Stijn Schmitz welcomes Martin Armstrong to the show. Martin Armstrong is CEO and Chairman of Armstrong Economics Ltd. Martin argues that the conflict with Iran was a strategic miscalculation driven by Neocons and Benjamin Netanyahu’s flawed strategy of decapitation leadership, which historically never works. Contrary to assumptions, Iran is highly organized, has planned for this war for a decade, and is playing “3D chess” by targeting the Gulf states’ financial stability through attacks on Dubai and by threatening to shut down the Strait of Hormuz. This strategy is designed not just to raise oil prices but to trigger a sovereign debt crisis in the Gulf, which took on massive debts when oil prices collapsed during COVID.

Armstrong connects this to the Ukraine conflict, where he describes Volodymyr Zelensky as deliberately escalating to draw NATO into a broader war, attacking Russian energy facilities and Iranian ships to merge the two conflicts. This geopolitical turmoil is occurring amid a steep global recession expected to bottom between 2026 and 2028. He identifies Japan and the Middle East as the most at-risk regions for a sovereign debt crisis, while Europe is already economically crippled, with pension funds wiped out by years of negative interest rates. This desperation is why leaders like Macron seek war.

Despite the short-term bearish outlook for metals, Armstrong’s computer models forecast a strong bull market from 2027 into 2032, with gold potentially reaching $7,000 to $8,000, possibly spiking to $11,000. This corresponds with his prediction that 2032 will mark the collapse of republican forms of government, driven by systemic corruption. He also expects oil prices to rise due to physical supply shortages, fueling a stagflationary environment where traditional Keynesian economics fails. Capital fleeing war zones will continue flowing into the U.S., supporting both stocks and gold.

Timestamps:
00:00:00 – Introduction
00:00:33 – Guest Introduction and Background
00:01:08 – Iran Conflict Analysis
00:03:40 – Netanyahu Strategy and Failures
00:08:47 – Iran Geopolitical Strategy
00:12:00 – Historical Biases in Conflicts
00:21:10 – Ukraine War and Zelensky
00:28:00 – Sovereign Debt and Europe
00:35:00 – US Dollar and Capital Flows
00:42:37 – Gold Price Predictions
00:46:00 – 2032 Political Collapse Forecast
01:00:00 – Oil Prices and Stagflation
01:10:00 – Economic Theories Critique
01:14:30 – Concluding Thoughts

Guest Links:
Website: https://armstrongeconomics.com
X: https://x.com/strongeconomics
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/martin.armstrong.167
Amazon Book: https://tinyurl.com/ybtrslr9

Martin Armstrong is the Owner and Researcher for the website Armstrong Economics. He is the former chairman of Princeton Economics International Ltd. He is best known for his economic predictions based on the Economic Confidence Model, which he developed.

At age 13, Armstrong began working at a coin and stamp dealership in Pennsauken, New Jersey. After buying a bag of rare Canadian pennies, he became a millionaire in 1965 at the age of 15. He continued to work on weekends through high school, finding the real-world exciting, for this was the beginning of the collapse of the gold standard. Martin became captivated by this shocking revelation that there were not just booms and busts, but also peaks and valleys that would last centuries.

Armstrong progressed from gold coin investments to following commodity prices for precious metals. In 1973, he began publishing commodity market predictions as a hobby, and in 1983 Armstrong began accepting paid subscriptions for a forecast newsletter.

“In Armstrong’s view of the world where boom-bust cycles occur like clockwork every 8.6 years, what matters is his record as a forecaster. He called Russia’s financial collapse in 1998, using a model that also pointed to a peak just before the Japanese stock market crashed in 1989. These days, as the European sovereign-debt crisis roils markets worldwide, he reminds readers of his October 1997 prediction that the creation of the euro “will merely transform currency speculation into bond speculation,” leading to the system’s eventual collapse.”

His Website Armstrong Economics offers a unique perspective intended to educate the public and organizations on the global economic and political environment’s underlying trends. Their mission is to research historical cyclical trends.