Economic and Financial Prognostications, Trends, and Data, 2020

[Dennis Leahy]

I popped into this sub-forum and the forum software notified me that there has not been a post in this sub-forum in the past 60 days - a long time in a supposedly precarious economy.

We know that the mainstream economic prognosticators and trend watchers are owned and controlled by the corporate media, a subset of the Global Corporate Network, so we know the mainstream talking heads are not to be believed. Jon Stewart, to his credit, ambushed and disemboweled a particularly egregious syndicate lapdog, Jim Cramer, for shepherding people to buy Bear Stearns just before they collapsed. (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jon+stewart+cramer) But, most of the compromised, corporately entangled talking heads just sell whatever their bosses tell them to, and have not been called out.

Formerly active member and admin, Paul, and physically recovering member and admin, Hervé, used to keep this topic current, but are not here to do this now.

Can someone step in and fill the shoes (I sure can't.)

I must say that I would not personally be interested in having someone just post links to their blog, and really, it would be good if the person/persons that step up to fill this role are truly independent and can provide some analysis and not just links to Gerald (https://www.youtube.com/user/gcelente/videos) Celente (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfwFvNaL-QU) or whoever's videos. Buying a can of beans or paying a mortgage payment affect pretty much all of us, so - boring as the topic can be - it's kinda important.

[Soda]

I am in no way applying for the task you propose Dennis - but I found this to be an interesting article. I suspect most of the gigantic banks are in trouble for the same thing and that these "resignations" prior to today's stock market tumble (which may continue) just means they got their money out just in time to "retire" somewhere underground per se.
Wells Fargo Officials Resign Days Before They Were Set To Testify Before Congress
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/business/wells-fargo-betsy-duke-chair-resign/index.html

[Dennis Leahy]

Soda, I didn't mean to set the bar too high, I was just hoping to entice the members that are savvy in economic/financial affairs to share their knowledge. I have never spent much time researching these issues, but I'm sure that for some members, it's their bailiwick. I think the article you added, and your analysis, is spot on for this thread (and very interesting - those bastards! hahaha)

Of course, today (as you mention) just happens to be explosive (implosive?) in the stock market, so I'll include an article link, and a pull quote from it:

Today, the stock market took its biggest fall since 2008, and they STOPPED TRADING so it wouldn't go even further.

"Stocks took their worst one-day beating on Wall Street since the global financial crisis of 2008 as a collapse in oil prices Monday combined with mounting alarm over what the coronavirus could do to the world economy.

The staggering losses, including a 7.8% tumble in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, immediately raised fears that a recession might be on the way in the U.S. and that the record-breaking 11-year bull market on Wall Street may be coming to an abrupt end in a way no one even imagined just a few months ago.

The drop was so sharp that it triggered the first automatic halt in trading in more than two decades. European stock indexes likewise registered their heaviest losses since the darkest days of the 2008 meltdown and are now in a bear market."

I love that line, "in a way no one even imagined just a few months ago." Yet some Econ 101 dumbass like me read numerous credible people predicting it.

Here's today's article, if anyone wants to scan it for yourself: https://www.nbcboston.com/news/business/stocks-sink-after-oil-prices-plunge-amid-virus-fears/2087728/ (https://www.nbcboston.com/news/business/stocks-sink-after-oil-prices-plunge-amid-virus-fears/2087728/)

[Dennis Leahy]

justntime2learn just posted this Chris Martenson video in the main corona virus thread, and I think it's a good fit here too.

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I just listened to it, but would have a hard time putting together a cogent synopsis. It is analysis of the big picture of global economics (focused mostly on the Federal Reserve banking system) and Chris notes that the biggest bubble was caused by the way banks' credit policy changed in 1971. He and John Rubino also speak about real/hard assets as the only safe spot, as the bond market (which had always been the go-to when the stock market was wonky) are not safe either - and nor is FDIC insured "money" deposited in a bank. Another big takeaway is that the government only has financial tools, and financial tools cannot fix the problems that are not financial (which the corona virus fallout creates.)

[Dennis Leahy]

Silver and gold "spot" price graphs:

(snagged from kitco.com)

https://www.kitco.com/LFgif/ag0365nyb.gif
silver, 1 year



https://www.kitco.com/LFgif/au2020.gif
gold, 2020

[Violet3]

thanks Dennis, you seem to be doing a good job hahaha

[Jayke]

Ray Dalio (head of Bridgewater hedgefund) predicted last August that there was 40% chance of recession in 2020. In November, he lowered that to 25%.

There are certain elements of the deep state hierarchy who are intent on crashing the economy before the next election cycle to make Trump unelectable. The whole Coronavirus scaremongering and hype is little more than a form of economic warfare to push things towards this end. But despite what we hear in the news, a lot of the multinationals are actually gearing up for production, especially those involved in the hard sciences. The sector of engineering is currently going through rapid expansion which means productive capital is going to exponentially grow over the coming years, which imo, will prevent the speculative bubbles from fully collapsing. Trump will be re-elected later this year because the markets will re-stabilise after the Coronavirus hype has been and gone.

Anyway, Ray Dalios latest article on how Coronavirus will affect the markets in 2020:

=============

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-thoughts-coronavirus-ray-dalio




My Thoughts About the Coronavirus

I will repeat my overarching perspective, which is that I don’t like to take bets on things that I don’t feel I have a big edge on, I don’t like to make any one bet really big, and I’d rather seek how to neutralize myself against big unknowns than how to bet on them. That applies to the coronavirus. Still, there’s no getting around having to figure out what this situation is likely to mean and how we should deal with it, so here are my thoughts for you to take or leave. In reading them please realize that I’m a “dumb ****” when it comes to viruses, though I do get to triangulate with some of the world’s best experts. So, for the little that they’re worth, here are my thoughts.

Three Perspectives

As I see it there are three different things going on that are related yet are very different and shouldn’t be confused: 1) the virus, 2) the economic impact of reactions to the virus, and 3) the market action. They all will be affected by highly emotional reactions. Individually and together they lend themselves to a giant whipsaw with big mispricings, with the off chance that it will trigger the downturn that I have been worried would happen with both the big wealth/political gap and the end of the big debt cycle (when debts are high and central banks are impotent in trying to stimulate).

1) The Virus

The virus itself will almost certainly a) come and go and b) have a big emotional impact, which will most likely produce a big whipsaw. It will most likely lead to an uncontained global health crisis that could have high human and economic costs, though how it is handled and what the consequences will be will vary a lot by location (which will also affect how their markets behave). Containing the virus (i.e., minimizing its spreading) will occur best where there are 1) capable leaders who are able to make executive decisions well and quickly, 2) a population that follows orders, 3) a capable bureaucracy to enforce and administer the plans, and 4) a capable health system to identify and treat the virus well and quickly. It will require the leaders to turn on “social distancing” quickly and effectively ahead of the virus accelerating and to withdraw it quickly as it declines. I believe that China will excel at this, major developed economies will be less good but OK, and those who are weaker than them in these respects will be dangerously worse. For this reason, I am told that it’s likely that it will s pread fast in these other countries and roughly in proportion to those four factors I just mentioned, and likely as a function of the weather (e.g., the hot weather in the Southern Hemisphere is thought to be an inhibitor). Because it is spreading fast to many countries and the reported cases and deaths are likely to increase rapidly, the news is likely to rapidly increase panicky reactions. Also, in the US there will be much more testing happening over the next couple of weeks, which will dramatically increase the numbers of reported infected people, which will also probably lead to more severe reactions and greater social distancing controls. I am told that the stresses on hospitals could become very large, which will make handling the cases of all patients more difficult. In short, I am told that we should expect much more serious problems ahead.

2) The Economic Impact

Reactions to the virus (e.g., “social distancing”) will probably cause a big short-term economic decline followed by a rebound, which probably will not leave a big sustained economic impact. The fact of the matter is that history has shown that even big death tolls have been much bigger emotional affairs than sustained economic and market affairs. My look into the Spanish flu case, which I’m treating as our worst-case scenario, conveys this view; so do the other cases.

While I don’t think this will have a longer-term economic impact, I can’t say for sure that it won’t because, as you know, I believe that history has shown us that when a) there is a large wealth/political gap and there is a battle against populists of the left and populists of the right and b) there is an economic downturn, there are likely to be greater and more dysfunctional conflicts between the sides that undermine the effectiveness of decision making, and this is made worse when c) there are large debts and ineffective monetary policies and d) there are rising powers challenging the existing world powers. The last time that happened was during the 1930s leading up to World War II, and the time before that was in the period leading up to World War I. Certainly, the wealth gap and political conflict leading to possible policy changes will be top of mind along with the coronavirus on this Super Tuesday.

3) The Market Impact

The world is now leveraged long with a lot of cash still on the sidelines—i.e., most investors are long equities and other risky assets and the amount of leveraging that has taken place to support these positions has been large because low interest rates relative to expected returns on equities and the need to leverage up low returns to make them larger have led to this. The actions taken to curtail business activities will certainly cut revenues until the virus and business activity reverse which will lead to a rebound in revenue. That should (but won’t certainly) lead to V- or U-shaped financials for most companies. However, during the drop, the market impact on leveraged companies in the most severely affected economies will probably be significant. We will show you what that looks like shortly. My guess is that the markets will probably not distinguish well between those which can and cannot withstand well the temporary shock and will focus more on their temporary hit to revenues than they should and underweight the credit impact—e.g., a company with plenty of cash and a big temporary economic hit will probably be exaggeratedly hit relative to one that is less economically hit but has a lot of short-term debt.

Additionally, it seems to me that this is one of those once in 100 years catastrophic events that annihilates those who provide insurance against it and those who don’t take insurance to protect themselves against it because they treat it as the exposed bet that they can take because it virtually never happens. These folks come in all sorts of forms, such as insurance companies who insured against the consequences that we are about to experience, those who sold deep-out-of-the-money options planning to earn the premiums and cover their exposures through dynamic hedging if and when the prices get near in the money, etc. The markets are being, and will continue to be, affected by these sorts of market players getting squeezed and forced to make market moves because of cash-flow issues rather than because of thoughtful fundamental analysis. We are seeing this in very unusual and fundamentally unwarranted market action. Also, what’s interesting is how attractive some companies with good cash yields have become, especially as many market players have been shaken out.

As far as central bank policies are concerned, interest-rate cuts and increased liquidity won’t lead to any material pickup in buying and activity from people who don’t want to go out and buy, though they can goose risky asset prices a bit at the cost of bringing rates closer to hitting ground zero. That’s true in the US. In Europe and Japan, monetary policy is virtually out of gas so it’s difficult to imagine how pure monetary policy will work. In Europe, it will be interesting to see if fiscal policy stimulations can pick up in this political environment. Also, in all countries, don’t expect much more stimulation coming from rate cuts because most of the rate cuts have already happened via the declines in bond and note yields which is what equities and most other assets are priced off of. So, it seems to me that containing the economic damage requires coordinated monetary and fiscal policy targeted more at specific cases of debt/liquidity-constrained entities rather than more blanket cuts in rates and broad increases in liquidity.

The most important assets that you need to take good care of are you and your family. As with investing, I hope that you will imagine the worst-case scenario and protect yourself against it.

===========

[RogeRio]

There are certain elements of the deep state hierarchy who are intent on crashing the economy before the next election cycle to make Trump unelectable. The whole Coronavirus scaremongering and hype is little more than a form of economic warfare to push things towards this end.

we may put somethings on focus to understand "the maneuver".

First, crash the economy is the (well knowed maneuver) to make a profit -- they spend time, money and propaganda to induce people to buy monetary bonds that give losses to the investor. At the other hand of these investments is the profit of those who sold the bonds, that can only effectively make the profit by making a loss to someone. So, the crash is the dead line between who gets the profit and who gets the loss.

Second, Trump will certainly be re-elected, but the more he is threatened with this likely re-election, the more he will have to spend money on political campaigning, and that matters a lot to the media, which makes a lot of money promoting campaigns (and news) both for and against whoever (candidate) it is.

Third, Coronavirus, it is the surprise factor of imbalance that is being used to promote a turnaround in everyone's plans. For Example, The money you saved to dine out with your family ends up being used to buy a box of protective masks that you may never need, so it’s an analogy similar to the titles that cause crash to the investor, because later they probably will be useless, but now it seem to be an better option to worth investing in.

[Luke Holiday]

Hello

Prognostications:

1. I agree with Jon Rappoport: Corona virus is a sham and the cabal controlled media is simply spewing CV fear porn in order to create chaos from which they will bring there intended order. David Ickes: classic problem reaction solution.

Professionally I am a licensed Physician in the state of Arizona and I can validate Mr. Rappoport's medically based assumptions regarding the CV virus being used as a tool or means to an end -just as Sars, Ebola, swine flu were used before them.

The primary difference, as pointed out by Mr. Celente, is the unparralled media driven CV fear porn created to falsely establish a source point for the current global economic slowdown and stock market corrections, when in fact it just poured gasoline on an already raging fire. Now, the cabal/government do not have to admit to/nor experience the repercussions of the global economic condition we all know they created.

Bottom line: I can say with certainty that the CV is not an epidemic and will certainly not become a pandemic ( it should in fact be treated as that influenza virus until proven otherwise); hence markets will come back at least 50% from where they are now as the trump administration/congress will implement whatever stimulus packages necessary to kick the proverbial economic can down the road until after the elections.

Now, After the elections, I predict that there will have to be a financial reset or some sort of major restructuring as lowering interest rates to zero causes the central banks to be unable earn and this is something they will not tolerate. If this is not done - there will first be deflation followed by hyperinflation. I cannot imagine these cabal bastards allowing it to get that far unless they are looking to impose some sort hypercontrolled China like society which would have to implemented out of the ensueing chaos.

[TomKat]

Now, After the elections, I predict that there will have to be a financial reset or some sort of major restructuring as lowering interest rates to zero causes the central banks to be unable earn and this is something they will not tolerate. If this is not done - there will first be deflation followed by hyperinflation. I cannot imagine these cabal bastards allowing it to get that far unless they are looking to impose some sort hypercontrolled China like society which would have to implemented out of the ensueing chaos.

I heard it's near impossible to get hyperinflation unless the government indexes prices to inflation. Now deflation, they've been fighting it since 2008, with money printing. But money printing is mostly just causing asset inflation and full employment. If there's a recession, that full employment goes away and we're back to deflation. As long as the world wants dollars, we probably won't have hyperinflation. More likely just a pop of the asset bubbles and higher unemployment.

Stock market's really worried about oil prices below US$40. That's WITHOUT any recession (yet).

[Luke Holiday]

Thank you for the clarification TomKat

government indexes prices to inflation.... ??? Could you elaborate on just what government indexes are and how they relate to inflation?


I see and agree: With the global interest rates being at historic lows, along Trump calling for negative rates (which already exist in some countries) the dollar is flimsingly hanging on as the world reserve currency, but as longs it remains Hyperinflation is unlikely.

As the world economic slow down ensues I would predict that many countries like BRICS nations and others would not honor this worldwide currency agreement - again leading to hyperinflation unless a global reset/financial restructuring is implemented.


Thank you


Luke


Also the price of oil in the 30's is amazing and indicative of the fear/belief that the upcoming worldwide economic slowdown/recession/depression is eminent.

[Bill Ryan]

In just the first few opening minutes of this new video, Dr Nick Begich sums it all up perfectly. The video's been posted on a couple of other forum threads, but I make this comment here because Begich correctly states the simple truth that no matter what monetary instruments the US Fed (or any other agency in any other country) tries to apply, it'll make no difference to the markets because the problems are all supply-side.

(In other words: if there are no products to buy, no financial incentives will encourage consumers to buy what's just not there.)

He's also correct inasmuch as these serious issues — and also those about to impact every nation's healthcare system — are all too real regardless of the origin of the problem, or even the possible motivation for any of this happening at all.

It doesn't what the cause is of the big avalanche. Best get out of the way, and prepare to dig your family and friends out of it if they get buried. The reason the avalanche happened is a different conversation.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niYUPV0LF0w

[ralfy]

If real data continue to track forecasts made during the early 1970s, we should be seeing problems with economic output a few years from now:

"Limits to Growth was right. New research shows we're nearing collapse" (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/02/limits-to-growth-was-right-new-research-shows-were-nearing-collapse)

[TomKat]

government indexes prices to inflation.... ??? Could you elaborate on just what government indexes are and how they relate to inflation?


In this context, index as a verb means automatically adjusted. A weakening currency will cause prices of imports to increase. In the US we let the middle class just eat that increase, so people go into debt or bankrupt or whatever -- because their salaries stay the same -- resulting in a recession. But what if they started to automatically adjust everyone's salary or pension to keep up with the weakening of the dollar? That's when hyperinflation takes hold. This is what was historically done in countries that had this problem.

[Luke Holiday]

government indexes prices to inflation.... ??? Could you elaborate on just what government indexes are and how they relate to inflation?


In this context, index as a verb means automatically adjusted. A weakening currency will cause prices of imports to increase. In the US we let the middle class just eat that increase, so people go into debt or bankrupt or whatever -- because their salaries stay the same -- resulting in a recession. But what if they started to automatically adjust everyone's salary or pension to keep up with the weakening of the dollar? That's when hyperinflation takes hold. This is what was historically done in countries that had this problem.

Hello Tom

SO currently we will likely be seeing a supply chain decline leading to greater buyer demand and higher prices for goods and services.

I would assume inflation is the result as my dollar will be worth proportionately less.

Hyperinflation will not occur until salaries also begin to rise proportionately in attempt to cover the rising cost of goods and services - is that right?

[TomKat]

government indexes prices to inflation.... ??? Could you elaborate on just what government indexes are and how they relate to inflation?


In this context, index as a verb means automatically adjusted. A weakening currency will cause prices of imports to increase. In the US we let the middle class just eat that increase, so people go into debt or bankrupt or whatever -- because their salaries stay the same -- resulting in a recession. But what if they started to automatically adjust everyone's salary or pension to keep up with the weakening of the dollar? That's when hyperinflation takes hold. This is what was historically done in countries that had this problem.

Hello Tom

SO currently we will likely be seeing a supply chain decline leading to greater buyer demand and higher prices for goods and services.

I would assume inflation is the result as my dollar will be worth proportionately less.

Hyperinflation will not occur until salaries also begin to rise proportionately in attempt to cover the rising cost of goods and services - is that right?

Yes, except declining supply does not create increasing demand, just higher prices. Supply goes down, price goes up. Demand goes down, supply goes up. Like a see-saw. But in a global marketplace, where currency has its own market, things aren't that simple. After the global panic of 2008, the US dollar (the least bad currency) went up in value at a time of decreasing demand (increasing unemployment) in the US, exacerbating deflation. Which the Fed is still fighting with money printing, asset purchases, etc. It looks like the Fed is determined to keep printing money until there's a complete loss of faith in the money.

[wegge]

I never understood how an economy could break down even if there was no more money or randomly changing Wall Street Numbers or anything at all.

No resources, no knowledge of processing them, (and probably also not millions of irreplaceable workers) would suddenly be puff! gone with the wind.

It seems to me just like a forced vacation that yes - for a time can disrupt supply chains - but if it takes up steam again and works normal (with no bombs being dropped at factories - or natural catastrophes - or aliens siphoning off some of our goodies) nothing would have been vanished and companies could even ramp up their halted productions, being well and rested from their holidays, eager to deliver again - having to catch up with a lot of business water that got walled up behind a dam.

All scenarios of breakdown are to me pure fiction, but if enough believe that story yes it can surely become a fact.

[TomKat]

I never understood how an economy could break down even if there was no more money or randomly changing Wall Street Numbers or anything at all.

No resources, no knowledge of processing them, (and probably also not millions of irreplaceable workers) would suddenly be puff! gone with the wind.

It seems to me just like a forced vacation that yes - for a time can disrupt supply chains - but if it takes up steam again and works normal (with no bombs being dropped at factories - or natural catastrophes - or aliens siphoning off some of our goodies) nothing would have been vanished and companies could even ramp up their halted productions, being well and rested from their holidays, eager to deliver again - having to catch up with a lot of business water that got walled up behind a dam.

All scenarios of breakdown are to me pure fiction, but if enough believe that story yes it can surely become a fact.

People are already being laid off. They won't be spending much at the stores and restaurants. Who will have to lay people off due to the decreased amount of business. Whose former employees won't be spending much... a vicious circle. What's not to understand?

[Luke Holiday]

government indexes prices to inflation.... ??? Could you elaborate on just what government indexes are and how they relate to inflation?


In this context, index as a verb means automatically adjusted. A weakening currency will cause prices of imports to increase. In the US we let the middle class just eat that increase, so people go into debt or bankrupt or whatever -- because their salaries stay the same -- resulting in a recession. But what if they started to automatically adjust everyone's salary or pension to keep up with the weakening of the dollar? That's when hyperinflation takes hold. This is what was historically done in countries that had this problem.

Hello Tom

SO currently we will likely be seeing a supply chain decline leading to greater buyer demand and higher prices for goods and services.

I would assume inflation is the result as my dollar will be worth proportionately less.

Hyperinflation will not occur until salaries also begin to rise proportionately in attempt to cover the rising cost of goods and services - is that right?

Yes, except declining supply does not create increasing demand, just higher prices. Supply goes down, price goes up. Demand goes down, supply goes up. Like a see-saw. But in a global marketplace, where currency has its own market, things aren't that simple. After the global panic of 2008, the US dollar (the least bad currency) went up in value at a time of decreasing demand (increasing unemployment) in the US, exacerbating deflation. Which the Fed is still fighting with money printing, asset purchases, etc. It looks like the Fed is determined to keep printing money until there's a complete loss of faith in the money.


Hello Tom, Dennis and fellow Avalonians

It appears to me, that a primary reason for the corona virus is to create a source point of blame for the global economic meltdown that is occurring right before our eyes.

We all knew this day was coming and the CV (as Mike Malony from Gold/Silver.com states) is the Pin that has Popped the everything bubble leading to major economic upheaval.

The CV conveniently provides the PTB/International Bankers the necessary ruse to divert attention/blame away from themselves for the creation of the current global economic crisis/meltdown.

From here on out, the MSM will divert all blame for a worsening global economic on the CV and away from the real perps -The GCB (Global Cabal Bastards ).

The CDC just gave the recommendation to limit all crowds to no more the 50 people - ( GCB speak/translation - Lets continue our social distancing campaign and prevent them from peacefully assembling).

Banks are not allowing customers into banks - relegating all business to be done via internet/phone and limited drive thru
(GCB speakTranslation - limiting the likelihood of a bank run)


I am also seeing a GCB planned worldwide CV testing procedure that involves DNA collection along with a subsequent worldwide vaccine agenda playing out.

I am seeing the primary medical test for the CV, known as the PCR test, has not been proven valid/reliable.

I am seeing a symptom picture of CV that delineates itself from the influenza virus in the form of lung damage and pneumonia - both of which had been occurring in extremely high incidence rates in the heavily air polluted Wuhan, china for years prior to the CV.

I see a media fear porn machine like I have never seen before... and it appears to be working as people run to horde TP (GCB translation: lets use the propaganda to maximize fear/panic in order to pacify the masses into acquiescing to our planned solutions (Problem reaction solution)


I may be wrong about this, and the CV may in fact have originated from some stewing batch of bat guano and maybe it is doing exactly what the official governmental organizations are saying that it is doing.

But the reasons I am vigorously questioning the official narrative is the obvious larger problem here: I/we simply do not trust our governments!

We have witnessed most major world changing events beginning with a false flag moment - Just as I believe we are seeing with current CV/economic meltdown.

PLEASE NOTE:

The above, is just how I see the CV/world economic meltdown tie in - based on all the evidence I have absorbed over the last several weeks. It is less important then the following half of this post, which is my attempt to understand what economically happens next.

This weekend, The Fed has committed over a trillion dollars to QE in the form of repos, 700 billion in asset purchases (they will own billions more in mortgages) and zero interest rates.

Based on my limited current knowledge, I believe that the current global monetary systems days are numbered and will likely not last until the November elections.

I believe we are heading for short term deflation, as evidenced by the historically low oil prices and global CV shutdowns. Within 3-5 months this will be followed by Hyperinflation. occurring when the bankers are forced to "Helicopter drop money" to bail out business's (… that are too big to fail - travel, oil industies etc) and US citizens in mass, in order to offset the rising prices brought on by low supply/high demand for good/services.

The Helicopter money drops will be a last ditch effort to keep the game going.

The charade will ultimately lead to the (planned) destruction of the world economic system creating chaos; thus harbinging the (planned) new monetary system. Right out of the cabal playbook - Problem, reaction solution/ and order out of chaos


How do you see it playing out? Am I close here...

Thank you

Luke

[TomKat]

How do you see it playing out? Am I close here...
Luke

It'll be a replay of the 2008 crisis. Dollar strengthening, gold, stocks and commodities falling -- a deflationary scenario. Followed by the govt trying to reflate (if they can this time).

[Michi]

I tried a quick Google search (in German), looking for "economical forecast covid 19" (wirtschaftsprognose covid 19) and NOTHING comes up. Only talks about the danger of covid 19.
To me this proofs a diversion to whats actually in the making.
I would like to have an answer to my question as to the economical forecast because of the global governmental restrictive actions.
What can one "expect" in the near future and for 2020?
Will there be a huge inflation or will the Euros become worthless all of a sudden?
Will most companies lay off their workers?
And finally, what would be ones own backup plan.

[onevoice]

I tried a quick Google search (in German), looking for "economical forecast covid 19" (wirtschaftsprognose covid 19) and NOTHING comes up. Only talks about the danger of covid 19.
To me this proofs a diversion to whats actually in the making.
I would like to have an answer to my question as to the economical forecast because of the global governmental restrictive actions.
What can one "expect" in the near future and for 2020?
Will there be a huge inflation or will the Euros become worthless all of a sudden?
Will most companies lay off their workers?
And finally, what would be ones own backup plan.

I googled "Economy Forecast Covid-19" and came up with the following economic forecast developed by Standard & Poor Global (https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/research/articles/200317-economic-research-covid-19-macroeconomic-update-the-global-recession-is-here-and-now-11392265) factoring in Covid-19:



Economic Research: COVID-19 Macroeconomic Update: The Global Recession Is Here And Now
Global Chief Economist: Paul F Gruenwald
Secondary Contacts: Beth Ann Bovino, Sylvain Broyer, Tatiana Lysenko, Shaun Roache
Sector Economic Research
Topic Coronavirus Impact

View Analyst Contact Information (https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/research/articles/200317-economic-research-covid-19-macroeconomic-update-the-global-recession-is-here-and-now-11392265#ContactInfo)

Key Takeaways


As the coronavirus pandemic escalates and growth heads sharply lower against a backdrop of volatile markets and growing credit stress, we now forecast a global recession this year, with 2020 GDP rising just 1.0%-1.5%. The risks remain firmly on the downside.
The initial data from China suggests that its economy was hit far harder than projected, though a tentative stabilization has begun. Europe and the U.S. are following a similar path, as increasing restrictions on person-to-person contacts presage a demand collapse that will take activity sharply lower in the second quarter before a recovery begins later in the year.
Central banks have swung into action and are undertaking some combination of sharply reduced policy rates, resumed assets purchase and liquidity injections. Fiscal authorities have generally lagged but have begun to loosen the purse strings; we suspect that larger and more targeted spending to the most affected groups is forthcoming.


Since our last update, which was on March 3, the spread of the coronavirus has accelerated, and its economic effect has worsened sharply. Economic data remains scarce, but the long-awaited initial figures from China for January and February were much worse than feared. The spread of the virus, which the World Health Organization declared to be a pandemic on March 11, appears to be stabilizing in much of Asia. However, the increasing restrictions on person-to-person contact in Europe and the U.S. have sent markets reeling as risk-aversion rises and views on economic activity, earnings, and credit quality deteriorate sharply. As a result, we now forecast a global recession this year, with annual GDP rising 1%-1.5%.

China's first macroeconomic data capturing the effects of COVID-19 was much worse than expected. Industrial production in China fell a staggering 12.3% in January-February compared with the same period last year, four times the consensus forecast decline. Moreover, while assumptions around the peak timing of the virus turned out to be broadly valid, the projections around the path of the rebound now look optimistic. Risks of secondary infections are slowing the lifting of person-to-person restrictions, meaning the recovery is likely to be more drawn out than previously thought.

Restrictions on movement in Europe and the U.S. are putting a severe dent in economic activity. COVID-19 is affecting all aspects of life. Travel is being curtailed, with passenger counts down sharply. Schools are being closed. Mass gatherings such as sports events and theater are being postponed, with knock-on effects on related hospitality industries (see chart). Offices and factories are being shuttered as companies move to remote work. And, most recently, cities and parts of countries are in or moving toward lockdowns, with all but basic societal functions on hold.

https://www.spglobal.com/_assets/images/ratings/research/2397971_11656283.svg

Financial markets have gone into freefall, and volatility has spiked to levels last seen during the global financial crisis. Equities suffered double-digit percent losses the week of March 9 as markets began to factor in the consequences of COVID-19 on growth, earnings, and credit. Day-to-day fluctuations sent the closely watched VIX measure of volatility to its highest level since the global financial crisis. Moreover, credit spreads were their widest in more than a decade, and that wasn't limited to speculative grade. Liquidity stress spread as firms and households shed risk and sought high-quality, liquid assets. All of this was made worse by the collapse in global oil prices, with prices falling below $30 per barrel as major producers failed to agree on supply cuts to support the market.

Central banks have responded with increasingly aggressive actions. In an extraordinary meeting on Sunday, March 15, the U.S. Federal Reserve slashed its benchmark interest rate to effectively zero. It also moved to ensure financial-system liquidity, increasing its holdings of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities, and expanded repo operations. The Fed and five other central banks announced an agreement to ensure dollar liquidity through the use of swap lines. Central banks in the U.K., Canada, and New Zealand cut policy rates in recent days as well, and the European Central Bank announced additional asset purchases and more long-term financing operations (but no policy rate cut).

As a result, we now forecast a global recession in 2020, with global GDP rising just 1.0%-1.5% in the full year.


China. Although the health situation there has stabilized, much of the economic damage has already been done. We now project growth of 2.7%-3.2% for 2020, with a flat second quarter and a recovery starting in the second half. Chinese authorities don't appear to be planning a big fiscal stimulus, though targeting spending will continue, and the People's Bank of China will intervene to keep liquidity flowing.
Eurozone. The virus continues to spread, and an increasing portion of the Eurozone population remains at or near lockdown. Tourism and investment have been the hardest-hit areas so far. We now expect the eurozone economy to contract 0.5%-1.0% this year. COVID-19 will affect first-quarter data (when we expect contraction) somewhat, but we believe the more significant hit will be in the second quarter, with a modest recovery to follow. The European Central Bank seems unlikely to lower policy rates much, but it will use cheap long-term refinancing operations (LTROs) and targeted LTROs to smooth the operation of the financial sector. We also expect stepped-up EU-level fiscal efforts to support the hardest-hit firms and populations.
U.S. The impact of COVID-19 in the U.S. has escalated rapidly, with restrictions following Europe with a shortening lag. The sectoral hits should be similar, with the key addition of the oil and gas sector, given the plunge in global prices. Owing to the strong start to the year and the lag in many key metrics, it looks like the U.S. will post marginally negative growth in the first quarter, with the big hit coming in the second quarter (a seasonally adjusted, annualized contraction of about 6%) before recovery begins in the second half of the year. The Fed has already acted, and its intentions are clear. We expect short-term, targeted fiscal stimulus at the federal level soon.


https://baggage-wm.livelink.io/wm.albums/gallery.photos3.walmart.com/galleries-2c52cbbca686f635f66a86aa9a3d526b-14580878031.jpeg?token=cnc5ZjYyYzsxNTg0NjEyMDAwO2MwZGQ3MDE3OGEwOWM5YjhiYzAwMjA0NWZi%0AZjRhNzQ0OWVlYz hjZDk5Y2IwOTc4YWFjMzYzM2UwN2Q0Mjc3ZWY%3D%0A


Emerging markets (EMs) are a mixed bag, and how hard they will be hit will largely reflect capital flow and commodity dependency. EMs with external imbalances--running current account deficits financed by portfolio flows (such as Indonesia, Mexico, and South Africa)--are especially at risk, as are those with a high stock of external debt (for example, Turkey) and oil exporters (including Gulf countries, Russia, and Colombia). That said, oil importers--including most of EM Asia--should benefit.


The risks to our revised baseline remain firmly on the downside. There are several things to consider:


As the early data from China has demonstrated, growing restrictions on person-to-person contact will affect economic activity. There are no empirical rules to estimate how this social distancing could affect key economic variables.
While monetary policymakers continue to ramp up their actions, financial conditions continue to tighten for most market participants. Moving policy variables with indirect effects on outcome might need to be replaced by more direct measures.
We now have China as a model for how the virus' spread could stabilize and society could begin to return to normal. As China has shown, restrictions could be lifted more slowly than originally thought as public health concerns persist.
It is difficult to measure how much output will be permanently lost as a result of COVID-19. While the focus now is rightly on containing the virus and measuring its downside effects, the strength of the eventual recovery will depend crucially on how much output can be replaced.


We will continue to monitor developments and update our forecasts as necessary.

Related Research


COVID-19 Credit Update: The Sudden Economic Stop Will Bring Intense Credit Pressure, March 17, 2020


. . .

[norman]

The Great Economic Transition Is Now Upon Us - Bob Kudla



aa2pISivZSQ

[Dennis Leahy]

So, there was a one day stock market crash, er "correction" on March 9th that caused trading to be stopped to put on the brakes. Some highfalutin shenanigans transpired, occult symbols were flashed, perhaps an infant was sacrificed and the organs eaten raw, and a few phone calls later, we are informed that the hole in the bottom of the boat was plugged with 1.5 trillion dollars (if I have that correctly), and the next day, trading resumes relatively normally. (after which it has been tumbling)

For posterity's sake, if nothing else, can someone explain, in simple terms, where exactly did the (1.5?) trillion come from (taxpayers pockets, future taxpayer's pockets, or just "printed" out of nowhere (gov loan from "Fed" international banks that devalues all US currency?) And, where did it go? (I didn't receive a check, did you?) Do they literally just give it to the corporations that are tanking the worst? Do they buy back the stock that was dumped? (I told you this is not my bailiwick. The only reason I never failed Econ 101 is because I never took it.)

[Gracy]

Amazingly Dennis, looks like they’re actually throwing a lifeline to Main Street this go around as well. I’m shocked to see it, but it really is the right move. Talk about a brilliant political move, Trump will be able to whack Biden and the dems upside the head with a page straight out of Andrew Yang’s hand book.

I think this might just seal the deal, can you say four more years? That’s Populism at its finest, regardless of motive.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/futurism.com/trump-admin-suggests-giving-americans-500-billion-stabilize-economy/amp

[Dennis Leahy]

Amazingly Dennis, looks like they’re actually throwing a lifeline to Main Street this go around as well. I’m shocked to see it, but it really is the right move. Talk about a brilliant political move, Trump will be able to whack Biden and the dems upside the head with a page straight out of Andrew Yang’s hand book.

I think this might just seal the deal, can you say four more years? That’s Populism at its finest, regardless of motive.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/futurism.com/trump-admin-suggests-giving-americans-500-billion-stabilize-economy/amp
Ha! The Democrats are putting a demented old anti-citizen, anti-environment, pro-war, pro-corporate Republican up against Trump. I don't think Trump needs to do anything, except keep breathing, to win. I think Caitlin Johnstone is correct - the Dems aren't even trying to win (like Big Time wrestling) their main task is to destroy any remnants of "the Left" (anti-war and anti- governance-by-corporation, pro-citizen, pro-environment, you know the actual, real "Left.")

Half a trillion sounds like a lot of money... until you divide it by 275,000,000 adults. What are you going to do with yours? I'm thinking Beverly Hills mansion with a ceee-ment pond. Or, maybe a mortgage payment and a few rolls of toilet paper.

I remember the check Dubya Bush sent me for $600. I think the money came from Iraqi oilfields.

[Ratszinger]

The flow of money is important. It's as important as new money creation. One thing a usury system of money lending and creating cannot tolerate is stagnation.

[Baby Steps]

So, there was a one day stock market crash, er "correction" on March 9th that caused trading to be stopped to put on the brakes. Some highfalutin shenanigans transpired, occult symbols were flashed, perhaps an infant was sacrificed and the organs eaten raw, and a few phone calls later, we are informed that the hole in the bottom of the boat was plugged with 1.5 trillion dollars (if I have that correctly), and the next day, trading resumes relatively normally. (after which it has been tumbling)

For posterity's sake, if nothing else, can someone explain, in simple terms, where exactly did the (1.5?) trillion come from (taxpayers pockets, future taxpayer's pockets, or just "printed" out of nowhere (gov loan from "Fed" international banks that devalues all US currency?) And, where did it go? (I didn't receive a check, did you?) Do they literally just give it to the corporations that are tanking the worst? Do they buy back the stock that was dumped? (I told you this is not my bailiwick. The only reason I never failed Econ 101 is because I never took it.)


Will have a bash at this.

So there is a private banking consortium in the USA owned by a collection of mostly foreign institutions called bizarrely the 'Federal Reserve'. People unquestioningly accept pretty much whatever this group chooses to do.

So what they did was create a bit of virtual paper saying that the US tax payer owes them, say half a trillion. The balancing side of that transaction is that the Fed types the number - half a trillion - into a computer, and nominal cash is created.

the above process has created an asset on the balance sheet, which is the interest bearing debt they now hold over the taxpayer, and a credit, to balance it, which is basically cash income for the Fed, the creation of which is not subject to tax.

The Fed then takes this cash and goes to the markets to buy assets with it. The asset of choice is government treasuries, which are more of the same bits of paper that the fed has created just before, but this time the Fed is purchasing these contracts on the open market from other financial institutions.

The effect of this is that the various financial institutions, who have just enjoyed a healthy gain on the value of the treasury bonds get to swap them for cash. Cue big party, yachts, and a boom in collectable wines, antique ferraris, and ming china.

A further effect is that the Fed has just , by typing numbers onto a screen, created a double hit of interest bearing debt on its own books, that is paid direct to the Fed by the Federal government from tax revenue( because they do not allow the Federal government to type any 'money creating' numbers onto any computers.

The Fed, blessed with a huge new income stream, shares the love around to its international owners, and more yachts and ming vases are purchased.

There are those who say that this is the only way to stabilise markets when dealing with this kind of uncertainty. I say it is the worst imaginable way.

The net effect of all this is that the US tax payer, via the Federal Gov, has taken out a huge mortgage, that it has to pay off, but it got nothing for it, because all the money ended up in the hands of the billionnaire class.

cue soap theme music

[norman]

The strategy to oppose trump has clearly not been a political one for a couple of years, just look at the tethered goats the opposition have been putting out at night.

In politics you put your best generals at the front and hide the canon fodder.

In war you put your canon fodder at the front and hide your best generals.

This is war.

but this isn't the thread for that.

[RogeRio]

I don't think Trump needs to do anything, except keep breathing, to win.

and I think you made a think brilliantly wise expressing the situation on this phrase

[Gracy]

Half a trillion sounds like a lot of money... until you divide it by 275,000,000 adults. What are you going to do with yours? I'm thinking Beverly Hills mansion with a ceee-ment pond. Or, maybe a mortgage payment and a few rolls of toilet paper.

I remember the check Dubya Bush sent me for $600. I think the money came from Iraqi oilfields.

What would you have a gubmint do then Dennis? What if this one or two time payment per U.S. adult of $1,000 - $1,500 or so per month turns out to be ongoing, until things even out? That's huge in very real every day ways!

Obviously people like Steve Mnuchin don't give a flying s**t about the average person, and this would only be a purely mathematical x's and o's decision to try and stave off widespred economic ruin, what exactly would you not support about the Fed printing digital money out of the ethers for Main Street, alongside the usual suspects for a change?

Now I'm not saying there aren't higher agendas afloat like just after 9/11, but for say the average restaurant worker suddenly tossed out to the lions, with the manager and owner soon to follow, what exactly would a President Leahy do in this circumstance that would make such a move look dour in comparison?

With the given resources at his disposal?

[Dennis Leahy]

Half a trillion sounds like a lot of money... until you divide it by 275,000,000 adults. What are you going to do with yours? I'm thinking Beverly Hills mansion with a ceee-ment pond. Or, maybe a mortgage payment and a few rolls of toilet paper.

I remember the check Dubya Bush sent me for $600. I think the money came from Iraqi oilfields.

What would you have a gubmint do then Dennis? What if this one or two time payment per U.S. adult of $1,000 - $1,500 or so per month turns out to be ongoing, until things even out? That's huge in very real every day ways!

Obviously people like Steve Mnuchin don't give a flying s**t about the average person, and this would only be a purely mathematical x's and o's decision to try and stave off widespred economic ruin, what exactly would you not support about the Fed printing digital money out of the ethers for Main Street, alongside the usual suspects for a change?

Now I'm not saying there aren't higher agendas afloat like just after 9/11, but for say the average restaurant worker suddenly tossed out to the lions, with the manager and owner soon to follow, what exactly would a President Leahy do in this circumstance that would make such a move look dour in comparison?

With the given resources at his disposal?

Wow, fun exercise. I'd hit each of the top 5 individual banks represented in the Federal reserve for their share of 250 trillion. (This assumes the rules of the game say the international bankers get to retain control over money.) That would be their buy-in to be allowed to continue their scam into the future.

(scratch pad)
1. Bank of America - $1,082B or about 20% --> 29% = $72.5T
2. JP Morgan - $1013B or about 20% --> 28% = $70T
3. Citigroup - $706B or about 15% --> 21% = $52.5T
4. Wachovia - $472B or about 8% --> 11% = $27.5T
5. Wells Fargo - $403B or about 8%--> 10% = $25T

Then distribute the whole $250T to (approx) 250,000,000 adults, which would be $1M each. That, and the bankers would need to hold an additional equal amount "off the table" for 1 year, and bring it back on the table gradually over 10 years, to keep the buying power of the active money about as it is now. That would be everyone's start over money, a million per adult (approximately), or maybe divide it by 327,000,000 instead, and every citizen, baby through old fart, would get $765,000.

Since the bankers (or someone who smells a lot like them) are ruining the existing (sick, pyramidal) economy, this might be enough for everyone to start over, without suffering hardship. (Sadly, leaving the bankers in control of money means we agreed to kick the can down the road, and would remain at their mercy.)

(Other countries would work their own deal out with their central bankers.)

You know, the bankers would probably go for it, to continue being the central banks. If they don't, then default on all debt to the Federal Reserve banks, and resume constitutional money printing and management, with the US Treasury printing the same $250T starting pile, and distribute it the same way. If the bankers try anything, declare war on them, imprison them all, and take everything from them except a toothbrush. This would actually be preferable, the government would print the paper /digital entries. The FED banks don't have the collateral or gold to back the paper that we've been using for the last 50 years, so why should we have to? We'd have USA-minted dollars, backed by Good Faith.

{edit} My post is crap, and doesn't advance this thread's topic or intent. I'll edit it down to one line, "Yes, Gracy May, as long as the US government is advancing the Fed agenda and trillions of more debt will be created, the more that goes into citizens pockets the better, but it is a sneeze in a hurricane, kicking the can down the road to deal with the issues a few weeks later, and several orders of magnitude too little to undo the damage to our ongoing economy as individuals.

[Soda]

Interesting main stream articles

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-fed-moneymarkets/u-s-fed-moves-to-ensure-liquidity-in-money-market-mutual-funds-idUSKBN2160FZ

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/19/reports-burr-loeffler-sold-stocks-ahead-coronavirus-marketcrash/2882006001/

[TomKat]

Here's a good interview with Jim Rickards, who's holed up at his solar-powered family farm. He talks about a possible Kurt Vonnegut ICE-9 scenario in the financial markets: If you close the stock market, you'll have to close all markets eventually, as people try every which way to get their money.

zj3ttaiSgvs

[onevoice]

I received the following synopsis of a financial forecast from a financial forecasting company:

What Lies Ahead
So here is the executive summary… our best guess about what lies ahead:

The world of getting and spending is shutting down. Without revenue, neither businesses, households, nor the government will be able to pay their bills.

Stocks will rise (“a dead cat bounce”, the old timers call it) on all the “bailout” news, and then give up another 50% of their value.

Business will default on its $16-trillion-debt pile. Millions of people will lose their jobs. The Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, says that upwards of 20% of the workforce could be unemployed.

The feds will print money by the trillions to rescue the situation. Spending will rise. But lower output… and more currency in circulation… will raise prices.

In the summer, the virus will slow down. Then, the economy will begin to recover. But people all over the world will begin to mistrust the dollar (and other “paper” currencies). Prices will rise as real growth is suppressed by inflation fears.

Most likely, the virus will return in the autumn, though there’s no way to know how bad it will be. But at some point, there won’t be enough “cash” to keep up with the rising contempt for it.

ATMs will run out. The economy – still fragile, with interest rates below inflation – will need more bailouts and more helicopter money to keep going.

Then, the feds will face a terrible choice. Printing more money may bring a hyperinflation, like Weimar Germany, Zimbabwe, or Venezuela.

But not printing will risk a deep depression… a “throw out all the bums” shock in the next election… or even a revolution.

What Paul Volcker will stand up and bring a halt to the money-printing? What Ronald Reagan will back him up? What Horatio will stand at the bridge and say “enough?”

The feds will make their choice… the same choice made by von Havenstein in Germany and Gono in Zimbabwe. They will print. Stocks will soar as people “rotate” out of bonds.

The bond market will collapse. Debts will be wiped out by inflation. So will debt-based credits.

Scenes of financial depravity, economic debauchery, and orgies of social degradation, violence and chaos – now unimaginable – will flash across every big screen in America.

That is, of course, a future. The future is something we wait to see.

[ralfy]

Related, from 2011: "Revealed – the capitalist network that runs the world" (https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354-500-revealed-the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world/)


AS PROTESTS against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters’ worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.

[Dennis Leahy]

Related, from 2011: "Revealed – the capitalist network that runs the world" (https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354-500-revealed-the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world/)


AS PROTESTS against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters’ worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.

Yes, this shows the brilliant representation of what I call the Global Corporate Network. Many people seem to think that the "elite" are completely hidden, but this is a fingerprint. Every elite is represented on the 3-D chart, and critically, it shows the interconnectedness of the corporations - so at the highest levels, these corporations don't really compete but rather cooperate with one another. You won't find a dot on the chart representing nefarious organizations and secret societies, but the individuals in those organizations and societies are all represented by the corporations they own, control, have major shares in, or sit on the boards.

https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/mg21228354.500-3_600.jpg

[AutumnW]

The forces of deflation are going to overwhelm forces of inflation, even with all of the money printing. Money has to be loaned into existence in a debt based system and when people aren't working, how's that supposed to happen. Plus, the smallest hint of a Depression and the banks will tighten regardless of how low the fed drops interest rates.

People are rushing out of the stock market and into American dollars. Doesn't mean the dollar is well managed or particularly strong. It just means that it's the leper with the most fingers, the tallest midget in the room.

And contrary to those who are under the impression that the dollar has no backing since it went off the gold standard. Wrong-o. It's backed by guns and has a proven history of beating up countries that step out of line.

That's pretty much why the dollar remains the reserve currency. It was about to be challenged by China and rather shortly thereafter China had a little accident bio-politics wise.

Anyway, Rickards is incorrect. Cash is king and gold has **** the bed. It isn't a safe haven anymore.

[TomKat]

The forces of deflation are going to overwhelm forces of inflation, even with all of the money printing. Money has to be loaned into existence in a debt based system and when people aren't working, how's that supposed to happen. Plus, the smallest hint of a Depression and the banks will tighten regardless of how low the fed drops interest rates.

Yes, the banks have been fighting deflation for over a decade by printing more money, and doing more of that will at best blow some more bubbles.


Anyway, Rickards is incorrect. Cash is king and gold has **** the bed. It isn't a safe haven anymore.

Gold is holding pretty steady in the face of paper contract sell-offs by Wall St gamblers raising cash to cover their margin calls. This happened after 2008, followed by a serious bull run in gold price. Silver has really tanked, but that's controlled, like gold, from the futures market (paper contracts). Physical silver is almost unobtainable, and you have to pay a high premium to get it because the low price doesn't jibe with the high demand.

[Dennis Leahy]

Yes, I poked my nose into the Kitko website to see what 1oz silver coins currently are going for. Silver was down around $12/oz yesterday, and in the past when i have looked, to buy a coin you had to pay a couple of dollars over the "spot" price. Like when silver was around $16/oz, a one ounce coin was about $18 or maybe $19.

Now, you have to pay between $5 and $6 on top of the spot price. A huge markup.

However, if you want to sell silver coins to them, they will buy all you have and pay you $12.50 per 1 oz coin. They also mentioned that demand has outstripped inventory, but I didn't pay attention to how long you'd have to wait to actually get the coins. They also posted that the Canadian mint that produces the desired 'maple leaf' coins was currently shut down.

[TomKat]

However, if you want to sell silver coins to them, they will buy all you have and pay you $12.50 per 1 oz coin.

Yes, that's why physical bullion is not a realistic short-term investment, it's more of an insurance plan against severe inflation or if fiat currency collapses. People buying these coins don't plan on selling any time soon. So they're really off the grid, financially speaking.

[Soda]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-29/bok-to-offer-12-billion-to-banks-using-fx-swap-line-with-fed

The Bank of Korea will provide $12 billion to banks in its first round of dollar injections using a currency swap line with the Federal Reserve.

The auction will be held on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Seoul time, and banks may apply for 7-days debt of up to $300 million, and 84-days debt of up to $1.5 billion, the central bank said in a statement. The minimum bidding rate will be decided on Monday.

The supply of funds is expected to help stabilize markets, and the central bank will hold more auctions considering the demand for dollars in the market, according to the statement. The $12 billion supplement is expected to be enough to meet market demands for now, the central bank said.

The BOK on March 19 agreed on a $60 billion swap line with the Fed as the spread of the coronavirus and a plunge in oil prices led to a rush for haven and dollars, resulting in a shortage of the greenback and a plunge in the local currency. The central bank last week said it will supply dollars to markets in doses using the swap line with the Fed, with the first round of the injection being substantially larger then the rest.

[onawah]

The COVID illusion and the currency reset
The reset: not all at once; step by step
by Jon Rappoport
April 6, 2020

https://blog.nomorefakenews.com/2020/04/06/the-covid-illusion-and-the-currency-reset/

"When this highly destructive farce is over, there are several ways things could go. In this article, I describe one path.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank (WB) are joined at the hip. In 2018, they double-knotted their ties by forming a partnership to monitor outbreaks and epidemics before they spread.

Basically, behind the scenes, the deal looks like this: WHO creates the illusion of global epidemics; WB steps in later, to pick up the pieces of the result—injured national economies— by shelling out loans to governments.

These loans always carry conditions. The prime condition is: let in private, roaming, foreign, predatory, private investors so they can take over vital sectors of a nation: energy, agriculture, water, etc.

But this time, WHO, as planned, has gone ballistic. The lockdowns are shredding economies. It’s not going to be “here’s a loan.”

It’s more on the order of: we have to bail out everybody.

How is that done?

Step by step, through switching over one kind of illusory money for another kind of illusory money.

“We invented one kind of money out of thin air, and it reached the end of the line. Now we have to invent another kind of all new money out of thin air.”

Universal guaranteed income (UGI). Eventually, for everyone.

It, too, comes with conditions, gradually implemented. Basically, the deal is: “we pay you, and you obey us.”

The behavioral side of the model is the Chinese regime, which works obedience through a “social credit score.”

Infractions lower the score. In which case, the violator can’t travel on a plane or send his kids to certain schools or stay in certain hotels or start a business. There are levels of punishments.

Infractions include walking a dog off a leash, spreading fake news, crossing against a red light, failure to separate garbage properly, business fraud—little and big offenses.

Under a global UGI, it would be: “Here’s your monthly digital check, now follow orders, or your money might be reduced. Be a good citizen.”

Of course, a system like this requires complete and utter surveillance, public and private, every which way.

The holy grail is energy quotas for every person. “Mr. Smith, this is your wall talking through the glorious Internet of Things. Your energy number for the month is reaching its limit. I want to help you avoid that limit and the social credit score penalties that would be enforced. I’m going to initiate brown-outs and dimming in your home for the next two weeks. Your Internet will be shut down—excepting the hours of midnight to three in the morning. Cook all your meals for the day between four and five am…”

Behavior control. What’s going on now is a tune-up for the future. Now they say: stay indoors, don’t let in visitors. Stand in line outside stores, keeping a distance of six feet. Report people who appear sick. Get tested. Wash your hands a dozen times a day. In the future, the list of rules and regs will be different, but the overall theme will be the same: be a good citizen and contribute to a better world. Be sincere and earnest and helpful. Don’t rebel.

And just like now, many, many people will respond: “Yes, thank you. I like the straight and narrow. I like the feeling of contributing to something larger than myself. I like the collective. I like the fact that we’re all in this together.”

A sub-population of these people will want to do more. They’ll want to join the government. They’ll want to help the government enforce the rules. They’ll want to “express their energy.” They would, if asked, gladly march in columns down streets, salute, hand out summons, make arrests, and even commit violent acts under orders.

They would wear crisp uniforms, and take oaths. They would want ranks and seals. They would like to be called ELITE.

Because history means nothing to such people, they’ll never know names like SS, Red Guards, or Stasi. But that’s what they’ll be.

Unless the whole plan for a technocratic Brave New World is exposed and falls apart, because enough people remember another name and know what it means:

FREEDOM.

When this fake pandemic crisis is declared “done,” several themes will emerge. They will be promoted in various ways, employing many messages. I’m talking about official government and media propaganda.

First of all, the “pandemic” will be described as major turning point in human history. A great shock to the system. All sorts of professional shills and bull****ters will talk about BP and AP. BEFORE THE PANDEMIC and AFTER THE PANDEMIC.

We will be told, “We can’t go back to the way it was before.”

The first great propaganda theme will be: HELP US BUILD A BETTER WORLD. This message is for the sincere people who want to pitch in and do good, in a collective sense. “Let’s build a better world where we can avoid these pandemics, or see them earlier. Let’s form a civilization where equality and justice for all is the top priority. Let’s all share and care…” If you’re looking for logic, forget it. In whatever way they can, the propagandists will imply that somehow the pandemic was a signal that we must “do better.” We must “get through it together” as we did during the crisis. The love we showed then must be the love we show now. An appeal to idealists everywhere who fall for vague generalities like cats fall for catnip.

The second great theme, aimed at the educated class and the technical types and the scientists and “thinkers,” will be: ORGANIZATION. “We must organize world civilization more effectively.” Because somehow, that was the problem Before the Pandemic. Lack of organization allowed things to get out of hand. We can’t any longer be separate groups and nations going their separate ways. Too much disorder. We need better structures in every phase of life. We need more interconnection and coordination. The educated class loves this stuff. It fits their image of success. If society operates like a machine, problems will be solved.

The third great propaganda theme is aimed at all sorts of people who emerged from their lockdown and self-isolation, took a walk in a park on a spring day, and suddenly remembered what they had been missing. Their relief nearly reaches a point of hysteria, as at the end of a World War. The theme is: NEVER AGAIN. “We don’t want to go back to those dark days under any circumstances, and whatever it takes, we’re on board. Tell us what to do.”

With these themes in hand, the technocracy can be enacted. We’re all for building a better world. We must organize it with t’s crossed and i’s dotted. And we must never go back into the dark.

Unless people remember what is left out. THE INDIVIDUAL. And FREEDOM.

Technocratic operators are counting on us to forget. They’re counting on many people who value freedom to say, “Well, it’s all hopeless. I know what freedom is, but too many others don’t. So why bother. I’ll just surrender and float on the tide.”

Floating is an illusion. The tide moves in a planned direction. Toward a shore that isn’t pretty.

Are things pretty now?

That’s called a clue."

[Bill Ryan]

Folks, recorded on 9 April, this is an economic and financial conversation that's FUN. :Party:

Starts slow, like a good standup comic, and then as the energy builds it gets better and better and better. Believe it or not, I watched it twice. (Watched it, not because there are any graphics, but because Craig Hemke is just such a fun, expressive guy to see speak.)

And, it's EASY TO UNDERSTAND. :bigsmile:

I know that Chris Martenson is an energizing breath of fresh air in everything he talks about and explains. But his friend and guest, Craig Hemke, is even better. He's like a financial Joe from the Carolinas. :) Very funny, and very bright.

The two of them should do a TV show together. It's great entertainment, AND a bunch of really clear insights. I often never make it to the very end of financial videos, but this one I wish was the start of a series.

Okay, so eulogies over — you can kinda see I enjoyed it! — here's the video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vqe0zsBVCI

[NewParadigmGuy]

Folks, recorded on 9 April, this is an economic and financial conversation that's FUN. :Party:

Starts slow, like a good standup comic, and then as the energy builds it gets better and better and better. Believe it or not, I watched it twice. (Watched it, not because there are any graphics, but because Craig Hemke is just such a fun, expressive guy to see speak.)

And, it's EASY TO UNDERSTAND. :bigsmile:

I know that Chris Martenson is an energizing breath of fresh air in everything he talks about and explains. But his friend and guest, Craig Hemke, is even better. He's like a financial Joe from the Carolinas. :) Very funny, and very bright.

The two of them should do a TV show together. It's great entertainment, AND a bunch of really clear insights. I often never make it to the very end of financial videos, but this one I wish was the start of a series.

Okay, so eulogies over — you can kinda see I enjoyed it! — here's the video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vqe0zsBVCI

Yes, this video is very informative and entertaining. If you are not aware, Bill, Craig Hemke does a weekly summary of developments in the precious metals markets called "Sprott Money News Weekly Wrap-up". It is usually under 30 minutes and is always published on YouTube.

What I got out of this, as an answer to the question in the title of the video "What's Next For Gold" is A HIGHER PRICE. This could happen through the market realizing that the supply of actual gold is nowhere near what was commonly believed, or through governments devaluing currencies (and thereby revaluing gold) as a means of dealing with the financial crisis, as they have done many times before throughout history.

It interests me the the Handbook for the New Paradigm states, in Volume 3, Message #1 "The controlling over-lords are intent on returning this planet to a bare minimum of tightly enslaved beings that can return to their original intent of stripping the needed minerals for the salvation of their own civilization at the expense of this planet and its inhabitants."

Much higher gold prices would undoubtedly stimulate the gold mining industry, thereby bringing larger amounts to the surface - ultimately for the benefit of our controlling over-lords.

[Denise/Dizi]

Great video Bill...


It's my opinion they will never get a money system in place that works "backed by anything" aside from our efforts... As everything is a "resource" and when we as a society go about trying to claim it, One person or group claims they own it, and the rest then have to figure out a way to get it from them. And eventually a grup will pool their resources to trick others into giving up theirs...

We have to learn to SHARE and not OWN our environment..

We could go about trading rocks, and someone would claim to own riverbeds hahaha.

We're going to have to evolve to some system, that takes our efforts as our money. Not harm the world. And not claim ownership of the land we steward.. But it is going to take a mass awakening for that to happen. And it won't happen in my lifetime. Unless of course a more highly advanced society steps in and places us in such a society. The problem will always be, those that finally feel they have worked hard enough to enjoy things a bit more, would then be being asked to back up and start over, like those at the beginning of the process, and as such they too would never agree.

[onawah]

See http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?106921-The-monkey-wrench-solution.&p=1352112&viewfull=1#post1352112 for some encouraging news.

[TomKat]

For a good discussion of where the economy goes from here, check out this interview with Jim Rickards and Pippa Malmgren. Rickards' arguments are more abstract and Malmgren's more concrete. Rickards says we have been in a technical depression since 2008 and Malmgren says we're going to see huge debt defaults in the 3rd world, countries that borrowed in dollars, as well as other countries like Italy.

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[TargeT]

Oil hit -$40 a barrel yesterday (IE, if you "buy" the contracts, they will pay you to come pick up oil at 40$ a barrel (good luck finding a place to store it)... granted it was just one contract but it will cause a panic i bet)
https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/033/648/asd.png
we are in for interesting times....

[norman]

The Rothschild central banks are being loaded up with bad assets. Extensive financial and political restructuring in Europe.


Jim Willie - We Are Now In The Process Of Dismantling The Rothschild Banking System, Target Locked

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X22Report Spotlight

[norman]

LaRouche Wants to Give You a Job Rebuilding the World — Why We Need 1.5 Billion New Productive Jobs


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Daniel Burke, LaRouche Independent for US Senate, NJ,and Diane Sare, candidate for US Senate, NY 2022, lead a discussion on the principles citizens and leaders around the world must introduce to society to address reality: you can't re-open an economy that doesn't exist! The warnings of Lyndon LaRouche about the British Empire's intent to depopulate the planet with their degenerate, financial monetarist system are clear as day now. This is the moment to end their system and replace it with an economy supporting every human on this planet and beyond.

[AutumnW]

This channel is super helpful. All of the analysts are superb. You can do a compare and contrast between the different experts and see how it measures up with your own personal experience and the experience of those around you.

I've always kind of been drawn to Jim Rickards. Even though he kind of mumbles, what he says is pretty much free of econo-jargon, so he is easily understood.

Nouriel Roubini is also pretty interesting and on point, but exaggerates a bit, probably just to drive home a point.

I will whip through a number of these, have already watched most of them and highlight which ones seem to be the best.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBH5VZE_Y4F3CMcPIzPEB5A

[AutumnW]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS0IKayjO-k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OFaZcC0lRU

Raoul Paul update and the demographic crisis, focusing on retirement. Brilliant.:clapping:

[norman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS0IKayjO-k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OFaZcC0lRU

Raoul Paul update and the demographic crisis, focusing on retirement. Brilliant.:clapping:


His point about boomer consumption falling off a cliff at this point makes it a perfect time to have a consumer/supply chain freeze on the back of a complete take down and review of the money supply system.

Mr global may have thought it was a good time for his move to go for his kind of new deal (total digital control etc). Mr screw-Mr-global has as good an opportunity to flip it on it's head and cut Mr global out of a different kind of new deal.

[norman]

On the Mr Global side of the plandemic, here's Joseph Farrell reading from the transcript of a May 11th interview with George Soros.


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In a nutshell, he proposes a new kind of debt package, for Europe at least, that lumps climate change and the corona virus together as a semi permanent crisis requiring modified financial institutions.

[norman]

The 2020s: Coming Decade of Crises and Turmoil

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I don't look at the future in the way this guy does, but for those who hang on to the old paradigm for their intellectual paranoia thrills, he delivers as good as any.

[onawah]

HOW IS THIS STILL SECRET?! Military Insider Interview: SPECIAL OPS REVEALED [DS] Hidden Secrets Pt 1
6/29/20
James Red Pills America

(This was shared on Facebook by Win Keech, who is a pretty smart guy. I know nothing about global finance, but I think Win does, so this is probably worthy of consideration. One thing for sure, Q fans will love it... )
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Part 2
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[greybeard]

Hi onawah
Took the time to watch both videos thoroughly -- pausing and rewinding as necessary.
What is being suggested in these is a major game change.
Going back to the original constitution and a new way of banking - all in place but needs starting up.
Trump seems to be hinting he is heading in this direction.
A question of timing -- he cant say exactly what he has in mind yet, if im right.
Of course I could have miss read what I watched.

Anyone short of time I would suggest skip the first video as the main thrust is covered in the opening of the second one.
I do think its important that people watch this.

Chris

[onawah]

I don't know how much what is on paper and in "legalise" is still being given due respect in the courts, which seem to be corrupt in their own right, though the courts have been the last stand for a lot of internal conflicts in this country.

In many cases of a war or a coup, whether civil or international (and it could be said we are experiencing both right now), the military has had the deciding playing card.

But there is little precedent to use as an example for what we are seeing now on so many different levels, so I'm thinking we aren't going to know who has the winning hand until the fat lady sings.

What continues to pique my interest is the number of things from the Book of Revelations that are appearing in the news, from 666 the number of the beast appearing on Gates' patent and the social credit system and digital currency, to record quakes, tsunamis, hail and locusts, incoming comets, fireballs, etc. all of which seem to be a bit too uncanny to be totally coincidental.

I was just referred by another Avalonian to this newsletter from Zeta Talk:
http://www.zetatalk.com/newsletr/issue718.htm

I hadn't looked at anything like ZT in years ( I pretty much stopped paying attention to channeled info quite some time ago), but there appears to be at least some credible info there.

I may post that on the Dutchsinse thread since it has a lot to do with predicting earthquakes.

[onawah]

See that very interesting newsletter mentioned at:
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?98526-Dutchsinse-and-other-non-mainstream-earthquake-reporters&p=1364385&viewfull=1#post1364385


I don't know how much what is on paper and in "legalise" is still being given due respect in the courts, which seem to be corrupt in their own right, though the courts have been the last stand for a lot of internal conflicts in this country.

In many cases of a war or a coup, whether civil or international (and it could be said we are experiencing both right now), the military has had the deciding playing card.

But there is little precedent to use as an example for what we are seeing now on so many different levels, so I'm thinking we aren't going to know who has the winning hand until the fat lady sings.

What continues to pique my interest is the number of things from the Book of Revelations that are appearing in the news, from 666 the number of the beast appearing on Gates' patent and the social credit system and digital currency, to record quakes, tsunamis, hail and locusts, incoming comets, fireballs, etc. all of which seem to be a bit too uncanny to be totally coincidental.

I was just referred by another Avalonian to this newsletter from Zeta Talk:
http://www.zetatalk.com/newsletr/issue718.htm

I hadn't looked at anything like ZT in years ( I pretty much stopped paying attention to channeled info quite some time ago), but there appears to be at least some credible info there.

I may post that on the Dutchsinse thread since it has a lot to do with predicting earthquakes.

[Ewan]

Jo Maugham QC@JolyonMaugham · 4 Jul

We are already pursuing a Government over the £108m PPE contracts it said it entered into with a chocolatier and a supplier of pigeon netting.

https://twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/status/1279311067785633793

The thread then goes on give a couple more examples of large funds disappearing out of public money into the hands of private entities.

Interesting and disturbing

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/108million/


How on earth did a company - Crisp Websites Limited - with last reported net assets of £18,047 win a contract worth £108m - and why was there apparently no bidding process?

The bare facts are quite remarkable. Here is the filing history of Crisp Websites Limited showing at 30 November 2019 it had net assets of £18,047. Here is the Official Journal publication of the 12 month £108m contract it entered into with Matt Hancock's department. That publication states there was only one bidder for that contract.

[amor]

The thing that makes me send out a warning is the BLOCK/CHAIN digital money concoction which seems a complete mystery/scam setup seemingly without collateral, proof of payment or ownership and no recourse when you are told you have been wiped out. Are people really this stupid? It seems so.

[onawah]

Fedcoin: A New Scheme for Tyranny and Poverty
by ron paul july 27, 2020
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/july/27/fedcoin-a-new-scheme-for-tyranny-and-poverty/

"If some Congress members get their way, the Federal Reserve may soon be able to track many of your purchases in real time and share that information with government agencies. This is just one of the problems with the proposed “digital dollar” or “fedcoin.”

Fedcoin was initially included in the first coronavirus spending bill. While the proposal was dropped from the final version of the bill, there is still great interest in fedcoin on Capitol Hill. Some progressives have embraced fedcoin as a way to provide Americans with a “universal basic income.”

Both the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee held hearings on fedcoin in June. This is the first step toward making fedcoin a reality.

Fedcoin would not be an actual coin. Instead, it would be a special account created and maintained for each American by the Federal Reserve. Each month, Fed employees could tap a few keys on a computer and — bingo — each American would have dollars added to his Federal Reserve account. This is the 21st century equivalent of throwing money from helicopters.

Fedcoin could effect private cryptocurrencies. Also, it would limit the ability of private citizens to protect themselves from the Federal Reserve-caused decline in the dollar’s value.

Fedcoin would not magically increase the number of available goods and services. What it would do is drive up prices. The damage this would do to middle- and lower-income Americans would dwarf any benefit they receive from their monthly “gift” from the Fed. The rise in prices could lead to Congress regularly increasing fedcoin payments to Americans. These increases would cause prices to keep rising even more until we face hyperinflation and a dollar crisis. Of course, we are already on the path to an economic crisis thanks to the Fed. Fedcoin will hasten and worsen the crisis.

Fedcoin poses a great threat to privacy. The Federal Reserve could know when fedcoin is used, who is using it, and what they use it for. This information could be shared with government agencies, such as the FBI or IRS.

The government could use the ability to know how Americans are spending fedcoin to limit our ability to purchase goods and services disfavored by politicians and bureaucrats. Anyone who doubts this should recall the Obama administration’s Operation Choke Point. Operation Choke Point involved financial regulators “alerting” banks that dealing with certain businesses, such as gun stores, would put the banks at “reputational risk” and could subject them to greater regulation.

Is it so hard to believe that the ability to track purchases would be used in the future to “discourage” individuals from buying guns, fatty foods, or tobacco, or from being customers of corporations whose CEOs are not considered “woke” by the thought police? Fedcoin could also be used to “encourage” individuals to patronize “green” business, thus fulfilling Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s goal of involving the Fed in the fight against climate change.

Fedcoin could threaten private cryptocurrencies, increase inflation, and give government new powers over our financial transactions. Fedcoin will also speed up destruction of the fiat money system. Whatever gain fedcoin may bring to average Americans will come at terrible cost to liberty and prosperity.
Copyright © 2020 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given."

[TargeT]

Oil hit -$40 a barrel yesterday (IE, if you "buy" the contracts, they will pay you to come pick up oil at 40$ a barrel (good luck finding a place to store it)... granted it was just one contract but it will cause a panic i bet)
https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/033/648/asd.png
we are in for interesting times....

i invested heavily in tesla, like eggs in one basket style.

I think we are in for a HUGE economic shift because of his various companies, I can expand if desired but "what is now" and "what will be" in 5 years will be very shocking in retrospect.

this will be a hidden economic boon for the US, a very disruptive individual (elon).


The thing that makes me send out a warning is the BLOCK/CHAIN digital money concoction which seems a complete mystery/scam setup seemingly without collateral, proof of payment or ownership and no recourse when you are told you have been wiped out. Are people really this stupid? It seems so.


do you understand what the blockchain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain) is?

I think you should look a bit more into it... it's honestly the ONLY WAY to guarantee trust that I know of (think of how many industries this will disrupt... ALL of the financial institutions for sure....) the blockchain is a godsend... digital money leverage it .... they are VERY separate things.

also... if your worried about "with out collateral" etc... definately quit using the US Dollar, it (as with almost all world currencies) is COMPLETELY with out collateral as it is Fiat currency (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money).

[norman]

The State of Our Currencies - Just a Taste

vQoEiOL4-Gkhttps://yt3.ggpht.com/a/AATXAJwyqR7mFVxso6z3DhlGsA_fuVaYLw-BVEGnuddpMA=s48-c-k-c0xffffffff-no-rj-mo (https://www.youtube.com/user/thesolarireport) The Solari Report


[6 minutes]

[onawah]

Corporate Communism and the Deep State
10/1/20
Review from Alexandra Bruce
https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/corporate-communism-and-the-deep-state/

"Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution is part of a four-book series developed from an academic treatise by economics professor, Anthony Sutton that was based on declassified State Department documents and Military records. It completely debunked the mythology of the Cold War as that of a struggle between the Capitalistic West and the Communistic East.

I adapted the information from Sutton's book to create a script for a short video report produced by John Chambers, which was released last night to help people understand how the same corporatist banksters that financed the Communist Revolution in Russia in 1917 are now financing the Communist Insurrection in the United States.

Similarly to what we've seen with Communist China, the financing of Soviet Russia was done by Wall Street and their black ops banks. Wealth transferred to China under the guise of "Globalization" was previously funneled to the Communist East, under the guise of humanitarian aid, military aid, loans, etc. This vital truth has been suppressed by academe and by the Mainstream Media.

Sutton concluded that the conflicts of the Cold War were "not fought to restrain communism" but were organized in order "to generate multibillion-dollar armaments contracts", since the United States, through financing the Soviet Union "directly or indirectly armed both sides in at least Korea and Vietnam."

Sound familiar? Neocons at the Project for a New American Century didn't invent "Endless War". These ideas came from an older Rothschild playbook.

In Sutton's The Best Enemy Money Can Buy, about the military technology transfers up to the 1980s, he summarized the main aspects of his research:

"There is no such thing as Soviet technology. Almost all —perhaps 90–95 percent — came directly or indirectly from the United States and its allies. In effect the United States and the NATO countries have built the Soviet Union. Its industrial and its military capabilities. This massive construction job has taken 50 years. Since the Revolution in 1917. It has been carried out through trade and the sale of plants, equipment and technical assistance."
We see all of this repeated in the Uranium One deal and in the never-ending “Russia Collusion” nonsense - parroted just yesterday by Trump’s ex-National Security Advisor, HR McMaster.

It is the same old game, centuries old!

Sutton's subsequent books were Wall Street and FDR and Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler, in which he detailed Wall Street's involvement in the Bolshevik Revolution to destroy Russia as an economic competitor and to turn it into "a captive market and a technical colony to be exploited by a few high-powered American financiers and the corporations under their control" and its involvement in the rise of Adolf Hitler and Franklin Roosevelt, whose policies he saw as essentially the same "corporate socialism," planned by the big corporations.

Sutton concluded that this was all part of the central banking establishment's "long-range program of nurturing collectivism" and fostering "corporate socialism", in order to ensure "monopoly acquisition of wealth", because it could not survive "if it were exposed to the activity of a free market."

***

CORPORATE COMMUNISM & THE DEEP STATRE

Black Lives Matter is a Marxist organization that claims to fight the power on behalf of the powerless, yet they have the backing of the most powerful corporations on Earth.

It may come as a surprise that the same can be said about the original Communist Revolution, which was financed by the banker elite. In fact, we see the exact same tactics being used by the Deep State today to finance the current Communist insurrection in the US as was used by them for the Russian Revolution in the early twentieth century.

In July of 2020, following the death of George Floyd, one hundred of the largest companies in the US committed to donating over $1.6 billion to organizations fighting racism and inequality. Companies that specifically pledged money to the Black Lives Matter Foundation included Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, Xbox, Warner Records, Pepsi, Gatorade and Uggs, among others

That same month, Hungarian billionaire George Soros announced that he was donating an additional $220 million to the Black Lives Matter movement, with much of the money going into efforts to control 2020 voting systems and to de-fund the police.

wave of protests and rioting swept across the United States, Soros’ Open Society cheered that this was “the moment we’ve been investing in for the last 25 years.”

They say $70 million will be immediately spent on plans for “ongoing efforts to fight voter suppression and disinformation and ensure safe and secure elections in the midst of the pandemic”. This likely refers to vote-by-mail programs and overturning ballot security laws. The remaining $150 million of the funds are part of a five-year plan to de-fund the police.

Alex Soros, George Soros’ son and deputy chair of the Open Society Foundations said, “This is the time for urgent and bold action to address racial injustice in America. These investments will empower proven leaders in the Black community to reimagine policing, end mass incarceration, and eliminate the barriers to opportunity that have been the source of inequity for too long.”

Soros’ group blames America’s founding for racial injustice and vows to stop it, saying “We recognize that the struggle to dismantle systemic racism is an ongoing one; it has existed from the dawn of the republic to the present day and is embedded in every level of government and in our penal and justice systems.”

It is clear from their tactics that George Soros and his Open Society Foundations are agents of the same central banking establishment that financed the Russian Revolution in 1917 and that Black Lives Matter and Antifa are instruments of the descendants of these same invisible trillionaires.

In his 1993 book, Wall Street and the Communist Revolution, Professor Anthony Sutton wrote that, “One of the greatest myths of modern history is that the Communist Revolution in Russia was a popular uprising of the downtrodden masses against the hated ruling class of the Tsars.”

What we find instead, is that the planning, the leadership and especially the financing of the Revolution came entirely from outside of Russia, mostly from financiers in Germany, Britain and the United States.

This amazing story begins with Jacob Schiff, who was head of the New York investment firm Kuhn, Loeb and Company. He was one of the principal backers of the Communist Revolution. He was also a major contributor to Woodrow Wilson's presidential campaign and an advocate for passage of the Federal Reserve Act.

During the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 and 1905, when Russia sought to gain control of a warm water port in the Pacific - and failed miserably - thousands of Russian soldiers and sailors were taken as prisoners by the Japanese.

Forces hostile to the Tsarist regime outside of Russia paid for the printing of Marxist propaganda and had it delivered to the prison camps. Russian-speaking revolutionaries trained in New York were sent to distribute the pamphlets among the prisoners and to indoctrinate them into rebellion against their own government.

When the war ended and these Russian soldiers returned home, they played a major role in creating mutiny among the military during the Communist takeover of Russia.

On March twenty third of 1917, a mass meeting was held at New York City’s Carnegie Hall to celebrate the abdication of Nicolas II and the overthrow of Tsarist rule in Russia. Thousands of socialists, Marxists, nihilists and anarchists attended to celebrate the event.


The following day, on page two of The New York Times, was the telegram from Jacob Schiff, which had been read aloud to this audience, in which Schiff expressed regrets that he could not attend but which described the successful Russian revolution as, "what we had hoped and striven for these long years".

Years later in 1949, Schiff's grandson, John, was quoted by a New York newspaper as saying that his grandfather had given about $20 million for the triumph of Communism in Russia. That was a lot of money back then.

One of the best-known Russian revolutionaries at that time was Leon Trotsky. In January of 1916, Trotsky was expelled from France and he came to Brooklyn, New York. Many believe that his expenses were paid by Jacob Schiff.

When Trotsky returned to Russia in May of 1917 to organize the Communist phase of the Russian Revolution, he was arrested by Canadian and British naval personnel, when the ship on which he was traveling was docked at Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was found carrying $10,000 for travel expenses, a very large sum, considering the value of the dollar at that time.

World War I and the Communist Revolution could have been stopped, right then and there, had he been detained but Trotsky was allowed to continue to Russia, due to the intervention of President Woodrow Wilson, who had given him his American passport.

What emerges is a clear pattern of strong support for Communism coming from the highest financial and political power centers in the United States; from men who supposedly were capitalists and who, according to conventional wisdom should have been the mortal enemies of Socialism and Communism.

In Trotsky’s book, My Life, he tells of a British financier, who in 1907 gave him a "large loan", to be repaid after the overthrow of the Tsar. That financier was identified as Lord Alfred Milner by White Russian General, Arsène de Goulevitch.

"In private interviews", Goulevitch said, "I have been told that over 21 million rubles were spent by Lord Milner in financing the Russian Revolution.” Another name specifically mentioned by de Goulevitch was that of Sir George Buchanan, the British Ambassador to Russia at the time.

Milner would later become the UK’s Secretary of Defense and a signatory to the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War One. In Winston Churchill’s book, The Follies of the Victors, he quoted Milner as saying of the treaty

"If humanity is to be saved from the nightmare of another Armageddon it will only be by the creation of a New World Order. These million-odd words of the Peace Treaty, with all its seals and signatures, will mean nothing if there is not a change in heart, not only in Germany, but in all nations. The League of Nations by which we set so much store will be reduced to impotence if it is not backed by the moral forces of an enlightened public opinion..."

Indeed, the League of Nations was founded by Woodrow Wilson after World War One but it failed to prevent World War Two it and was folded into what became the United Nations.

Sutton wrote that in Russia prior to and during the Revolution, there were many local observers, tourists and newsmen, who reported that British and American agents were everywhere, particularly in Saint Petersburg, providing money for the Communist insurrection.

For example, one report said that British agents were seen handing out 25-ruble notes to the men of a regiment just a few hours before it mutinied against its officers and sided with the Communists.

It was a repeat of the ploy that had worked so well for the Cabal many times in the past. Once again, the Deep State was working both sides of the conflict to weaken and topple a target government.

Tsar Nicholas believed that since the British were Russia's allies in the war against Germany, that the British officials would be the last to conspire against him. Yet it was the British Ambassador, himself who represented the hidden group, which was financing the regime's downfall.

In America at the time, the Deep State didn’t have the advantage of using the diplomatic service as cover, so they used a tactic that has become familiar to us today. They used a highly-respected non-governmental organization and came disguised as Red Cross officials on a humanitarian mission. The group consisted almost entirely of financiers, lawyers and accountants from New York banks and investment firms.

The demands of World War I had crushed he American Red Cross and it was taken over by these New York bankers, who purchased the organization with large contributions to operate in its name.

As Professor Sutton tells us, the Red Cross raised $2 million in 1910 from wealthy residents of New York City, like J.P. Morgan, who personally contributed $100,000.

For the duration of the war, the Red Cross was nominally made a part of the US Army and wore the uniform of Army officers. The entire expense of the Red Cross Mission in Russia, including the purchase of uniforms, was paid for by the man who was appointed by President Wilson to become its head, ‘Colonel’ William Boyce Thompson.

Thompson was the classic specimen of the Deep State at the time, coming from the world of high finance. When he attended the opera in Saint Petersburg, he was given the imperial box. People on the street called him the American Tsar. Socialist Revolutionary leader, Alexander Kerensky viewed him as the real Ambassador of the United States.

Thompson coordinated the Wall Street purchases of Russian bonds, totaling ten million rubles. In addition, he gave over two million rubles to Kerensky for propaganda purposes inside Russia.

Together with J.P. Morgan, Thompson gave the ruble equivalent of one million dollars to the Bolsheviks for the spreading of revolutionary propaganda outside of Russia, particularly in Germany and Austria. The agitation made possible by this funding led to the German Communist uprising, known as the Spartacus Revolt of 1918.

The Morgan group provided funding for both Kerensky and Lenin. And although both were Socialist revolutionaries, they were in fact bitter competitors for control of the new Russian government. By then, the tactic of funding both sides of a political contest had been raised to a fine art by the Deep State.

So, when we look at what’s happening in America today, we can see that many of the destabilization tactics being used against us are at least a century old and they were deployed by the financial elite to create the Soviet Union.

When you go to the Anarcho-Communist website, Antifa.com you are automatically re-directed to JoeBiden.com.

Although Biden may not tacitly approve of Antifa, he hasn’t really condemned them, either. However, Antifa clearly approves of Biden.

Biden’s Soros-backed running mate, Kamala Harris approves of the protests. She says the riots aren’t going to stop before the election and they won’t stop afterwards. Moreover, she says that they shouldn’t stop. She says that *we* shouldn’t stop. As President, Kamala Harris would double down on the current Communist insurrection. That’s why she was picked by George Soros.

House Bill 7120: the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 was introduced by Kamala Harris, Corey Booker and Karen Bass and it passed in Congress on June twenty-fifth but it has yet to pass in the Senate and to be approved by the President. Trump would never approve of it but Biden or Harris certainly would.

House Bill 7120 does to local law enforcement what the Trans-Pacific Partnership aimed to do to the US economy, which was to circumvent US Sovereignty and hand our power over to a transnational consortium.

Dismantling the police is the tried-and-true plan that NATO has used in countries all over the world to take over a country's police departments, city-by-city. It is a tactic that was outlined in Doug Valentine’s book, The Phoenix Program.

When you make a donation to the Marxist group, Black Lives Matter, the payment is processed by ActBlue. ActBlue is the activist arm of the Democrat Party, a party that has become Communist, almost overnight. ActBlue distributes these donation funds as they see fit, with most of it going to Joe Biden’s campaign.

If Joe Biden wins the presidency, the Deep State, comprised of the banking, corporate and media elites will have succeeded in ushering in a nascent Communist regime in the United States."
-PzZ1TdQZN8

[TargeT]

I will expand if needed, however.....

TESLA is going to be the biggest company on earth (at least for a while) and we are in the phase that "very few" know this.

Elon is almost the definition of altruism (in action).... I have already over doubled my investment and I don't even think this is what will be recognized as "the beginning" .

ALWAYS do your own study, your own due diligence.

I feel that this person is the most worthy to invest in (as a person as well as financially) due to his extremely disruptive and aggressive approach to sustainability (THAT is his goal, nothing else... the further-ment of human kind.... if you have read the DUNE books, you will see a simile)


anyway, the things he is doing will transform the entire globe (*again, I can expand if your research does not turn this up) with in the next 5 years.

Of all the dark I read and think on, this is one of the few ultra bright lights that I from time to time feel that is "too good to be true"... but again.... the pendulum swings and is always corrected, balance is always sought.... and it's been a bit dark lately................

[IChingUChing]

I will expand if needed, however.....

TESLA is going to be the biggest company on earth (at least for a while) and we are in the phase that "very few" know this.

Elon is almost the definition of altruism (in action).... I have already over doubled my investment and I don't even think this is what will be recognized as "the beginning" .

ALWAYS do your own study, your own due diligence.

I feel that this person is the most worthy to invest in (as a person as well as financially) due to his extremely disruptive and aggressive approach to sustainability (THAT is his goal, nothing else... the further-ment of human kind.... if you have read the DUNE books, you will see a simile)


anyway, the things he is doing will transform the entire globe (*again, I can expand if your research does not turn this up) with in the next 5 years.

Of all the dark I read and think on, this is one of the few ultra bright lights that I from time to time feel that is "too good to be true"... but again.... the pendulum swings and is always corrected, balance is always sought.... and it's been a bit dark lately................

Just a question - isn't Musk trying to put thousands of 5G satellites in space? I haven't researched his altruism but this would seem to point in the other direction of a control society. What's your understanding about this aspect please?

[TargeT]

Just a question - isn't Musk trying to put thousands of 5G satellites in space? I haven't researched his altruism but this would seem to point in the other direction of a control society. What's your understanding about this aspect please?

5g cannot transmit very far, and even "low earth orbit" is EXTREMELY far (a bit less than 400 miles in this case, and 5g transmissions are measured in hundreds of feet (https://www.verizon.com/about/news/how-far-does-5g-reach)).

SpaceX applied in the United States for use of the E-band (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_band_(waveguide)) in the Gen2 constellation. The generation 2 Starlink constellation is expected to include up to 30,000 satellites and provide complete global coverage. originally they used V band (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_band)

The E band is in the EHF (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_high_frequency) range of the radio spectrum.

Now, the military will most likely be a customer of it (and who knows what the NSA/CIA will have access too, one can hope not much as Elon seems to not bow down to government edicts)


Trump getting COVID is negatively effecting all the markets (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTdmwdGli0Q)... wait 14 days and she'll swing back up again; good buying opportunity if your an investor in tech.

[TargeT]

I haven't researched his altruism

Read between the lines on this short video.... he will use capitalisms own mechanisms to force transition to clean and VASTLY CHEAPER energy
zFRAIA9BF6g

its nothing short of amazing (and, exactly why TSLA is such a good investment right now, this will be the biggest company IN THE WORLD with in 5 years..... maybe sooner).

[onawah]

Goldman Sachs Charged in Foreign Bribery Case and Agrees to Pay Over $2.9 Billion
96,616 views•Oct 22, 2020

"The Justice Department
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (Goldman Sachs or the Company), a global financial institution headquartered in New York, New York, and Goldman Sachs (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (GS Malaysia), its Malaysian subsidiary, have admitted to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with a scheme to pay over $1 billion in bribes to Malaysian and Abu Dhabi officials to obtain lucrative business for Goldman Sachs, including its role in underwriting approximately $6.5 billion in three bond deals for 1Malaysia Development Bhd. (1MDB), for which the bank earned hundreds of millions in fees. Goldman Sachs will pay more than $2.9 billion as part of a coordinated resolution with criminal and civil authorities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and elsewhere."
D_7N94LgJ_s

[onawah]

Nordic Countries Are Not Socialist Paradises
Opinion: A Mom’s Research (Part 1):
Jean Chen
February 12, 2021
https://www.theepochtimes.com/a-moms-research-part-1-nordic-countries-are-not-socialist-paradises_3695026.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-02-12-3
Commentary

https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2020/08/04/spain-700x420.jpg
Stockholm, Sweden, on July 27, 2020.(Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images)


"As the mother of a 17-year-old in a deep blue state, I am often asked questions about socialism and communism. Not always being able to answer them, I have to do extensive research. I guess this is the situation many Epoch Times readers encounter: having to discuss these topics with family and friends.

One comment I received: “Yeah, I know communism is bad. But I want socialism, like the kind in Sweden or other Nordic countries.”

Indeed, Nordic countries are often used as models of “good” socialism by leftists, like Bernie Sanders, the Clintons, and Barack Obama. In 2010, National Public Radio praised Denmark as “a country that seems to violate the laws of the economic universe.” Although having high taxes, it had “one of the lowest poverty rates in the world, low unemployment, a steadily growing economy, and almost no corruption.”

In 2003, Sweden’s social democratic former Prime Minister Göran Persson used a bumblebee as an example to illustrate his country’s economy: “With its overly heavy body and little wings, supposedly it should not be able to fly—but it does.”

Dr. Nima Sanandaji, a Swedish researcher and author, wrote the book “Scandinavian Unexceptionalism: Culture, Markets and the Failure of Third-Way Socialism,” which provides a very good explanation of the realities in Nordic countries. Let me summarize the book for you in case you don’t have time to read it.

Culture—Not the Welfare State—Lead to Nordic Countries’ Success
“A Scandinavian economist once said to Milton Friedman (American economist, 1976 Nobel Prize laureate in economics): ‘In Scandinavia, we have no poverty.’ Milton Friedman replied: ‘That’s interesting, because in America, among Scandinavians, we have no poverty, either.’” —Quoted by Joel Kotkin, Chapman University professor

The welfare state is not the reason for the Nordic countries’ success. The Scandinavian societies had achieved low income-inequality, low levels of poverty, and high levels of economic growth before the development of the welfare state.

Before the implementation of welfare state policies, between 1870 and 1936, Sweden’s growth rate was the highest among industrialized nations. However, as the welfare state was gradually adopted between 1936 and 2008, the growth rate of Sweden fell to 13th.

According to Dr. Sanandaji, “High levels of trust, a strong work ethic, civic participation, social cohesion, individual responsibility and family values are long-standing features of Nordic society that predate the welfare state. These deeper social institutions explain why Sweden, Denmark, and Norway could so quickly grow from impoverished nations to wealthy ones as industrialization and the market economy were introduced in the late 19th century. They also played an important role in Finland’s growing prosperity after World War II.” (All quotations in this article are taken from Sanandaji’s book unless otherwise noted.)

The book indicates that religion, climate, and history all seem to have played a role in forming these special cultures. These countries have homogeneous populations with similar religious and cultural backgrounds. Protestants tend to have a very strong work ethic; a very hostile natural environment make Scandinavia a difficult place to survive unless a farmer works exceptionally hard; many farmers own their own land and have complete control over the fruits of their labor, so it has been financially rewarding to work hard.

Culture matters. It is the culture, free-market capitalism, and the rule of law that has made the Nordic countries prosperous, and made it possible to implement welfare policies without serious adverse consequences. It is also the culture that has fostered the success of the descendants of Scandinavian immigrants to America. Most of those migrants came to America in the 19th century before the implementation of welfare state policies. They were not elite groups, but their descendants are more successful than their cousins in Scandinavia, which suggests that the welfare state policies have impeded the growth of economy.

Southern European countries, such as Italy, France, and Greece, have adopted similar welfare state policies as Nordic countries, but have had much less favorable outcomes. Again, this strongly suggests that culture really matters.

Welfare State Policies Weaken the Nordic Cultures and Values
“It took time to build up the exceptionally high levels of social capital in Nordic cultures. And it took time for generous welfare models to begin undermining the countries’ strong work ethic.” —Dr. Nima Sanandaji, Swedish Researcher

Policies help to shape the character of a society. As Scandinavians became accustomed to high taxes and generous government benefits, their sense of responsibility and their work ethic gradually deteriorated.

When asked during a 1981–84 survey if “claiming government benefits to which you are not entitled is never justifiable,” 82 percent of Swedes and 80 percent of Norwegians agreed. But in a similar survey in 2005–08, only 56 percent of Norwegians and 61 percent of Swedes agreed with the statement.

Generous welfare benefits reduce the incentives for taking a job or working hard. It also weakens parents’ incentives to teach their children to work hard. More and more people have become dependent on government welfare payments. And the dependency would pass from one generation to the next. This growing population in turn voted to support more welfare and bigger government, and therefore higher taxation, which has pushed the Nordic countries toward more extremes of socialism.

Are Scandinavians More Tolerant of High Taxes? No.
“Fiscal illusion distorts democratic decisions and may result in ‘excessive’ redistribution.” —Jean-Robert Tyran, Swiss Economist, and Rupert Sausgruber, Austrian economist

Scandinavians have not been fully aware of the cost for a bigger government. Politicians have created a “fiscal illusion” in which a large portion of taxes is indirect or hidden, like those in effect before wages are paid, in the form of employers’ fees or employers’ social security contributions, and those included in the listed price of goods, like VAT. These taxes eventually fall on all people, but they are not aware of them.

Dr. Sanandaji described a survey conducted in 2003: “The Swedish public was asked to estimate the total amount of taxes they paid. The respondents were reminded to include all forms of direct and indirect taxation. Almost half of the respondents believed that the total taxes amounted to around 30–35% of their income. At the time of the survey, the total tax rate levied on an average income earner, including consumption taxes, was around 60%.”

According to a database of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Dr. Sanandaji’s calculations, from 1965 to 2013, all Nordic nations’ tax burdens have increased significantly, but most of their visible taxes have decreased, except in Denmark.

This has successfully created an illusion that government expansion would not cost much. So why not elect politicians that expand government size and increase welfare?

A Failed Socialist Experiment in Sweden
“Sweden is the world champion in ‘jobless growth’.” —Headline of a 2006 article in the Swedish business daily Dagens Industri

From the beginning of the social democratic era in the 1930s until the 1960s, Nordic countries had remained relatively free-market-oriented, and had similar tax levels as other industrialized nations.. It was at the beginning of the 1970s when radical social democratic policies were adopted, and the fiscal burden and government spending reached high levels.

Sweden went the furthest toward socialism among Scandinavian nations since the late 1960s. The basic idea was to replace free markets with a model closer to a socialist planned economy. “Not only did the overall tax burden rise, but the new system also discriminated heavily against individuals who owned businesses. As politics radicalized, the social democratic system began challenging the core of the free-market model: entrepreneurship.”

According to Swedish economist Magnus Henrekson, in 1980, “the effective marginal tax rate (marginal tax plus the effect of inflation) that was levied on Swedish businesses reached more than 100 percent of their profits.” This means that a private entrepreneur would actually lose money if he or she made a profit. Henrekson draws the conclusion that the tax policies were “developed according to the vision of a market economy without individual capitalists and entrepreneurs.”

The result of the policy is obvious: the establishment of new businesses dropped significantly after 1970. In 2004, “38 of the 100 businesses with the highest revenues in Sweden had started as privately owned businesses within the country. Of these firms, just two had been formed after 1970. None of the 100 largest firms ranked by employment were founded within Sweden after 1970. Furthermore, between 1950 and 2000, although the Swedish population grew from 7 million to almost 9 million, net job creation in the private sector was close to zero.”

As for the jobs in the public sector, they increased significantly until the end of the 1970s. At that point, the public sector could not grow larger because taxes had already reached the highest possible level. “When the welfare state could grow no larger, overall job creation came to a halt—neither the private sector nor the public sector expanded.”

At the beginning of the 1980s, “employee funds” were introduced in Sweden. It was to take away a portion of companies’ profits and transfer them to funds controlled by labor unions. The purpose was to achieve socialism moderately by gradually transferring the ownership of private companies to the unions. “Although the system was abolished before it could turn Sweden into a socialist economy, it did manage to drive the founders of IKEA, Tetra Pak, H&M, and other highly successful firms away from the country.”

The dreadful policy of “employee funds” was finally abolished in 1991, which is around the time that Sweden faced its most severe economic crisis since WWII. It took almost two decades for the employment to reach its pre-1990 level. As a comparison, it took only seven years for Sweden to recover, in terms of employment, from the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Finally, Welfare Reform
“Sweden was the more socialist of the Scandinavian countries a few decades ago. It is also the country that has reformed the most.” —Dr. Nima Sanandaji, Swedish Researcher

Beginning in the 1990s, almost all Nordic nations realized that welfare reform is inevitable, except Norway. In 1969, one of the largest offshore oil fields in the world was found in Norwegian waters. The oil wealth makes it possible to sustain its generous welfare systems. Since Sweden and Norway are quite comparable in many ways except for welfare reform, it is a great experiment to see the impact of the reform.

The reform in Sweden includes reducing welfare benefits, lowering taxes, liberalizing the labor market, and implementing gate-keeping mechanisms for receiving sickness and disability benefits. After the reform, from 2006 to 2012, the population supported by government benefits decreased from 20 percent to 14 percent in Sweden. In comparison, the population supported by government benefits in Norway decreased by only less than 1 percent in the same period of time.

For young Norwegians, there is very little incentive to work hard. Employers are therefore turning to foreign labor, including from Sweden. Between 1990 and 2010 the number of young Swedes employed in Norway increased by more than 20 times because of higher wages in Norway brought by oil revenues. According to a survey of Norwegian employers, three out of four answered that Swedish youth work harder than Norwegian youth.

After the reform, during the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, Sweden showed impressive economic performance. The reforms lead to greater economic freedom, stronger incentives for work, and less reliance on government welfare.

Denmark and Finland also reformed their welfare systems. Even in Norway, some market reforms have been made. More are likely to come.

A Caution to Americans
The Nordic nations are returning to their free market roots. They have learned their lessons through their forays into welfare states or even tentative socialism, and have turned around from a dead end. We Americans should not fall for leftist propaganda and rush into a future that is doomed to failure.

Jean Chen is originally from China, and writes under a pen name in order to protect her family in China.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times."

[Matthew]

I popped into this sub-forum and the forum software notified me that there has not been a post in this sub-forum in the past 60 days - a long time in a supposedly precarious economy.

We know that the mainstream economic prognosticators and trend watchers are owned and controlled by the corporate media, a subset of the Global Corporate Network, so we know the mainstream talking heads are not to be believed. Jon Stewart, to his credit, ambushed and disemboweled a particularly egregious syndicate lapdog, Jim Cramer, for shepherding people to buy Bear Stearns just before they collapsed. (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jon+stewart+cramer) But, most of the compromised, corporately entangled talking heads just sell whatever their bosses tell them to, and have not been called out.

Formerly active member and admin, Paul, and physically recovering member and admin, Hervé, used to keep this topic current, but are not here to do this now.

Can someone step in and fill the shoes (I sure can't.)

I must say that I would not personally be interested in having someone just post links to their blog, and really, it would be good if the person/persons that step up to fill this role are truly independent and can provide some analysis and not just links to Gerald (https://www.youtube.com/user/gcelente/videos) Celente (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfwFvNaL-QU) or whoever's videos. Buying a can of beans or paying a mortgage payment affect pretty much all of us, so - boring as the topic can be - it's kinda important.

No, no I can't. Trying to understand financial markets make me drool and then brain hurt. I will bump the request though.

Here's a video by a popular, professional crypto-currency trader, MMCrypto. He doesn't talk about anything but crypto trading normally, only examining the last few hours of Bitcoin at a time. But here he chats more about how bitcoin fairs against other typical investments. Bitcoin is bombing right now; it's price has dropped by half or something like that. So this guy is reassuring Bitcoin holders, expressing his opinion that conventional financial system are in serious trouble. He says there's a reason to freak out

6itJDG2e2HA

[TargeT]

its all built on a system that is manipulated by a small pool of people, we are currently poised for a "correction" (could be very dramatic if the commercial real-estate situation follows the 2008 pattern).

not a good time to be a casual stock investor, a GREAT time to sell a house and take advantage of these silly high prices; I expect the summer will be a big ugly as the fed realizes you can't just print money for a year with no consequence.

I'd expect echo's of inflation to stick around... definitely time to be more risk adverse than the last year.

[TomKat]

Good time to sell your bitcoin, if you have any. Bitcoin is riding the "everything bubble" that seems about to burst.
Jim Rogers says that as long as bitcoin remains just an investment asset, governments will probably not outlaw it. But if it ever starts competing with fiat currency as an everyday currency, it will probably be outlawed.

[onawah]

If there is a plan to take down the US (which I don't doubt at all), it won't be hard given how busy Congress has been over the years giving billions away for nonsensical projects, and even now in this financial crisis, the madness continues as usual.
It's nothing new to be sure, but continues to be as mind-boggling as ever, and one can't help but wonder how on earth the Senators and Representatives can sleep at night.
Case in point, 7 million to a project developing a Smart toilet that flushes automatically and takes photos of your derriere while you are eliminating.
( What is this, some kind of new fetish? :facepalm: )
"You Can't Make This Stuff Up": Rand Paul Continues Listing Wasteful Government Spending
69,588 views•May 28, 2021
7.6K
Forbes Breaking News
412K subscribers
"In further Senate floor remarks this morning, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) listed "wasteful" NIH studies that he says squander taxpayer money."
W-wFwESIAK0

[norman]

If a history lesson isn't what you want, the last 15 mins of this is the place to dive in.

The plan for war is for a global contagion (not the biological kind) that Europe wanted to orchestrate but is losing control of it.

Martin recommends that people have 2 years worth of food stashed. (that's a lot)

Martin Armstrong Interview with Daniel Estulin (English)
Martin Armstrong - Sep 10, 2025

qp0SHZO7R98

[onawah]

What the GENIUS ACT Will Soon Bring
Greg Reese/The Reese Report
gregreese@substack.com
9/17/25

"While Charlie Kirk’s death is being used by political agents to attack freedom of speech and to further divide an already divided nation, many are wondering, what happens next. And most financial analysts these days will tell you what’s next, radical change in the US economy is coming.

The U.S. government is facing a criminally irresponsible debt crisis. The world is losing faith in the dollar and growing more and more disgusted with the crimes against humanity that the USD money printing machines are funding every day.

Cutting spending didn’t work. And the next attempt to try and save the US debt based system can be found in the recent, “Genius Act.”

In short term investing, the volatility of Bitcoin can allow a person to profit immensely, but only if they have a stable-coin to convert to when the market corrects itself. This is the foundational purpose of a stable-coin, to maintain a stable value so that one’s investment can be temporarily secured. The plan outlined in the Genius act is to create an increased demand for US debt by requiring stable-coin companies to be backed by U.S. debt, thereby using stable-coins as a way to funnel global money into U.S. government debt.

President Putin’s adviser, Anton Kobyakov, says that the US is planning a worldwide crypto rug pull to erase its massive debt by creating a US debt based stable-coin system, and then devalue it, robbing the people of their money to pay off it’s debt.

Of course this is all just money out of thin air. A desperate "monetary sleight-of-hand" that doesn't create any new wealth, and only shows that the system has failed. To show that Russia and other countries will not go along with this, he also said that the world will split up into zones.

This is referring to a multi-polar world where different sets of rules are applied to different zones, and signals the strong possibility that BRICS will not be buying US debt in the near future. It is important to remember that the term and the idea of BRICS was conceived in 2001 by an economist at Goldman Sachs.

U.S. regulations on stable-coins will likely push the market offshore where stable-coin issuers will turn to Real World Assets over US debt. The US will then have to manage the debt crisis by taxing the American people, most likely, with a carbon tax system.

Stable-coins have been predominantly used for investing, but they also have the ability to freeze and seize your money. Which should please Trump supporters who have been giddy school girls over canceling people who offend them online.

The future of technocratic banking control is already being deployed in Vietnam, who recently implemented a nationwide digital ID system that requires both citizens and foreign residents to permit the government to store their biometric data in a centralized database. Participation is not optional, and all accounts without biometric data will be closed to prevent scams and fraud. The Vietnamese government has already erased and/or frozen 86 million bank accounts. And Vietnam is just the beta test, this is going worldwide. "

v6wwdys/?pub=4