Join Us at the 2023 World Economic Conference in Orlando, Florida!

? Dates: November 17, 18, and 19 ? Location: Orlando, Florida, USA (or tune in from home with our virtual ticket options)

Are you ready to unlock the future of economics and finance? Prepare for an unforgettable World Economic Conference experience in sunny Orlando, Florida! This premier event is your gateway to insights, networking, and valuable resources that will supercharge your understanding of the global economy.

?️ What’s Included for In-Person Attendees:

1. Event Admission: Enjoy reserved seating assigned based on the order of ticket sales, ensuring you have a prime view of every presentation.
2. Presentation Slides: Gain access to the presentation slides from all speakers, allowing you to delve deeper into the topics discussed.
3. Video Recording: Can’t make it to a session? No worries! You’ll receive access to video recordings of all conference presentations, so you can catch up at your convenience.
4. WEC Event App: Connect with the conference on a whole new level. Access presentation slides, bonus reports, recordings, and more via the official WEC Event App.
5. Bonus Conference Materials: Get a package of bonus conference-related materials, including exclusive bonus reports and videos (as provided by Martin Armstrong).
6. Morning Information Sessions: Don’t miss out on important morning information sessions, screened on-site in the meeting room on Saturday and Sunday.
7. Networking Opportunities: Exclusive access to the Event App Networking Feature allows you to connect with fellow attendees, both in-person and virtual, fostering valuable professional relationships.
8. Culinary Delights: Savor delicious breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday, prepared to keep you energized throughout the day.
9. Cocktail Reception: Kick off the conference in style at our Friday evening cocktail reception. Meet and mingle with fellow attendees while enjoying refreshing drinks.
10. Swag Bag: As a token of our appreciation, each in-person attendee will receive a swag bag filled with goodies, including an Armstrong Economics notebook, pen, and an event collector’s mug!

Unable to travel? We also have two different ticket options for those wishing to attend virtually! 

Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of a global gathering of economic and financial minds. Secure your spot at the World Economic Conference in Orlando, Florida, and gain the knowledge, connections, and resources you need to thrive in the world of finance and economics.

Space is limited, so act now and reserve your seat! Visit our Events page to register and join us in sunny Orlando this November.

Now available at all major retailers!

The eBook will be available shortly.

The second edition of “The Plot to Seize Russia – The Untold History” is now available for purchase in paperback and hardcover on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The ebook will be available shortly.

Book description:

“Take care of Russia,” Boris Yeltsin said as he departed his presidency in August 1999. These words were directed at current Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Yeltsin specifically picked Putin as his predecessor to prevent the takeover of Russia.

So, who was Yeltsin warning against? Newly declassified documents from the Clinton Administration prove that there was a plot to rig the Russian election of 2000. These never-before-seen documents confirm numerous attempts to implement pro-Western policies using the Russian oligarchy headed by Boris Berezovsky.

On the other side were the communists who desired a return to the glory days of the Soviet Union. As one of the largest international hedge fund managers, author Martin Armstrong found himself in the middle of perhaps the greatest espionage, or attempt at a regime change for Russia, in modern history.

The Plot to Seize Russia pulls back the curtain to expose the most extraordinary attempt to seize power in modern history, but with the pen rather than armies. These declassified documents reveal a plot that has altered our thinking about the relations between the United States and Russia. The thirst for power comes seething through every line of these papers that alter our perception of reality, change the course of history, and now threaten us with World War III.

Merry Christmas to everyone around the world.

Christmas is a reminder that history does not move in straight lines. It moves in cycles. Every civilization has faced moments where confidence was tested, institutions were stretched beyond their limits, and the public was told to trust systems that were clearly no longer working as intended. Those moments always separate illusion from reality.

The Economic Confidence Model has always shown that turning points are inevitable. Declines do not last forever, nor do booms. Christmas arrives regardless of markets, wars, or political agendas. That alone should tell us something important about resilience.

I wish you peace, clarity, and the confidence to think independently in the year ahead.

Merry Christmas!

— Martin Armstrong and the Armstrong Economics team

PRIVATE BLOG – Beware the Illusion of Peace in Europe

Private blog posts are exclusively available to Socrates subscribers. To sign-up for Socrates or to learn more, please visit Ask-Socrates.com.

https://ask-socrates.com/

Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing most federal employees to take time off on Christmas Eve and December 26. “All executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Wednesday, December 24, 2025, and Friday, December 26, 2025, the day before and the day following Christmas Day, respectively,” the order stated.

As for the markets, the NYSE and NASDAQ will close at 1 PM ET on Christmas Eve, which is the usual cadence when the holiday falls on a weekday. December 25 and January 1 are full stock market holidays, and if they fall on a weekend, the following day is considered a market holiday.

The US markets partially close for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. This ensures that the US can align with other international financial centers that remain open or operate on restricted hours. It also balances traders’ desire to wind down for the holidays while maintaining liquidity and price discovery for year-end trades.

The president cannot directly order the NYSE or NASDAQ to close unless there is a national emergency, as we saw during 9/11. The exchanges set their own market holidays.

NYSE full-day market holidays in 2026:

• Thursday, January 1, 2026 – New Year’s Day (observed)​
• Monday, January 19, 2026 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day​
• Monday, February 16, 2026 – Presidents’ Day (Washington’s Birthday)​
• Friday, April 3, 2026 – Good Friday​
• Monday, May 25, 2026 – Memorial Day​
• Friday, June 19, 2026 – Juneteenth National Independence Day​
• Friday, July 3, 2026 – Independence Day (observed, since July 4 is Saturday)​
• Monday, September 7, 2026 – Labor Day​
• Thursday, November 26, 2026 – Thanksgiving Day​
• Friday, December 25, 2026 – Christmas Day

NYSE early closings in 2026

• Friday, November 27, 2026 – Day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday): early close at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (1:15 p.m. for eligible options)
• Thursday, December 24, 2026 – Christmas Eve: early close at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (1:15 p.m. for eligible options)

Market Talk will resume on January 6, 2026.

While all we have heard from the biased goldbugs who insist that the US will go broke and the dollar will crumble to dust, that is the oldest theory from the 1970s that has NEVER been correct for it is rooted in the 17th century idea of money must be backed by a commodity. That has been behind so many analytical theories that are just without any credibility. That is repeated continually with no empirical evidence historically to prove that is remotely true.

The coinage throughout the centuries tells a completely different story proving even the Austrian School dead wrong, which they misunderstood the debasement of Henry VIII of which Sir Thomas Gresham commented that bad money drives out good. That comment came during a period when there was no obvious superpower and all the currencies of the European states traded solely on their metal content. They NEVER looked beyond that period for if they did, they would have discovered that there was ALWAYS a premium to the the coinage of the superpower that was the financial capital of the world.

India was the source of spices and was rich in trade from the days of Greece which is why Alexander the Great attempted to invade India and failed. Here is a gold aureus imitation of a Roman coin of Septimius Severus where the gold content was greater than the actual Roman coin. India had the gold but they imitated Roman coinage because that was like the dollar today, seen as the superpower of the world. There was a premium to the gold because it was struck by Rome.

When Athens rose as the financial capital of the world after defeating the Persians, here too we see imitations of the Athenian Owls throughout the Mediterranean region. Even Egypt, which never issue coinage of their own like India, they too imitated Athenian Owls for the purpose of international trade.

Even going back to Macedonia, the coinage of Alexander the Great’s father  Philip II was imitated throughout Europe. It was of the same weight and again it carried a premium to the metal content.

Here is a half stater struck in Switzerland by the Helvetii at the proper weight again imitating the gold coinage of Philip II of Macedonia.

Indian imitations continued right up into 18th century when Venice was the financial capital of the world until Napoleon conquered it.

This constant nonsense that the dollar will crumble and that even entering World War III would bankrupt the United States, is all based on this unsupported sophistry that money must be backed by some commodity. The WEALTH OF A NATION is its people, and its productive capacity. Russia is the richest country in the world from a natural resource perspective, but it is not the financial capital of the world. Japan and Germany were destroyed after WWII yet they both rose from the ashes on the productivity of their people – NOT GOLD!!!!

A loaf of bread in 1929 was about 10 cents. Today, that is just under $2. So, obviously, a loaf of bread would be a great hedge against inflation. The entire reason silver and gold became money was because it was durable and that aspect enabled capitalism because suddenly with silver as money, it allowed the accumulation of wealth and thus capitalism unlike barley or cattle, which ultimately spoiled or died. All tangible assets are a hedge.

However, the third question comes into focus. Why did BITCOIN become popular? It is not a store of wealth since it fluctuates in value the same as everything else. Thus, I warned that it would never replace the dollar. It was the best money laundering instrument BECAUSE it was like gold insofar as it was durable unlike wheat or barley, but it was the same instrument if sold in Beijing as it was in New York. That is the character of both silver and gold. Even oil is a different grade depending on where it comes from.

Do not confuse the hedge against inflation vs the hedge against government. During the Germany Hyperinflation, everything tangible rose in value. When the new currency was introduced in 1925, it was backed by real estate.

The hedge against government is distinctly different from inflation. When there is war involved, capital flees from the region where there is war and under this condition the capital will convert to another currency and flee. That is when immovable assets like real estate are not the hedge for they may be destroyed and at best you are left with title to the raw land if your country wins. If your nation-state loses, those assets are gone to the victor.

Gold is movable and therein lies its value. The greatest risk is capital controls. When I was in the gold business, I had the incredible  opportunity to handle a rare Russian money skirt. It was entirely woven from gold wire and painted black. This was how gold was being used to flee the communists.

When their theory that the dollar would crumble after the fall of the gold standard in 1971, they came up with the excuse that the reason they were wrong was that the dollar was then the petrodollar because oil was being priced in dollars. Crude oil is less than 6% of world trade. The US trade of goods stands at 13% nearly double that of crude oil. But, it sounded good. It covered by their claims that the dollar would crumble to dust without gold. Then the Euro was going to displace the dollar. That has yet to ever materialize.

The capitalization of NYSE is greater than all the stock exchanges of Europe combined. The market capitalization of just the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), at approximately $31.7 trillion in May 2025, is significantly larger than the combined capitalization of all European stock exchanges, which is estimated to be less than half the size of the total U.S. market coming in about $25.53 trillion in 2025. The entire U.S. stock market (including the Nasdaq) represents over 60% of the total world market capitalization. Yet the dollar is going to crumble because it is not backed by gold?

Now they are at it again with BRICS. Oh, BRICS will be backed by gold so the dollar will crumble to dust. Yet, not a single BRICS nation offers a market where I could pick up the phone and invest $10 billion. This sophistry is just amazing. Even Chinese provinces borrowed in dollars. The third world countries go to NYC to borrow in dollars because that is where the capital markets are today just as it was London before WWI. They refuse to examine why their theory has been wrong each and every time. They refuse to understand what is the true wealth of any nation – its people and productivity enhanced with the freedom of capital to invest.

I have warned that war in Europe is inevitable. Those to think it will not happen because it would be suicide and the EU with the UK is broke mis the entire point. Europe is collapsing because of his highly Marxist control. This is why they are shutting down freedom of speech and you are about to witness capital controls. When WWI and WWII took place, the capital fled to the United States. That is what made the USA the financial capital of the world.

I get called in behind the curtain because they know this is NOT my OPINION. Every time I have tried to beat my own computer, I have lost. They can try to prevent mainstream media from interviewing me because I refused to cooperate. When the CIA wanted my model after it correctly forecast the collapse of Russia in 1998, I offered to run any study they wanted. But I was told that they had to own it. I refused to turn over the code or build it for them. So they do their best to try to prevent these forecasts from becoming mainstream. All they have succeeded in doing is making them more desirable behind the curtain than perhaps they would have been concerning geopolitics.

Russia has no interest in the conquest of Europe. But Europe needs the conquest of Russia to survive. They will use any peace deal to stage NATO troops in the Ukraine and then claim that Russia violated the peace deal to justify war. If we get a peace deal, it should be in January to the first week of February 2026. I would not count on it lasting.

Last night, Bernie Sanders blocked our bipartisan bill, the Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act, to give kids fighting cancer more treatment options.

A new low, even for “The Grinch.”

I won’t back down. ?

WATCH: Mullin vs Bernie Sanders: pic.twitter.com/H7FnbxI2Ya

— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) December 18, 2025

The Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act was designed to help children with cancer receive life-saving treatment and participate in clinical trials with minimal red tape. The House of Representatives approved the bill unanimously earlier this month. Allowing children with childhood cancer to access treatment should have been a bipartisan no-brainer. Yet, the bill fell through in the Senate due to bleeding heart liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders, who believes blocking the bill could be used as leverage to expand social programs.

Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act was named in honor of Mikaela Naylon, a girl from Colorado who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at 10. Naylon and her family lobbied lawmakers to expand pediatric cancer trials until her death at 16.

In her own words:

“Hi, my name is Mikaela Naylon. I’m 15 years old and I was diagnosed on July 1st, 2020. During CO, I enjoyed walking my dog who saw a cat and ran causing me to sprain my ankle. After 2 months of waiting, it didn’t get any better. My local doctor referred me to the Children’s Hospital Denver where I received most of my treatment. I had a below knee amputation in October and then multiple lung surgeries following it. After relapsing four different times, the Colorado doctors didn’t have any other choices for me. Thus, I started a trial at MD Anderson. When that trial didn’t work, we finally decided to take a trip to the Cleveland Clinic where I started treatment with Dr. Anderson. I’ve done radiation and radioactive treatments and now I’m finishing up my final treatment. Hopefully with all these experiences under my belt, I’ve learned that the little things never matter that much and they shouldn’t interfere with living your life to the fullest.”

? URGENT: Call @sensanders TODAY for kids with cancer ?

We are ONE step away from passing the Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act.

Call Sen. Bernie Sanders TODAY and urge him to support a clean, immediate vote.

DC: 202-224-5141 | VT: 802-862-0697 pic.twitter.com/X2Dk0a7Fjw

— American Childhood Cancer Organization (@accorg) December 18, 2025

Bernie Sanders said he “strongly supports” the act but refused to allow it to pass. President Trump was prepared to sign the bill into law, but that is now impossible due to one disturbed man who prioritizes politics over American lives. Senator Mullins correctly accused Sanders of holding the bill hostage and using terminally ill children as leverage to open community health care centers.

Mullins told Sanders, “You’re stealing a family an opportunity to spend maybe an extra minute or an extra day, or maybe a lifetime with a loved one. I don’t know how you argue against it. I don’t know how you can possibly stand up there with a straight face and say, it’s just politics. This isn’t just politics we’re playing with people’s lives. So, this is more than just politics, but I will tell you that if this is objected to, and we can’t find a path forward here today, I can promise you I will not stop fighting…it won’t happen. We’re going to rinse and repeat and continue to go down this path until we give the families with these rare diseases an opportunity to live, because that’s what this is about.”

Bernie Sanders will never waste an opportunity to mount his high horse to demand rights for the “everyday man.” He paraded around the nation on a private jet to squeal about oligarchs and climate change before retreating to one of his multiple properties. Democrats believe that we are under an oligarchy because their candidates have lost and will continue to lose due to these types of actions. The Democrats are deeply divided, and there is a lot of hatred among them. The people are finally opening their eyes and realizing that the Democrats are NOT the party of the people. Bernie Sanders should be absolutely disgusted with himself. I do not know how anyone could honestly support this man because he represents nothing other than social disorder and chaos.

Does the Constitution provide parents the freedom to choose their children’s vaccination requirements? Can schools legally prohibit children from attending if their parents refuse vaccinations, including experimental ones? The U.S. Supreme Court must re-examine this case in New York as members of the Amish community plea with the state to permit religious exemptions.

Miller v. McDonald repealed the religious exemption from immunization requirements. The case traveled up to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and took into account a case in which Maryland parents demanded their elementary school children be exempt from LGBTQ+ curriculum. SCOTUS ruled 6-3 that public schools cannot force children to participate in blatant grooming exercises without parental consent.

The two components will be considered simultaneously. How much leverage do public schools have over American children? “A book is not going to affect your child’s health or another child’s health,” said state Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz, the Bronx Democrat who sponsored the 2019 repeal (S2994A/A2371A). “But if children aren’t vaccinated, that could affect your child, and other children as well.”

The initial case was filed by Joseph Miller, Ezra Wengerd, and Jonas Smucker, along with three Amish schools, who sued education and health officials for forcing their children to take the COVID vaccine. In March 2025, the Second Circuit sided with the state and dismissed the claims, deciding that a blanket vaccine mandate did not violate the Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause. Yet, New York does permit medical exemptions on a religious basis and the parents did not believe the case was neutral.

“The Department anticipates that the federal courts will respect the Legislature’s determination that a religious exemption from school-age vaccinations is not available,” New York State Education Department said in a statement. “If the Second Circuit—or, more likely, a majority of the Supreme Court—creates a common law religious exemption, its contours would be defined by the decision.”

The Amish plaintiffs pointed to a 1972 SCOTUS ruling in Wisconsin v. Yoder that permitted Amish kids to leave school after eighth grade. The Second Circuit denied their claims and said that Yoder did not provide parents with the ability to forego COVID vaccination mandates.

Leaked White House audio shows that the Department of Justice (DoJ) understood that religious Americans may feel morally opposed to the vaccine as it contains or was tested on aborted fetal tissue. There was even speculation that Pfizer used aborted fetuses that were discarded to create the vaccine, but since the company is not required to disclose anything about the vaccine, we do not know the truth.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was designed to protect workers from religious discrimination if they have a “sincerely held belief.” However, some employers are requesting that employees admit whether they use common medicine such as Tums, Motrin, Tylenol, Benadryl, Claritin, and Aspirin among others as they were also developed using fetal cells. In the leaked audio, a lawyer from the DoJ states employees can honestly say they did not know that those medications were tested on fetal cells and will discontinue their use.

First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”