Martin Armstrong The Computer Programmer

Martin Armstrong has often claimed that he is both a trader and computer programmer. He uses that combination as a selling point for his Socrates subscription service and other services such as seminars. 

His point is that traders don't know how to program computers and that computer programmers don't know how to trade, and only with his combination, a really good trading  system such as his Socrates system can emerge.

I am a professional computer programmer and therefore, his claims have caught my attention. On this page I will prove using various means that Martin Armstrong did not write Socrates and that he was never a computer programmer by any stretch of the imagination.

Martin Armstrong's wild Programming Claims

In What to Advise Your Children to Do in Seeking a Degree he writes on Jul 15, 2018:

I have the programming skills. However, no matter if I am the best programmer in the world, I still could not write a program like Socrates without the ability to trade.

In The most VALUABLE lesson we can teach our children is HOW TO THINK – not what to think he writes on Sep 24, 2018 (emphasis added):

... Why have I poured so much time into programming Socrates? First, it was never a project I could ever give to another to even attempt to code. As far as its model analysis, I have been the only programmer. It takes EXPERIENCE in the subject matter to write such a program. Everyone else codes the delivery system. This is why there is nothing else like it. You had to be a TRADER and a PROGRAMMER to even tackle such an endeavor. My objective was to clone myself. There are so many variables that are involved it quickly exceeds the capacity of any human to keep track of some much in their head and at the tip of their fingers instantly. This is not about writing some algorithm to produce a mean and lean trading machine.
... You cannot hire programmers to write a trading platform because they can only plug is formulas that are one-dimensional and have a system that will be consistent over time.

In AT&T: The Biggest Traitor to the American People? he writes on Aug 18, 2015:

The coding of the actual AI trading and structure of analysis is done ONLY by myself. There is no employee to be bribed or compromised to get the code. That has been my personal confinement my whole life; that is what they focused on in the movie.

There is much more like the above nonsense and lies that Martin Armstrong wrote during a few years but I don't think I need to quote more of it.

 

Martin Armstrong's wild Super Computer Claims

As described in full detail in Lies about Super-computer, Martin Armstrong made a cardinal mistake that no computer programmer would ever make:

He used the name of a world-wide unique computer installation "Sequoia" of the US Government as if it was an IBM computer model name and claimed it as his own. Good luck Marty!

Martin Armstrong's real Programmers

While Socrates is a suite of remarkably simple programs, it still requires permanent maintenance due to its archaic nature and age, being a creation of the 1980s with a modern web front end. Most likely, the programmers that he hired to write the original code are no longer in business. Therefore, it is not surprising to find a number of different programmers who claim to have worked for Armstrong Economics. Here are some of them:

Bryant Milliren is an interesting case. I have proof of his direct involvement from an error trace that popped up on my screen when using Socrates:

Inner Exception:
...
Source:
Socrates.Www
in C:\Users\Bryant Milliren\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\SocratesDev - UI\Socrates_SourceCode\Web\Socrates.Www\Controllers\GlobalMarketWatchController.cs:line 1133

Not all the details of course, but there he is, Bryant Milliren on an Armstrong Economics Windows computer that serves the Socrates Global Market Watch (GMW) to web users.

Eddie Waked worked for Armstrong Economics for 3 years 1 month until Aug 2022.

Anshuman Singh is still listed as Socrates product owner and programmer on June 23 2023 but he is looking for a new job.

One can clearly see that there was higher activity in the US Florida area for 3 years when the Socrates web service went online. However, there is a strong connection to Princeton FZ LLC in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates UAE.

My guess is that Martin Armstrong is not in control of any source code, and not in control of the Socrates system as a whole. He is simply not qualified for that and he does not have the time for it. It is more likely that he has to deal with Erwin Pletsch or someone under him regarding ALL Socrates computer matters.

The Forecast Arrays WEC 2016 Episode

An attendee of his 2016 World Economic Conference (WEC) commented (refer to Review on WEC - World Economic Conferences and His Fake Office):

Coming to commenting his forecast array, someone else came in to talk about it, without giving any understanding clue to read it.

This someone else was Erwin Pletsch who seems to come to the rescue in all Socrates matters when required because Martin Armstrong lacks the necessary knowledge of the details to survive a question & answer session even considering his otherwise successful evasive tactics.

The final Proof of Fraud

It is always best to let a fraud incriminate himself by making a mistake that invalidates his claim. Here it is:

As a guest in an interview by Kim Iversen on June 16 2023, Unlocking the Future: Martin Armstrong's Remarkable Predictions of Economic Cycles and Wars Amidst Relentless Persecution, he claims at 10:44 (quote):

I understood how to actually write a computer. I mean back then there weren't that many of us, I mean I even knew Steve Jobs.

This statement proves beyond doubt that Martin Armstrong does not have any skills that are even remotely concerned with computers, let alone the skills of a computer programmer.

Because nobody has ever written a computer, and because every computer programmer who says such nonsense in a job interview gets shown the door immediately.

It is telling that now he even claims he was the member of a small group of programmers who existed at that time and that he knew Steve jobs who died in 2011 so he can be assured that he cannot be challenged any more.

The Motive for this Nonsense

Without having more facts, it would make no sense from Martin Armstrong's perspective to walk on thin ice and take such a high risk of being exposed by an expert, only for the marginal gain for his huge ego. He could just brag about hiring some programmers to create Socrates, meeting his specifications and imaginations. Taking such a risk just does not make sense, and in particular it does not make sense for someone who spends all day for years thinking about how to best sell snake oil. So why then?

The answer is remarkably simple. Martin Armstrong decided to make the propaganda movie "The Forecaster" to cover his crimes.

But how to get a story line from a life of someone who spent 11 years in jail for defrauding clients whose only background is selling coins, writing newsletters and running a failed Ponzi Scheme? No story line in sight.

A story line needed to be created, and part of that story line was his role as a programming hero. It's that simple. From that perspective, the value of that computer programmer lie is very high, and it had to be cultivated and defended at all cost.