Tag Archives: The Hunt for Taxes

Jul 7 2017

EU Commission & Parliament Clash of Words


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Jul 7, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Ministers elected to the European Parliament have now actual power. They get paid extra if they actually show up. What you see are MPs swiping their cards to get that extra pay and then turn around and leave. Well the EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker criticized the Parliament MPs for not showing up to listen to a speech by the Maltese president. Only 30 of the 751 elected members bothered to show up at all. What emerged was a lot of name calling back and forth and Parliament members argued that the Commission was not empowered to watch over Parliament. They are supposed to monitor themselve

Jul 7 2017

Macron to Reduce French Parliament by One-Third


Armstrong Economics Blog/France

Re-Posted Jul 7, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The new French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed reducing the size of the French parliament by one third. He is intent upon surrendering the sovereignty of France to Brussels and when the full scope of his “profound changes” are understood by the people, his agenda may result in a dramatic rise in civil unrest in France. At least 35% of the population wanted to leave the EU, not surrender entirely to it. The way to deal with opposition is to deny them a voice. Macron said:

“Until now, we were on the wrong track – we preferred rules to initiative,” Macron, who has a massive mandate in both presidential and parliamentary elections, told deputies during a 90-minute speech. “We cannot have before us five years of half-measures. It’s a profound transformation that the French demand. Let’s embrace it.” 

“I am convinced that this measure will have positive consequences for the quality of parliamentary work. This reform is essential.

Jul 6 2017

North Korea – ECM & War


Armstrong Economics Blog/War

Re-Posted Jul 6, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

It was just one day after the first test of an intercontinental rocket by North Korea, that the US demonstrated military strength and threatened further sanctions against the isolated state. We have to understand that we are dealing with a pampered buy Kim Jong Un who will never yield to sanctions and counter-measures of rocket tests.

Donald Trump has classified North Korea as the major threat to the USA – not Russia. The US requested an urgent session of the UN Security Council in New York last week. The leadership in Pyongyang threatened the USA with further weapon tests and boasted that North Korea would never abandon nuclear weapons.

The division of Korea between North and South Korea was the result of the Allied victory in World War II in 1945, ending the Empire of Japan’s 35-year rule of Korea. The United States and the Soviet Union occupied the country, with the boundary between their zones of control along the 38th parallel. The United States supported the South, and the Soviet Union supported the North, and each government claimed sovereignty over the whole Korean peninsula. American troops occupy southern Korea, while the Soviet Union occupies the north, with the dividing line being the 38th parallel of latitude, which was established on September 8th, 1945 (1945,68). This arrangement proves to be the indirect beginning of a divided Korea which will lead to the Korean War in 1950.

The Korean War (1950–1953) left the two Koreas separated by the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in the later part of the Cold War and beyond. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 deprived North Korea of its main source of economic aid. Without Soviet aid, North Korea’s economy went into a economic free-fall in 1992 pretty much in line with the Economic Confidence Model calculated from the birth of the 38th Parallel.

By this time in the early 1990s, Kim Jong-il was already conducting most of the day-to-day activities of running of the state. Meanwhile, international tensions were rising over North Korean’s quest for nuclear weapons. Former US president Jimmy Carter made a visit to Pyongyang in June 1994 in which he met with Kim and returned proclaiming that he had resolved the crisis. However, Kim Il-sung died from a sudden heart attack on July 8, 1994, three weeks after the Carter visit. His son, Kim Jong-il, had already assumed key positions in the government, succeeded as General-Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party.

The US government confirmed for the first time that North Korea on July 4th actually tested an intercontinental rocket (ICBM). The test represents “a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region and the world,” said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He announced “tougher measures” against Pyongyang. Meanwhile, Kim said this was a “gift package” for the US on its Independence Day.

From a timing perspective, 72 years from the birth of the 38th Parallel brings us right here to 2017. The War Cycle brings us to the last date being 2020.9

Jul 4 2017

The Coming Revolution – the Next 4th of July


Armstrong economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Jul 4, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

 

There is a revolution coming that is engulfing the world. Governments are broke and are taking drastic measures to stay in business. Not all revolutions are bloody. There have been revolutions such as that in Russia when the army stood down and would not fire upon the people. Even in Saudi Arabia, there is talk of revolution and civil war as a rift within the Royal family has been unfolding and the army is by no means united behind one faction.

Whether a revolution comes with the blood that feeds the Tree of Liberty as Thomas Jefferson put it, really is determined by the army. The European Union is desperately trying to create an army which is power. The question would eventually emerge, will the EU send its army against a member state because it seeks to leave? The golden rule of political-revolutions can be stated simply by the victor:

We have defeated the enemy of the people;

We Occupy their Hill of Power;

We have become the enemy once again.

 

We reached the peak in government 2015.75. Ever since that fateful turning point, the press has become so corrupt, the politics has collapsed, traditional parties are declining and the rise in discontent is global. Between here and 2032.95, the world around us is changing. It will be out with the old, and in with the new. The driving force is always economic

Jul 3 2017

Freedom of Speech Comes to an End in Germany


Armstrong Economics Blog/Germany

Re-Posted Jul 3, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

 

The most anti-democratic law perhaps ever to pass any Western Government just pass in the German Bundestag last week. Even the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) votes to suppress free speech and it is all geared to end criticism of government. This new law obligates the operators of social networks to block off anything that they themselves view “might be” criminal within 24 hours of receipt of the complaint. Other illegal content must be “deleted” or “blocked” within seven days.

The problem is rather simple. It boils down to there is no judicial determination as to what might be criminal and there is nothing specifically deemed to be criminal in the act. The word “criminal” is left totally undefined. Traditionally, the foundation of law in a free society is known as DUE PROCESS. This concept comes from the Bible. When Cain kills Abel, God knew what he had done. Nevertheless, he (1) summoned him, (2) asked him his side of the story, (3) judged him, and (4) sentenced him. It is presumed that God knew what took place, yet he still allowed Cain to explain and defend himself.

“Where is Abel your brother? And he said, “I do not know: am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? Listen! your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil. And so, cursed shall you be by the soil that gaped with its mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand. If you till the soil, it will no longer give you strength. A restless wanderer shall you be on the earth.”

This is Due Process of Law, which is increasing under attack by all governments. The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a prime example of how the U.S. government is violating international law and the foundation of Due Process. The so-called terrorists they keep there are never provided the right in court to defend themselves. There is no evidence to put them on trial, do the government just keeps them locked-up with no Due Process of Law because they will not admit what they have done.

Lindsey Graham, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee,  is an outright traitor to everything held to be fundamental to freedom. He sponsored the bill to indefinitely imprison people, deny them a lawyer, and deny them any right to defend themselves whatsoever. Graham has rejected the very principle of Due Process of Law that even God provided to Cain when he knew what took place.

The Bundestag has just opened the door to the same violation of international law all because there is a major pension crisis in Germany that the politicians are attempting to hide prior to the election. Thus, exactly what is a “criminal” is left to the imagination. There is no right to be charged, no right defend oneself, you are summarily silenced. Private companies are now replacing courts of law. It is their decision what is now criminality. There is no right to be heard in a court of law anymore. They can now arbitrarily shut down anyone speaking content they “think” the government would not like. Now we have third parties acting as judges and juries all because the government does not like social media networks. These private companies must also decide on their view of what is “criminality” of the reported content within seven days.

Then these private network operators are required by this law now to provide users with a directly accessible procedure for transmitting complaints. Therefore, anyone who disagrees with what is being said can now file a complaint, the network must fear if the government would not like it, and judge the provider within 7 days and shut them down.

If a complaint management is not established immediately (before the election), a fine is threatened. Then if you dare wish to appeal and you will be fined five million euros against a person responsible for the appeal. The fine itself can be up to 50 million euros against the company itself if it does not now censor everything being written in social networks.

This outrageous law is clearly “unconstitutional” in Germany and it is an affront to everything regarded as a core principle of free speech and a free society. Only the AFP objected with every other party lining up to silence any opposition. The law delegates the distinction between criminal acts of hatred, satire and freedom of expression to social media giants such as Facebook and others with huge fines for non-compliance with each incident. At  50 million euros per incident, then can bankrupt the biggest social network within a single week.

We should take a moment of silence to remember what freedom once was. These people in power no longer represent the people. They are becoming the worst enemy of freedom everywhere

Jul 1 2017

Angela Merkel Reflects Fear and Loathing Amid EU Elites…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on July 1, 2017 by

German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered some rather strongly worded remarks in advance of the upcoming G20 summit in Hamburg Germany.  Reuters frames the Merkel statements as a warning to U.S. President Donald Trump.

(Reuters) German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised to fight for free trade and press on with multilateral efforts to combat climate change at the G20 summit next week, challenging the “America First” policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.

In a defiant speech to parliament a week before she will host a summit of the world’s top economic powers in Hamburg, the northern port city where she was born, Merkel did not mention Trump by name but said global problems could not be solved with protectionism and isolation. (read more)

However, seeking control is a reaction to fear.  Ms. Merkel, the EU, and the larger multinational global interests therein, fear Trump… and for good reason, he’s winning.

President Trump has put a jaw-dropping U.S. energy platform solidly into place.  You can learn more about them HERE and HERE.  The announcements last week are tectonic in consequence though seemingly lost amid the chafe of media reporting over twitter spats.

Everything President Trump’s team does is connected to a bigger, much bigger, picture than most people are paying attention to.  However, those who control the levers of multinational power are paying very close attention.

At it’s core and central elements ‘America-First’ is about prosperity and national security through the utilization of leveraged economic power.   For four decades, as he built out his empire of holdings, every-single-day at every-single-opportunity, Donald Trump voiced vociferous frustration that politicians were allowing the U.S. to be controlled, lessened, weakened and robbed by multinational economic interests.

The historic fact of Trump’s decades-long position must be understood in order to understand the severity, consequence, deliberateness and thoughtfulness of his corrective plan of action.  You cannot overemphasize how strong these positions are.  Inasmuch as you inherently care for the guardianship of your child, likewise does Donald Trump view the United States with such a disposition of care, concern and stewardship.

In Trump’s mind, failure in his goal to reestablish American economic power, economic strength and economic dominance is no more an option than a mother failing to grasp the hand of her child walking amid edge of a sheer cliff.  It just is. It will be. There is no alternative. Period.

While the rest of the chattering class have overlooked it, President Trump, Rick Perry, Steven Mnuchin, Wilbur Ross, Robert Lighthizer, Ryan Zinke and Scott Pruitt have already moved America passed “energy independence”.

Stop.  Realize what that sentence says.

America has already passed the goal of “energy independence”.

We are now beyond the previously optimistic goal of energy independence.  It’s only been 5 months.

We ran past the goal of energy independence so fast, that no-body seemingly noticed it.  It’s like a race car lapping the traffic and now positioning for the lead of the pack again.  As the crowd watches the race and positioning, the jostling, they seemingly missed, or forgot, the fact the Trump car was so fast it’s already a full lap ahead of the current cars and now back in the pack attempting to lead by two laps.

Stunning.

President Trump’s economic team is now selling energy as an economic export product.

Now, just stop for a moment and contemplate this.

Our national GDP has always been based on the fact we create energy products (oil, gas, coal, renewable etc.), but we have also needed to import energy (traditionally oil).  The import aspect reduces the overall economic value of a fully functional GDP.  We shipped dollars overseas to pay for energy.  Those dollars come from your pocket (gas prices mostly).

The national security angle of this entire issue is transparent, ie. war for oil etc., and we have always been hostage to OPEC pricing, regardless of which political ideology was in power and the relationship therein.  In short we’ve always been a customer.  No-more.

Dakota Access is approved.  Keystone is approved.  Multiple new coastal oil refineries are coming on line (Louisiana, Texas), and we are exporting fuel and LNG (Liquified Natural Gas).   Light-Sweet Crude is stable at low market value, and U.S. gas prices are at their lowest point in decades with even lower prices yet to come.  Oh, and the coal business, driven mostly by export, is up over 7% in less than 3 months.

Hello.

You’ve heard me talk about the economics of energy, probably more than you want.  But think about this…. really think about this.  It’s all connected.

Need to pay down the deficit to invest in infrastructure?  Kinda easy to put a .25 cent gas tax into place when you drop the price of gas by $1.00+,  AND control the future pricing of gas because you control the market, because you are energy independent.  See how this works?

Everything is about the economics, and every outcome can be distilled down to a review of the underlying economics.

Arab Summit? Well, we are no longer beholden to OPEC.  So, when the GCC need to ensure the big cats are kept in their big terror cat cages, what do they need?  [Remember, oil reliance, is no longer part of the exchange conversation with the U.S.]   GCC needs friends, allies, and independent weapons now.   Independent weapons, because the vested U.S. economic interest to be the force in command those weapons is now gone.

Mexico’s entire energy sector is roughly $28 billion.  Mexico’s reliance on monetary wire transfers of U.S. dollars by individuals (non business) is roughly $29 billion.  Wilbur Ross, Robert Lightizer confront the former, while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin controls guardianship of regulations on the latter.

NAFTA? Leverage? See how that works?

Inside the reversal of Obama’s Cuban policies, is the U.S. Treasury Secretary’s control over Cuban Remittances.  Economic leverage.  Sure U.S. Companies can do business there, but they still have to adhere to financial rules on foreign investment.  And CFIUS (Council on Foreign Investment in U.S.) works the economic/NatSec equation in both directions.

In reality Steven Mnuchin has more control over National Security than Secretary of Defense General Mattis or Secretary of State Rex Tillerson….

But no-one ever fully understood the national security trade leverage, apart from economic sanctions aspect, other than businessman Donald Trump, then candidate Donald Trump, and now President Donald Trump and his views/policies on all things economic.

Under President Trump energy as an export commodity is an entire new aspect to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP ), the economics of the U.S., that never existed before.  And Team Trump are right now positioning their energy trade race to lap all competitors.

Remember, we’ve already passed “independence”, we lapped it.  Now we’re competing for the lead inside a race where we are already a lap ahead of our competition…

That’s one of the reasons why Germany’s Angela Merkel is lashing out.

Remember #1:

” REUTERS – Germany’s powerful car industry said Europe would need to reassess its environmental standards to remain competitive after the United States said it would withdraw from the Paris climate pact.”

Remember #2:

REUTERS – Investors with more than $15 trillion of assets under management urged governments led by the United States to implement the Paris climate accord to fight climate change despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to pull out.

“As long-term institutional investors, we believe that the mitigation of climate change is essential for the safeguarding of our investments,” according to the letter signed by 214 institutional investors and published on Monday.

“We urge all nations to stand by their commitments to the Agreement,” it said. Signatories of the letter included the California Public Employees Retirement System and other pension funds from Sweden to Australia.  (read more)

President Trump was very smart about the long-term ramifications to the ‘Paris treaty’.  The heavily influenced industrialized nations committed themselves to this agreement and anchored their economic manufacturing base within a tiered system of ridiculously burdensome regulations and agreements.

India, China and S.E.A.N.  (Southeast Asian Nations) were essentially exempt from the worst economic energy restrictions within the treaty.

The strategic benefit to the United States stems from not participating in the regulatory stranglehold that accompanies the agreement. Obviously all nations that compete with the U.S on international trade agreements would, for once, be at a disadvantage; and we have just made energy an export commodity within the trade equation.

This is in addition to American manufacturing and our industrial base now being able to take strategic advantage.  In larger terms Trump’s refocused policy objectives remove the political benefit from Wall Street and places it back with Main Street, reversing a three decade long shift. This approach is adverse to the interests of the globalists.

President Trump’s economic team are well aware of the strategic advantage is walking away from the Paris Climate Treaty. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and their entire economic team know what is needed to reverse the decades long construct and defeat the interests of the global elites.

The primary concern for every multinational corporation and multinational band surrounds economics, not climate.  “Climate” issues were/are the Trojan horse, the false ruse, the talking point, the scheme to get economic systems in place -yes, political systems- to control the distributive flow of larger economic wealth within all nations.  Period.

What ObamaCare was to our loss of healthcare individualism, so too was the Paris Treaty a political tool to deconstruct America’s national economic individualism.  FULL-STOP.

To understand the larger objectives of the global and financial elite it is important to understand the three-decade global financial construct they seek to protect. Global financial exploitation of national markets:

♦Multinational corporations purchase controlling interests in various national elements of developed industrial western nations.
♦The Multinational Corporations making the purchases are underwritten by massive global financial institutions, multinational banks.
♦The Multinational Banks and the Multinational Corporations then utilize lobbying interests to manipulate the internal political policy of the targeted nation state(s).
♦With control over the targeted national industry or interest, the multinationals then leverage export of the national asset (exfiltration) through trade agreements structured to the benefit of lesser developed nation states – where they have previously established a proactive financial footprint.

The ‘America First’ Trump-Trade Doctrine upsets the entire construct of this multinational export/control dynamic.  Team Trump focuses exclusively on bilateral trade deals with specific policy only looking out for the national interests of the United States.

Under President Trump’s Trade positions exfiltration of U.S. national wealth is essentially stopped.  This puts the multinational corporations, globalists who previously took a stake-hold in the U.S. economy with intention to export the wealth, in a position of holding interest of an asset they can no longer exploit.

If you can see the ramifications, and can grasp the inherent anger, you can begin to understand the severity of the opposition to President Trump.

Multinational corporations and billionaire financiers used climate change, the energy sector control mechanism, as a tool toward furtherance of global wealth collection and redistribution that they control.

It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just the way global financial markets, driven by global financial interests, work.   The top-tier strategy is quite simple, and has been played out for several cycles at various points in the modern economic life-cycle.  Create an institutional trade instrument (housing/bond financial bubble example), control it, drive the pricing to an apex and reap the financial rewards.

Their expressed holy grail for human control is a global tax on all people more commonly known as a “carbon-trading tax”.  A planetary tax on personage, behavior and activity, through a market-based trade vehicle (Paris Agreement), which they exclusively control; and which subverts the national economic interests of sovereign nations.

The “Carbon Trading” fundamental financial instrument is the foundational block of the financial interests behind modern climate change.  The latest exhibition of a decades long series of international construct was the Paris Climate Change agreement.

President Donald Trump is deconstructing this entire decades-long institutional system of control. There are trillions at stake and the efforts of entire generations of billionaire left-wing elites on the line.

This is why those same global elites worked diligently to install French President Emmanuel Macron; and this is why Macron’s boss, Germany’s Angela Merkel, is so angry.

Jul 1 2017

France’s President Says He is TOO SMART to Communicate with the Fools Who Voted For Him


Armstrong Economics Blog/France

Re-Posted Jul 1, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The French President Emmanuel Macron will break with the long-standing tradition of the President making a speech on Bastille Day to celebrate winning independence. He says his “complex thoughts” may prove too much for journalists. The truth is, his agenda is to surrender the independence of France and hand it to Brussels. He has no interest in celebrating Independence Day when he intends to end that Independence. Just astonishing. We now have a president in France who is too intelligent to communicate with the scum beneath time for they are just stupid fools. Perhaps so – since they elected him.

Jun 29 2017

European Refugee Crisis Was Created in an Undemocratic Manner


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Jun 29, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The very issue of the European Refugee Crisis highlights the entire problem with the European Union. There is no democratic union whatsoever. The issue of accepting refugees was a unilateral decision by Merkel alone. It was never put to vote in Europe. Once the migration turned to a full blown crisis, Merkel then insisted that all member state had to accept their share.

The statistics show that 70% of the migrants are young men. Not families or women and children. This is resembling an invading army. Brussels is using the Refugee Crisis to push the federalization of Europe and suppress all member states to second class sovereigns subject to authoritarian power, denying the people any right to vote on any issue in Brussels.

This is now about seizing power in Brussels by virtual dictatorial means. The arrogance of those demanding the surrender of sovereignty over the Refugee Crisis is unbelievable. There is absolutely no consideration whatsoever for the consequences to European culture if they are wrong.

Jun 27 2017

May Forms Government To Retain Power in Britain


Armstrong Economics Blog/BRITAIN

Re-Posted Jun 27, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May has at last secured a governing majority in the UK Parliament by agreeing to spend £1 billion on top of £500 million previously promised to Northern Ireland. Of course the stability of the May government going forward will be delicate as Jeremy Corbyn does his best to bring down the May government and seize control for Labour.

The deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will provide its 10 members to back May’s minority government over the Queen’s Speech. This will relate to the national security of Britain and maintain Brexit. Theresa May made the public statement:

“I welcome this agreement which will enable us to work together in the interest of the whole United Kingdom, give us the certainty we require as we embark on our departure from the European Union, and help us build a stronger and fairer society at home.”
Jun 27 2017

EU Extends Sanctions Against Russia Killing Their Own Economy


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Jun 27, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The EU has extended its economic sanctions against Russia for another six months, which really makes no sense. No sanction will cause Putin to abandon a strategic port in Crimea that was originally Russian territory before it gave it to Ukraine to be administered. President Donald Tusk announced it on Twitter interestingly revealing that Chancellor Angela Merkel calls the shots for all of Europe. True, France’s President Emmanuel Macron also was consulted and agreed, naturally he will do as he is told, and then the rest of the Heads of State and Government at the EU summit in Brussels were informed of the decision.

The punitive measures imposed by the sanctions since 2014 in the wake of the Ukraine crisis have produced nothing but a new cold war. The sanctions are now extended until January 2018. Russia naturally imposed counter-sanctions against the EU which hit the European industrial companies as well as the agriculture.

Demonstrating how successful sanctions have been, Russia shocked the world with a surprise where they have entered the airline industry. They had a successful test flight of a new medium range passenger plane owned by the state controlled United Aircraft Corporation. This new plane, the MC-21-300, flew at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour on its maiden flight.

 

The MC-21-300 has a capacity between 163 and 211 passengers and a maximum flight range of 6,000 kilometers. So the sanctions only produced competition for the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320.