Saturday, March 8, 2014

MARTIN ARMSTRONG'S LATEST BLOG POSTS

Is Obama Just Insane?

Putin-Obama
I have dealt with many governments in my life and I have come to understand you CANNOT and SHOULD NEVERput your opponent in a box publicly for his own political livelihood is then on the line and he MUST respond or be overthrown. This is simple common sense in international politics and I have preferred to be an observer rather than a player.
I have sat is meetings with governments in Asia to Europe and the ONLY reason I have done so, is because I understand that cardinal rule. I once had to advise a head of state that he had no choice but to devalue his currency. I was told that was impossible because it was a campaign promise that would not happen. I had to craft the words to say the currency would float to seek its OWN LEVEL. That was “politically” acceptable since it was not a decreed “official” devaluation despite the fact the free markets would do the same thing.
I have NEVER in my entire life witnessed such BRAIN-DEAD decisions coming from the Obama Administration in any government in the world or former administrations. To impose “sanctions” on Russia is absolutely INSANE!!!!That puts Putin in a box that he cannot escape from for if he relaxes he is then seen as weak at home and the hardliners will eat him alive. Obama has just made the crisis far worse.
Russia has retorted and it will now CANCEL all nuclear treaties. It can shut of the energy to Europe and watch them crawl. Now, any international observers will NEVER get into Crimea. We have dumb and dumber at the helm here. Obama is doing EVERYTHING perfectly wrong and this escalation will only grow far worse. Even China has rejected Obama’s Sanctions. Just what did he expect? Putin will suddenly say, gee, I was wrong? Come on. This is like some stupid fight with his wife and I refuse to talk until you do what I say.
As for the Republicans itching for war, go ahead, pick up arms, and go over yourself. McCain – you are no Nelson Mandela who turned the other cheek and reached enlightenment. You came out of prison bitter and nasty itching for war. What is that? Revenge of the Over-The-Hill-Crowd? Stop sending kids to fight your deranged ideas of king of the mountain. This older generation cannot die off fast enough to save humanity.
Sorry – this is no way to run a government. You cannot humiliate Putin and actually expect progress – this is inviting war. You cannot defeat China & Russia. So what is anyone trying to accomplish here? Freedom and Liberty for All?
When I was called in by China and met with the Central Bank, they stated right up front, they agreed with our analysis, but they could not come out and politically say what we were saying. This is no different. You cannot come out and try to make Putin back down before the entire world. This is pure stupidity. If I were him, that audacity would prevent any negotiation at this point and I could not blame him or China for saying the Obama is seriously out of line. Putin cannot now yield or he will lose control of government. This is absolutely the worse political move I have EVER witnessed in my life for it has ZERO chance or doing anything positive and it will throw away everything every presidency has tried since Nixon – create a dialog for peace.
The former Soviet possessions are now arming. Do so wisely – for you cannot count on Obama solving any problem other than making it far worse. Normally we say it ain’t over until the Fat Lady Sings. This time, it may not be over until Obama reverses his own policy and sings - Sorry. My Bad!


Ukraine Must Expel the Care-Taker Government And Start a New Path

Shlapak
The care-taker leaders are the typical bureaucrats who will destroy Ukraine and everything the people have fought for. Oleksandr Vіktorovich Shlapak (Олександр Віталійович Шлапак) is the Ukrainian politician, bureaucrat, and the current Minister of Finance in Ukraine since February 27th. He offers NOTHING worthwhile for Ukraine and only thinks inside the BOX listening to economists with zero real-world experience and the IMF that is even more insane and worthless.
Ukraine must expel these bureaucrats even though they may not be corrupt, they are old school. These people need to be banned from signing any economic deals for Ukraine. These bureaucrats are already following the IMF suggestions and are trying to introduce an economic austerity plan that will cut Ukrainian pensions of government workers from $160 to $80 so that Western bankers who lent money to Ukraine can be repaid at their loans. This is outrageous and historically without precedent. It will only lead to hardship, civil unrest, and place the future of Ukraine in serious risk of perpetual revolution and warfare.
ContCurr$3-02-17-1776

Shlapak’s proposal is the raping of Ukraine and historically, EVERY government that is overthrown, the new government has NEVER honored the debts of the former and that INCLUDES the United States. You can buy Continental Currency on Ebay for people held it believing it would be honored eventually – it never was. Ukraine should NOT be held to the same standard as Cyprus and the IMF is simply insane. Ukraine should default on ALLdebt and start over like everyone else INCLUDING Germany and France after the war. Even Britain went into a debt moratorium in 1931 and suspended all debts it owed. PAY NOTHING – and let them go chase Yanukovych, his sons, and their buddies who also fled in the court system.
Based upon my information, there is at least $2 billion in cash in Switzerland and that is just what I know without digging. Poland, Austria, Britain, Switzerland so far have all acknowledged that corrupt politicians from Ukraine stole billions and stuffed it in accounts around the world. Anyone who lends money to government has the political risk that the government will remain in power. It is ON THEM – not the people!
Government debt is UNSECURED and is historically backed only by a political government. Those that lent Yanukovych money, that is their risk – not the people’s.
D E F A U L T!!!!!

Swiss lose $17 Billion on Gold

COMMODITIES-GOLD-METALS-PRICE-SRILANKA
The Swiss National Bank, one of the world’s biggest owners of gold, was forced to admit it took a loss of $17 billion on their gold holdings for 2013. This is by far the largest loss in gold anyone has ever seen. The gold loss forced the Swiss central bank to cancel dividends for the first time in its 107-year history.
The Zurich-based Swiss central bank stated publicly that the record-breaking low prices last year in gold caused its holdings to lose value, dropping more than $17 billion in a single year. In 2013, the gold collapsed 28%, the most since 1981 and unless gold gets through the 1450 level, it may yet see new lows again one more time.
The $17 billion loss on gold was marginally offset by a $5.9bn gain on its foreign currency positions and a $3.9bn profit from assets’ sales. Hence, the bottom-line loss for the year was $10.4 billion.
This staggering loss on gold is so massive, the right-wing Swiss People’s Party campaign to force the central bank keep at least 20% of its precious metal reserves has taken a serious hit. The Party has recently collected 100,000 signatures supporting a future referendum on a ruling to prohibit the bank from selling any of its gold reserves. Yet with this huge loss, the general public may move the opposite way opening the door for sales of Swiss gold reserves.

Crimea Referrendum Join Russia Now or Later

crimeaSwallowsNest
The Ukrainian Crisis is far from over and confrontation between the West and Russia seems to be inevitable, albeit after September. The Kyiv Post illustrates the ballot in Crimea where there is not actual spot to vote against joining Russia. Voters in Russian-occupied Crimea in the March 16 referendum have only two choices – join Russia immediately or declare independence and then join Russia. There is no opportunity to vote for the unification of Ukraine. Our sources are reporting a growing desire to stay with Ukraine. This is surprising and nobody expected that.
Putin is determined to keep Crimea at the very least. It is a matter of national pride to him and to the war-monger in Washington that simply see them against us, nobody seems to understand why Russia is still the enemy since Communism collapsed. Just what everyone is going to be fighting for precisely remains a mystery.
Whatever the case, the Marxist-Socialist agenda in the West that has dominated Europe and America is equally collapsing. Government simply need an external enemy to blame for their our self-inflected wounds that are indeed fatal. War seems to be coming because the economic system of pensions for government workers is bankrupting everything. There has been a shift toward part-time and contract workers to escape pension liabilities. However, the cost of government is just too high

China’s Exports Collapse by 18.1%

SHNGHI-M 1-25-2014
I have warned that China’s exports were an illusion and that there was a huge carry trade borrowing dollars in Hong Kong at 1% and depositing the money in China getting 6%. But trade tracks money, not goods, so the illusion that China was still expanding was a good one – but still just an illusion.
China’s exports have plummeted “unexpectedly” in February among the tradition forecasters that use the numbers and believe in them. Compared to last year, according to official figures, exports fell by 18.1% from last year. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a gain of 6.8% for the second largest economy in the world. This demonstrates just how out of touch the mainstream economic community really is these days.
In China, many factories were closed. Imports in February rose by 10.1%, also more than expected. Then there has been the first important corporate bankruptcy in China. It is feared that more companies could follow as managing skills in how to survive a economic decline in China is seriously lacking.
Our projection for the low in China’s economy REMAINS the target year 2020. This is why the last bastion for capital remains the US dollar and the greatest recipient of capital is still the US share market. The widening scope of the rally has led the S&P 500 to take the lead away from the Dow Jones Industrials showing the trend is filtering outside of the big institutional money.

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