I have warned that government expansion reduces economic growth and acts like a black hole that sucks in more and more wealth, thereby reducing economic expansion. If the government keeps growing, ultimately we will end up with 100% government consumption or the equivalent of communism. We should be standing on our soapboxes in the tradition of Speakers Corner at Hyde Park in London, yelling “HEY, WHERE THE HELL ARE WE GOING?”
Here is a chart produced by OECD that nobody pays attention to. This clearly shows what I have been warning about. The higher the tax rate, the lower the economic growth. A reader sent this in commenting that EVERY POLITICIAN should be shown this chart. The problem is that they lack the comprehension to understand what it means. There are two scales and we all know those in government can only see linearly, as in one thing at a time.
I could hold a conference on the forecast of the future and charge $3.95. It will take less than one minute. “Hello. I Martin Armstrong. I am here to tell you that you are all screwed. Thank you very much. Enjoy what freedom you have left before 2017.”
There is NO WAY OUT of this mess. We simply have to crash and burn. The phoenix is the image of this process. Rising from the ashes is ultimately the symbol of the cycle. The phoenix comes from Greek mythology and is reputed to be a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn. The phoenix obtains new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor. According to some texts, the phoenix could live over 500 years before rebirth. According to the people of Heliopolis in Egypt, the phoenix came to that city once in five hundred years to bury his father. By that, they did not mean an actual father, for this creature was the only creature capable of renewing and reproducing its own being; the process of self-referral – the perfect cycle.
“A chattering crow lives out nine generations of aged men, but a stag’s life is four times a crow’s, and a raven’s life makes three stags old, while the phoenix outlives nine ravens, but we, the rich-haired Nymphs, daughters of Zeus the aegis-holder, outlive ten phoenixes.”
— Hesiod, quoted by Plutarch, Obsolescence of Oracles, 415.
If we assume the average man lives to 80 years of age, then the crow outlives nine generations of men which brings us to 720 years (80 x 9). The stag’s life is then four times that of a crow’s, which would then give us 2880 years (720 x 4). The raven lives as long as three stags, bringing us to 8640 years (2880 x 3). This means the phoenix lives as long as nine ravens, which is 77760 (8640 x 9). Notice the curious relationship to 8.6 and the volatility cycle of 6 years ( 12 x 6 = 72). Just interesting.
