LOTS OF MARTIN ARMSTRONG TODAY
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From South Korea
COMMENT: Mr Armstrong,
Thank you for your recent pieces about South Korea. I have lived in Seoul for 10 years and regularly talk with educated people about the issue. Consensus seems to be that North Korea will not start a full-blown war because they have as much to lose as we have (not in nominal terms but in absolute terms—their rulers would lose all of their power if South Korea decided to push through the DMZ and retake the country). As a US general stated last year when questioned what would happen if North Korea started a war with the south, “we’d be at the Chinese border within three weeks.”
In addition, I would like to draw your attention to our current president, Park Geun-hye. Both of her parents were assassinated by North Korean spies when she was a child, and l must say this woman has mettle up there with Margret Thatcher. If North Korea were to invade during her reign (2013~2018), there will be an immediate and devastating response.
Hopefully the status quo will be maintained, but as you have said time and time again, when the economy turns down in 2016, all bets are off.
Kind regards
JK
REPLY: The reasoning that the North has as much to lose as the South assumes there is a logical thinking process behind decisions. That is mistake NUMBER ONE. The country who is more prosperous is always invaded by the lessor. Mycenae took Troy and Crete when their economies turned down. Rome fell to the barbarian invasions when its economy turned down. Chine fell to Mongolia when its economy turned down. The first rule of history – NEVER judge your opponent by yourself.
The Romans feared the Celts because they would charge at them like wild-men. Women were also warriors among the Celtic and they all invented tattoos. They did not fear death for they believed that if they died, they were simply reborn. Therefore, it does not matter what you believe, it is what they believe. The Japanese kamikaze pilots died because they believed the Emperor was God. They were the divine wind that would protect Japan. Consequently, it did not matter we the West believed, more than 4,000 Japanese died as kamikaze pilots.
North Korea is not run by a logical experienced head of state. The danger here is when the economy turns down, his own people will turn against him and there in lies the problem. This is when war unfolds during economic declines. To retain power, he needs an external enemy. That will occupy his people and he survives.
The comment that the South would be at the border of China within 3 weeks is rather childish. China has already state it will not tolerate such a move there. This only introduces a lot more complication. It seems unlikely that there will be any invasion before 2015.75. Keep in mind, the confrontation with Russia creates support for North Korea.
Thank You All – I do Get More Thanks than Hate Mail These Days
COMMENT:
A few years ago my father showed me some articles of a man writing from a prison with weird drawing and about economics. I had no idea who you were or what u did. In the last 3 or so years I read and listen to Everything , I can from you. Including the video clip of you talking about the feeling of rain outside of the NY detention jail and expressing your feelings. This made me think that there was a lot more to you and your story. I researched everything I could on the internet about yourself.
I am a very small investor compared to your clients, a very small fish in the ocean. I wanted to thank you in so many ways for sharing all of your knowledge and experiences, with each I gain a little more knowledge from. You have opened my eyes to see how the world thinks and works from an insider from whom which I would never have had the chance to be able to understand from. Besides all of the models and the accuracy of them, I have learned a great deal regarding the macro picture of how things work economically and financially. By moving one little piece and how it can affect the many other moving parts. I have a new way of looking at everything that is going on in the world. I could go on much further in detail but respect your time. Thank You so much for opening my eyes to what is really going on. I really enjoy reading anything that you write.
P.S.
I thoroughly enjoyed the conference in Philadelphia, “How to Survive Your Own Trading Decisions”, and look forward to the manual that you are updating, thank you again. I would have liked to attend the two-day economic conference but my budget would not allow it.
Thank You For Helping The “Small Guy”, this is a sign of your humbleness.
REPLY: I want to thank all the people who have been emailing to show their support. I supposed I have tended to show all the hate mail and not the support mail. It is nice to know that people are starting to grasp what I have seen these many years running around the world. This is me when we were starting Japan and this was my partner – Jack King who died in 1997. I may not have been fortunate in finding a wife, but I was very fortunate to have some very good partners I could trust. That is not an easy thing to find. We also had 240 employees around the globe helping to build a database that nobody else would spend the time or money to create.
I have the most loyal client-base that anyone could dream of. I have always felt we were all in this together. They too have contributed and shared in this journey that could never have done with out their encouragement and support.
So thank you all. And that is from the bottom of my heart.
SEC Lawyer confirm Gov’t Will Do Nothing to Big Institutions EVER!!!! American Corruption at its finest
Retiring SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) trial attorney James Kidney blasted the SEC telling the truth from the inside that his bosses were too“tentative and fearful” to bring many Wall Street leaders to heel after the 2008 credit crisis. This is what everyone knows, including journalists, but nobody will speak publicly about this mess. They OWN the regulators by every possible angle. They OWN the Department of Justice and they OWN Congress. We live in a world engulfed in corruption and NOBODY in Washington will do a damn thing for the people.
Global Market Watch April 8th, 2014
Gandhi & Cycle of Life
COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong; You are truly making a huge difference. I am writing from India. All I can tell you is what Mahatma Gandhi said applies very much to you:
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.”
The British also imprisoned Gandhi and of course there was Mandela in South Africa. You are completing the cycle of Gandhi. Anyone who stands up against the establishment for honest change has a the quality of a high-soul, and the proof is their imprisonment for they do not imprison those who care nothing about change.
AB
REPLY: That is a very interesting cycle of life that I must confess, is a great and very true observation. Whether it applies to me, we will see. I still have to win. Thank you very much. We all have to fight this battle to win. It is our future and that of our children. This is a worldwide struggle for real liberty. If I can leave that one gift behind to my own posterity, it was all worth it.
American Oligarchy – Harry Reid’s Doing
The US has been hunting down American citizens on a worldwide basis. Individuals can not expand their business overseas and Congress has destroyed American entrepreneurship on a grand scale. The ONLY Americans who operate overseas are now the MAJOR public corporations since there is a presumption that they are not hiding money – only individuals would do that. However, Reuters is reporting that while US cash is at record highs of $1.64 trillion, the foreign profits held overseas by the major American corporations to avoid taxes at home has nearly doubled from 2008 to 2013 to and exceeds $2 trillion.
FATCA has established the same type of system as Russia – the oligarchy. Where small business cannot compete against the oligarchs in Russia, the same is now happening domestically. Then people like McCain want to force small business to collect every state’s sales tax under penalty of law, yet with no compensation for the administrative burden.
ONLY the major big multinational can function overseas. Everyone else in American has been block by Harry Reid’s dream of “social justice” creating Tax-Disneyland by hunting American and just seizing everything in sight to fund his own lavish retirement for he became the leader of the Senate in January 2007 in time to help create the crash. Reid does not go after those who are the big contributors. He never once demanded the NY culprits be prosecuted. If he is well paid-off, he attacks the middle class and prevent small business from competing against his contributors.
Brawl in Ukrainian Parliament – Politicians Behaving Normal
Tensions turn into a brawl in the Ukrainian Parliament. This is precisely what the people were revolting against – total government corruption and this constant desire for one side to oppress another. We may yet see this in an ever increasing number of governments on a global scale.
Ukraine – Debt – War – Corruption
Ukraine ended the pro-Russia occupation of administration buildings but armed protesters hold out in other cities. They are armed and this seems to be creating a situation where Russia can argue they are needed to protect Russian living there. There is no doubt that Russia will eventually seize Ukraine but just how will be more of a justification rather than a raw power grab.
The topic of Debt-War-Corruption of the Conference appears to be on target. We are preparing DVDs for those who attended. Everything that was shown on the screen was directly fed to the cameras
US-South Korea-Japan Issue Warning to North Korea
The antics of North Korea are rising with the Cycle of War since the model on Korea turned in 2012. South Korea, the USA and Japan have jointly warned the communist nation yesterday not to take any more provocative steps. The trend is against them and as the economy turns down, there will be a higher tendency for the North to invade the South. This simply seems inevitable.