There seems to be great confusion surrounding what is money and what is meant by the term “legal tender”. Legal tender is a medium of payment allowed by law or recognized by a legal system to be valid for meeting any financial obligation including taxes.Legal tender is therefore anything which when offered in payment extinguishes a […]

As taxes rise and services decline, underground economies are booming. Barter is returning and governments are clamping down following the model of the commonly known Stasi, which was the Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit).The official state security service of East Germany GDR was one of the most effective and repressive secret police agencies in the […]

At the Berlin Conference, we provided an overview that shocked many. Most people had paid not much attention to separatist movements that were popping up throughout Europe from Scotland, which comes up for a vote in 2014, Britain talking about leaves the EU, right down to Spain. The major trend everyone has just assumed was […]

HOW DO Empires Die? by Martin Armstrong I began writing what I thought would be a report. Toward the final chapters in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, he wrote about Public Debt asking why anyone considered it to be quality since all governments defaulted on their debts and never paid them off. I assumed the […]

Copyright Martin Armstrong All Rights Reserved June 5th, 2012 The Truth About Gold & Why You Should Buy It Some people only ever say BUY gold and God help you if you say SELL! Even the pro-Gold radio shows will bar you if you do not agree with them. Guess Mainstream applies to them in […]

Copyright Martin Armstrong All Rights Reserved May 16th, 2012 Manipulating the World Economy Or Just Understanding How It Really Functions? Some people will never admit a mistake. No matter what I say, they just will not believe me. I have received emails from some nasty gold fanatics saying the government is right for whenever I […]

Jean Baptiste Say 1767-1832 Jean Baptiste Say was a French economist who originally intended to pursue a business career. However, reading Smith’s Wealth of Nations inspired him to take up political economy. He taught at the Conservatoire des Arts et Meitiers, and the College de France. His most important works are Traite’ d’economique politique (1803) […]

Edward III 1327-1377 Edward III was the eldest son of Edward II and Isabella of France was born at Windsor in 1312, and succeeded to the throne, on the deposition of his father, in 1327. Although a regency was appointed, the chief power was held by the queen and her paramour, Roger Mortimer, Earl of […]

Monetary History of Japan As legend has it, Japan was founded around 660BC by a direct descendent of the Sun Goddess. It is from this basic legend that Japan derives the name of “Land of the Rise Sun.” Japan has a long monetary history which dates back to when coins were first introduced from neighboring Korea […]

Monetary History of China   The monetary history of China extends back in time at least 3,000 years. At first, money was sea shells, namely the cowry shell during the Shang Dynasty. Barter was always a dominant means of exchange in China that remained largely an agrarian society. Merchants and moneylenders were not well regarded […]