Can Cryptocurrencies Survive? | Armstrong Economics

QUESTION: Do you think Bitcoin can survive? Or has it been a passing fad? MT ANSWER: Bitcoin rose because 70% of the miners were in China. It was NOT simply because energy was cheap. Bitcoin became the LEADING means of money laundering and movement of cash out of China, circumventing their rule of law and currency controls. So do not think for one minute that Bitcoin rose because it was really a wonderful idea? BitCoin was a means to get money out of China when you could not wire money out under currency controls. In Australia, they have adopted the slogan that “CASH IS FOR CRIMINALS.” They will do the same to cryptocurrencies. All they need to do is declare a law that it is illegal for a business to accept cryptocurrency under the excuse that it is money laundering. You just killed the entire industry. The government has the army, tanks, and the guns and soon robot soldiers. Until the army is willing to turn against the hand that feeds them, which is why they are developing robot soldiers, you cannot stand with cryptocurrency and claim some magical right to suppress government and central banks. You need the power grid! Video streaming today is because of the online porn industry (I won’t post a picture of that). They needed to sell their product and they invented video streaming under the mother of all evolution – Necessity. Video streaming has since expanded to everything. Blockchain can be used in many other contexts just a video streaming was not restricted to just porn. The technology can be used for documents and other things besides just cryptocurrencies. I have been skeptical about the claims that cryptocurrencies will replace all money and central banks and end banking creating money out of thin air. That would be recreating the Dark Age. For that to take place there can be no lending. The mortgage market would collapse and the value of the property would fall to less than 10% of its worth becomes the maximum someone has cash as was the case during the Great Depression. This hatred of central banks is stupid. The money they create is less than 10% of the money supply. The bulk is created through lending and fractional banking. These people blame the banks for creating money and never talk about the fact that the real danger is government debt and as they try to service that debt, they keep raising taxes. They are approaching a 40% consumption rate of the total GDP. The bigger the government gets, the lower your standard of living. That is the issue – not cryptocurrencies will magically save the day.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/cryptocurrency/can-cryptocurrencies-survive/

Interesting summation

Emerging Market Debt Defaults on the Horizon? | Armstrong Economics

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; You said that the emerging markets are a huge problem that will lead to a Sovereign Debt Default. Can you elaborate on that statement? Thank you for your insight VU ANSWER: The emerging markets are in far worse shape today than they were even back in 2008. They have issued heaps of dollar-denominated debt to sell particularly to US pension funds seeking higher yield. Some of the buyers have been state-run pension funds. The outstanding Emerging Market debt has exploded by 50%. The majority of the increase in emerging market indebtedness has been in local currency, which was more than $48.5 trillion as of the end of 2016 from around $43 trillion in 2015 and is pressing $50 trillion for 2017. We passed $200 trillion in global sovereign debt back in 2016. All of these dollar bears that yell about the USA at $20 trillion, ignore where the world stands at and the fact the USA is still the only economy holding everything up. Both the Emerging Market and EU countries have used the cheap interest rates to just pile on more debt – not reform. This is why central banks have lost all capability of manipulating interest rates to direct the economy. All of those theories are entirely dependent upon DEMAND management. They may, in theory, be able to manage the “demand” of the consumer, but they have zero influence over government spending. They lower rates to stimulate private demand and simply underwrite government debt. The world comes unglued ONLY with a dollar rally – not a decline. A drop in the dollar would be cheered by governments who would then issue even more debt. A dollar rally will cause the Sovereign Debt Crisis – not a dollar decline. Emerging Market defaults are once again on the timeline. They are economically in far worse shape today than they were in 2008. As interest rates rise, they will blow their budget out and they do NOT have the economies to support the debt repayments (excluding China).
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/sovereign-debt-crisis/emerging-market-debt-defaults-on-the-horizon/

It will be like Venezuela 🇻🇪 for many

Bondholder Suing Spain for the Bail-In of Banco Popular | Armstrong Economics

It was only a question of when, but now those investors who lost 100% of their money in Banco Popular in Spain are filing a lawsuit demanding answers in a court filing in New York seeking information from the purchaser of the stricken bank – Banco Santander who paid just €1 to take over troubled rival Banco Popular. This entire affair demonstrates why European bank shares and bonds are FAR TOO RISKY to own. The government demands that European banks raise capital. However, if you invest in a European bank and there is a problem with more bad loans than expected, they can seize the bank and sell it for even €1 and you have lost all rights to your investment. I have warned many times, you cannot play around with governments. They can change the law retroactively, do whatever they desire and will NEVER be prosecuted for even outright fraud. They are the Devil and you just cannot reason with power gone crazy.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/spain/bondholder-suing-spain-for-the-bail-in-of-banco-popular/

Rightfully so