% pace, a three-year high, revised from the initial report of 8.6%. CTH has continually highlighted that capital investment and capital equipment purchasing is a key to see how confident businesses are in the future.

BLOOMBERG – […] While the revised growth rate is in line with President Donald Trump’s goal, economists generally see such a pace as unsustainable and expect growth to slow sometime in 2018. Trump and congressional Republicans are pushing a tax-cut plan with the aim of lifting GDP gains to 3 percent annually, though analysts expect any economic boost to be modest, on balance, if the proposal becomes law.

[…] Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, continues to be the main driver of growth, though revisions showed it was slightly weaker than previously estimated on purchases of both durable and nondurable goods.

The biggest improvement came in business investment, which made a 1.2 percentage-point contribution to growth, up from 0.98 point in the initial estimate a month ago. (read more)

Société Générale Announces Major Reduction in Staff & Branches


 

COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong; Your warning about the European Banks has come to a head today. Société Générale has announced it is closing 300 branches and firing 3450 staff. Everything you have been saying is proving to be correct when nobody else seems to even discuss the matter.

I hope you come back to Paris. A conference here would be very well attended.

PGS

REPLY: Yes, the French bank Société Générale announced a massive staff reduction jobs. The chairman of the board Frederic Oudea, said that the entire banking industry in Europe is facing serious cuts and the withdrawal of Société Générale is preparing for turbulent times that await us beginning in 2018. It is closing about 15% of its branches. It is also selling off individual business units. He was quoted by the London Financial Times:

“I am convinced that the European banking sector is going through a kind of new industrial revolution that is likely to extend over the next decade.”

What we are being called in about by major banks is far more than simply consulting/forecasting. We are dealing with LEGAL issues that will be unfolding with the coming monetary crisis. More and more major concerns need us to address the restructuring of the monetary system they can see is coming.

The tide is turning and it is a hard turn. There is now appearing a German documentary making its debut concerning the mysterious death David Rossi back on March 6th, 2013, who was the communications chief of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank. He fell out of his office window and died. His death has never been truly explained whether it was a suicide or a murder. This film exposes his death within the context of the tense situation within the bank and financial system in Europe.

Politicians have been finagling banks for a long time trying to hide the truth about the failed Euro. The filmmakers were interviewed by Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten in which they report that the 2009 takeover of Banca Antonveneta by Monte dei Paschi at an insane price was under the supervision of the Banca d’Italia. The state they have a document with the signature of Mario Draghi at the time approving the deal at an extremely high price. The argument is basically that the absorption of  Banca Antonveneta was similar to the bailout of a failed bank which started the 1931 Banking Crisis.

What you must understand is that to sustain the Euro, which is all about keeping the power in Brussels, there have been massive transfers from the north to the south of Europe. This includes Greece, Italy, and Spain. The entire crisis has been the conversions of their previous national debts to Euro. Then the Euro doubled in values. Southern Europe has paid a vast price that has decimated their economies and driven the unemployment of the youth to as high as 60% in regions. This is the LOST GENERATION all to support the power base in Brussels.

The EU and the ECB have completely failed. This is the entire issue. The bailouts of Southern Europe have created a permanent Euro rescue scheme that has completely failed to help anyone. Greece is the poster-child of the Euro. It is impossible for Greece to ever repay the debts. Italy is still in crisis and Spain is on the verge of watching its budget blow-up starting in 2018.

Europe has entered a phase where it is no longer about trying to create jobs and a sustainable economic growth. This is now all about holding on to power in Brussels. Nobody will address the issues in advance. Thus, we are being called in by banks who see the handwriting on the wall and want to survive the chaos. This is more of a LEGAL restructuring than just consulting.

Zarrab has Flipped – Is Erdogan the real Target?


The New York Justice System is what it is. They have “flipped” the Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab into a prosecuting witness offering him a reduced sentence if he testifies. That means the deputy chief of the Turkish Halkbank, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, is now the only defendant in the process to stand trial. According to the New York Times, Zarrab is now listed as a “suspected accomplice” on a list of potential witnesses and other stakeholders handed over to members of the jury on Monday. This is now really political for his testimony could have serious consequences for the Turkish government. Zarrab had close contacts with the family of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan must expect to be in the sights of the US investigators themselves. The question is now, are they targeting Erdogan to discredit him internationally?