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.

India’s imports of Russian crude oil have surged to a record high, with Moscow now supplying more than half of the country’s crude oil requirements. According to recent reports, Russian oil accounted for over 50% of India’s imports in June after a temporary US sanctions waiver expired. This development is far more significant than most people realize. It once again demonstrates that governments can impose sanctions, issue political declarations, and threaten economic consequences, but markets ultimately follow economic self-interest.

From the beginning, I argued that sanctions against Russia would not produce the outcome Western policymakers expected. Russia is not a small isolated economy. It is one of the world’s largest commodity producers. It exports oil, natural gas, fertilizers, metals, wheat, and countless other essential resources. The assumption that the world would simply stop buying Russian commodities ignored economic reality. Someone always buys discounted energy. In this case, India has emerged as one of the primary beneficiaries.

Before the Ukraine conflict, Russia supplied only a tiny portion of India’s crude imports. Today it has become India’s dominant supplier. Why? Because India is acting in its own national interest. Western governments may view energy through a geopolitical lens, but developing nations view it through the lens of economic survival. Cheap energy lowers production costs, supports industrial growth, and helps maintain economic competitiveness. India is not going to sacrifice its future to satisfy the foreign policy objectives of Brussels or Washington.

What makes this situation particularly revealing is that Europe itself continues finding indirect ways to consume Russian energy. Russian crude is refined in third countries and re-enters global markets in various forms.

The broader implication concerns the changing structure of the global economy. For decades, the United States and Europe largely dictated the rules of international commerce. That era is changing. Countries such as India, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Brazil, and others are increasingly pursuing independent policies based on their own interests rather than automatically aligning with Western objectives. India’s continued expansion of Russian oil purchases is part of that larger trend.

What is remarkable is how many policymakers continue measuring success based on announcements rather than outcomes. The objective was supposedly to reduce Russia’s energy revenues. Instead, Russia redirected enormous volumes of crude toward Asia while maintaining a critical role in global commodity markets. India secured discounted supplies. China expanded purchases. New shipping networks emerged. Markets adapted exactly as they always do.

This is one reason our models continue pointing toward rising geopolitical and economic fragmentation into the years ahead. The world is dividing into competing spheres of influence. Nations are becoming less willing to subordinate their economic interests to foreign policy agendas crafted thousands of miles away. India’s record purchases of Russian oil are not simply an energy story. They are a sign of a much larger transformation in the global order. The sanctions era has revealed that governments can issue commands, but they cannot repeal economic reality. Markets always find a way.

Washington D.C. District Court Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago before later becoming a U.S. citizen, has blocked the Trump administration’s effort to expand the federal SAVE database so states could verify whether registered voters are American citizens. The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system was specifically designed to allow government agencies to verify immigration and citizenship status. The administration’s position was simple: if federal law requires citizenship to vote in federal elections, then states should be permitted to verify citizenship using a federal database that already exists for that purpose.

The court argued that states could face administrative burdens and that eligible voters might be improperly affected, or in other words, upholding the Constitution is of less importance than defying Trump. What is astonishing is that we have now reached a point where verifying citizenship before voting is considered controversial. The government can verify your identity for taxes, employment, banking, travel, Social Security, military service, and immigration benefits, yet somehow, citizenship verification for elections is treated as an unacceptable burden.

This ties directly into what I wrote yesterday regarding the absurd position that virtually anyone in the world can influence American elections. Foreign governments spend millions lobbying Washington. Foreign corporations influence policy. Foreign media outlets shape public opinion. Foreign money finds countless paths into the political system. Yet when someone proposes verifying whether registered voters are actually citizens, the political establishment suddenly claims the process is too risky.

The Constitution does not grant voting rights to the entire world. The foundation of a republic is citizenship. If citizenship no longer matters when determining who participates in elections, then what exactly is citizenship? That is the question nobody wants to answer. Instead, we are told that asking the question itself is somehow inappropriate.

Time and again, courts appear willing to block virtually any measure associated with election verification, border enforcement, immigration control, or citizenship requirements if it originates from the wrong political camp. The public is not blind. Millions of Americans look at rulings like this and conclude that the institutions entrusted with upholding the law are increasingly detached from common sense.

Republics do not fail because people ask too many questions. They fail when institutions become afraid of answering them. Confidence is the foundation of every political system. Once confidence begins to erode, polarization accelerates, trust disappears, and society fragments into competing camps that no longer believe the rules are applied equally.

If citizenship is required to vote, then verifying citizenship should not be controversial. The fact that this has become one of the most divisive issues in modern politics tells us just how far the country has drifted from the principles upon which it was founded.

The Canadian government has quietly expanded the clothing allowances available to the Governor General, and the timing could not be more tone-deaf. While Canadians struggle with inflation, housing costs, and rising taxes, Ottawa has decided that the person already living in Rideau Hall requires even more taxpayer-funded support for wardrobes and official appearances. The Governor General currently earns a salary of roughly C$378,000 per year, lives in an official residence maintained at public expense, travels at taxpayer expense, receives staff support, security, transportation, and a lengthy list of other publicly funded benefits. Yet somehow that was not enough.

According to the revised guidelines, the annual clothing allowance for the Governor General has increased from C$100,000 to C$130,000. The maximum amount that can be spent on ceremonial attire has also increased substantially, while clothing purchased with public funds remains government property. Think about that for a moment. The average Canadian household is trying to figure out how to pay for groceries, rent, mortgages, insurance, and utility bills while government officials are debating whether C$100,000 a year is enough for clothing. The political class truly lives in a different universe.

What makes this even more absurd is that the Governor General’s office already receives millions of dollars annually to operate. Rideau Hall employs dozens of staff members, maintains extensive grounds, hosts official events, and receives funding for travel and hospitality.

This is the same mentality that drives every sovereign debt crisis. Governments become disconnected from the source of their funding. They begin treating taxpayer money as an unlimited resource rather than the product of someone else’s labor. Every expenditure can be justified. Every program becomes essential. Every privilege becomes a necessity. Meanwhile, the national debt continues to rise. Canada has already accumulated enormous federal and provincial debt burdens while interest costs continue climbing. Yet government spending rarely moves in only one direction.

To be fair, Rideau Hall deserves credit for clarifying that casual and business clothing cannot be billed to taxpayers and for limiting reimbursement to official ceremonial functions. However, the larger question remains unanswered. Why does government spending continue to expand in virtually every direction while citizens are repeatedly told they must accept higher taxes, lower living standards, and fewer opportunities? That is the question driving public anger across Canada and throughout the Western world.

The problem is not whether the Governor General spends C$100,000 or C$130,000 on clothing. The problem is that nobody in government appears capable of recognizing how ridiculous this looks to the people paying the bills. Inflation accelerated to 3.2% in May. Housing affordability is among the worst in the developed world. Food bank usage continues reaching record levels in many communities. Young Canadians increasingly believe they will never own a home. Against that backdrop, Ottawa is debating six-figure wardrobe budgets.

America, we have a problem. This is one judge who went out of her was to rule against Trump desperate to find not law, but an opinion that is a disgrace to the nation and she should be removed from office as a national security threat. In an order issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Denise L. Casper wrote that federal law and the Constitution give power to a president to manage elections.

PRIVATE BLOG – Gold & Mr. Bean on Crack

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A new report from Realtor.com found that nearly one-third of employed young adults in the United States are now living with their parents. These are people with jobs. They are working, earning income, and still cannot afford to establish independent households. The politicians and economists who constantly celebrate employment statistics fail to understand that a job is meaningless if it no longer provides a path to basic economic independence.

For decades, homeownership was the foundation of the middle class. A young person could graduate, find employment, purchase a starter home, build equity, raise a family, and gradually accumulate wealth. That cycle created economic stability and social cohesion. Today that entire model is breaking down. Home prices have vastly outpaced wages. Insurance costs are rising. Property taxes continue climbing. Mortgage rates remain elevated compared to the era of artificially suppressed interest rates. The result is that millions of young adults are trapped in economic limbo despite doing everything society told them to do.

This trend is not isolated to the United States. We see the same pattern throughout Canada, Britain, Australia, and much of Europe. In some countries, the average home now costs seven, eight, or even ten times average household income. Historically, such ratios were considered unsustainable. Today, they are treated as normal. Young people are delaying marriage, delaying children, and delaying household formation because the economic foundation required to support those milestones has become increasingly unattainable.

What many fail to understand is that housing has become one of the most important confidence indicators in society. When people believe they can improve their lives through work and effort, social stability follows. When an entire generation concludes that homeownership is permanently out of reach, confidence begins to erode. That erosion eventually manifests itself politically, economically, and socially. Rising populism, declining trust in institutions, and growing generational resentment are all symptoms of the same underlying problem.

This is one reason why our recent Real Estate Report was so important. Real estate is not simply about housing prices. It is a reflection of confidence, capital flows, demographics, taxation, government policy, and economic opportunity. Many governments have treated housing as a financial asset to be inflated rather than a foundation for society. The consequences are now becoming impossible to ignore. Young adults are remaining with their parents longer than previous generations not because they want to, but because the economics increasingly leave them no choice.

Our long-term models continue to suggest that real estate will experience increasing regional divergence into the years ahead. An entire generation is losing confidence in the traditional path to economic security. That may prove to be one of the most significant social and economic developments of this decade. Yet another reason why it is paramount to hold this one-day conference next month on Understanding the World Economy to explain the new realities no one else is willing to discuss.

The Japanese government is now openly admitting what I have been warning about for years. Rising interest rates are beginning to dramatically increase the government’s debt-servicing costs. For decades, Japan survived by suppressing interest rates to nearly zero while endlessly rolling over debt. That strategy only works so long as rates remain artificially low. Once rates begin to rise, the mathematics become impossible to hide.

Japan’s government debt exceeds 230% of GDP, the highest ratio in the developed world. Politicians, academics, and central bankers have spent years arguing that Japan was different because most of the debt was held domestically. I repeatedly rejected that argument. Debt is debt and whether the creditor lives in Tokyo, London, or New York does not change the obligation. The real issue has always been confidence. Once investors demand higher yields to compensate for risk, interest expense explodes and governments enter the classic sovereign debt spiral.

The Bank of Japan has now raised rates to 1%, the highest level since 1995. That may sound insignificant compared to rates elsewhere, but Japan built its entire fiscal structure around the assumption that rates would remain near zero forever. The government became addicted to cheap money. Every welfare program, subsidy, and stimulus package rested on the ability to borrow endlessly at virtually no cost. That era is ending.

What many fail to understand is that sovereign debt crises never begin because governments run out of money overnight. They begin when interest costs consume an ever-larger share of tax revenue. Governments then borrow more simply to pay interest on previous borrowing. Japan crossed that line years ago. The entire system has been held together by the Bank of Japan purchasing enormous quantities of government debt. Once the central bank attempts to normalize policy, the market immediately begins questioning the sustainability of the entire structure.

This is why I have long argued that Japan would likely be the first major developed nation to face the sovereign debt crisis head on. The population is aging, the tax base is shrinking, and social obligations continue to rise. There is no realistic path to paying down the debt. Governments always believe they can borrow forever until suddenly they cannot. History has demonstrated this repeatedly, from ancient Rome to modern Europe.

The significance extends far beyond Japan. Every major government has followed the same path. The United States, Europe, Britain, and Canada all expanded debt under the assumption that central banks could permanently suppress rates. Japan simply arrived at the end of the road first because it accumulated debt faster than everyone else.

Our models continue to show that the period into 2032 remains the critical phase for sovereign debt. The crisis was never about private debt. Governments became the largest borrowers in history. The next monetary restructuring will emerge not because of banks or corporations, but because governments have accumulated obligations that can never realistically be honored in full. Japan is merely the first warning shot. The sovereign debt crisis has begun, and once confidence starts to crack, governments everywhere will discover that there is no such thing as endless borrowing.

The United States has struck a preliminary agreement with Kenya involving the massive Mrima Hill rare earth and niobium deposit, estimated to be worth roughly $62.4 billion. The press is portraying this as a victory for Washington over Beijing, but that interpretation misses the larger picture. What we are witnessing is the next phase of the global resource war. As sovereign debt crises continue to unfold and governments become increasingly desperate to secure strategic assets, critical minerals are rapidly becoming the new oil.

Kenya has reportedly insisted that these minerals be processed domestically rather than exported as raw materials. President William Ruto openly stated that Kenya and the United States agreed that the minerals would be processed inside Kenya. This is a major shift. African nations are increasingly demanding that value creation remain within their borders instead of allowing foreign powers to capture all the profits.

What is particularly interesting is that this agreement comes as China remains deeply entrenched throughout Kenya and East Africa. Earlier this year, Kenya finalized a major trade agreement with China, granting duty-free access for most Kenyan exports. China continues to finance infrastructure projects, railways, highways, and industrial investments throughout the region. The media wants to frame this as America defeating China, but Kenya appears to be doing what every sovereign nation should do, playing both sides in pursuit of its own interests.

The reality is that neither Washington nor Beijing is acting out of charity. Rare earths, niobium, lithium, graphite, copper, and nickel are essential for military systems, semiconductors, batteries, electric vehicles, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing. The entire green energy agenda depends upon these materials. Every major power understands that whoever controls the supply chains controls the future. That is why competition for Africa’s mineral wealth is intensifying.