People say, "Oh, historically it was a gold standard." Not true. Yes, gold was and used more for international transactions, but it was not fixed. All right? It just floated. That's it. You always have these. It's why you see there's a a silver gold ratio. You look at a chart of a few hundred years, you see spikes and and bottoms. Um, everything in life has a cycle to it. Uh, so you just can't fix it. Can gold be the medium of exchange again? Yes, no problem. All right. But you just can't fix the value. This is Little by Little with Andy Sheckman. All right. Good afternoon everyone. Uh welcome back to another episode of Little by Little. It is my distinct pleasure to uh welcome to the show today a legendary economic forecaster, the founder of Armstrong economics and the mind behind the powerful Socrates AI model long before any of us knew what AI was. Martin Armstrong has advised governments managed billions and predicted global financial crisises with an eerie accuracy. I can attest to that. His economic confidence model has become a cornerstone for understanding global cycles. and today he joins us to unpack where the world is headed next. Mr. Armstrong, great to have you, sir. Welcome in. Well, thank you for inviting me. Pleasure is mine. Pleasure is mine. I'm looking forward to this. Let's jump right in. Um, Socrates has identified 2025 as the beginning of a stagflationary crisis in the US. I agree with a critical collapse in confidence projected in miday of next year 2026 with the Fed now cornered between rising inflation and declining growth. Is there any path left in your mind for the Fed to regain control without triggering a deeper economic spiral or have we already crossed that point of no return? Now, um, all your central banks have actually lost control. Um, mainly because the theories that we were all taught in school back, you know, way back when, uh, Keynesian economics when he came up with that idea in the 30s, US had a balanced budget. So, it made sense if you raise interest rates or lower interest rates, it affected us directly. But today the government is the biggest borrower in the room and not just us but they all are. So they can't raise interest rates anymore to stop inflation because then the government expenditures blow out. Um so they're actually trapped. Uh and look, they know this is a confidence game. So they're not going to come out and say what I say. uh because they have to at least be perceived that they're in control. Um you know, back in the 87 crash, they they started the G5 at the Plaza Court in ' 85. So, we want the dollar down 40%. Okay. Uh that's when I went to Reagan. I said, you know, you're going to cause a crash. and um because they had sold like a third of the national debt of Japan and I said they're going to sell. Why? Cuz they're going to lose 40%. Don't you understand, you know? Um then they had the Louv Accord in February of 87. They said, "Okay, that's enough. The dollar is going down far enough. The dollar continued to make lows." That's what ended up with the 87 crash because it suddenly everybody back then said, "Oh the central banks really can't control this." Um, and then the rumors were the dollar is going to fall another 40%. So everybody just started selling and um you know it was I got called into the Brady Commission to investigate it and I you know I at least got them if you read the Brady report at the end it says um we thinks foreign exchange had something to do with it. That was the best I could get out of them. uh they're never going to come out and say, "Hey, the G5 caused this," you know, and um but I mean this is the world we live in, you know, it is all smoke and mirrors and the the real risk we have is when the public begins to realize that they can't control this, then you get into this freefall type thing. Um, so it it's I don't see the Fed being able to steer us out of this. Uh, we're in this recessionary trend. Um, because we're all in this together. Europe is is the worst. Um, I know a lot of people talk keep talking about, oh, the dollar is going to crash. Is that okay, what are you going to do? Buy euro? Um, yeah. you know, you're talking about big money. We're not talking about just gold. I mean, we're talking about billions and billions of dollars that that you know, um, you know, you got 34 trillion in US national debt. Uh, and globally, you've got over a 100red trillion in in in sovereign debt. Um, so what I'm concerned about is that Europe is pushing to towards war because they know um the end is near. Um, you know, I got dragged in to all this stuff largely. Um, I I had a client who was a executive VP at at Franklin National Bank back in 73 and he knew that I understood trading etc. And he asked me would you come in and take a look at this? He says I think we have a currency problem but I'm not sure. And Franklin National Bank was the first bank to fall after the you know uh the collapse of Breton Woods. They actually were the founder MA of Mastercard. Uh so that failure after that every time there was a currency problem was like go get that guy that did that one you know. So I I got dragged into everything. I mean from you know forming the G5 I was asked to come into that. I mean when they were forming the euro um they came to me uh I met with them explain okay this is how we create a currency um and all the propaganda they were putting out was all a lie. Oh we're all going to pay the same interest rate. We'll eliminate volatility. Um and Europe is a bigger economy. we'll we'll beat the dollar. And it was all propaganda. The problem was that uh Herma Cole knew and he admitted before he died that if he allowed the German people to vote he would have lost 7 to three. So he took Germany into the euro but he insisted no consolidation of the debt. So, as a trader, all right, we used to trade all Deutsch Mark, Italian LER, whatever. Um, and I warned them. I said, "This is not going to work. You're just going to move the volatility from the currency market to the bond market." Because everyone has different spreads. Exactly. And we all see that on the screens today. All right. So, the problem is, let's say I got a hundred billion dollars on an hedge fund. All right. I could pick up the phone and say, "Buy me 100 billion of treasury." When it comes to Europe, I still got to make the same decision as it was currency. Oh, let's see. Do I want Germany, France, Netherlands? You know, you still got to it's nothing changed. So, the problem here is that government's default and all the research I've done and how does this really happen? Um it's it's not the quantity of debt. Um that's kind of a misnomer. I mean we could have a you know a five quadrillion debt. That's not the issue. The issue is when people lose confidence in the government. It could be 5 trillion. It could be 34 trillion. It could be 60 trillion. Doesn't that doesn't matter. It's kind of like what I said about the Louva court and when all these governments are in this these Ponzi schemes, they have to sell new debt to pay off the old and the problem comes when nobody wants to buy the new debt. Then you can't pay off the old and that's when it comes crashing down. And um Europe is it's just a basket case. Um it is, you know, it it's far worse than the United States or anything else. Um the only country that's even maybe on the same level of a crisis is Japan. Uh but uh the Japanese are different. and they have more confidence in the government because the, you know, the emperor used to be God. Um, you know, I used to be in Tokyo a lot. You go to dinner with some of the old guys, the head of, you know, different companies and the big ones and and they get a few drinks in them and they go, you know, the emperor is still God. Yeah. Okay. You know, um, so Europe is is fragmented. Everything they promised has been basically undone. They promised it wouldn't become a dictatorship because it would require 100% consensus. So Hungary didn't want to vote. Oh, okay. Well, we're going to change that, you know, uh uh because Hungary won't give money to Ukraine. Uh so little by little they've weedled down the you know it's it is a dictatorship that's it. Um although they call Putin a dictator and all this stuff actually the only two heads of state that the people directly vote for was Putin and the United States. The rest of them are all parliamentary. So the heads of the parties appoint them like Canada. Uh I hear a lot of complaints from Canadians, you know, well, we didn't pick, you know, Carney. U the politicians do. And uh nobody stands for election. Ursula in in the EU, she's never been elected to anything. And all the people that behind the, you know, the curtain to make up the laws in the commission, none of them stand for election. So, you know, Europeans, this is why I think you're you're you I do a lot of podcasts in in Croatia, Serbia, Italy, Netherlands, all over the place, and I hear the same thing. You know, it's it's always maybe different reasons, but many people are getting frustrated with with Brussels, uh the climate, you know, issues, then you have the migrant crisis. Um, and these were all things that were imposed upon them that they did not have the right to vote for this stuff. Um, yet they pretend they're a democracy, you know, and they're not. So, you're I'm seeing the same frustration and and that's that's key. Well, pulling on that string a little bit in in watching some of your videos, you suggested that this old European regime is collapsing. Uh even in and that we have a s a silent majority beginning to push back against this political establishment. Um it seems as though some of these leaders are turning to the neocon strategies to ma maintain control. We're seeing, you know, talk about drafting and mandatory drafting, but always every single time I get online, I have to do this. It's it's almost you can't even make it up. I mean, I could I could mine just heard heard your every single time. I apologize. Anyways, do you believe the figures in particular like Mcronone and Tusk and MS would rather escalate us towards a major war, even World War III, rather than admit policy failure and relinquish their power? Oh, absolutely. Um, which you didn't answer that that way that fast. It's a little scary if you think about it. I have very high contacts in France and they believe that Mcronone is is more or less like the Gaul. It's a um Napoleon complex. Um and for people that don't understand about um de Gaul um he in 1966 he ordered all Americans out ordered all NATO stuff out um France is the third largest nuclear power all on its own. um you know it it's the France is still in my opinion uh still basically dealing with Napoleon's loss um the to create the European community the you know the documents have been declassified the CIA was was funding the whole thing they wanted Europe to band together as a a bull work against Russia's communism and the Gaul objected and so he finally agreed only after they threatened to cut off all Marshall plan to to France um he agreed to accept Germany in but not the British Britain wasn't allowed to join the EU until after the Gaul died um Look, I mean, and if you take the, you know, the the the train underneath the the the channel, where did the Brits have it stop at? Waterloo station. You know, I mean, you know, this is basically tit for tap going back and forth for a long time. Um, you know, the goal accepted the Germans, but not the Americans and the and the British. So just seems like a silly a silly trade, but uh I get it. I guess old grudges run deep. Uh that it's interesting, but um so Europe I, you know, look, I've seen this same thing in Ukraine. Uh we had employees, one in Kiev and one in Donesk. Uh if you ever brought a bottle of Russian vodka to dinner in Kiev, they would smash it over your head. um Yugoslavia. I was called in before the country broke up, you know, and they said, "Oh, you know, they they killed 600 of us and threw us in a common grave." And I thought I missed something on the news. I said, "Really?" I said, "You know, when did that happen?" "Oh, about 700 years ago." You know, um you know, I've been in Greece. I've been in Athens when Merkel was against bailing out Greek banks and they were dressed up as Nazis walking down the street, you know, protesting. So, I mean, yes, old grudges in Europe remain. Um, to this day, I mean, they're still there. Yeah, I I I I see I believe you. I see that. Well, let's let's bring it a little closer to home. Um, you know, I talked over the last several years, my phrase was, "It's too stupid to be stupid." Seeing many of the things that had happened in this country, and I've I've seen I've heard you say that many of the moves, the geopolitical moves seem so reckless, they almost feel intentional. That's a more uh articulate way of saying it's too stupid to be stupid. And so between Pelos's visit to Taiwan which openly defied the one China policy and and the Biden administration, you know, funding the war and greenlighting missiles into Russia right towards the end. And you know, it wasn't him who made that decision. But on top of on top of of everything else, do you believe that this was just ridiculous incompetence or were they actually trying trying to provoke a global conflict? No, they're trying to provoke it. Um, look, I I I know some of these neocons. I mean, even Bill Crystal spoke at one of our conferences. Uh, and I can tell you that this is back in the 90s, I argued with him. He was talking about taking out um Assad Hussein uh Assad and Gaddafi and would bring peace to the Middle East. I said, "You're out of your mind. You You've Have you ever been there? You know, we drew the borders. These are not countries." All right. There, you know, they still view themselves as tribes. I mean, you look at you, there's Kurds, there's Sunni versus Shiite. And in many respects, you needed somebody like Sodom Hussein to stop them from all killing each other, you know. Um, and you know, you removed him and what do we got? We we ended up with ISIS cutting off people's heads and stuff like that. Um, look, that that's the Middle East. It and a lot of people don't understand it, but it's more or less I mean, just look at Ireland. You have, you know, Protestant versus Catholic. All right. Um, countries divided. That's what the Middle East is. Sunni versus Shiite. All right. Shiite is like Iran. The country should be run by the church. um Sunni, you have a king, you know, running like Saudi Arabia. So, completely different philosophies. Um so, you know, you you find the same thing in in Judaism, Catholicism, you know, you name it. There's always the left and a right, which which is one of the reasons that I found it interesting a year or two ago that China brokered a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran and even talked about building embassies in each other's uh countries and and building a highway between the two countries and I don't know maybe uh maybe my enemy's enemy uh you know is is my friend type of deal. I'm not quite sure what to to make of that, but you're right. You see that everywhere and and it seems to be um something that the United States keeps poking its head into and and perhaps foolishly. Speaking of uh unless you'd like to comment on that for a moment. No, I would I would just recommend you can go on um YouTube and Google up uh General Wesley Clark's 2007 speech and He uh went to the Pentagon after 9/11 and he was shocked. They said they were going into Iraq and he asked, "Oh, you you know, we've tied Saddam to 9/11." They said, "No." Uh he also came out and said he was told they intended to go into Iraq and conquer seven countries all the former Soviet satellite countries in the Middle East. Uh this is the neocons which you talked about. It is deliberate. Um you'll also find McNamera's uh apology on YouTube before he died. Uh he was the neocon that took us into Vietnam and before he died he said look I'm sorry we were wrong. Uh we thought Russia was behind it. He said quote unquote it was just a civil war. 58,000 Americans die for that one. Uh you know look these people have waged wars constantly. Uh and they just hate Russians and it doesn't matter. I was, you know, um, you know, I did get called in by, you know, the Reagan administration back then and I can tell you when Gorbachoff u hinted that he wanted to speak. Reagan wanted to go and I know what they told him. All right. They couldn't say he was a communist anymore because communism collapsed. So they said, "You can never trust a Russian." So it it it it just turned from hatred of communism to racism, I guess. Um I mean, look, Russia is more of a Christian country than probably the West. Uh and they're not capitalists anymore. And they certainly all this propaganda that oh, you know, if Ukraine falls, they'll come take Europe and he wants to resurrect it. He's been there since 1999. I think if he wanted to invade and take Europe, it would have been a lot sooner than now. All right. He doesn't have too many years left in office. You don't wait till your last day. You know, it it's the Russian people don't want to conquer. These are old ideas. I mean, Kruef, we will bury you. that stuff was more or less, you know, socialism is going to defeat capitalism. You know, this was their their dogma. Um, I mean, they overthrew him. I mean, there was a major um grain crisis in 1963. They had to buy grain from the west. Uh, that showed their collective farming didn't work. Um you had the Cuban missile crisis ' 62 and they overthrew him in ' 64. Um then Brees came in but there was an actual coup against Kruef. They thought he was erratic, nuts, you know. Um and I mean there's even a movie I would recommend. I think it was called the courier or something uh about u there was a a uh a Russian colonel who was feeding information about the whole Kruef wanted to put missiles into Cuba and that's how we knew about it and and he got caught and they executed him but um he was against Kruef because he also thought he was you know erratic and and a danger fascinating. Uh you could point fingers for erratic and dangerous behavior a lot of places. Yeah. These days, not not just at other countries. Let's switch gears a little bit, Martin. Uh you're you're fascinating. I could talk to you all day. Let's let's talk a little bit about China right now. Um they're now the world's largest producer and importer of gold. With gold officially now recognized as a tier one asset under Basel 3, its monetary role seems to be quietly strengthening almost as if gold isn't reacting to something but it is being reintegrated perhaps. Not sure but anyways given your view that China and I found this interesting is destined to become the next financial capital of the world. Where does gold fit into the into that situation? and and how intentional do you think their accumulation strategy has been? Well, you you have to understand what happened. Um the neocons were really running the Biden administration. As you said, they sent Pelosi over to, you know, um wipe out the, you know, to change the one China policy. But you also have Blinken, you know, pushing through with the uh sanctions on Russia. And I should point out in 2014 when Russia did go into Crimea, um Obama tried that. He went to to Swift, wanted to have him removed, and they refused. They said, "You're not going to turn this into a into a political weapon." So they replaced the head of Swift in 2019. this guy does whatever he's told, you know. Um, so this is how I I would say that these neocons are stupid in the sense of they they're focused only on defeating Russia. They have no concept of the economy, um, funding the debts or anything like of that nature. just I got to kill Russians. That's it. Uh and um there's even a a clip out of Lindsey Graham, you know, in a meeting with Sullinsky saying this is the best money we ever spent killing Russians. I mean, what if you said that about blacks or Jews or something? That's a hate crime. You know, you'd be in prison for 20 years or something. Uh but so by putting the sanctions on Russia, removing them from Swift, that was a red flag to everybody else. And then you have Blinken, this idiot, threaten China. If you help Russia, we'll do the same to you, you know. And so they go, "Oh, okay. No problem." So that creates bricks. What is bricks? It's really the division of the world financial system. So swift was everybody was connected. It was real globalism. Now you have two systems. So the main reason uh China and Russia have been accumulating gold is very simple. You go to war. What do they do? China owns uh up to 10% of the US national debt. You think the US would pay it? We'll default. All right. So, they realize that you cannot have uh your reserve assets in the currency of your enemy. All right? So, that's where gold's going. And look, I' I've speak to central banks. It's it's wrong to say, "Oh, gee, they're buying gold because they think it's going to go up." They're not investors. This has got nothing to do with that. What it is, they don't care if it goes down. It's it's basically neutral. So, what they're doing is bas is is moving reserves uh from dollars and euros. You know, China has been selling off euro debt. Japan just dumped 50ome billion of euros, euro bonds. Um, Europe is is beating the war drums and over there. You really want to have any of their debt? You're not going to survive, you know. So, whatever you have in European debt, it's going, you know, forget it. You know, roll it up, smoke it, you know, that's about all it's going to be good for. Um, so that's why they're moving to gold. All right? So, it's not because they think it's going to go up over 4,000 or whatever. They don't care if it goes down. That's not the issue. The issue is is basically you you definitely do not want to have um your your reserves tied up in a currency that is your enemy. Um so you know China has been not excessively aggressive now that Trump's come to to to um the White House but they are still moving towards gold uh only because it's neutral. All right. um you can't really have um a gold standard per se uh like Brentton Woods mainly because there is a business cycle. All right. So you can't fix gold uh that was the whole problem. You fixed gold to $35, but you didn't limit the amount of dollars that you were creating. I mean, obviously a three-year-old with a pocket calculator could figure out it's going to go busted sometime. Um, and you know, people say, "Oh, historically it was a gold standard." Not true. Yes, gold was used more for international transactions, but it was not fixed. All right? It just floated. That's it. Um, rose and fell like everything else in life. Um, you know, there was big inflation during the mid 19th century because so much gold was found in California, you know, so the value of gold went down versus silver. Um, so it you always have these that's why you see there's a a silver gold ratio. We look at a chart of a few hundred years, you see spikes and and bottoms. Um, everything in life has a cycle to it. Uh, so you just can't fix it. Can gold be the medium of exchange again? Yes, no problem. All right. But you just can't fix the value. Um because, you know, look, there could be a a a wheat shortage, climate, whatever, drought, and the price of wheat will double or triple. All right. Um, this is way history works. um you know the climate turned very cold up north and then they moved south and that became the sea people and they overthrew all the bronze age people except for for Egypt. Um so I mean you've always had these things um historically you can't find any century that's a flatline. So on that thread, which I'm I'm glad that you said what you did. I I've talked about bricks now for almost five years. It's kind of what thrust me on the stage. The people's bank of China just announced its digital renimi crossber settlement system that is now connected to top to 10 as an countries. It's the basically these countries in Southeast Asia and six Middle Eastern nations. um this enables almost 40% of global trade to bypass the swift system. So and and again all of this would settle in in Reimi. In practical terms uh China's digital currency bridge has reduced crossber payment processing times on Swift from 3 to 5 days to 7 seconds and that eliminates need for all the intermediary banks with a 98% reduction in handling fees. This is 40% of global GDP right now just with this announcement. Do you see a digital yuan or to your point a bricks goldback settlement system? Not a common currency but a settlement system uh where they trade in local currencies and settle imbalances in gold. Do you do you see this ultimately replacing swift as a real threat or just as a negotiating chip to weaken US leverage? Well, it it's a more of a negotiating chip at this stage in the game. Um, will Swift uh survive? Look, I I think we're we're looking at the collapse of the world financial system as we know it. Um, our computer's been projecting that for like 2032. Uh, and because you're looking at the collapse of of all these forms of government. uh the the worst form of government I is basically this parliamentary republican type idea. Um for example I mean we are never asked shall we go to war with Russia or China or anything else. They just do this. This is a Republican representative. Do they really represent us? you know, um, you know, they represent whoever is paying them the most basically is is and that's been the problem throughout history. Um, I would advocate more of a direct democracy which is closer to like Switzerland where people at least get to vote on a referendum. Um, but uh, parliamentary systems are even even much worse. uh because you like I said the head of a state doesn't you don't even get to pick who it is. Um so all of this is coming to a head uh as the economics uh look we've been in these Ponzi schemes since since basically World War II and look Kead said fine you can run a deficit um to help balance out the economy. He never advocated year after year. Uh and but that's what we have. Um and people ask me about you know you know can can you go back to a gold stand not under the political system we have because basically what happens is is we have to change the political system. You know a Democrat wouldn't know how to run. you know, you're gonna vote for me and I'll give you this. If you're on a fixed exchange rate, you can't do that. All right? So, you're gonna have to come back to, gee, okay, vote for me because I'm a better manager than he is. Um, but so we're in this socialistic agenda, particularly Europe, even more so in the United States. um they don't know how to run unless they're promising, you know, uh lollipops and and a free car or something, you know. It's um so that's got to change. So it's it's the whole thing. It's you know, revising the the monetary system is not going to work unless we also change the political system. Um, we we have to get back to common sense and and practical. Um, and you're seeing it when Trump was elected. Uh, that has been really a contagion and you're seeing it in Europe. The AFD, oh, they're a bunch of right-wing Nazis, what now? They're the largest party. Um, people are fed up with all this stuff and you're seeing this what they're calling far right. Um, which is really mostly just common sense. Yeah. It seems the far left is the scary radical side after what we've watched the last few years. Look, I look, I have friends in in in Germany. One has a 13-year-old daughter will not even allow her to walk to the bus stop for two blocks. That's crazy. Uh, not the world you and I grew up in. No, it's not. And you know, now Ursula has has at least agreed to some deportation. This is just they make these decisions without any idea. I mean, yes, okay, fine. Birth rates were declining. So, as the birth rates decline, all these pension funds are Ponzi schemes. they kept counting on, you know, more of the next generation to pay for the other one because they're not taking your money and actually saving it. They're spending it anyhow. So, um, they let all these people in thinking, "Okay, fine. They'll pay taxes, whatever." They don't speak the same language. It's not um when people came here, they came here for a better life. Um, and they assimilated. When I was in meetings with uh in Europe, I told him, I said, "They don't understand what made America really great." I said, "It was discrimination." You go, "Oh my god, how could you say that?" I said, "Because it was fair. Whoever was the last off the boat didn't get a job until they spoke English." Once they all spoke English, then you ask an American, "What are you?" Oh, I'm half German, half Irish, whatever. Um, you don't see that in Europe, you know, because of the language, you know. I don't think it's such a such an imposition to expect someone to learn the language and the culture of the country they're moving to. I think that's actually pretty logical myself. Look, I mean, you want to go and become a a citizen in in Zurich, you have to learn to speak, you know, German. Um you had to have skills. Um that's why a lot of the I saw it only with Brexit in Britain. Most of the Indians voted you know for Farage. Why? Because they had to have English. They had to have some sort of a talent. Most of them were in medical to get in, you know. And they objected just open these borders. These people don't speak English or anything else. and have nothing to offer. I had to do all this. Same thing here. I I saw in Florida. I mean, um I mean, you live down here where, you know, there've been a lot of Mexicans that are legal, you know, and they speak English. They had to learn, you know, offer a trade or something um to get in. Same thing. They object to all these other people coming in making them look bad. Yeah. Well, it makes sense. you know what is a necessity is a mother of invention. So, you know, if you come to a place, you should at least learn how to speak. Let me let me ask you a question, Martin. Um, last question. And and I really do appreciate like I I'd love to sit down with a glass of wine or two and and pick your brain. You ever get down this way, I hope you'll look me up because I would really enjoy that. I'm sure people have enjoyed listening to this as well. Um, I got three kids. My youngest is almost 18 years old. Um when you when you look out, you know, 2030 and beyond, what gives you hope and optimism? Uh I I often talk about the Shaw Shank redemption where Andy Drain had to crawl through two miles of crap to get to the other side. Do we need to crawl through that tube of crap to get to the other side? And is there something to look forward to on the other side here in the United States? Uh yes, I think so. I it's look this is more or less um we go through these events historically um like the American Revolution all right um there were people against the king then others were for him etc um and you know not until uh Payne wrote his common sense did he flip the majority to um against the king. Uh so we need that watershed of bent yet. Um but you still have people not you know they thinking oh I'll get social security though they're going to take care of me. It's not going to be there. Um I have one girl that works in our company. Her mother worked for social security and her mother even told her it's not going to be there for you. Um so I would say that you know there is a light at the end of the tunnel but it you know we have to be mindful of what these problems are so that we when we come to this period um we can basically say okay fine look we've tried all these different types let's do it right this time and as you know I've been called into so many times different governments and stuff like that. And in every investigation they have and somebody comes up with a solution, nobody ever asked this question. Did somebody try this before? Did it work? Yeah, that that would be prudent. You would think. I would think you would ask such a question. Everybody, oh, that's a good idea. Yeah. And that's and off they go again. you know, it's um look, I've dealt with heads of state. Something's changed. Um before, I mean, look, I was I had conversations with Reagan. I I was good friends with Margaret Thatcher. I mean, you could sit down and have intelligent conversations. I don't know one leader out there in Europe that I'd even want to sit down and have a glass of wine with. Um, you know, I shake their hand. I'd want to I'd feel like I I need to take a shower afterward. You know, it's I don't know any of them. Um, maybe Orurban. Um, Bologoney seems to be at least 5050 to some degree. she was the only one that came over here for uh uh Trump's inauguration. Uh but that's who I would have said. Everybody else is like that's just so hostile. Um you know, Mcronone doesn't want to settle on on trade. Why? Because he wants France to be the, you know, the cornerstone. He's actually been telling people behind the scenes. I don't know if it's out in the press yet. He will provide a nuclear umbrella to protect Europe, get rid of America. Um, that's why I say he's got a Napoleon complex. Uh, and uh, this is this is it. And and even when France joined the Euro, um, you can look this up. They agreed to join, but nobody was allowed to issue any coinage that celebrated their loss at Waterloo. Brussels did issue a commemorative coin, not for circulation. That's how they got around it. Um, and because they didn't like they don't like France so much because the Gaul said that uh the English created, you know, Belgium just to annoy the French. Um, so I mean, look, that's what I mean. you have all these resentments in Europe that go back such a long time. But I I think that uh you are looking at a um you know I I would be optimistic that we're maybe we got a shot at trying democracy for once. Um, but you have to go through this barbwire crawling stuff to get there cuz the majority of people have to understand that government is dysfunctional. A number of people see that. Probably a lot of people that watch your show, but not the majority yet. Yeah, that bothers me because even people that I one of the biggest money managers in Florida across the street from me, very well read, just reads the wrong stuff. And I know a lot of people that fall into that category and you try and you try to lead them to water, but they won't even try and drink it. It's it's an interesting it's an interesting um phenomenon where people that are very bright uh just refuse to do any any um any digging outside the mainstream which is which has led people very far astray. Robert Kiyosaki is a friend of mine and he often says people can't get out of the way of what they don't see coming. And I would say that's the majority of the people that uh that I that I know in in my neighborhood here. But uh not the people that listen to you or to I. They're at least open-minded enough to look at both sides of the coin rather than just the one the popular narrative that is coming out of of the mainstream. as a um international hedge fund manager. I was one of the first. I saw how it works. They all collect together. All right? So, they're all on like you take the Russian collapse and you know, they're all in it. you know, you're all in the same tree, you know, and that's why I say that, you know, the majority must always be wrong because they provide the fuel for the correction either way. Um, but it's, you know, I saw it from, you know, the early 80s we were all in Geneva dealing with OPEC money. Then it was like, "Oh, Japan. Everybody runs over there." Okay, Japan. Then that goes bust in ' 89. Oh, what's next? Oh, Southeast Asia. Yeah. Then, you know, they peaked that out in 94. Oh, what's that? Oh, the Euro's coming in 98 and they run. I just They're like a pack of of animals, honestly. The more things change, the more they stay the same. In other words, huh? Yeah. It's uh that's why what you're seeing big fund managers fine they don't want to go against the grain. Yeah. Well, it goes against the meal ticket. That'll all change at some point I assume. Uh Mr. Martin Armstrong, you're truly a legend and in my mind um I can't thank you enough for coming on my show um and enlighting us with your cander and your wisdom. What's the best way for people to continue to follow what you're up to? Uh, you can go to our website. It's armstrongeconomics.com. Um, we don't sell advertising and you don't have to put in your email and we don't send out, you know, 15 emails per day. You know, I want to buy some swamp land in Florida or something. Um, um, I think that was all sold out in the 30s anyhow. But um so I mean we we try to keep it as an open source. Um we have offices everywhere from China to you know Dubai. We're not blocked anywhere because everybody knows it's a computer so it's not just my opinion. Um sometimes I wish the forecast were my opinion because at least we got a 50/50 shot of being wrong. But, um, like I said, you can't get out of the way what you don't see coming. And you're helping people see what's what's coming and allowing them to make an educated decision as to whether or not to sidestep what's coming. And I, for one, appreciate that very much. I hope people watching this do as well. So, thank you for that. Um, any last words you'd like to leave my audience with? Um, you know, I know that's not really. It's not all doom and gloom there. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Good. We got to get everybody when everybody begins to see that the what is the problem, then we can fix it. Right on. I'm all for that. I would love to have you back on again, Martin. And if you ever get down this way across across the state, please please please look me up. Me and uh and you and our mutual friend can can have lunch or something. But uh again, my distinct appreciation for you being here and I definitely will look forward to picking up where we left off and I wish you and everyone else out there all the best and a good rest of your day. Well, thank you. Have a good time down there. I'm on the West Coast where we get the sun sun sets instead of the sun rises. Yeah, you're over there with all my my Midwestern Minnesota friends. I'm the only Minnesota in on the east coast, but uh if I get over there, you get over here. Let's make it happen. All right. Thank you, Mark. Take care. Little by little with Andy Sheckchman.