2017 2nd Quarter The Retirement Planner Financial Planning and Investing for Retirement 2001 Midwest Road Suite 107 Oak Brook, IL 60523 Telephone 630-495-9700 Web site www.rpiinc.com

Swamp Things

ell that didn’t take long. Pres- Trump got elected seemingly due to his W ident Trump discovered that it platform of economic growth, less gov- is hard to get things done in Wash- ernment and regulations and lower taxes. ington. Who knew? The first prom- ised repeal and replacement of But the apparent ineptness of his own Obamacare was dead on arrival, Written by party and the strong opposition from the mainly due to his own party’s inept- Norman P. Chiodras MS, Democrats for anything Trump does have CFP, RFC, President ness. These are the folks led by Paul Exclusively for RPI Clients many of his supporters concerned about Ryan who had seven years to come the success of his agenda. Should inves- up with an alternative plan but never tors be concerned too? What if he can’t did. The best they could do was to fulfill his promises, will the market erase keep everything the same but stop Inside This Issue the gains since the election? the mandate forcing people to buy insurance and eliminate the penalty for not having insurance…which, by While the Trump administration has been Swamp Things 1 the way, were pretty much the only successful in already removing many reg- revenue streams holding up the ulations and consolidating or eliminating • when stocks become a safe whole wobbly mess. some 150 government departments that haven were redundant or unnecessary, there are • what could go wrong? potential setbacks that could upset inves- With the second attempt, Trump did • conclusion tors. Upon passing the recent budget to not leave it up to the hapless Repub- keep the government open, Dave Brat (R- When Governments licans and worked the phones him- VA) summed it up this way on Fox Busi- Go United Airlines 6 self. The replacement bill passed the ness News, “The Congress deal funds House along party lines but will un- sanctuary cities, Obamacare, EPA, likely pass the Senate, where bills • protect our care Planned Parenthood; doesn’t fund the usually go to die. • health freedom wall. Where’s the Trump agenda? He just • conclusion won the presidency!” Rush Limbaugh’s In the meantime, the stock market Potpourri 12 question to Vice President Pence was, “If just continues setting one record after this is what happens, why vote Republi- another. It has been on a tear since can? ”

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I myself was puzzled by his pick of high in May. The French CAC-40 former Goldman Sachs executives shown below has broken through a Steven Mnuchin for Treasury Secre- downtrend line on the monthly level. tary and Gary Cohn as his top eco- Are all these markets in the US and nomic advisor. For decades, Gold- Europe soaring because economies man Sachs has been infiltrating gov- are so solid? Hardly. First quarter ernments around the world for their GDP for the US grew at an anemic own benefit, aptly earning the moni- annual rate of 0.7%. ker Government Sachs. They are the very definition of the swamp.

Trump’s decision to enlist his daugh- ter Ivanka, her husband Jared Kush- ner and Dina Powell as close aides left many supporters scratching their Yet the stock market heads as well. Influential radio host Mark Levin warned on Twitter, just shrugs it off. “Jared Kushner, Gary Cohn, Dina Which begs the Powell: the three big-government lib- question. Is there erals tightening their hold on the White House.” The promotion of peo- “France is suffering from tremendous some other dynamic ple who represent the antithesis of high unemployment, little to zero po- at play here that is Trump’s platform has not only led to tential job growth, cursed by stagfla- levitating stocks? infighting within his administration, tion, and security worries that are the but has left voters wondering if they greatest among the European states,” will be left behind once again. Is notes well-known international econ- Trump draining the swamp or refill- omist Martin Armstrong of Arm- ing it? strong Economics. “The unilateral act of Merkel accepting refugees suppos-

edly from Syria that ended up being a Yet the stock market just shrugs it wholesale invitation for anyone from off. Which begs the question. Is there all Islamic countries has devastated some other dynamic at play here that France who was never asked by Mer- is levitating stocks? Perhaps a look at kel in advance to accept these refu- European markets might give us a gees.” And it was announced recently clue. that the ECB (European Central Bank) is working on a new bailout When Stocks Become a Safe Haven plan for France’s banks. The German DAX just hit an all-time Even worse news for France was re- Page 3

SWAMP THINGS cent election of Emmanuel Macron an especially high risk of default. as their next President. Did France Armstrong, who advises institutions forget that Macron served briefly worldwide, notes that “the Swiss are under the disastrous socialist gov- buying US equities as a hedge against ernment of Hollande? Macron was the Euro and political unrest… Their a member of the Socialist party that total equity holdings have now substantially hiked taxes on high- reached $80.4 billion, up $17 billion income earners. The result is 25% from the $63.4 billion at the end of unemployment amongst the youth. 2016.”

However, the elites in Brussels Remember, once loss of confidence must be wiping their brow. Emman- takes place it snowballs in that direc- uel Macron’s victory promises no tion and eventually turns into panic. It change for Europe and it has been is unimportant whether what was wor- the blessing Brussels so badly ried about ever comes to fruition. wanted to further advance the feder- Facts don’t matter, confidence does. alization of Europe. “Macron will surrender far more French sover- And when economic growth is slow, How can stock eignty to Brussels than anyone sus- corporations use their money for buy- markets head pects based upon reliable sources,” ing their own stock rather than ex- north while concludes Armstrong. panding their business. “In November economies head 2016, Goldman Sachs’ chief equity south? How can stock markets head north strategist David Kostin estimated that, while economies head south? in 2017, S&P 500 companies will spend $780 billion on buybacks — a new record,” an article in Forbes not- Armstrong says history shows that ed. when people lose faith in govern- ment they buy private assets such as stocks and gold. When you think According to CNBC, US corporations your government could default on are hoarding $2.5 trillion of cash over- their bonds and your currency could seas. If they bring back that money plunge, you hedge against it. into the US, it will be taxed at 35%. So the Trump administration wants to en- tice them with a one-time offer – a As we have reported before, even central banks are getting in on the 10% tax. If part of this money finds its way back to the US, once again it will act. They are in the dire position of holding mainly their own countries’ likely be spent on stock buy backs which could add further fuel to the ral- bonds which in the Eurozone are at ly. Page 4 2017 2nd Quarter

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These are likely reasons why the stock care about themselves and will do market could continue to decouple everything within their power to from underlying economies. But dete- stop Trump’s success. riorating economic conditions will continue to fool many investors and Trump does not appear to have the cause them to miss out. Money will ability to self-edit and continues to always seek geopolitical and currency give the swamp additional fodder safety. with his own self-inflicted wounds. These are huge and very welcome What Could Go Wrong? distractions for those hoping he So let me get this straight. The worse fails. the economies get, the deeper govern- ment swamps get and the worse the It would be naïve to assume that situation in Eurozone becomes, the this won’t upset our markets at They could care better for US stocks? Yeah, that about some point down the road. The dan- sums up where we are today. less if Trump found ger is that all of the distractions postpone the promised tax cuts the cure for cancer. However, it is not quite that simple. which our stock markets have al- They only care As we have been alluding to in past ready built in. This will likely be about themselves issues, the swamp people (establishment the catalyst for the 5-10% correc- and will do Republicans, Democrats, Intelligence tion we have been expecting. Yet it everything within and media) in Washington do not want is remarkable that the stock market their power to stop to see Trump succeed at anything as it has held up so well in light of re- cent political turmoil. Trump’s success. would then embolden his entire agen- da -- an agenda that leaves them with less power and could even end their We believe the march to Dow careers. They could care less if Trump 30,000 will begin in earnest as soon found the cure for cancer. They only

S&P 500 Price to Sales Ratio Page 5

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as the Dow can penetrate 23,000. But Just like these pendulum balls, the this may not be until 2018. more you move to one side the more energy available to go to the other side. The sharper the plunge in gold Conclusion prices the more energy it will build Hardly a week goes by that I don’t and the higher the prices should go on receive a phone call or email about a the upside. “guru” predicting a dollar or stock market crash. Yet, not only does it not occur, the opposite takes place.

It is “experts” on the Internet who will keep many people out of the markets and awaiting the big crash. That said, the markets are not without some concerns. Nothing moves in a straight line. Healthy markets always It is the loss of confidence in govern- Confidence is a frag- have pullbacks. The sharper the ment that will act as the catalyst be- ile thing and the loss downturn, the sharper the rebound. hind the eventual higher stock and of it can lead quickly Charts like the one on page four do gold prices. It doesn’t have to be a to panic…panic buy- give us some pause in the near term major country’s government bond and have us expecting a pullback in default that sends everything in mo- ing just as it can pan- prices. The chart shows the S&P 500 tion. Take a look at this YouTube ic selling. price to sales ratio which measures video of a tiny domino eventually the sales of the 500 corporations toppling a 100 pound one. listed in the index against the price of the S&P index. Currently the S&P 500 is priced at a higher level when https://www.youtube.com/watch? compared to sales than it was at the v=y97rBdSYbkg top in 2007. This is a great example of how a As for gold, we have been saying that small event can set off a contagion. in 2017 it could still plunge down to This is exactly how it works within the $1000 level one more time and the global economy. Confidence is a then begin a sling-shot move up to fragile thing and the loss of it can $2000 and beyond over the next few lead quickly to panic…panic buying years. just as it can panic selling. ■ NPC

Page 6 2017 2nd Quarter WHEN GOVERNMENT GOES UNITED AIRLINES

A major highway bridge burned They work because human nature nev- down in Atlanta in early April, caus- er changes. Should we be surprised ing an enormous disruption. “The that people respond well to financial economic cost may run into hundreds motivation? of millions when counting all the

wasted hours of people waiting in traffic and loss of business to thou- Often we see instances where incen- sands of firms,” writes Richard Rahn tives should have been applied better. for To The Point News. “Wisely, the United Airlines, for example, could government offered highway contrac- have applied some simple free market principles before it dragged the doctor No longer taught at tors big bonuses for completing the rebuilding in a matter of weeks, ra- off the plane. At the gate they offered our major ther than months or years… passengers $800 to give up their seat. Universities or There were some takers but they need-

believed by our ed to make room for one more of their “Back in 1994,” continues Rahn, political leaders, employees. Instead of increasing the “there was a big earthquake in Los incentive to $1500 or more until they free market Angeles, which collapsed several found another taker, they decided to economics and the highway overpasses, including two randomly pick a Chinese doctor and incentive system sections of the Santa Monica Freeway drag him off the plane. The video went work, whether (the world’s busiest at the time). The viral, causing millions of Chinese to applied by the highway contractors were offered big cut up their United frequent flyer bonuses for each day they could government or a cards. Later, the bloodied and embar- shorten the construction time for the rassed doctor settled out of court with private business. rebuilding — and the incentive did United. work — but could probably have They work because human nature never worked even better if the bonuses had been much larger.” Unbeknownst to most travelers, denied changes. passengers number around 40,000 per

year these days according to airline Businesses use money to attract cus- industry figures. It was back in the tomers through rebates and lower 1970s, though, when the Department prices and attract good employees of Transportation (DOT) starting regu- through higher pay. No longer taught lating involuntary boarding denials. at our major Universities or believed Ill-fatedly, it was the DOT which es- by our political leaders, free market tablished regulations that set maxi- economics and the incentive system mum required compensation for invol- work, whether applied by the govern- untary denied boarding -- in most cas- ment or a private business. es at four times the passenger’s fare paid up to a maximum of $1350. Page 7 WHEN GOVERNMENT GOES UNITED AIRLINES

As so often happens under bureau- But will the replacement be any bet- cratic direction, local employees are ter? not given the authority to make com- mon sense decisions. During his testi- In a show of solidarity against mony before Congress on May 2, Trump’s promise to repeal Obamac- United’s CEO admitted as much. In are, Democratic representatives wore hindsight, I am sure United execu- Protect Our Care buttons to his inau- tives are wishing they could have of- guration. Did anyone notice the iro- fered people at the gate as much as it ny? None of these people have would have taken to get one more Obamacare. Congress stuck us with it person to give up their seat. Whatever and voted in a much better plan for it was, it would have been cheaper themselves. than the tens of millions they could In a show of lose going forward. solidarity against Trump’s promise to One of the major reasons the Soviet repeal Obamacare, Union collapsed was due to the coerc- Democratic ing of people to perform tasks and representatives wore then not allowing them to be reward- Protect Our Care ed for them. Soon, people lost the in- centive to work and they ended up buttons to his with a shortage of goods and long inauguration. Did bread lines even though Russia pos- anyone notice the sessed one of the most natural re- irony? None of these source-rich lands in the world. Vene- A major reason Obamacare is col- people have zuela is presently experiencing this lapsing is because it relies too much Obamacare. same two-by-four to the head lesson. on coercion and not enough on incen- tives and free markets. When then There are hundreds of examples House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said throughout history…which remain they had to pass the bill to find out mysteriously unknown to our law- what is in it, one doctor quipped that makers. that was how they referred to a stool sample. Well, it didn’t take long for young people to find what was “in it.” Protect Our Care

Voters who elected Trump were ex- pecting him to keep his promise of It was soon clear that the government repealing and replacing Obamacare. intended to exploit the young and healthy to fund health care costs for Page 8 2017 2nd Quarter WHEN GOVERNMENT GOES UNITED AIRLINES

the sick and older generations. The most of them to pull out of the insurance companies, who lobbied Obamacare exchanges altogether and and bought off politicians with cam- skyrocketing their rates, driving more paign donations, were hoping to reap people away in a vicious downward the benefits from the $billions in pre- cycle. miums from the young. Essentially, it was designed to be one of the greatest Health Freedom transfers of wealth from the younger In an excellent article by Dr. Jack generation into the pockets of the in- Wheeler in his To The Point News surance companies. publication, he emphasizes what is needed is “not phony-crony corporat- Except the youth would have none of ist medicine where Big government it. They joined only when they got colludes with Big Medicine, Big In- But they forgot one sick and were all too happy to pay the surance, and Big Pharma to restrict simple item: human much smaller fine in the interim. In competition.” nature. There was fact, according to the IRS, in 2015 at least 7.5 million tax-payers chose to In other words our health system no financial pay the penalty. Some put the current stands little chance of getting fixed incentive for the figure as high as 19 million tax- until we have term limits for those in healthy to join payers. The insurers deluded them- Congress. Yes, the same Congress selves by being so in bed with politi- Obamacare. In fact, who pretend to be concerned about cians. They were sure they would there was a our plight, enact laws that favor their make a fortune when the healthy disincentive. big donors and carry a completely youth were forced to pay exorbitant different health plan for themselves. premiums with high deductibles. But they forgot one simple item: human nature. There was no financial incen- Dr. Wheeler outlines ten simple items tive for the healthy to join Obamac- which could save our health care sys- are. In fact, there was a disincentive. tem and greatly lower costs. I will And so, what those burdened with briefly quote a few of them. common sense could have predicted, it was mostly the unhealthy who Give Health Care Providers a Tax signed up. Credit for Charity Work One of the major sources of the No one feels any remorse for what “health care crisis” necessitating happened next. The insurance compa- Obamacare, its advocates say, is the nies starting hemorrhaging red ink – tens of millions of uninsured Ameri- by the hundreds of millions – forcing cans who cannot afford medical care. Page 9 WHEN GOVERNMENT GOES UNITED AIRLINES

They are regarded by the medical in- Restore the 100% Deductibility of dustry as “non-payers” to be “turfed” Health Care Expenses to the county hospital and receive Throughout most of this century, in- minimal treatment. dividuals were not taxed on the mon- ey they spent on health care. When The quality of their medical care Congress eliminated the tax deducti- would be very different if they were bility of most medical expenses, it looked upon not as a liability, but as a made medical care and health insur- tax credit. ance prohibitively expensive for indi- viduals to pay for on their own.

Health Freedom legislation would allow health care providers — physi- The solution is 100% deductibility for Such legislation cians, nurses, medical technicians, medical expenses. One Congressman pharmacies, and hospitals — to de- consulted for this report estimates would result in duct from their personal or corporate that “this one simple reform will ena- physicians, income taxes an appreciable amount ble as many as 15 million Americans hospitals, and other of the income they would have de- who cannot now afford it to gain ac- health care cess to healthcare and health insur- rived if their charity patients paid the providers fighting normal fees. ance.” among themselves

Reduce Malpractice Insurance to provide free (to Such legislation would result in phy- charity patients), sicians, hospitals, and other health Costs care providers fighting among them- Malpractice insurance costs are a ma- tax deductible (to selves to provide free (to charity pa- jor source of higher health care ex- them) health care. tients), tax deductible (to them) health penses. The insurance premiums have care. skyrocketed due to multi-million dol- lar awards made for “pain and suffer- ing,” which are orders of magnitude Such an incentive to provide free care beyond the plaintiff’s medical ex- would dramatically reduce Medicaid penses. and Medicare costs — more than compensating for loss of income tax revenues. The ultimate savings to the Health Freedom legislation would taxpayers would be astronomical. eliminate “pain and suffering” mal- practice settlements; limit malpractice settlements to all costs of the patient’s

malpractice-related medical bills; and

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limit payment to patient attorneys to press approval. No matter how truthful normal fees, prohibiting attorney and supported by scientific evidence commissions of a substantial percent- the health claims are, the FDA will at- age of the total settlement. tempt to fine or imprison the manufac- turer for making an “unapproved health Allow Truthful Health Claims for claim…” Nutritional Supplements The evidence that such nutrients as Thus to this day it has managed to pre- Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and selenium vent widespread dissemination through nutritional advertising of how 400 i.u. can radically reduce the incidence of heart disease and cancer — the two of E and 2,000 mgs. of C per day via supplements can reduce one’s chances No matter how truth- diseases which cause more deaths and are responsible for more health care of heart disease or cancer by over 40% ful and supported by spending than anything else — is — which would save hundreds of thou- scientific evidence are simply overwhelming. sands of lives and save billions of dol- the health claims, the lars in health care costs each year. This is just one example with two nutrients. FDA will attempt to Yet the FDA has — let it be stated The savings in lives and money applied fine or imprison the candidly — a perverse bias against to all nutrients is far greater. nutritional supplements. The “knife- manufacturer for and-fork” mythology prevails: that making an “you can get all the nutrients you Eliminate State Mandates and Regu- “unapproved health need from a well-balanced diet.” latory Barriers on Health Insurance claim…” Getting three grams of Vitamin C dai- One primary reason for the high cost of ly (the optimal amount for reducing health insurance today is the monumen- risk of heart disease and cancer) from tal number of required benefits health oranges would require eating sixty insurance policies must provide im- oranges a day — and be far more ex- posed by state regulators. Today there pensive than taking one or two cap- are over one thousand mandates on sules. (Not to mention the diabetes everything from hairpieces to marriage risk from so much sugar in the orang- counseling. As a result, insurers are es.) legally prohibited from supplying low- cost basic health insurance. The FDA enforces this bias by threat- ening a nutrient manufacturer who Health Freedom Legislation would al- supplies information about the health low insurers to offer low-cost, basic value of his products with prosecu- health insurance policies with no state tion if he does so without FDA’s ex- mandated benefits whatever. Such leg- islation, according to a number of stud- Page 11 WHEN GOVERNMENT GOES UNITED AIRLINES ies, would reduce health insurance “Forget Taxes, Warren Buffett Says. policy cost by twenty percent or The Real Problem Is Health Care,” is more. Needless to say, Obamacare the title of a recent New York Times nationalizes the problem and makes it article. “About 50 years ago, he said, far worse — requiring, e.g., that all ‘health care was 5 percent of G.D.P., policies must include abortion cover- and now it’s about 17 percent…’ ” age. [End of Dr. Wheeler’s Quote] “Mr. Buffett said our global competi- tiveness had fallen largely because our Conclusion businesses were paying far more for No one should go bankrupt just be- health care—a tax by another name — cause they get sick. There are plenty than those in other countries.” of charitable health organizations and government safety nets that will see Congress, when left to itself, will never Anyone who has to that. Obamacare was sold under opt for free market solutions because ever dealt with the false ruse that there were 40 mil- they are outside their control and cut hospitals, doctors lion uninsured in America. But three- off their gravy train. It is up to us to fourths of those were young people and especially demand it. ■ NPC who didn’t want to buy insurance. Medicare knows the Evidence of this is that, according to system is not patient the Department of Health and Human Services, only 12.7 million were en- -oriented. It is based rolled in the plan in 2016. But just on accountants and like the “energy crisis” and the bureaucratic rules “poverty crisis,” the government which are far needed a cause to expand itself. removed from the

Anyone who has ever dealt with hos- patient. pitals, doctors and especially Medi- care knows the system is not patient- oriented. It is based on accountants and bureaucratic rules which are far removed from the patient. It is one size-fits-all like the DOT rules which didn’t allow local United Airline em- ployees to use common sense. And the costs are crushing our economy. Page 12 2017 2nd Quarter

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WELCOME SHALA DENDLER Church Bulletin Bloopers • Don’t let worry kill you – let the church help. MAGICAL • Thursday night potluck supper. Music from the Prayer and medication to follow. Movies • Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and commu- Legendary film music for chorus and nity.

orchestra, from the • For those of you who have chil- 1920’s to today, including melodies by: dren and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs. • Williams for We are pleased that Shala joined Re- • Tuesday at 4:00 pm there will be Amistad, Empire of tirement Planners in February as our an ice cream social. All ladies giv- the Sun, Close Encounters of the receptionist and a member of our Cli- ing milk will please come early. Third Kind and ent Services team. Time away from • Thursday at 5:00 pm there will be Home Alone work is spent teaching yoga, reading, a meeting of the Little Mothers playing the piano and spending time • Shore for Hobbit: Club. All wishing to become little An Unexpected with her daughters. mothers, please see the minister in Journey his study.

• Rodgers for Victory Mexico's Sewage Warfare • This being Easter Sunday, we will At Sea After decades of being a good neigh- ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward bor and spending more than half a and lay an egg on the altar. • Elmer Bernstein for The Magnificent billion dollars to build Tijuana's sew- • The ladies of the church have cast Seven and Leonard age treatment plants, Mexico has re- off clothing of every kind and they Bernstein for West paid the favor by intentionally un- may be seen in the church base- Side Story leashing 143 million gallons of stench ment Friday.

• Schwartz for Prince -filled sewage onto San Diego's • A bean supper will be held on of Egypt beaches over 17 days in February. Tuesday evening in the church It's the biggest spill in two decades, hall. Music will follow. the San Diego Union Tribune report- 6.25.2017, 4:30 pm • At the evening service tonight, the ed. San Diego officials say it was sermon topic will be “What Is at Wentz Hall, 171 E. done without warning, was deliber- Hell?” Come early and listen to Chicago Avenue, ately done, and still has garnered no our choir practice. Naperville response from Mexican officials who $24 general admission won't even take U.S. phone calls. — pastors.com (senior/youth discount) — americanthinker.com 630.887.7464

westsubsymphony.org Page 13

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Where Did the Money Go? - 78% Obama’s Hidden Iran Deal Give- of former NFL players file for per- Away sonal bankruptcy or suffer financial By dropping charges against major stress within just 2 years of retiring arms targets, the administration infur- from the pro game (source: Sports iated Justice Department officials — Illustrated). and undermined its own counterpro- — Foreside Funds Services liferation task forces. When federal prosecutors and agents learned the true extent of the releases, many were New Administration Needs to shocked and angry. Some had spent Overhaul Economic Report- years, if not decades, working to pen- ing • How Can Headline Real GDP etrate the global proliferation net- Be Up 12.1% from Its Pre-Recession works that allowed Iranian arms trad- High, While Industrial Production Is ers both to obtain crucial materials for Down 1.1% (-1.1%), and Manufac- Tehran’s illicit nuclear and ballistic It is a paradoxical turing Is Down 5.7% (-5.7%)? • How missile programs and, in some cases, Can GDP Be in Its 22nd Quarter of to provide dangerous materials to oth- truth that tax rates Expansion, When Industrial Produc- er countries… are too high today tion is in Its 36th Quarter of Non- — politico.com and tax revenues are Expansion, Rivaling Its Great De- too low, and the pression Run of 37 Quarters? Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore Lead soundest way to raise — John Williams, Shadow Government Nation in Population Loss; Mari- the revenues in the Statistics copa County Has Biggest Gain long run is to cut the Between July 1, 2015 and July 1, tax rates. Whether you’re for Trump or 2016, Cook County [Chicago] lost a – John F. Kennedy against Trump, the White House is net of 21,324 people to hit 5,203,499, under attack from elements inside the according to the Census Bureau. Intelligence community which are Even while it was experiencing the trying to elevate tensions between largest net population loss of any Russia and the US. At the bottom of county in the country, Cook County that is money and an agenda to cash- was seeing an influx of migrants from in on conflict. There’s a game going foreign countries and more births on inside the Intelligence community than deaths… where there are those who want to — cnsnews.com separate the US from Russia in a way that would re-ignite the cold war...Wake up America! — former Democratic Congressman, Dennis Kucinich Page 14 2017 2nd Quarter

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Mendoza Criticizes Illinois' way, Sweden, Czechia, and France… 'lawless' Fiscal Climate — lifezette.com Hospitals and doctors treating pa- tients on the state payroll are now O’Driscoll: … some Fed officials owed a collective $4.3 billion, Demo- must be worried that they have created cratic Comptroller Susana Mendoza asset bubbles… Here, they are be- highlights in a new report that reflects tween a rock and a hard place. The a "lawless fiscal climate." history of asset bubbles is that, once inflated, they are not easily deflated The annual state report for the fiscal gradually. They tend to burst, as evi- year ended June 30 "paints a worsen- denced in the last financial crisis… A major food ing outlook" for Illinois' financial fu- ture, the comptroller's office said in a company has A very large amount of global debts statement… recalled two types are denominated in dollars. Countries, of frozen hash especially emerging markets, firms, browns because the In the 375-page report, Mendoza un- and individuals have borrowed cheap- potatoes may derscored the budget crisis. Illinois' ly in dollars. To repay that dollar debt, contain pieces of net deficit grew about 5 percent from governments, businesses and individu- golf balls. Doctors June 2015 to June 2016, totaling als must earn income or collect taxes say if you’ve $126.7 billion last year. The bulk of in local currencies. As the dollar already ingested the liability is in a $116 billion pen- strengthens, the real burden of those pieces of golf balls, sion shortfall. debts rises in terms of local currencies. the best thing is to — Crain’s Chicago Business Borrowers will need to devote more of just let them play their income to servicing the dollar debts… through. The Shadowy Extremist Group

— James Corden Behind the Anti-Trump Riots Antifa, which stands for “anti-fascist The Fed's fundamental problem is that action,” is a network of loosely affili- the dollar is global money and the Fed ated far-left anarchist and communist is running a global monetary policy… groups that orchestrate violent pro- That stubborn fiction is what helps tests and attacks on populists, con- produce global financial crises… servatives, and anyone else its mem- — cnbc.com bers deem to be “fascists” or “Nazis.”… Violent Threats Against the Presi- dent are Ok Now? It now has active cells across the The media has largely glossed over world, including in Germany, the these serious threats with a shrug. A U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Nor- Page 15

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simple Google search on Snoop Dog- War is like crack for presidents. It g’s assassination video, for example, confers instant gravitas, catapulting yields virtually no mainstream edito- them to respectability, bypassing all rials expressing disgust. It’s almost station stops. They get to make as if there’s an overarching belief macho pronouncements on a topic among the media that Trump brought where every utterance is seen as au- this upon himself… gust…

Political tensions are reaching a boil- We have never succeeded at turning a ing point and the mainstream media, Third World dictatorship into a para- pundits, and “analysts” do nothing dise. The history of these things is but fan the flames… that removing a Middle Eastern — thehill.com strongman always makes things worse -- for example, in Iran, Iraq,

Libya and Egypt. Then-Secretary of State John Ker- ry, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the We leap in, thinking we're helping the Press” on July 20, 2014, asserted, poor devils under the thumb of a dic- “With respect to Syria, we struck a tator -- and then the new tribe takes deal where we got 100% of the over and oppresses everyone else, Golf is a walk spoiled chemical weapons out.”… usually much more brutally, while – Mark Twain — nbcnews.com hating us even more than the old tribe did… Hillary Clinton Approved Deliv- ering Libya’s Sarin Gas to Syrian Was America strengthened by the Rebels: Seymour Hersh Iraq War? The apparently never- May 01, 2016 Hersh also said that a ending Afghanistan War? Vietnam? secret agreement in 2012 was This is how great powers die, which reached between the Obama Admin- is exactly what the left wants… istration and the leaders of Turkey, — anncoulter.com Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, to set up a

sarin gas attack and blame it on As- sad so that the US could invade and Jerry Brown: California Taxpay- overthrow Assad… ers are 'Freeloaders' — globalresearch.ca California Governor Jerry Brown re- ferred to taxpayers as “freeloaders” last week for objecting to his new gas tax and car fee hikes… — breitbart.com Page 16 2017 2nd Quarter

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Recycle This Newsletter by sharing it with your family & friends www.rpiinc.com pean political division into multiple com- POTPOURRI peting states were substantial: they in- Copyright 2001 The Retirement Planner is a quar- cluded almost incessant warfare, protec- terly newsletter published by Re- tirement Planners, Inc., 2001 Mid- Former Asst. FBI Director: tionism, and other coordination failures. west Road, Suite 107, Oak Brook, Many scholars now believe, however, IL 60523 Phone 630.495.9700. ‘Professional Team of Subver- Subscription rate $115 (U.S.) per sives’ Out to Get Trump that in the long run the benefits of com- year. peting states might have been larger than Kallstrom says Left has plans laid the costs. In particular, the existence of EDITOR’S NOTE: The infor- 'for every hour of every day' to mation set forth herein was ob- multiple competing states encouraged tained from sources which we thwart president, create 'outrage'. believe reliable, but we do not scientific and technological innovation… guarantee accuracy. Neither the — lifezette.com information nor any opinion ex- pressed constitutes a solicitation by RPI of the purchase or sale of any In the closing chapter of The History of securities or commodities. How [Old] Europe Became So the Decline and Fall of the Roman Em- Rich pire (1789), Edward Gibbon wrote: DISCLOSURE POLICY: Re- member, past performance may In a time of great powers and em- ‘Europe is now divided into 12 powerful, not be indicative of future results. pires, just one region of the world Different types of investments though unequal, kingdoms.’… involve varying degrees of risk, experienced extraordinary econom- — aeon.co and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any ic growth. How? specific investment, investment strategy, or product made refer-  No Progress Made ence to directly or indirectly in this Europe’s political fragmentation newsletter, will be profitable, equal After adjusting numerical data from the any corresponding indicated his- spurred productive competition. It past for the impact of inflation, the medi- torical performance level(s), or be suitable for your portfolio. Moreo- meant that European rulers found an household income today ($56,516) is ver you should not assume that any themselves competing for the best discussion or information con- lower than the median household income tained in this newsletter serves as and most productive intellectuals ($57,909) from 1999 (source: Federal the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice and artisans. The economic histori- Reserve Bank of St. Louis). from Retirement Planners, Inc. an Eric L Jones called this ‘the States system’. The costs of Euro- Please visit our website at — Foreside Funds Services www.rpiinc.com