Cuba Embargo Falls 51.6 Years on Schedule

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Martin Armstrong  

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, Both Rubio and Cruz are anti-Cuba even though they are Cuban heritage. What is your opinion on Cuba?


ANSWER: President Raul Castro has become a pro-business advocate. He is now allowing Cuban residents to buy and sell their own homes, which has never happened before in the past 54 years. The Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R. 515, which were regulations of the United States Department of the Treasury imposed on July 8, 1963 (1963.517) under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 was the general regulation of relations between Cuba and the United States. This was the main mechanism of domestic enforcement of the United States embargo against Cuba. If we look at 51.6 years later, that brings us amazingly to 2015.117 or February 11/12.

It was cyclical. The embargo was all about their link to Russia. We did not treat Bolivia or Venezuela the same way. Maintaining the embargo would have only provided an incentive for Cuba to be used by Russia once again. It made no sense. The people of Cuba are the best defense for allowing them to benefit and they will lead to greater support for capitalism. Castro has responded by allowing Cubans for the first time to buy and sell property. That is a step in the right direction. Don’t forget that many people there have been trapped. They deserve a life as well. The same is happening in Eastern Ukraine. They cannot leave for they have nothing to leave with. The differences are between politicians and brainwashed individuals – not the general people at large.

Cycle from the beginning of the Crusades,

Marine Le Pen Clearly States It Is Not a War Against Terrorism, It Is a War Against an Ideology

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Martin Armstrong

Marine Le Pen states with absolute clarity that this is by no means a war against terrorism — it is a war against the ideology of Islamic Fundamentalism. Refusing to state that truth where “terrorism” is merely a weapon, one cannot wage war or ever defeat such a weapon because there is no acknowledgement of what we are really facing.

Even taking a cycle from the beginning of the Crusades, we still come up with a very similar time frame.* The West has a made HUGE mistake in trying to dethrone Syria. The removal of dictators in Iraq and Libya have destabilized the region far worse than we care to admit. Trying to dethrone Syria will create a vast new area for ISIS, and this, precisely as Le Pen points out, is a war against Islamic Fundamentalism, not Islam or terrorism. Identify the problem before you take all of our rights.

*Note: Ironically, it was French Pope Urban II who initiated the Crusades.

Why we must crash and burn- We will NEVER regain our freedom until the press makes that first step.

Censorship and Self-Censorship of the Press

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Martin Armstrong

Many articles are highlighting the censorship of the press in the International New York Times. An article criticizing Thailand’s generals for shooting the economy in the foot was seen in all print editions expect Thailand, where they displayed a blank space to let everyone know something had been removed ­– censorship. What was NOT reported in the West (in both Europe and the United States) is that the mainstream press has SURRENDERED the freedom of the people to engage in SELF-CENSORSHIP.

Thomas Jefferson understood what a free press meant. It was Thomas Pane’s “Common Sense” that finally roused the American public to get off their ass and fight for what was important — the freedom and dignity to decide what they would do with their own labor. Jefferson wrote in a letter to Thomas Cooper on November 29, 1802:

“The press [is] the only tocsin of a nation. [When it] is completely silenced… all means of a general effort [are] taken away.”  (ME 10:341)

Jefferson also wrote to Edward Carrington in 1787:

“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.” (ME 6:57)

Steven Bumbaca, former Vice President of the New York Post, explained to me that the press knew I was innocent after Judge Owen closed the court, threw the press out, and altered the court transcripts to hide the fact that he violated the fundamental principle of a free society — we are supposed to have PUBLIC TRIALS. The Associated Press was in the courtroom, but Judge Owen removed them. The journalist at least reported that Judge Owen removed all my lawyers that day in a “closed hearing”.

After that incident, everything changed. Government controls the European press and prosecutors are in control in the United States. They call the press and tell them that they want a “favor” to kill a story or slant it in a particular direction. If the journalist does not comply, they go after them with various laws like tax evasion or something else to prevent it from appearing like direct press censorship. This is why mainstream media will not report the truth about so much. They cannot. Federal judges are appointed by politicians, they are government employees, and they defend the government. The free press cannot exist with Federal judges.

Judge Owen threw the Associated Press out and altered the court transcript to omit all these events and to remove the traditional starting sentence “in an open court”. You would think this would have been enough proof that I was denied a fundamental right beside my lawyers being removed. No, the Chief Judge John Walker (Bush’s cousin) refused to allow me to even submit an appeal. I could not get it even docketed to be heard.

The press is NOT free because they are scared to death to expose the real justice system, how a conviction rate of about 70% has soared to about 99%, and the government is NEVER wrong. If they did, they would find themselves perhaps dead or in prison.

Michael Hastings was the journalist exposing the surveillance state. Hastings wrote about the investigation of reporters by the U.S. Department of Justice back in 2013. He said that the restrictions on the freedom of the press by the Obama administration were a “war” on journalism. He wrote his last story before he died in what may have been a cyber attack. Someone was able to control his car remotely and drove it in to a tree at top speed. His last story was entitled: “Why Democrats Love to Spy On Americans”, published by BuzzFeed on June 7, 2013.

Hastings died in a fiery high-speed automobile crash on June 18, 2013, in Los Angeles. Today, cars connected with GPS can actually can be hacked. It is possible to take control of your car, right down to the steering wheel, remotely. WIRED Magazine has proven this ability, which many others have confirmed. The likelihood that Hastings was killed remotely in an auto cyber attack is extremely high.

Earlier the previous day, Hastings actually told others that he believed he was being investigated by the FBI. In an email to colleagues, which was copied to and released by Hastings’ friend, Army Staff Sergeant Joe Biggs, Hastings said that he was “onto a big story” and that he needed to “go off the radar”. He also warned that the FBI might interview his colleagues. WikiLeaks announced that Hastings had also contacted Jennifer Robinson, one of its lawyers, a few hours prior to the crash and the LA Weekly reported that he was preparing new reports on the CIA at the time of his death. It is believed he was onto the Snowden story.

There are those behind the curtain who only view everything through their eyes. The game afoot is to protect themselves and prevent the truth from coming out because they have society’s best interest at heart. We just do not understand that is more important than anyone’s life or a scrap of paper that we call the Constitution. We will NEVER regain our freedom until the press makes that first step. Thus, it must crash and burn, as history warns.

Real Estate has Peaked

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Martin Armstrong  

The US real estate market has turned for the top end has peaked. Luxury homes for the top 5% are now off by 2%. In my personal search in Florida, I looked around for the past year. Some of the high-end homes they showed me on the beach were still on the market. One that I looked at which just came on the market at $4.5 million has cost $7.5 million to build. It was a divorce. This end of the market the agent told me had been selling in cash deals, rarely a mortgage.

CNBC has reported that Redfin real estate company tracking the top 5% of  the more than 600 U.S. markets fell an average 2.2% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. When the rich stop buying, the rest follows.

Government has ensured that real estate will collapse for you see the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) combine certain disclosures that consumers receive in connection with applying for and closing on a mortgage loan under the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z) and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Regulation X). New disclosure requirements and forms in Regulation Z for most closed-end consumer credit transactions secured by real property have gone into effect with the turning point on the Economic Confidence Model. Government combined the existing disclosure requirements and implemented additional requirements imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act which applies to transactions for which the creditor or mortgage broker receives after the ECM turning point. This new legislation became effective October 3, 2015 with the ECM.
Real estate agents are reporting that mortgages are now taking far longer to process and approve and have caused transactions to come nearly to a halt. To get a mortgage, one must prove they have the capacity to pay it and must document everything that has gone through their bank accounts.


The World Real Estate Report will be sent to attendees next week. This will be placed on sale for everyone as of January 1st. The price will be $400 for both reports covering North America, Europe, Central & South America, Australasia, Middle East and of course Asia.

World War III & a Pipeline

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Martin Armstrong

To understand what is really Behind the Curtain regarding the Middle East, ISIS, Turkey, and the USA strategic attempt to reduce Russia, we must start back in 2009 when Qatar proposed a pipeline plan to Assad to send its natural gas to Europe via Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan. Assad refused it and this has been the entire pretend reason why the Obama Administration wanted to invade Syria. The reason for the refusal was to protect the interests of Assad’s long-time ally, Russia, which is Europe’s biggest natural gas supplier based upon all the data.

It was just one year after Qatar’s proposal, that Assad began negotiations for another pipeline plan with Iran, which would carry Iranian gas to Europe across Iraq and Syria. Russia endorsed this project since it would clearly have more control over gas flow rather that the US linked Qatar. This agreement would strategically place control of the gas flow to Europe in Russia’s hands. Consequently, the Iranian pipeline became a priority for Russia. Since Damascus and Moscow working together to block the Qatar pipeline and create the alternative Iranian pipeline, this created the seeds for World War III.

Clearly, Obama has targeted Russia from the outset. There was a meeting between Obama and Putin at the United Nations where Putin tried to get Obama on side with Syria against ISIS. Obama rejected the proposal. So when Russian forces entered Syria om the ECM Turning point to the day, this was a ominous event. Russia was not only backing the Assad regime, it was also backing the Iranian pipeline.

Russia’s economy is mostly based on its energy exports. Putin occasionally threaten European countries with cutting off the energy supply and this has been the potential that has set in motion all this chaos. While Russia has the largest gas reserves in the world, the second is actually Iran. Even Turkey is also importing some of its energy from Russia, and some from Iran. It has been buying oil at a discount from ISIS.

Therefore, with the construction of the Iranian pipeline via Iraq and Syria is completed, Europe’s dependence on Russia would continue. This was also why Obama was lifting sanction on Iran in an effort to break that alliance. Obama has been attempting to isolate Russia to prevent its control of the main energy market into Europe. This is why Russia is backing Syria, Iran and Iraq as well. Russia’s presence in Syria is aimed obviously at something more than merely supporting Assad. Russia is acting within its economic self-interest to maintain controlling its energy pipelines which also went through Ukraine. You have to understand what is going on behind the curtain to grasp the seriousness developing in Syria.

The USA is way out of line. This attack on Syria is benefiting ISIS and then Turkey is buying cheap oil from ISIS funding the very rise of terrorism. The French journalistNicolas Hénin who was a hostage of ISIS, has come out and stated that bombing Syria is benefiting ISIS. On this count, Putin is absolutely correct and the military policies of the Obama Administration are without any coherent objectives since removing Assad will hand Syria to ISIS.

The FED v ECB

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: If the Fed is so smart and understands the problem with low/negative interest rates, then why didn’t it hike rates in September?  Better yet, why didn’t they raise rates YEARS ago?  The Fed has kept rates near zero for seven years but now suddenly realizes that this is a problem?

I am surprised that you think so highly of them.  The Fed consists of a bunch of academics with no real-world experience, no different than the ECB.

REPLY: Your bias and prejudice blind you. The ECB is run by Mario Draghi who is ex-Goldman Sachs. Mario Draghi faces a currency that is collapsing and a power structure that is fundamentally flawed. This is entirely different from the problems facing the Fed. Europe is in deep recession that is intensely deflationary. That is not the case yet in the USA.

Yellen has inherited a nightmare. It was Ben Bernanke who made the mess we are in today. He lowered rates, bought in long-term bonds the Fed cannot now sell and must wait for them to simply mature. Yellen is trapped for she cannot reverse QE and sell the bonds Bernanke bought and she is facing a meltdown in pension funds because rates are too low for too long. Yellen has no escape. You are also blind to how politics functions and all you are doing is listening to the bullshit that is spun by pretend analysts who know nothing about what really goes on behind the curtain.

The mere fact that the IMF came out publicly to ask the Fed not to raise rates in June was a political maneuver to counteract Yellen. Things of this nature are discussed behind the curtain – never in front. The IMF turned to the press to STOP Yellen because she would have raised rates back in June. It was  Ben Bernanke who listened to the bankers and created insanity.

It is clear that Ben Bernanke lacked any experience as an academic to run the Fed. He became a professor at Harvard after graduating. If you have no real world experience, you will never understand reality. Book smart does not cut it in finance.

Bernanke bought in 30 year bonds to help reduce the competition with mortgages and to inject cash into the system from a very book perspective looking at the economy in theory, not in reality.. The bankers then complained they needed excess reserve facility to earn money if they had no more bonds. Creating this facility defeated the very purpose of QE and ensured that there would be no inflation for the banks did not lend the money out. The money created did not stimulate for two reasons. First, the Chinese sold their long-term debt holdings and reduced their maturity. Then the excess reserves allowed banks to park money rather than lend it. Dropping rates to virtually zero and paying the banks 0.25% defeated everything intended to restart liquidity and inflation.

Hence, the Fed is in danger of losing its sovereignty allowing itself to delay its domestic policy objectives for international concerns. Your bias and prejudice prevent you from even seeing what the crisis is all about..

 BTW – that highway bill has emerged from a House-Senate conference committee that will pay for the roads by reducing the 6 percent annual dividend paid to the banks on Fed stock. The Fed should now eliminate the excess reserve facility and stop the welfare for the banks paying them for money the Fed does not even use.

China’s Renminbi Reserve Status

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Martin Armstrong

While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to give the renminbi (yuan) a political victory by including the Chinese currency in the list of reserve currencies, few in the West even understand what this means. Including the renminbi in the SDR economically means nothing for it will not dethrone the dollar any more than the other currencies in the SDR, The only way to dethrone the dollar is to provide a deep currency where big money can park.’

However, the black market in China known as the shadow banking system has indeed been shut down. This has been done to cut off capital out flow. Making the renminbi part of the SDR by September 2016, means the outflow of capital can resume. China’s effort to support its markets has followed the same general path as Japan whereby the government discourages short selling. Restricting free investment may have the opposite impact and China must float its currency to survive.