Re <<Yes, gold down >> ... thank goodness. having astutely lightened up on paper gold Message 34249932 , the gold smackdown is god sent. Truthfully wish to see gold smacked to 1,800 the level at which many desires extinguished i consider myself a diamond-hand HODL-er of proof-of-work physical gold token because my greed is only exceeded by my laziness and cannot be bothered to prematurely realise / lock-in profit on the physical, that which has been accumulating / accruing return at ~8.x% per annum since many decades now completed a 'uge cup and in midst of working out of a handle the pandemic and the 'special' military operations both acted as accelerant to adoption of brand-new-old use-case of gold, and with wide and widening social following, that be 'money' relative to many worthwhile stuff, including tuitions, holidays, daily meals, super cars, knick-knacks, and whatever else, gold did and is doing okay even if only providing peace of mind and tranquility of heart now, at the cusp of 100-years change as worked on by putin-xiVIDEO ... and supported by enough, am wildly guessing that gold remains a go-to asset. Definition of 'Go-to' asset is that asset which one would trade the paper derivatives of the 'Go-to' asset only in order to accumulate still more of the physical underpinning, as opposed to letting go of the paper to go to anything else of perceived value or faddish worth. Am in agreement w/ Martin Armstrong, that the true upward impetus of gold is not inflation, but the downfall of authorities, and as we are experiencing the dying anguish of the old order and hearing the birthing cries of the new, time for gold is nigh, per if not now, then when? Enthusiastic and not-nervous. However, and a big one, gold confiscation might be around the corner, for the greater and common good, if only as a palliative distraction to soothing the street mobs. USA debt clock usdebtclock.org World debt clock usdebtclock.org Below be recent takes by Martin. I tune out the USA domestic politics bias whilst recognise that the body politic action is disharmonious and take account of everything else he is intoningask-socrates.com The Computer Projected War to Start in 2023 FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2023 BY: MARTIN ARMSTRONGCOMMENT: Hi Marty, The news media is always the last to report what has happened. Never what will happen. But the buildup to war now underway is evident. Reports say Blinken and Biden have been refused contacts with China. Other reports say N Korea will send troops to fight alongside Russia in the Ukraine. Meanwhile Finland was admitted to Nato; one wonders what bribes were paid to the member state, Turkey, to agree to this step as they blocked this move earlier. Saudi Arabia has now pivoted toward China in striking new oil deals. Opec announced they would reduce daily production by 1 mm barrels of oil daily. A move that can only help Russia and hurt the US. Poland now is set to send armaments to Ukraine. Reports say Bahamut has fallen or will fall, sealing the fate of thousands of Ukrainian troops. Yesterday, Zelinsky said Ukraine was willing to concede the loss of Crimea, unthinkable only a few months earlier. The Pentagon continues to send more aid to Ukraine. The Soviets are now deploying nuclear subs in the Atlantic targeting the east coast with hypersonic missiles. The US conducts military exercises off Taiwan to provoke China. China threatens retaliation for a second visit by the speaker of the house, this time McCarthy. Does any of this look like peace? Is anyone talking to anyone? Yet, everyone almost always seems to be caught off guard when war breaks out. Doubtless, the intelligence communities know where this goes. But Americans are always the last to know, the first to be appealed to when their government screws up.. We are the ones who allow this MORALE HAZARD called the government. They take our money, promise us nice things, give money instead to someone else(Ukraine), lie to us, deceive us, blame us, then get us entangled in their wars. And when things go south, they appeal to our patriotism. Morons. But the real morons are the ones who voted for these morons. Who were so angered with Trump. They were willing to cast a blind eye to the fraudulent election in 2020. Now they want Trump imprisoned. And apparently, they want war, too! Trump did everything to keep this nation at peace, But the puppet clown being controlled by the lawlessness of BOTH parties is pushing us to war. But this push to war is real. Trump may yet escape. But between his trial, the Russian blame game and God knows what else, does anyone think the 2024 election will be free, will it even happen? Then what happens in 2025? And the media will blame Trump and someone else because it was always Putin's fault in the first place. MS REPLY: I have confirmed and I cannot say how, but the military has been told to prepare for war by the end of the year. Our computer has been projecting this and Blinken has been instructing Zelensky to just hold on until NATO is ready. This is the International War Model and it clearly shows that 2023 would be the beginning. The Trump indictment and the late schedule for the next appearance are clearly a diversion My sources have made it clear, they are preparing for war, and that will interestingly be preparation until the end of the year. It appears that they will start WWIII ahead of the 2024 Presidential Eclection to keep Biden in place. They need this baffoon to control Foreign Policy. They are spending recklessly and pushing ahead with digital currency at lightning speed. What they will do is CANCEL all paper currency, force you to take it to the bank, and declare it. The IRS will then assume it is all illegal contraband a then impose threats of imprisonment or you surrender assets. If they do not like you, they will confiscate and imprison you. As for those who believed the BS how cryptocurrency will be exempt, perhaps you should have your brain checked out. Maybe the masks deprived you of oxygen. And as for those that really believe this nonsense that crypto will be out of the jurisdiction of the government, they just indicted Trump for allegedly paying blackmail with a lawyer who has ZERO credibility and has lost his license. And you really think they will honor any claim that crypto is not subject to their jurisdiction? Our greatest exports when the history of the United States is written post-2032 will be blue jeans, rock & roll, fake news, and the corrupt rule of law. Nothing ever changes, The king is dead, we have assumed the throne, and once again the stain of legal perception and the weaponizing of the law has stained our pretense of liberty.ask-socrates.com Cancelling the Currencies SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2023 BY: MARTIN ARMSTRONG I made a comment that at the end of this cycle, we must be on guard that the entire game here is to default on the national debts globally post-2024. The move toward digital currency will also involve the CANCELLATION of the currency. You will have to take your cash to the bank and exchange it for digital currency. After a certain date, cash will then becomes worthless. They are not likely to do that BEFORE the 2024 election. I would not expect a cancellation of the currency BEFORE the elections of 2024. Until then, hold on to some cash just to facilitate commerce.ask-socrates.com Can the Stock Market Crash & the Dollar Together? SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2023 BY: MARTIN ARMSTRONGQUESTION: Do you think cash will be exchanged at a 1 to 1 ratio when taken to bank and exchanged for digital or will they impose a premium and cash lose value as they have done before? I'm assuming it won't be 1 to 1 Also, there have been many newsletters and analysts sending reports and videos about "opting-out" of digital currency but of course, you have to pay for their solutions. But I'm wondering if some of these run on the banks include money being pulled out of the banks for these purposes. I'm not sure what their solutions are for opting out, as I'm not signing up. But some of them promise a lot, like keeping and growing your money out of government reach and growing wealth tax-free. Offer private control of some secret account. EMANSWER: There is no opting out - that is total BS and the only possible solution is to revert to tangible assets. When Germany went into hyperinflation, people had the option of converting to other currencies. That option is questionable since the West will all do this digital switch together. There might be a possible avenue to the Chinese yuan, but China is also looking at digital. If China was smart, they should retain paper money and that alone will propel the yuan to global status. The banking crisis is FAR WORSE in Europe than in the United States. This is different from 2008 for this time it was caused by the historically low-interest rates for more than 8 years and then suddenly raising rates to stop inflation caused by war and the shortages from COVID lockdowns. That means it impacts every bank so the government now understands that sitting on their hands and NOT covering all deposits will lead to a massive economic depression and that will spark a revolution when they will probably storm even the White House. If they try to charge you to send money to their CRYPTO, forget it. The government is after taxes and NO CRYPTO will be allowed to survive. Let's get real. CRYPTO requires a power grid. The governments are preparing to default on all debt because the system is imploding. This is why they have been spending whatever they can with no concern about inflation. While you have all these people calling for the GREAT CRASH as they have been for decades, everything is supposed to go to ZERO. Well, I bid in most of the major auctions of ancient coins. One would expect prices to decline in hard times. Here is a coin estimated at 250 pounds, it is rather rare. I put in a bid of 2500 pounds and did not get it. It sold for 3200 pounds + 20% buyer's fee. I see prices firm to still rising. This is the TANGIBLE asset shift. I still get at least 3 calls per week asking me to sell my house. The ONLY possible solution will be tangible assets. That will include gold and silver coins, real estate, collectibles, and stocks. These people keep predicting that the stock market will drop by 90% and they just keep looking at the Great Depression and forecasting a repeat. Yet they do NOT have the database to even understand what took place to create the Great Depression. They are claiming the stock market will drop like a stone, the dollar will go to zero and the only thing will be gold. Nice! Sounds good. But that has NEVER taken place even once in history. These people KNOW NOTHING about history but are great at sophistry. The stock market declined into 1932 but the dollar rose to all-time record highs. I have tried to explain that it has ALWAYS been ASSETS v MONEY for thousands of years. This has NOTHING to do with whatever may be used as money at that moment in time. The ONLY world leader who figured this out was Julius Caesar. Instead of defaulting on all debts, he revalued all debts by ruling that the lender had to accept the collateral at the value it was when he lent the money. Then all interest payments were to be deducted from that original value and the debt was to be settled at any remainder. Caesar understood that if you lent $100,000 on a house, the value of the house crashed to $25,000 and the lender still insisted on payment of $100,000, then he was really profiting for that same $100,000 would now buy 4 houses. This is what all these people FAIL to see. If the stock market is going to crash, then the dollar would rise in value in the traditional flight to quality . So exactly how is the stock market going to crash by 50%-90% and the dollar crash unfolds at the same time? That is just IMPOSSIBLE! You would panic and sell stocks for what? You would still need the dollar as a medium of exchange to buy gold. These people are clueless because all they ever do is look at 1929 and fail to understand what it was even about. We have THE largest database in the world of everything. This is the resource that Socrates has at its beck and call . I have explained that there was a Sovereign Debt Crisis in 1931 where nearly all of Europe defaulted on its debts, as well as South America, and Asia. This drove capital to the dollar, forcing it up to an unbelievable high, our politicians did not understand what was happening and instituted protectionism because the high dollar meant that the US could not compete in any world market with exports - especially food. The amount of money invested in the bond market is at least 10x that of equities. A panic in government bonds sends money to equities. This time the Western governments are trying to move to digital currencies, end banking runs, collect all taxes they ever dreamed of, and default on all debt and offer you guaranteed basic income to replace your pension they wipe out. These people are clueless. We have to look at this entire planned event from a global perspective. This is a flight from government assets to private assets. We have to understand how, when, and where money will flow and that will take Socrates - not personal opinions. ask-socrates.com The ECM Turning Point This Week MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2023 BY: MARTIN ARMSTRONG While we have this week as the target on the ECM , it is clustered with so many other models all coming together. Next week will be the Gold Benchmark (April 17th week) and this is the third pass to test the former highs. Usually, we would expect gold to back off after making a high on the Benchmark perhaps bottoming in early June, and then rise into the next target the week of August 7th . We have the 31.4-year cycle on Ukraine due April 26th. We have videos of Ukrainian soldier surrendering and refusing to fight for Zelensky. They have realized that he cares nothing about their lives. This is all about money at this point in time. His grand plan to rebuild Ukraine where he brags this will be the $1 trillion Marshal Plan. We have people reporting that Putin is ill and this has been my concern for Putin is "the" moderate. He NEVER wanted to retake the former Eastern USSR states. This is the bullshit of our Neocons who are the endless warmongers. They are already out there saying Congress will approve war against China and send American troops to defend Taiwan. Michael Thomas McCaul who is a Republican from Texas is also a Neocon. As I have warned, the Neocons are in both camps and that is our problem. Yet these people are living in yesteryear. American recruitment is down and young men and women are not enlisting . That means by waging war on both fronts, not only will they have to draft both men and women for their version of the Hunger Games, they never consider that war is always a risk. They are assuming America will win. What if it does not? They have succeeded in transforming America from the beacon of liberty into the authoritarian regime that demands their way or no way. Even the Romans knew that there was always a risk in waging war. They would leave the doors of their Temple of Janus open as a reminder that war can always go both ways. It seems like our Neocons who have seized control of Washington do not respect the significance of war. The 31.4-year Cycle on Ukraine, which even Bill Gates had admitted was the most corrupt country in the world, is due ideally on April 26th. This will be 31.4 years from the December 1991 vote for independence. President Boris Yeltsin took over, and the Iron Curtain was torn down. It was December 26th, 1991 (1991.986), when the Soviet Union came to an end. That evening, the Soviet flag above the Kremlin was taken down for the last time. In its place, the flag of Russia was raised. That brought us to 2023.386 which is May 20.89. Gold, which traditionally responds to geopolitical events (NOT INFLATION ) is showing a potential April high, backing off into June and the Directional Changes for three months. As I have stated many times, markets will often test a former high two more times BEFORE breakout - the 4th time is the charm. With the Russian 31.4-year cycle due May 20/21, and the convergence of so many important long-term cycles in April/May, I do not expect this week to be the only turning point. It appears that we may be looking at a major shift in trends as a consequence of this convergence. We can clearly see that this week is a turning point for the Arrays in many markets. However, we see in bonds a Panic Cycle the week of April 24th and a Directional Change in China for next week. In Russia, the strongest target is May 1st. If there is any risk of Putin being overthrown or stepping down for health reasons, this is the time it would most likely happen. That will NOT be very good as all the Western Press just put out the propaganda demonizing Putin. The others behind him are as Neocon as Blanken, Victoria Nuland, and John Bolton just for starters. ask-socrates.com China Dumping Dollars Preparing for War WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2023 BY: MARTIN ARMSTRONG China continues to relentlessly reduce its reserves of US dollars which is a sign that they are preparing for war. I have several sources which have confirmed that the US Military is preparing for war by the end of the year. Even the Neocons have been stating the US is prepared for war against China. Even French President Macron called for Europe's strategic autonomy, turning away from the US dollar also because he realizes that the Neocons have seized control of the White House and want nothing but war. China has also instructed its state banks to prepare for a massive dollar dump and yuan. The previous buying attempts to stop the dollar's rise by Beijing's prior interventions have failed to support the yuan. Nevertheless, we can see that while the dollar has been rising against the yuan since the January 2014 low when it turned up simultaneously with our war cycle, it still has not reached the Downtrend Line from the 1990s. We can see that here April 2023 was precisely a turning point and a DOUBLE Directional Change . The next key area will be July and then we have high volatility in August and a Panic Cycle in October. We clearly have a shift in trend here going into May with regard to Taiwan. The Neocons deliberately abandoned the One China Policy, allowing China to save face and Taiwan to prosper. This drive to take on China abandoning that policy necessitates war. Just like Ukraine, the American Neocons are also prepared to turn Taiwan into a wasteland to achieve their goal of world dominance. They justify war claiming they are magnanimously spreading Democracy as if we really decide elections anymore. When we compare the two currencies, it is very clear that 2023 is a turning point in the Empirical Models (Fix length frequencies) and both are followed by a Directional Change in 2024. Even when we turn to Shanghai, we see the same pattern straddling 2023. There is no doubt about it. The Neocons are destroying our future and that of our children all because they always want war. They rigged the election to get rid of Trump and are pushing for Biden to run in 2024 so they can continue their goal of world domination. Nobody wishes these forecasts would be wrong more than me. I am personally glad I am not 7 years old. What kind of future will they have? Everything to build peace with a world economy integrated has been systematically destroyed. All I can say - God Help Us!