Martin Armstrong

Martin Armstrong, Max Keiser and High-Level Economists Weigh In

The energy-rich former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan Thursday devalued its currency against the US dollar by 18%, as AFP notes, in the latest sign of contagion among Russia's neighbors from the plunging ruble (following Krgyzstan's 17% plunge in 2014 and Kazakhstan's 14% tumble). However, as Martin Armstrong warns, this is symptomatic of a deflationary contagion that "will contribute to now force the dollar higher... We are in a major economic collapse on a global scale. Most people do not understand that this is the real threat we face."

The sixth anniversary of Zero Hedge is just around the corner, and so, for the sixth year in a row we continue our tradition of summarizing what you, our readers, found to be the most relevant, exciting, and actionable news of the year, determined by the number of page views. Those eager for a brief stroll down memory lane of prior years can do so at their leisure, by going back in time to our top articles of 2009,2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. For everyone else, without further ado, these are the articles that readers found to be the most popular posts of the past 365 days.

This is the final stage of the collapse of the Roman Empire. When the state runs out of money, it historically attacks the people. In Rome, whole armies began sacking their own cities to get paid. The police are doing just that. Whatever they can confiscate goes to funding their own pensions. This is a national problem that will only get much worse going into 2020. We have nobody in Washington representing the people any more.

What took place in Washington over the past two weeks with the repeal of Dodd Frank and then the effective repeal of the Volcker Rule sounds strikingly familiar to at least three previous periods in American History that led to total disaster. What the bankers just pulled off will lead to their demise.  They have played with a historical fire that may end in actual bloodshed. It would not be the first time they have been dragged from their palaces and hanged on the streets. That is what the term “BLACK FRIDAY” really stood for – the day a mob hanged bankers on Wall Street.

“President Obama’s unilateral legislative action violates the separation of powers provided for in the United States Constitution as well as the Take Care Clause, and therefore, is unconstitutional.”

"Governments always turn against the people... they too realize that the people are starting to wake up against the abuse of government everywhere. Politicians will be politicians. What is left to say?"

"These idiots cannot grasp that this is reversing the US economy into isolationism and is paving the road for China to take the lead. It is time to turn off the lights."

Recent polls show pro-default parties growing popular in peripheral euro-area countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain. As Bloomberg Brief's Maxime Sbaihi notes, in a depressed economic environment, their promises to restructure public debt might soon bring them to power and tempt traditional parties to adopt their ideas. This return of political risk in the euro area doesn’t appear to be priced in by market participants. As Italy's Beppe Grillo recently exclaimed, "we will leave the Euro and bring down this system of bankers, of scum."

We need to restructure the world economy - right this very instant. The US economy is holding up the entire world economy right now and the growth rate is minimal. When we turn the economy down, look out below. These morons have been hunting taxes everywhere and as a result they have shut down global capital flows. Government lives in an illusion. These idiots have destroyed the world economy and we will understand the full impact soon.

Next week, Italy's Beppe Grillo - the leader of the Italian Five Star Movement - will start collecting signatures with the aim of getting a referendum in Italy on leaving the euro "as soon as possible," just as was done in 1989. As Grillo tells The BBC in this brief but stunning clip, "we will leave the Euro and bring down this system of bankers, of scum." With two-thirds of Parliament apparently behind the plan, Grillo exclaims "we are dying, we need a Plan B to this Europe that has become a nightmare -  and we are implementing it," raging that "we are not at war with ISIS or Russia! We are at war with the European Central Bank," that has stripped us of our sovereignty.

Caution should be advised next week.

At what point does revolution take place? In our review of history, the probability is low but for the economic trend. In other words, turn the economy down and the percent of discontent rises exponentially. So beware – not ghosts and goblins, but politicians going forward. The problem is not that Americans are ignorant, they are being fed nonsense by the media to sell newspaper and TV advertising. We have fallen into a cycle of Yellow Journalism that was begun by Pulitzer. So perhaps Americans will wise up only when the economy turns down and the Internet provides a greater proportion of real news compared to mainstream media.

Government is corrupt and rotten to the core – it is honorable only for brief shinning moments when the dark clouds leave a crack.