August 14, 2024 | Is Britain a Major Short? Is the EU Waging war on Free Speech?

Britain has lost its historical roots and, thus, its mind.  Britain has embraced the very idea of George Orwell’s 1984 as a good idea. They now engage in a desperate attempt to imprison anyone who dares to criticize the government because they know they are losing power. Instead of looking objectively at what they have done to their country, they have embarked on the most tyrannical approach to imprison people who disagree with government policy regardless of what it might be.

I don’t know what to say anymore. I loved living in Britain. It brings such sadness to my heart to see the direction of Britain and the entire West. Yes, these harsh actions will stir the sentiment even more and risk civil war in Britain. This is why they will turn to war with Russia for they need desperately to create a distraction to survive politically.

Æthelstan (c. 894; King English 927-939AD) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939AD. From that point in history, 927AD, we are approaching a major long-term cyclical event in the 2028-2029 time period.

Our computer has been projecting that the British pound will collapse and penetrate the 1985 low as we move into the years ahead. This is a chart of the pound just since 1904. Britain’s glory days are gone. This year, 2024, was a double-directional change, signaling Britain’s decline and fall in the years ahead. This is more than just Harry turning his back on Britain. At the London Conference, we even put forth the forecast for the potential fall of the British House of Windsor, which was founded on July 17th, 1917.

The UK police are now threatening not only British citizens with arrest for posting things they don’t like on social media. Still, they are now even threatening to extradite people from other countries who dare to challenge their tyrannical regime, which is obviously in fear of losing power. They have no INTERNATIONAL jurisdiction to impose their laws on the rest of the world.

Since the American Revolution was against the monarchy, why would they comply with international law at that time and send someone back to England for a crime committed in America to be punished by a king they did not recognize? The American Constitution established territorial jurisdiction for the first time. So, someone convicted of a crime would be punished in America for his crime in America. Now, the problem has become a question of rights under the Constitution. Did a foreign citizen have a right to a fair trial? The definition of “We the People” had to extend to anyone tried in America, regardless of citizenship.

The touchstone in United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez was correct, constitutionally speaking, for it extended to one’s connection to this country in compliance with territorial jurisdiction. The court declared that this “We the People” definition applied consistently throughout the Bill of Rights and did not limit rights to anyone.

Britain is in dire straights. All we hear about is the US debt, but things are far worse in Britain than in the USA. Britain has some £2.6 trillion in “unfunded” public sector pension entitlements, and it keeps hiring more and more government workers. Additionally, Britain is legally mandated to hit a net zero target, which the government has already estimated will add at least another £300 billion to the government’s costs over three decades. When you look around, Wales has 28% of its population on public subsistence. Yet all of this is just the surface.

The new Labour government in Britain intends to go after non-doms, and they will leave Britain and take their spending with them, adding to the necessary pressure. Letting in unqualified migrants and forcing wealthy non-doms to leave is only going to result in rising taxes in Britain and long-term civil unrest. However, the real crisis will be the burden of taxation that is consuming economic growth. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has pointed out that the tax burden in Britain will rise to 37.7% of GDP by 2027-28, up from 33% in 2020. This will only further reduce the long-term economic growth of Britain.

Looking at the tax burden as a percent of GDP, the United States was at 27% in 2020, and Canada at 32%. In 2020, Germany in 2020 stood at 37%, with the highest in the world being France at 46.2%. Civil unrest begins to rise when you actually cross 31%, and revolution tens to unfold after 50%. Governments never learn from the past. Virtually every revolution in history is because of taxation.

Shakespeare’s famous quote, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” is not actually about lawyers. You have to understand the context. Private individuals were not allowed to have lawyers in those days – only the king could have lawyers. The right to counsel only came with the American Revolution and the Constitution. Therefore, Shakespear was talking about the “PROSECUTORS” of the king – not private lawyers.

Shakespeare’s famous quote comes from a rebellion:

DICK: The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.

Cade: Nay, that I mean to do.

(Henry The Sixth, Part 2 Act 4, scene 2, 71–78)

Jake Cade led the second tax revolt in England after the Black Death, and the king’s “lawyers” (prosecutors) aggressively seized homes and prosecuted people wrongly at that time who could not pay taxes. Politicians need to look at history. When you extract over 30% of GDP, people begin to circumvent government. This is why they want digital currencies and eliminate paper money altogether for taxation purposes. Exceeding 40% GDP unleashes civil protests. Quite incredibly, even the Labour chancellors of the 1970s, such as Denis Healey, who ()famously promised to tax the rich “until the pips squeak,” failed to comprehend that the rich can hoard their wealth and end investment, whereas the working class cannot hoard their labor. As you approach 50%, you are asking for revolution.

Thierry Breton, the EU Commissioner for Internal Market, has sent Elon Musk a letter threatening to take legal action against X if he doesn’t censor his interview with Trump. This appears to be the EU now engaging in foreign election interference in the United States. Bureaucrats can now try to silence anyone for whatever reason they like from a global perspective.

Free Speech is not so Free Anymore

Martin Armstrong August 14th, 2024

Posted In: Armstrong Economics

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