Direct Taxation Reduces Economic Growth | Armstrong Economics

QUESTION: Happy New Year; Am I correct in noticing a global connection in the money supply, M1 & M2? You directed us to this long ago. The global banks have found the turning point so this affects everything no? Even the US consumer is sliding to the cautious side of spending – fewer mortgages, cars, etc. The coffee shops are now worried about a market melt-down. Martin, you’re starting to make my brain hurt. But it’s a good hurt. Thank you; RH ANSWER: Yes, but there is another influence — rising taxes. The economy declines when taxes rise for the simple reason that when politicians raise taxes, they are reducing the net disposable income. Simply put, if I give you $100 and then demand you give $90 back, but the year before I gave you $80, you can point to the fact that your income rose. However, you can only spend what you have left in your pocket. Women may have won the independence they were protesting for in the 1960s, but now they have lost the right to stay home and raise the kids. What use to take one income to support a family BEFORE the payroll tax now requires two. Once the government began income taxes (DIRECT TAXATION) economic growth rates gradually declined. We have been in a protracted decline since World War II. Tax revenue in France is 46% of GDP as people leave to invest elsewhere.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/taxes/direct-taxation-reduces-economic-growth/

Indeed it does by pulling wealth out of the private sector and running it through the government black hole.

Euro Declining as a World Currency in Global Transactions | Armstrong Economics

While the dollar haters are constantly calling for its demise, when we look at the stats, we see a very different picture. Since 2005, the euro’s share of bank loans has collapsed from 30% of the world market to just 20%, while the Greenback has soared from 60% to now 70% of world debt transactions. I have warned that the Fed is being lobbied from every angle to stop raising rates because the number of dollar loans outside the USA is staggering. The Greenback remains the number one currency in foreign exchange transactions. The euro has collapsed from 38% of the transactions back in 2001 to about 30%, and is about to break that level in 2019. The British pound is rising in market share, reaching 13%, running fourth behind the Japanese yen with the Swiss franc in 5th place.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/markets-by-sector/foreign-exchange/euro-declining-as-a-world-currency-in-global-transactions/

The Mystery of Pi | Armstrong Economics

QUESTION: Hi Mr. Armstrong, I just encountered this video.: Can you explain why Pi is showing up there? Thanks and kind regards, M ANSWER: No. I have come to believe that Pi is strangely the key to all knowledge upon which the entire universe was constructed. The sun’s light takes about 8.6 minutes to reach the Earth after it has been emitted from the sun’s surface. This is a derivative of Pi. Does that mean that life will evolve on a planet that conforms to Pi? It is assumed that it takes our galaxy approximately about 230 million years to make one complete orbit around the Milky Way! I suspect it is really 224 million years and that would comport with Pi. On a basic level, Pi seems very simple for it is the ratio of a circle’s circumference divided by its diameter. This ratio is always the same no matter how large the circle (orbit) – 3.14 or so. Obviously, anytime you find yourself working with circles, arcs, pendulums, etc. you find Pi popping up. Therefore, you will be confronted with Pi when looking at gears, spherical helium balloons, and pendulum clocks. However, as this illustration exposes, you also find Pi in many unexpected places for reasons that seem to have nothing at all to do with circles at all. Pi even shows up in the gravity. (see Wired). I have discovered that Pi shows up in economics as well as nature. I can only explain that it exists on all planes within this universe. It appears to be the cornerstone upon which everything in the universe was constructed.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrongeconomics101/understanding-cycles/the-mystery-of-pi/

Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi to Run for EU Seat | Armstrong Economics

Silvio Berlusconi announced his candidacy for European elections in May due to a “sense of responsibility.” Indeed, this may be the best thing that ever happened. The EU pulled off a coup secretly behind the scenes to drive him from office because he wanted to take Italy out of the euro to save his country. Our deep sources all confirmed the EU intervened in the Italian elections to remove Berlusconi, which was effectively a coup back in 2013. Southern Europe has been seriously disrupted from joining the euro. They were forced to convert their past debts to euros and then the euro doubled in value, causing their real world national debts to double in terms of international value. Is it any wonder their economies have been in a death spiral? Unemployment among the youth has reached 60% in some regions, and they are now known as “The Lost Generation.” The May elections for the EU are looking like a lot more anti-EU and people will be taking up seats in Brussels.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/europes-current-economy/italys-silvio-berlusconi-to-run-for-eu-seat/