Liberty Quote
Government has lost its way. Since abandoning its role as an impartial player in society it has taken to abusing the trust civil society invests in government. The corresponding abuse of evidence based policy should alarm everyone with an interest in good policy.
— Sinclair DavidsonRecent Comments
- Winston Smith on Open Forum: January 16, 2021
- thefrollickingmole on Open Forum: January 16, 2021
- stackja on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- mindfree on We’ll just have to get used to the lies and the idiocy
- Rex Anger on Meanwhile, in Russia…
- incoherent rambler on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- John A on Biden Inauguration Thread: January 21, 2021
- Spurgeon Monkfish III on Open Forum: January 16, 2021
- lily on Cricket’s governing body drops ‘Australia Day’ from all promos
- Arky on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- stackja on Cultural decline: Inaugural festivities then and now
- Ƶĩppʯ (ȊꞪꞨV) on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- John A on Cricket’s governing body drops ‘Australia Day’ from all promos
- Stimpson J. Cat on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- Tom on Open Forum: January 16, 2021
- Arky on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- Rex Anger on Meanwhile, in Russia…
- Snoopy on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- stackja on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- Dusty on We’ll just have to get used to the lies and the idiocy
- Some History on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- Kneel on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- stackja on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- Spurgeon Monkfish III on CNN: Biden is pressing the nation to his healing groin
- 1735099 on Open Forum: January 16, 2021
- Michel Lasouris on CNN: Biden is pressing the nation to his healing groin
- John A on We’ll just have to get used to the lies and the idiocy
- Some History on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- Rorschach on US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- dopey on Cricket’s governing body drops ‘Australia Day’ from all promos
-
Recent Posts
- CNN: Biden is pressing the nation to his healing groin
- We’ll just have to get used to the lies and the idiocy
- Cricket’s governing body drops ‘Australia Day’ from all promos
- Biden survivor speaks out
- Biden Inauguration Thread: January 21, 2021
- Meanwhile, in Russia…
- Cultural decline: Inaugural festivities then and now
- PDT farewell address
- 2020: Chuck Schumer urges mob to kill Supreme Court judges
- Incitement?
- 1776 Commission
- It’s Martin Luther King Jr Day in the United States
- Popular Joe
- Two views on the green energy transition in Germany
- What’s united about the United States?
- US post-election thread IX: We got so tired of winning that we stopped winning
- Corrupt cops may have been using a second snitch lawyer
- Democrat extremists now have a green light from Biden Junta
- CIS Annual Report for 2020
- Get ready for some hard-hitting accountability journalism
- “Harming people in the name of helping them is one of mankind’s favourite pastimes”
- The Insider Assassination Hoax
- The empire strikes back with a wet lettuce leaf
- Promoting “hatred, division and madness”
- Australia’s Nazi community deserves an apology
- Trump’s loss: the treason of the intellectuals
- Most COVID fines to be dropped
- Phil Spector 1939 – 2021
- Trust The Science
- Read this book
Archives
Pages
Blogroll
- 38 South
- ABC The Drum
- AEI Ideas
- Alex
- all right, all right
- Andrew Bolt
- Andrew McIntyre
- Andrew Norton – New
- Andrew Norton – Old
- Arnold Kling
- Aussie Macro Moments
- Becker – Posner
- Bill Mitchell – billy blog
- Bob McGee
- Cafe Hayek
- Calculated Risk
- Calling Bullshit
- Captain Capitalism
- Carpe Diem (New)
- Carpe Diem (Old)
- Causes of the crisis
- Chalk Bunny
- Charles Richardson
- Chicago University – Pro Market
- Chris Snowdon
- Club Troppo
- Confessions of a College Professor
- Consumer Choice Center
- Continental Telegraph
- Conversable Economist
- Coordination Problem
- Core Economics
- Cryptoeconomics
- Dan Wang
- Daniel Greenfield
- David Hart
- Diane Coyle
- Dick Puddlecote
- Econ Journal Watch
- EconAcademics
- Econbrowser
- EconLog
- Econofact
- Econometrics Beat
- Economic Education Initiative
- Essential Hayek
- Fama/French
- Fault Lines
- Fiscal Times
- Foundation for Economic Education
- Freedom and Prosperity Academy
- Greg Mankiw
- Grey Enlightenment
- Guido Fawkes
- Harry Clarke (Temporary)
- Head Rambles
- Homer Paxton
- How does your MP vote
- Institutional Economics
- International Liberty
- Islam and Liberty Network
- Jim Rose
- John Cochrane
- John Lott
- John Quiggin
- John Taylor
- Journal of Economic Perspectives
- Julie Borowski
- Keith Hennessey
- Legal Insurrection
- Liberty Law Blog
- Liberty Works
- Loaded Dogma
- Macrobusiness
- Mannkal Foundation
- Marginal Revolution
- Marius Kloppers
- Mark the Ballot
- Mark the Graph
- markedlymacrotoo
- Market Urbanism
- Master Resource
- Matt Ridley
- Menzies House
- Michael Oakeshott Association
- Michael Smith
- Michel Rauchs
- Miranda Devine
- Money Illusion
- MyGovCost
- Natural Order – Christopher Lingle
- New Economist
- Notes on Liberty
- Offsetting Behaviour
- Oliver Hartwich
- On Line Opinion
- Opinion Dominion
- Paul Johnson Archives
- Peter Fenwick
- Peter Martin
- Philippa Martyr
- Piled Higher and Deeper
- Pointman
- Political Calculations
- Potemkin's Village
- Poverty Cure
- Prick with a fork
- Principles of Forecasting
- Quadrant Online
- Queensland Economy Watch
- Quillette
- Raph Koster
- Reflections on Liberty and Power
- Retraction Watch
- Rhino economics
- ricardian ambivalence
- Robert Murphy
- Roger Kerr (archive)
- Rosemary Fryth
- Skepticlawyer
- Sound Money
- Spiked
- Sports Economist
- Statista
- Stop Gillard's Carbon Tax
- Streetwise Professor
- Stubborn Mule
- Taking Liberties (Simon Clark)
- Tax Foundation
- Tax Rambling
- TaxProf
- The Baseline Scenario
- The Black Steam Train
- The Marcus Review
- The Moronic Lodge
- The TaxPayers' Alliance
- The Visible Hand
- The Wentworth Report
- Think Markets
- Thomas the Think Engine
- Tim Blair
- Tim Worstall
- Truth on the Market
- Vox CEPR Policy Portal
- William Briggs – Statistician
Meta
Red boxes everywhere on the AEMO dashboard.
Demand exceeds generation by a big number.
I’m givin’ her all shes got cap’n.
Running a first world country on third world generating capacity takes some doing. The only real solution is to make the country third world. Then supply will equal demand!
Still can’t get over the fact that Michael Cohen, blah blah….
Old news and never a biggie in any case. Trump can pardon himself doncha know.
The really big news is that mOrons like you and the Dems have drawn the US electorate’s attention full on to the stupid left’s outright contempt for border security, disdain for their own US citizens and their inhumane treatment of children. That’s a mid-term trifecta GOP WIN right there. Trump can’t stop grinning.
Furious virtue signaling on The Drum re their favourite topic Refugees with every one agreeing with everyone else that we are of course all racist uncaring barstools who are happy to see kids suffer.
It never ever stops. You wouldn’t have thought that 1200 people died at sea previously. Its water off a ducks back. Apparently dying is a less serious outcome.
rickw
#2743580, posted on June 21, 2018 at 5:46 pm
Indian shit products and shit service continues.
I discovered years ago the only thing worse than Chinese shit is Indian shit.
Their metallurgy leaves quite a bit to be desired.
The (Toowoomba) Southern Cross Foundry thought they’d be smart and set up a large foundry in India.
Only to find out that the Indian workers just walk away when there’s a problem.
Cost Southern Cross (or Toowooma Foundry – whatever the name was then) $90+ million and sent them broke. A Bunnings now stands on their old foundry site.
Remember when the ALPBC breathlessly exclaimed that Mainland Tasmania was being wholly powered by windmills for about 5 minutes a while back? I wonder if they will run a similar story today on how the failed state was wholly powered by gas and coal with over 25% of demand being sucked straight over the border from Victoriastan? The ghost of Weatherdildo lives.
‘Check out these awesome, re-usable, heavy-duty bags!’ Woolworths customer trolls the supermarket giant by taking home a shopping BASKET – after plastic bag ban
rickw
#2743584, posted on June 21, 2018 at 5:49 pm
The only real solution is to make the country third world. Then supply will equal demand!
That is their intention – probably incentivised by their Chicom and/or Muzzie paymasters
Turn all the electrics on cats! Bring the bastard of a system down.
If I was at home I could turn on 20kw of demand, I think that would be a fair contribution?
I’ll believe it when some leftie or muzzie is hauled before whatever court they’re going to set up to enforce this squiggle.
Too bad if the Interconnector(s) fail – again.
Why do airlines permit the obese to purchase economy class seats?
I feel like an extra in The Blob. The Land Whale is assaulting me with her killer lard.
The (Toowoomba) Southern Cross Foundry thought they’d be smart and set up a large foundry in India.
Only to find out that the Indian workers just walk away when there’s a problem.
Cost Southern Cross (or Toowooma Foundry – whatever the name was then) $90+ million and sent them broke. A Bunnings now stands on their old foundry site.
Believe it or not, China Railways buys points from a foundry in Melbourne. The Chinese points are shit and the Indian ones are very shit. Their buyers love to come and see the white men working in the foundry, that way they really know that they’re not buying shit (paraphrasing their comments).
Dreadful violence perpetrated by a viscious, unreconstructed male.
Oh, wait…
I’ll believe it when one of the local indigenous is hauled before whatever court, for spitting on a non indigenous, and referring to them as a “white count.”
It never ever stops. You wouldn’t have thought that 1200 people died at sea previously. Its water off a ducks back. Apparently dying is a less serious outcome.
If that’s your only problem with illegal migration, what’s wrong with giving potential boaties a visa and an aitrine ticket?
The indigenes in good ole’ Walgett recognised my rank of Graf or Earl before I could ride on a rollercoaster.
For some reason, they were interested in my eyesight.
the New South Wales safe Alliance how Orwellian. A small group of unelected unrepresentative and reconstructing lefties lead by I am sad to say as so-called Jewish leader and including the usual assortment of Islamists and Gaystapo groups. There were already laws for incitement to violence in a criminal code which is where they belong what these bastards have done is push the government to criminalise speech in which case sorry my dear fellow Jews, Muslims and rainbow people I will no longer speak up for you because some of your own have taken away my freedom. All your identity politickers can all go burn in hell.
People #notFonda Pete?
The New South Wales safe Alliance how Orwellian. A small group of unelected unrepresentative and unreconstructed lefties lead by, I am sad to say, a so-called Je-wish leader and including the usual assortment of Islamists and Gay-stapo groups. There were already laws for incitement to violence in the criminal code which is where they belong. What these bastards have done is push the government to criminalise speech in which case sorry my dear fellow J-ews, Muslims and rainbow people. I will no longer speak up for you because some of your own have taken away my freedom. All you identity politickers can all go burn in hell.
Oh egg. Slow day, huh?
… who are all hostile to white people.
According to Seven News the Telstra job cuts are due to “the cancer stage of capitalism”.
OFF went the tv unceremoniously.
I didn’t stick around for Chris Reason to point out that Telstra uses vast amounts of electricity which the crazy socialists in government have made enormously more expensive. Somehow I suspect he will have forgotten to mention this small fact.
These murderous men are everywhere. Oh
Did they look at how much business they’ve lost to Pay TV, Netflix, YouTube and the alternative media?
Call it creative consumption.
It’s undateables night on The Drum. Watch the crdits at the end to see if they were dressed by Badjumpers’R’us.
The Keep New South Wales Safe Alliance, a coalition of about 31 community organisations and leaders …
Including Warren Mundine AO. The token.
Give Shorten time – he has to get in to power first…
and the koran?
Bruce
You really have to be very, very efficient in the sector these days. I moved over to an Iphone X a few months back and was offered free calls domestically, the US, UK , NZ and a couple of places in the region. The margins are very scarce and only a very good CEO plus team would be able to navigate those waters profitably. Andy Penn and his dickhead chairman aren’t the people.
Wind and other in SA = 0. I’ve lit the candles.
Courtesy of Rita Panahi:
The future is looking very Gulag when a media company that relies on the market economy and advertising revenues is going full-bore Bolivaran Socialism. Kerry Stokes is going to be very surprised to wake up one day and wonder why he is in a cattle car on a one-way rail trip to nowhere.
And
Why blame them when the Telstra chairman signs a petition to stop the Adani mine? 🙂
and the koran?
Yes, that needs to be tested. Numerous references to violence against and hatred of infidels in the Koran.
Excellent idea. I’m sure that Garuda has cheap flights from Jakarta to Pakistan every day.
The ones who came from there don’t need a visa.
RN Drive:
“The baby has united us as a nation.”
– some Kiwi bloke (the father, I think).
LOL.
WTF is wrong with these people. Sure, she’s the scorned woman and all and we should all have a bit of sympathy for her, but why talk about it in a Women’s rag?
I keep telling you Senator Lucy and her husband will make Nigerian scammers look like Mother Teresa.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5863769/amp/Embattled-Liberal-senator-Lucy-Gichuhi-makes-headlines-Nigeria-travel-expenses-scandal.html
Prof Louise Newman doing her best Morticia Addams impersonation.
Bolt’s bowtie spinning over Hungary’s crackdown on Soros front groups –
Oh please. Working with fake NGOs to facilitate illegal immigration, is not “free speech”, you stiff.
Here is what Bolt is objecting to –
I see nothing wrong with any of that at all. There is no such thing as a “right” to support open borders.
It gets even better!
Brilliant. So it is now illegal under Hungary’s constitution for any government to engage in deliberate population replacement. No Leftist party will ever win an election again!
Makka
#2743608, posted on June 21, 2018 at 6:15 pm
I’m more Fonda Bridget.
Andrew Bolt said he “backed Hungary’s right to keep out illegal immigrants”? Wow, I’m sure that made a difference to Hungary. The Hungarian PM must have been worried until he got Australian Andrew Bolt’s support. Phew!!!!
Lucy Gichuhi is correct.
$200,000 a year isn’t much in a Country where average houses are selling for over a million bucks.
No wind in WA, SA, Vic, NSW or QLD nd a little itty bitty amount in Tas.
All that capital “investment” doing nothing.
IKIP former leader Nigel Farage described the little devil soros as the most dangerous threat to Western civilization on Fox tonight.
In other news susan rice knew of Russian meddling before the 2016 election and shut down investigation of it.
Also apparently 80% of children arriving illegally in the US are unaccompanied.
I would really like to see some consequences to these lefties bastards soon.
Got caught out at Riverton Woolies this arvo. So I went to their F&V and tore off 4 bags. Took them with me to the 8 items checkout. Where I put one inside the other to make 2 serviceable bags for my 7 items. And because the checkout attendant couldn’t/wouldn’t pack them for me I held up their express line for as long as it took. Fvckem a thousand times. And whilst I was packing I was chatting LOUDLY to the attendant and all and sundry, making them aware that this was not a good green exercise as the bags they were now selling would take much longer to break down. And that it was a hypocritical money grab. And that Woolies CEO was a hypocrite of the highest order with his frequent traveller flights to and from his NZ vineyard. And that his carbon footprint was probably nearing that of a large African country. And that I wouldn’t be subscribing to purchasing their bags but would, in future, be arriving at the checkout with as many of their free F&V bags as it would take to package my shopping. Fvckem again and again.
Lucy Gichuhi is correct.
$200,000 a year isn’t much in a Country where average houses are selling for over a million bucks.
She can always go back to Kenya.
Kenya’s house prices are now falling rapidly, amidst political uncertainty
Among the capital city’s suburbs, Kilimani, one of Nairobi’s affluent neighborhood, registered the biggest decline in nominal house prices of 9.2% during the year to Q3 2017, followed by Upperhill (-9%) and Kileleshwa (-8.3%). Minimal house price declines were also seen in Lavington (-1.9%), Parklands (-1.6%), Donholm (-1.2%) and Westlands (-1.1%). The decline is obviously bigger when adjusted for inflation.
She can get a basement full of house girls included if she makes a hard enough deal.
Fisk
Let’s say you’re right. Let’s say that all what you say about Soros is right and more. Why do you believe the law would only be used against Soros and his minions? We were told by the Bush administration, laws allowing for FISA warrants had enough safeguards to protect the public against intrusive government. A decade later, we see FISA warrants being used against political opponents in the US. Sure, Soros is a real pest in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, but I don’t believe you need such oppressive laws to defeat him. Trump won and he did so without the need of the Soros cash and he was outspent 4:1 The Hungarian leader won elections also without those laws in place too.
Bolt is turning into a live version of Malcolm Fraser. I’m just waiting for him to be found in some far off shithole without trousers.
PS Not that I normally shop at Woolies, nor will I in the future.
$200,000 a year isn’t much in a Country where average houses are selling for over a million bucks.
Check out SA real estate. Few average houses come anywhere near a million bucks.
Or campaigning with SHY.
Cost of Living in Nairobi
Apartment (3 bedrooms) in City Centre $888
Apartment (3 bedrooms) Outside of Centre $435
Price per Square Meter to Buy Apartment in City Centre $4,401
Price per Square Meter to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre $919
Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax) $358
oops – wrong fred
Uncle George is a rich bozo with a lot of money. Since he began to take an interest in US politics -spending gazillions in an effort to influence elections- all we’ve see are the absolute number of elected D’ratters across states and federal head south to the point where , other than two tracks on right and left coasts , they are basically out of power and screaming Wacist at people in the streets.
I don’t know if this will continue though, as I don’t believe we have reached peak leftism.
Catallaxy FactCheck ➡ Bullshit
Some may have missed yesterday’s chronicle, of a rare trip to the big city. There were some highs and lows.
Not being able to afford a $47,000 Rolex in a window display was disappointing to say the least. However, imagine my horror when boarding a tram, two gentlemen immediately stood up and offered me their seats. I tried to resist, but a young Asian lad would not be deterred. God! I must even look old these days.
Is it true that Soros is an agent of the Catholic Church?
That may explain Bolt’s concern. for his welfare.
Conway rejects the mother of all squirrels.
Disappointed in Trump. No one ever taught a free range baby crow to talk like a human. Same goes for baby Mexicans. You need to keep em in a cage.
Conservatives always too gutless to take the fight to the commies.
Strange there was no trumpeting about the assault being at a State school in the way you know it would have been had it been at a private school.
Commies and Soros lost the election despite claims of Soros money polluting the political landscape.
I had to laugh at this, having mid twenties visit recently, I have learned to have spare new toothbrushes on hand. Fortunately the phase where they leave behind their phone chargers seems to have ended. We are delighted they are still coming home regularly to visit.
The world yardstick has to be Kensington Palace Gardens W8. ₤6000 per square foot. And they are hardly corrugated iron shacks with a tarpaulin roof.
I tried to resist, but a young Asian lad would not be deterred.
Bless him.
And a $50 Casio made by Asian lads – or robots designed by them – will keep better time than the Rolex.
This is the reason why people shouldn’t drink their bong water.
Turned Late Night Live on the wireless hoping to be able to swear at Fatty Adams on the way home but what do I hear? Fatty away but Boring McBoringvoice talking to some to55er about Russia influencing the Swedish election. It went something like this, “They are deviously clever. No one has discovered how the Russians are doing it yet but we’re getting closer.” The burden of proof obviously doesn’t apply.
Conservatives always too gutless to take the fight to the commies.
Andrew Bolt has never said or written anything remotely conservative. He’sa Leftist.
She wasn’t supposed to lose. His investment was supposed to be a sure thing.
God! I must even look old these days.
We visited the Allansford museum yesterday, a lovely little freebie set in the grounds of their Cheese World complex.
Best Man and I looked at the exhibits, then looked at each other wryly: we remembered vividly using many of those ancient artifacs; watching our parents use the older exhibits.
So don’t whinge to me about looking old, sonny. 🙂
Trump isn’t your standard conservative politician. Maybe they will grow a pair going forward.
Anyone over the age of 40 looks ancient to any one under 36.
Take heart, Mayfly, you provided them an opportunity to be respectful. Well done .
The incompetence of the cheating Obama administration undermined his big bucks.
My Sri Lankan mate is the same age as me and she has always looked 20 years younger. I asked her the secret. “Black don’t crack”.
Zipperhead, my comment related to yours which was about Hungary. It had nothing to do with the US. Try and be coherent.
As regards Trump and the US. The days of the leading GOP candidate not taking it to lefties are over. The winner will be the person is able to break through. Un-pc sells.
I suspect that Tom Steyer and Jeff Bezos are ‘way more dangerous than gorgeous George.
Steyer is an extreme Green, and Bezos has been running WaPo as a hard-socialist propaganda outlet. Oh and he’s worth $150 billion.
Who created pop music? The Beatles, the Stones, Deep Purple? No!
The answer is Schubert. Not the rock band!
Daisy does Klondike dancing.
maybe he just has manners.
Bruce
I really think money is overrated with respect to who wins elections. Ultimately it all goes back to the candidate’s ability to mesh with the punters. We saw that in the past election. Crooked outspent 4:1 and she lost not because people didn’t hear any of her messaging. She couldn’t persuade enough people to vote for her.
Trump’s campaign was the most chaotic slap dash underfunded campaign we’ve seen in relative terms, but he was able to persuade and he was smart how he used the media against the media itself and Crooked. The media still doesn’t realize how it was played for suckers.
Money counts in a situation where you have two or three candidates not widely separated in terms of style or policy. When the choice is not clear cut the power of the TV becomes more of a factor. In this last US contest there was a definite difference in both style and policy.
The media for the most part still cannot understand what happened. They seem to consider themselves as opinion leaders and guides rather than reporters and recorders. They are in a state of denial. The masses failed to follow them.
Misfit
I didn’t say money doesn’t count. I said it was overrated.
This guys a nutter. People on less than $20,000 get no income tax cuts and pay virtually no income tax too:
This guys a nutter. and a liar.
I don’t want to be an old stick in the mud, but what does ‘womp womp’ mean?
KRuddy on Matter of Fact with sTan Grant tonight.
JC
Wasn’t disagreeing so much as thinking out loud as it were.
Most time I agree with you & Struth.
Still enthralled by yesterday’s embrace by Melbournistan, I had been summoned to discuss matters financial. A conversation about nothing in reality. A vast atrium, invites from the street and swallows me up, at heavens knows how much a square metre, a desolate temple to architectural vanity.
I await in the Presence Chamber on the seventh floor. The silence is overwhelming. No bird calls, no distant rustics hollerin’, nothing from the street below, trees answering to the wind unheard, neighbourhood dog conversations totally muffled, machines of the soil frozen in their furrows. How can people exist in this sterile box I wondered as I bided my time, looking for the deep and hidden meaning in the carpet, for all the world a take on one of Jackson Pollock’s bad days.
Trump got less votes than Romney among non Hispanic Whites, and overall.
The difference was the Black turnout in ’12 didn’t happen in ’16.
Of course, all close Presidential Elections are stolen, the winner being the better thief.
Hillary’s team must’ve taken their eye off the ball in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and that was the Electoral College gone.
No wonder they’re upset.
Taxable income Tax on this income
$18,201– $37,000 19c for each $1 over $18,200
People earning under $18200 are likely receiving tax free benefits as well.
Qld Credit Union says it’s possible.
https://www.queenslanders.com.au/blog/could-you-live-on-just-20000-per-year/
About 15% of the population makes this or less and therefor pays no tax.
If he really believed this he wouldn’t have broken employment laws and ripped off his own employees.
I think the primary factor in Trump’s victory was that Hillary was an absolutely awful candidate. Trump brought out the absolute worst in her; that is certainly true. No other GOP candidate could have done this, I don’t think. But I don’t think there was some grand Trumpian strategy in play, either. Trump deserves credit for cottoning on to a few simple political realities that were disproportionately important to voters in the rust belt states that Hillary took for granted in her pathway to 270 electoral college votes. In hindsight, this looks incomprehensible, but back then she was following conventional political wisdom.
And it should be remembered that Trump won a squeaker if you look at the vote counts in the swing states that decided the result. Just like Obama won a squeaker in 2012. A few thousand votes going the other way in four or five states would have resulted in a different outcome.
Disability Support Pensioners must be on close to $30,000 by now, and they’re not paying any Tax.
The Government’s not silly enough to bring any of this up, so Di Natale knows he won’t be contradicted.
Sarah Half Wit Bungs getting all snakey on twitter, as well. The election of the Greens are living proof that some people should never be allowed the franchise.
If ’12 came down to a few thousand votes in a coupla States, then it must’ve been stolen too.
No doubt ’16 was stolen, that’s why the Dems are still crying.
Oh look, Grigorae has changed hands.
It’s actually relatively hard to cheat in the purple states, because both sides scrutinise the proceedings there so closely.
I will say that the Dems have a tendency to be really dumb about their cheating, ie like those districts in Chicago which went 100% blue. As in, not a single GOP vote. Why? The Dems were always going to cream it there anyway, even in a fair contest – why go all North Korean about it?
Could it be that the first 40% of income earners don’t pay income tax?
See first graph:
FactCheck: is 50% of all income tax in Australia paid by 10% of the working population?
The guy came from a million miles behind Hillary with 6-8 weeks to go. Sure she was terrible but the strategy employed by Trump was extremely effective.
Disadvantages included spending 1/3 of Hillary’s money
GOP giving up in some areas and plenty of never Trumpers who were prominent republicans
Overcoming the media and pussygate, no other candidate from the GOP could have nullified the msn.
No ground game in comparison to the Democrats machine
Overcame the bias in the government agencies.
Wasn’t great in the debates with Hillary as is the usual from the winner
Except that the GOP weenies were on the same side as the Dem weenies. Trump won despite both parties.
McConnell and Ryan have been frantically trying to keep control of the party away from Trump, but Trump’s stellar success has made that hard. McConnell is still abetting the Dem obstruction of Trump appointees. No recess appointments will be allowed under his watch and the Dems are still allowed to read out the phonebook each time a Trump candidate comes up for Senate consideration.
There is a book called Shattered, which I believe details the mis-steps taken by Hillary during the 2016 campaign.
Yeah Trump was hopeless at everything.
Except for enthusing Americans to vote for him.
Thanks for that post, Mater.
made a mistake polls were extremely bad for Trump mid August (10ish weeks) and even 2 weeks out was 7 points down
From the people who love to tell ordinary Australians that ‘people are more than just their genitals…’
We actually need fewer xunts on the ABC…
This is key. It doesn’t have much to do with the Trump campaign’s strategy. Hillary had the best ground game money can buy. But huge numbers of likely Dem voters didn’t use it because of their massive enthusiasm deficit wrt Hillary and the assumption that her victory was inevitable, so why bother.
Yes but OTOH Trump wasn’t particularly a fan favorite either, but he did put up a solid showing the last 2 weeks and many Republicans came home SCOTUS being a factor, but at the same time Trump relied on his voters just showing up and they did. The map shows red everywhere outside the cities. Quite a feat imo.
The last time I was in (shudder) Melbourne, the most noticeable thing was men in the CBD wearing powder blue suits and brown shoes with no socks.
I even saw one bloke (I think it was a bloke) sporting a man bun with a chopstick stuck in it.
Fun place.
Pedro, that was JC.
Not really. That’s pretty much been the electoral map for the last 30 years at least.
Hell, use your metric to evaluate voting intentions in California. You’d think it’s deep red.
It’s actually relatively hard to cheat in the purple states, because both sides scrutinise the proceedings there so closely.
Relatively hard compared to what?
The tradition is Don’t Be A Sore Loser.
Gore bucked that tradition, now Hillary has done the same.
As I said earlier, Trump just stole votes more effectively in the right places than Hillary did.
I have personally witnessed such an eyesore. The wearing of man buns should render the wearer liable to a drum head trial, and summary execution.
Regarding the banner and the G7 trade talks, Germany caves in to Trump like a whiny girl;
Then……
Hahahaha, Trump wins…. again.
aprpos of nothing but my text msgs are going nuts, I have to turn on the teev – bombers !!!!
I was going to observe that you could tell if it was male by its beard…. and then I remembered the last time I drove through Brunswick, Fitzroy, and St Kilda….
Now that is so true. You have to give props to this woman for her stark honesty. At the EU, if they’re good at anything, it’s that they talk and talk and talk and talk…
Where is Mark Steyn going?
I have to take off for a few weeks to remote parts in order to crack the back of a project that’s been on hold for fifteen months because Cary Katz and CRTV were suing me for $10 million. (They lost.) At any rate, the coming weeks will take me somewhat off the grid WiFi-wise
Outback Australia?
Shafted!
Conceptualise my astonishment….
Pauline interviewed on Bolt tonight and very strong; she even knew that reducing personal tax would provide an incentive and would not oppose a reduction in company tax for the same reason.
It must be difficult being a Good European. You’re either gassing each other via interminable, neverending talk, or with hydrogen cyanide.
Only Good Europeans can make this distinction a tightrope walk.
Huge claim.
Evidence?
Melbourne is so rooted that I reckon you could walk down Swanston Street with a vibrating sex toy in your braids and no one would bat an eye lid.
Neville Shute’s On the Beach was arse about. Melbourne should have been Ground Zero.
So the “doxxing” was just a dump of publicly available information?
If there is ever a new series of Father Ted, which Australian political party can star as Father Jack. Feck, nuns, stink eye.
Sorry, but this is just backward thinking.
They should be summarily executed and then have a drum head trial.
Germany’s car exports to America have been falling for years
German automakers have opened big factories in the United States, dramatically reducing their need to import cars. Plus, targeting German carmakers would hurt American workers and the US economy.
German automakers sold 1.35 million vehicles in the United States in 2017, about 8% of total US car sales. Of those, only 494,000 were exported from Germany to the United States — 25% less than in 2013, according to the German carmakers association.
Ford Mustang – Germany’s favorite sports car
Sorry, I don’t see the issue.
Unless it is the fact that supposedly trained security personnel were stupid enough to not only identify themselves as such on a public website but volunteered further personal information as well.
The prof didn’t dox them, they doxed themselves. All he did was collect up the data and send it to his fellow douches.
Just had a yarn to a mate that went to a display today of Biosecurity fencing.
Not regulated and compulsory yet, but a fundamental transformation of livestock farming.
Good sheep prices have enabled large scale operations to invest the capital out in Dog Country to build actual Dog and Roo exclusion fencing.
Not as impressive as the kangaroo exclusion fencing along some Victorian highways, but impressive.
Upgrading from adequate dryland farming zone wheat/sheep fencing to biosecurity fencing will have predator and pest management benefits, but at a cost.
[ not mentioning the real reason anti-bioterrorism fencing is becoming a requirement, the troll went off its meds last time it was hinted at.]
Back of the envelope numbers indicate that Big Australia has made us so wealthy that one hundred dollars an acre fencing costs are now just a price of complying with requirements.
Not a legal requirement yet, but we can see the way the indications are.
Plus an arms race of sorts, as the capital intensive corporates put up proper biosecurity predator and pest exclusion fences, the vermin will just sweep around the corporates and infest the old style fenced properties.
[ two hundred dollars an acre if you get a contractor in to put it up instead of building it yourself.]
If you were on the Weagles bandwagon it might be time to hop off.
Chevrolet Camaro Quite Popular In Germany
Yep. I lived Swanston Street in the 70’s – walked Flinders St station to RMIT a million times, flatted in North Melb, frugally shopped at Queen Vic markets, worked at Queen Vic Hospital, Alfred, Children’s, went to all the live band pubs and clubs, 451, Winston Charles, went to balls at xxx can’t remember, all the Myer Music Bowl free concerts, MCG games, caught the tram everywhere, Block Arcade, State Library, tea rooms at the Botanic Gardens ( my second job on Sundays waitressing) – oh how Melbourne was bliss in those days. I’m so lucky to have been there. Only get there once in 5 yrs these days, but I think if I were young it would still be fun – graffiti laneways, funky food, still live bands and bars I’m told by the younger rellies, I wouldn’t write it off just yet. Too many people for me these days though, but we are asianising, and what you grow up with you accept as normal.
Where does one start.
Surprise, surprise…………………
So this is what the German auto manufacturers now want?
Trump has them lobbying for zero tariffs………………………………………
So much more I could say, dot.
Do I need to?
Breaking news, from the Oz, is that the Victorian Parliament has passed the bill to proceed with a Treaty, with the indigenous. There will be a body, elected by the indigenous, to advise the Government…Compensation….. reparations….
The Orange One is a god.
I’ve had the unfortunate experience recently of watching SBS and their ads for Bank of Australia oh so ethical they don’t lend any money to Big Fossil Fuel.
Yesterday I drove through Kew, which has always been upper middle and lo and behold the swanky head office of Bank of Australia.
No point in being in Dandenong when the True Believers in Range Rovers are all inner camembert and brie circle.
They may not lend to fossil fuel but they surely use it.
Wankers.
In the ad, they’re driving a fossil fuel vehicle.
/Tossers
I wish the EU and or Trump would push Australia to eliminate its tariffs on our non existent car industry.
As far as I can see there’s no alternative to voting for Pauline.
Snap Zulu!
Victoria passes Australia’s first Treaty bill
Victoria has passed Australia’s first treaty bill, setting up a path so the government can one day ratify agreements with Aboriginal people. The Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Bill 2018 passed the Legislative Council tonight.
It allows for the creation of a representative body, elected by Aboriginal Victorians by mid-2019, that will help design the treaty negotiation framework. Leader of the government in the Legislative Council Gavin Jennings told the chamber there had been a “sorry history associated with the last 200 years” of colonisation and the first peoples of Australia were “worthy of respect and not treated with respect”.
“There is unfinished business in this nation of addressing those matters that should never have come to be,” Mr Jennings said.
“We want to create a safe space in the first instance for Aboriginal people to determine the way in which we would right the wrongs of the past and deliver justice.
“We are not convinced you can wait for a national process that has never, ever delivered in relation to righting these wrongs.” The bill allows for the creation of a representative body, elected by Aboriginal Victorians by mid-2019, that will help design the treaty negotiation framework. It will go to the Legislative Assembly when parliament resumes in late July as a formality before being signed off by the governor.
The treaty process has been years in the making, consulting with more than 7500 Aboriginal Victorians.
While supporting the legislation through parliament, the Greens have pushed throughout the whole process for greater recognition of individual clans. Leader Samantha Ratnam attempted to amend clause one of the bill to change the term “Aboriginal Victorians” to “clans and first nations”.
“If this clause remains as is, then the treaty process will by open to any Aboriginal person to negotiate and make agreement with the state whether they are a senior representative of their clan and first nation or they came to Victoria yesterday,” leader Samantha Ratnam told parliament. “The clans are the sovereign first peoples of Victoria thus it is appropriate that they be specified in the purpose, we have also included first nations in recognition that some clans choose to recognise themselves on a first nation level.” The amendment was not successful, nor were any others put forward by the Greens on Thursday.
The coalition did not support the bill, believing treaty should be done on a national level instead.
Liberal MP Bernie Finn said a state treaty was more likely to create “fodder for lawyers” than anything else.
AAP
Link to the Oz article with comments open if you can scale the paywall
LOl
It’s one step forward, two steps back with you, Albert.
Good for the soul.
Raw, human emotion. And very funny commentary from these lads.
It should put a smile on your face.
My compliments, Top Ender, and thank you. My computer is having a hissy fit, and I can’t post links.
I’m just remembering the example of the Barnett Government in the Wild West, which was trying to negotiate a final settlement, of 1.3 billion dollars, of all native title and land rights claims, with the local Noongar tribe. FOUR of them went to Court, claiming that, as they hadn’t been consulted, no settlement could be reached. I’ll bet good money any “treaty” will tie up the courts for twenty years.
#imnotboundbyanytreaty.
Yaaas head prefect.
She’s a fucking retard, Albert. And her supporters are 100% retarded, like you.
See the Bombers fly up!
Here’s a question. Twitter is suggesting Rosenstein is a goner very soon. If this speculation is correct, would that hasten Mueller to quickly submit his findings before a less friendly guy takes over?
Go Bombers !
There’s always some that comes along and ruins a good conversation.
LOL.
Sinclair Davidson
#2743820, posted on June 21, 2018 at 10:41 pm
See the Bombers fly up!
Jeez Sinc – I thought you had a bit more class than to come on the OT this hour of the night……
🙂 Bombers 🙂
Is this the new scam to get into Australia?
How things have changed in schools. Tomorrow, my granddaughter aged 11, is having a Stress Down Day.
Here’s a question. Twitter is suggesting Rosenstein is a goner very soon. If this speculation is correct, would that hasten Mueller to quickly submit his findings before a less friendly guy takes over?
If Trump selects someone already approved by Congress elsewhere then the takeover will be swift. I don’t see Trump removing RR to only to go through a long approvals process. Just a thought.
RR’s removal will be dramatic.
JC
Twatter has been suggesting that Sessions will or should go, let alone Rosenstein.
Fact is Mueller has his ‘marching orders’ and does not need to hurry nor back down at all.
The only thing that will fix the whole mess is to disband the FBI and the DoJ, both of which can be done easily, and “shock/horror”, put the functions back to the States.
That’s sad news, Clint Walker died on May 21 2018.
Scott Pruitt?
I’d reckon Mike Pompeo would add it to his portfolio with greatest of ease.
When Trump retires in 2024 I hope Pompeo takes the Presidency on.
If Australians are concerned about the ‘environment’ then surely we should bulldoze every capital city into the sea.
Hey Monty, when is Manafort facing sentencing for the five counts of manslaughter?
Steve t
Ted dear, you have a two-thirds charged battery, stress less !!!!
What are Nikki Haley’s ambitions? She seems to be performing well.
Trump reversed his policy on kids separation today, yet I can’t figure out which policy cats support:yesterday or today’s?
Cheyenne, Cheyenne, where will you be campin’ tonight?
Lonely man, Cheyenne, will your heart stay free and light?
Dream, Cheyenne, of a girl you may never love
Move along, Cheyenne, like the restless cloud up above.
The wind that blows, that comes and goes, has been your only home.
But will the wild wind one day cease and you’ll no longer roam?
Move along, Cheyenne; next pasture’s always so green.
Driftin’ on, Cheyenne, don’t forget the things you have seen,
And when you settle down, where will it be?
Boris, see my comment earlier. If you do not keep them in cages, you cannot teach crows or mexicans to mimic human speech. Letting them out is a bad idea.
Trump reversed his policy on kids separation today, yet I can’t figure out which policy cats support:yesterday or today’s?
You really are dim Boris. First, it wasn’t HIS policy at all. Now go read the full EO and other qualified comments before you embarrass yourself further.
Both.
This is the kind of rake dancing you would expect from mOrons like mUnty.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/06/20/un-poverty-report-blasting-trump-us-for-hatred-for-poor-uses-data-from-last-year-obama-s-presidency.html
One could be forgiven for thinking that the UN was goading Trump to pull out.
LOL you lot are planning out the Trump succession line as if the whole house is not going to come crashing down Nixon-style when Mueller drops the hammer. Bless.
m0nty.
just because you create “fantasy football” do not think that your “fantasy” world has any substance.
The only thing Mueller will be dropping is his guts.
People often do before they shit themselves.
Hammer time for you has been more like being sent to the hardware shop for a long weight or some checkered paint………and still stepping on all the rakes in the meantime.
Nicky would make a great Prez.
Only a Misogynist would disagree.
I’m thinking of Asking Trump to invade Australia.
So, we have to learn to drive on the other side of the road and only wear white sox with sneakers.
I’ve always thought a Maccas on the top of the rock could be fun.
He can bulldoze the opera house and build a Trump Tower as far as I am concerned.
Yes that answer expected. Even when trump makes a 180 degrees turn, he is right both times. Utterly predicable worship of a dear leader. LOL.
Reality is that he gave in to his wife and daughter, as well some GOP Congress people who were concerned about the impact come November. No one but trump (if at all) knows exactly what tipped his mind, but Ivanka and Melania were big factors.
Incidentally I don’t necessarily disagree with the practice but it clearly turned into public relations nightmare. Build the fucking wall – and pay for it if is crucial. Like Israel did.
Haley is great but I don’t think trump will be succeeded by a republican. Americans like to change the party of the president at least every eight years. Haley can come back later.
The west coast could be the new Hollywood.
Aussiewood.
All filming would need to be done in the first minutes of early mornings before the flies woke up
The wind in the afternoon wouldn’t be taken too well be hairstylists.
Ernie Dingo would be our A lister………..
First Pompeo and then, maybe, Hayley.
16 years of New Republicans at a minimum.
Sorry, not New Republicans but Proper Republicans.
I doubt it will. Monty I looked at the list of Russian contacts you linked to. These all appear to be exploratory and very tentative. I also watched the Four Corners. Last time one former Obama man, when asked if there as a smoking gun in all this said, these are just examples, who knows what other meetings they had.
Which means they have very little. Sure there is a possibility of a bombshell but on publicly a viable information this seems very unlikely.
There of course is a possibility that Trump will be found t9 have known about the Trump tower meeting and knew that the woman was Putin’s agent. But this would be minor transgression and not a trigger for impeachment.
We shall see what information they will get from Flynn, Gates, Manaford and Cohen.
Quoting voting patterns pre Trump is pretty ridiculous.
Howard Root: Live from Duluth
Our friend Howard Root attended the Trump rally in Duluth last night. This is his (fantastic) report along with photos he took at the event (at the top and bottom below):
When I arrived at 4:00 p.m., the line for admission was at least a half mile long. People had been lining up since before 10:00 a.m., with the line snaking through a glass skyway where the afternoon sun had raised the temperature to over 100. I’ve seen shorter lines for Springsteen tickets, yet everyone was exceptionally polite.
At least 25 percent of the audience was under the age of 30, and around 40 percent were women. The senior citizen percentage was less than 10 percent — the lowest I’ve ever seen at a Republican event. Other than the hundred or so party leaders, this was a vastly different crowd from the Minnesota Republican Convention that I attended in Duluth three weeks ago. None of the attendees I spoke with in the concession line at the rally were politically active (other than voting) and none were born-and-bred Republicans.
My big takeaway is that the atmosphere made Trump’s words almost irrelevant — and I mean that as a compliment. Trump understands emotion unlike any other politician I’ve followed. He stages his delivery with plenty of smiles, frequent claps (to the audience) and the longest walk to and from the podium I’ve ever seen. The two big differences between Trump and the usual politician are that (1) Trump never asks the audience for anything other than to be happy, and (2) Trump’s shtick is received as 100 percent authentic. Until I saw it last night, I never would have believed that a one-hour political speech could capture a 10,000-strong crowd from start to finish. A Trump rally is the one political event where you have to be in the room where it happens to understand how it works.
struth
this bloke is/was our finest A lister
Mueller’s camp doesn’t leak much. That doesn’t mean they don’t have the nuts.
Yes, yes we will.
Another bad story for Muller is that in the list of questions a lot are about Comey dismissal. This ain’t a good sign as this has nothing to do with Russian collusion. He won’t need to,pursue this matter if had a smoking gun on collusion.
If he pursues obstruction of justice on a matter that does not amount to criminal case, it will be seen as a technicality. Actually very similar to Bill Cliinton’s. We all know how that ended. And trump has majority in both houses.
Lurking with one eye (actually) and watching the conversation above re Trump
this stood out to me in my post above
The two big differences between Trump and the usual politician are that (1) Trump never asks the audience for anything other than to be happy, and (2) Trump’s shtick is received as 100 percent authentic. Until I saw it last night, I never would have believed that a one-hour political speech could capture a 10,000-strong crowd from start to finish. A Trump rally is the one political event where you have to be in the room where it happens to understand how it works.
Intel CEO Krzanich Resigns Over Relationship With Employee
Chip maker determined chief executive violated company policy; CFO will become interim CEO
Intel has a longstanding, non-fraternization policy that prohibits managers from having sexual or romantic relationships with employees who report directly or indirectly to them, a spokesman for the company said. The spokesman called the policy a “strict” and “hard ban” that he said applies to all managers regardless of seniority level. The policy also requires that employees who see or believe someone acted inappropriately to raise their concerns immediately, he said.
While details of the relationship weren’t disclosed Thursday, the public resignation highlights the discussions happening in workplaces around the country over how employers should regulate office romances.
His team is big enough to follow up on four or five different lines of inquiry at once. And if you think the Comey firing had nothing to do with Russia, you haven’t been paying attention, Boris.
It might have been. But if the Russian thing itself does not stand up then obstruction on something that isn’t itself a crime cannot be serious.
My point is that Comey story alone won’t stand up by itself.
Former Secret Service Agent Files RICO Suit Against Clintons, Soros, Podesta, Brock
Conspiracy theorists (and conspiracy factists) are running wild as infamously outspoken former Secret Service agent Gary Byrne has filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) suit against what some call the Democrat Deep State.
Defendants in the case include:
CLINTON FOUNDATION, CLINTON-GIUSTRA ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIP, MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA, CORRECT THE RECORD, AMERICAN BRIDGE 21ST CENTURY, CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS IN WASHINGTON, SHAREBLUE, DAVID BROCK, WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, GEORGE SOROS, JOHN PODESTA, JONATHAN WACKROW, JAN GILOOLY and CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE.
Quite a rogue’s gallery.
Here’s the summary of Byrne’s case…
Sure Boris, but they got Capone on tax evasion, comme ci comme ca.
Sure m0nty
Comey facilitated his mate Mueller’s involvement with the Klinton Kriminal Kartel to cover up the Klinton’s deranged involvement with Russia.
RR will roll over, do a deal and resign. Otherwise he’ll be buried alive. He is simply ‘unsalvageable’.
Here’s m0nty
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighblackall/35743456492/in/photostream/
Oh m0nty. You really have don’t have a Plan B in the event this doesn’t happen, do you. You’re going over the edge, Thelma And Louise style.
Mark Knight.
Paul Zanetti.
Peter Broelman.
Why Trump-deranged cartoonist Rob Rogers was fired by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: he drew this after he was sacked.
This is the colour version of the Michael Ramirez ‘toon I posted yesterday.
Mike Lester.
Steve Kelley.
A.F. Branco.
Bob Gorrell.
Ben Garrison.
Broelman for me this morning! With honourable mention to Ben Garrison for his stonefaced Comey and Obama.
Thanks, Tom.
BoN
Garrison’s depiction of Obama reminded me of the character Jim Carey plays in “The Mask”.
Garrison does a great Obama as the joker.
owg – that one too. thanks Tom.
The latest tactic for muzzling the right wing press (what little there is of it) is proceeding as planned:
21st Century Fox Agrees to Higher Offer From Disney
Government Clears Left-Wing Takeover of Brexit-Supporting Express
Disney lately has gone full SJW despite the cost in ticket sales as their unwatchably lefty movies bomb. Bye bye Fox. And likewise the Daily Express was one of the very few remaining right wing media outlets in Britain, the Telegraph having succumbed.
Welcome to the new era of Pravda.
Thanks Tom
#2743902, posted on June 22, 2018 at 4:54 am
A.F. Branco. wins for me today – sums up the Media both American and Australian – and Western Media in General
Portrait of the political elite in a world of strife – Maurice Newman
The picture of Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel leaning menacingly across a table as she and some of her G7 colleagues confront President Donald Trump for his stance on trade may be worth a thousand words, but it didn’t deter journalists spouting millions more.
For a media running high on “Trump derangement syndrome”, this photo was truly a sweet moment, depicting a loathed President being lectured by his betters. Having arrived late for the G7 discussion on gender equality, Trump then went on to disregard the civility expected at these international gabfests.
His petulant dissent from the group’s communique was almost unprecedented. After all, sometimes these announcements are drafted ahead of the meetings. It was all evidence that this meddlesome President was unfit for office.
Trump’s unorthodox behaviour has thrown the world’s political class into a spin. Not for him a high-minded utopia where sovereign nations subordinate their self-interest for an ill-defined collective ideal, in the “greater good”.
Barack Obama played that game well and was applauded for his inspirational leadership. Now the US system has thrown up a vulgar businessman hellbent on putting America’s interests first. Merkel needed to remind him “how it is around here”.
After withdrawing from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal, Trump, consistent with his election commitments, is now questioning America’s trade agreements, arguing previous administrations have let his nation down.
With the biggest player in town pursuing a narrow, selfish, agenda, the happy days of global consensus seem to have ended. Even if the US has been on the end of some bad trade deals, Trump should not presume that renegotiating them is without risk.
He needs to weigh the negative consequences of an all-out trade war and consider whether he is encouraging unwanted couplings that could harm America’s strategic alliances.
Likewise, his G7 colleagues should put aside their anger and consider the costs of protracted intransigence.
The US economy is bigger than all of them combined and their dependence on international trade is multiple times greater than America’s. In a trade war they are hugely more vulnerable.
For the European members, Trump’s G7 curve ball is particularly ill-timed. The much touted synchronised global economic expansion has ended and even Germany’s growth is fading.
Against this backdrop, the EU’s open borders immigration policy, strongly supported by Merkel, is fracturing unity. Europeans blame Berlin for the unacceptable social issues they are now forced to deal with, while Germans believe they bear a disproportionate share of responsibility for resettlement of refugees.
Proposals to date have been insufficient to placate Merkel’s opponents who see Islamists receiving preferential treatment.
Predictably, the public backlash against Europe’s immigration policy has been reflected in recent elections in Hungary, Austria and, now Italy. Even French President Emmanuel Macron admits that rising populism and anti-establishment (and anti-Europe) sentiment are linked to growing unease over immigration policies.
The fear is that unilateral action taken by any European government could increase the burden on other countries and result in the union unravelling.
Indeed, the EU is exposed on many fronts. Its executive, the Brussels-based European Commission, is dominated by progressive elites and national cliques whose policies are delivered from on high. Across time, this has eroded goodwill among supporters who see the European parliament as just a democratic facade.
Cracks also are appearing in the monetary union. To quote former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger: “Poor old Germany. Too big for Europe, too small for the world.” While culturally Germany has made little impression, its economic dominance has been critical to the union’s survival. Yet the euro is arguably too weak for Germany and too strong for many of the more fiscally challenged states. Germany’s trade surplus is a massive $US287 billion ($385bn) and the world’s biggest.
To be fair, much of it is a by-product of large domestic imbalances, not protectionism. Since the Weimar Republic, when hyperinflation ripped their country apart, Germans have been extraordinarily thrifty and their governments fiscally prudent.
As a consequence, Germany overproduces and under-consumes, and underspends on infrastructure. It also invests in its importers’ currencies, which keeps the euro below most estimates of fair value. This may advantage Germany and add plausibility to Trump’s claims that “Germany is very bad (unfair) on trade”, but its lack of spending constrains European growth.
Trump also has Europe’s contribution to NATO in his sights. Just eight of NATO’s 29 members meet the alliance’s target of spending 2 per cent of gross domestic product on defence. In total, 15 members have plans to reach the 2 per cent target by 2024. Germany won’t meet its target until 2025. Europe may complain, but the facts are on Trump’s side.
Secretly, EC president Jean-Claude Juncker must welcome the US President’s interventions. Juncker’s dictatorial meddling and lack of accountability have many European countries considering the formation of a loose trading alliance between themselves.
Even Alternative for Germany, the country’s largest opposition party, wants an end to the common currency bloc in its present form.
Time will tell, but leading British historian Niall Ferguson believes the EU is so poorly prepared for the challenges of the modern world that it may not exist in 10 years. Certainly, what started as an economic experiment has been overtaken by a powerful, politicised bureaucracy, often unresponsive to the needs of multiple jurisdictions, many of which have competing ideals, interests and, expectations.
So, while Trump may be a useful diversion for the political class, the reality is ordinary Europeans have become distrustful of the EU concept and, through the ballot box, are signalling their preferences for a more direct say.
EDITORIALS
Public debt is still on the rise
With the federal government’s first budget surplus in sight, concerns about government net debt have eased. But state governments, collectively, are ramping up their borrowing significantly to fund much-needed road, rail and social infrastructure.
Combined, the net financial liabilities of both tiers of government are heading towards $1 trillion, as The Australian pointed out yesterday.
States proudly have boasted of their budget surpluses this year. But this “net operating balance” ignores the large licks of taxpayer money being lavished on new construction projects. In the same way the federal government’s “investment” in the National Broadband Network does not show up in its “underlying cash” balance, state government spending on infrastructure is left out of the headline result. For states, with their relatively much bigger capital works programs, the difference matters more. NSW’s borrowing requirement next financial year is more than $10 billion, thanks to its four-year, $87bn investment in infrastructure.
Except for Western Australia — which has amassed $25bn of net debt, more than NSW or Victoria and with a fraction of the population — the Australian states are in good shape fiscally compared with their Canadian peers. NSW and Victoria are rated AAA by both of the major global rating agencies. Ontario’s net debt as a share of its revenue, for instance, is nearly 250 per cent, compared with about 70 per cent for NSW. That means our states have plenty of capacity to borrow for infrastructure that passes cost-benefit tests. But that could change quickly if global borrowing costs rise — as they are expected to — and costs blow out on what are ambitious infrastructure programs, bunched together in time.
There’s no magic pudding for funding infrastructure. Credit rating agencies don’t care whether extra borrowing is used to fund recurrent expenditure or new roads or hospitals.
All of the debt has to be serviced. Moreover, as the housing cycle turns, gushing stamp duty revenues, which make up a big chunk of state taxes, may not be there to fund the interest.
Tom #2743904: Ben Garrison.
That mountain ain’t nearly big enough.
Your stressed, Your stressed, Your stressed. No!. Yes Your stressed, Your stressed. FFS! you…. Good have a day off.
Mike Lester for words, and Ramirez for the picture. Thanks Tom.
The BBC were still running the kiddy story overnight, as if it’s the most important thing in their world, which it may be – lashing out at Trump is the number one preoccupation of much of the MSM.
I did this once already and it disappeared, so here we go again.
Mike Lester for the words, and Ramirez for the excellent picture, thanks Tom.
The BBC were again featuring the kiddy story overnight as if it’s the most important one in the world – which it may be in their world. Most of the MSM are totally preoccupied by whatever can be spun into an anti-Trump tirade.
My Apple iPad is conspiring to prevent me from commenting. Twice I typed the following and hit the submit button only to have it do the old “a problem was encountered so the page was reloaded” schtick. So here goes on the PC.
It’s Mike Lester for the words and Ramirez for the picture, thanks Tom.
The BBC was again running the kiddy story as the top one overnight, as if it’s the number one story in the world – it may be the most important thing in their world, since like most of the MSM they are preoccupied with anything that can be built into an anti-Trump spray.
DataDashboard just now:
Price QLD NSW SA VIC TAS
Energy $257.16 $299.60 $301.58 $283.10 $58.77
test
Former Secret Service Agent Files RICO Lawsuit Against Clintons, Podesta and Soros
Gary Byrne, an author and former Secret Service Agent, has filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) suit against Bill and Hillary Clinton, George Soros, John Podesta and David Brock, among others.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
GARY J. BYRNE/ GJB, LLC
RICO COMPLAINT
c/o P.O. Box 119 Morton, Pennsylvania 19070 (Actual home address withheld due to death threats and related danger to Plaintiff from Enterprise Defendants, Surrogates, Participants and Others – such address can be provided to the District Court under seal
Test
Test2
Lester.
Love his game show host and ditsy offsider.
Heh.
Stormy?
Russians?
Poor widdle kiddies behind Obama’s bars?
Climate doom?
Supermarket bags?
She’s as good a troll as the Orange One. I like her.
Sorry, not New Republicans but Proper Republicans
Not Reptilians?
Interesting editorial about Trump and the EU.
The level of self-entitlement of Europe is indeed staggering.
Why isn’t Trump bending America more to serve Europe’s agenda?
Obama may have presided over, in his own country, and been accessory to, in the rest of the world, the greatest proliferation of war and violence against the West while at the same time sapping the West’s strength and will to withstand it, but he had nice manners.
Those horrid ordinary people will not be placated! Merkel has sought to soothe their concerns regarding a corrosive immigration free-for-all but they won’t accept the rampant criminality of the border-crashers despite all her assurances it is not happening: For some reason they aren’t believing here but their lying eyes!
When I consider the European tragi-comedy, I am reminded on one of the last lines in the film ‘Murder by Decree’, where Sherlock Holmes confronts the Prime Minister and other holders of high office over their their abuses of power.
You create allegiance above your sworn allegiance to protect humanity. You shall not care for them, or acknowledge their pain. There lies the madness.
#thedevilwearszara
😄
m0nty at 0125
Mueller’s camp doesn’t leak much.
Never change, reactionary running dog lackey of the Deep State establishment!
Masters of the trolling leftards-
The population Ponzi has created a looming mass of unavoidable stay in business spending on infrastructure and logistics.
If we couldn’t afford this at the peak of the property price Ponzi, how fast will things crumble when the Ponzi topples?.
And interest rates rise?.
There will be a critical mass of enraged four mortgage imported property speculator revolutionary freedom fighters, burning it all down for insurance and revenge.
Comrades.
Day length today <1 second shorter than yesterday. But tomorrow will be +o.o3S
longer. Since green electrons are on strike, will daylight saving be introduced as an emergency measure to cut the consumption of electrickery?
7 mins 13 Secs of a man who has a vision – worth a watch
OMB Director Mick Mulvaney Brilliant MAGA Segment During Cabinet Meeting…
Immigration
Trump Moves to Obama’s Position on Family Detention, Democrats Outraged
Love that Obama as Joker done by Ben Garrison. Thanks Tom.
And thanks to Bruce of Newcastle for updating us on this:
Buying out the centre right like this is shudder-worthy. Extremely soviet in style, where even a joke around the kitchen table is suspect. What’s next? An attack on anonymous shared jokes while standing in bread queues? A metaphor these days for struggling internet sites sustaining us because there is nothing else left for truthful newstelling? We’ve already got offended citizen’s notifications of transgressors against public order and the State, as in the days of Robespierre.
The Great American Oil Boom
Thanks to evolving hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling technologies, the U.S. shale revolution that has taken flight since 2008 has transformed energy markets around the world. Long thought to have peaked in 1970, U.S. crude oil production continues to surge to new heights. Higher prices have increased profit margins, and output in 2018 has increased every week so far except one in mid-February.
One of the key advantages of the commodity price collapse that began in 2014 is how “lean and mean” it forced the U.S. oil industry to become. Sunken prices pushed those companies that were not able to cut costs out of business, with over 100 E&P companies going bankrupt by the end of summer 2016.
Today, producers have streamlined operations to such a degree that they can “be in the black” even when oil costs just $44 per barrel, or a hefty 33 percent below where prices are now.
EDITORIAL: Economic optimism on the rise among small-business owners = Las Vegas Review-Journal
Economic optimism — especially among small-business owners — has been on the rise since Donald Trump’s 2016 election. And rightly so. As Fox News reports, the Small Business Optimism Index reached its second-highest level ever in May, with the nation’s small businesses reporting great numbers across numerous key areas.
Charles Krauthammer dies of cancer, aged 68.
Paint yourself with woad, don a loincloth and dance in a drum circle under the crescent moon, Mayfly.
Summer approaches, she’s crouched at the gates and ready to spring. 🙂