Tariffs are hurting China
World Press reaction to Trump's Liberation Day tariffs was explosive. Every pundit with access to any form of media foists their opinion on their audience. World stock markets also reacted strongly to the uncertainty, with substantial falls. Contrary to predicted falls, the bond market reacted to the uncertainty by rising. In the end, mainly due to the rise in the Bond rate, the Trump team reacted by introducing a 90-day delay for all countries except China. That had the effect of quelling the markets, but volatility remains high. The anti-Trump mob has been relieved that Trump's honeymoon is over. Trump voters have not reacted strongly, willing to support him at least for now.
It goes without saying that the introduction of the tariffs has not been handled with finesse. Why not give 90 days' notice in the first place? And why do it worldwide, when you could first address the countries with major issues and leave the minor offenders for later? I guess the honeymoon is over; Trump has been hurt by the way he has handled tariff policy. Yet, most economists agree that too many countries have been calling for free trade while imposing unfair barriers to free trade to favour their own products. China is one of the most visible and obvious offenders. It does not allow many of the free trade transactions, eg real estate, that it exploits in other countries. It has also supported the widespread theft of IP from around the world. For decades, the US and the rest of the world have allowed China to ignore the accepted rules. At least till now.
So despite the way it has been done, Trump has fundamental support for calling out China. While China is trying to pay hardball by raising reciprocal tariffs on the US, this policy will hurt China more.
China experts are speaking out on the serious economic consequence Trump's tariff policy is already having on China. While Trump's honeymoon is over, China's miracle economy looks doomed.
Here is a video providing some insight on China's economic dilemma
UK accepts only biological women are women
If anyone from any era before the 21st Century woke up in today's world to learn that it took the Supreme Court of the UK to rule on "what is a woman," they would have thought the world had gone insane. Many of us would agree with them. It shakes me to the core that this has to happen in what is otherwise a mostly rational world. I say mostly because there are other areas where common sense seems to have left our societies.
But I digress. For today, at least, common sense has won out. So-called 'transgender women', ie men who call themselves women, are, according to UK law, men. So this nonsense of self-identification of one's gender is legally dead in the UK.
It will no doubt take a long time for legislation in the UK to catch up, and indeed for the gender fanatics to give up their gender zealotry, but legally, and that is significant, the battle is done in the UK. In Australia, Canada and New Zealand, etc., the battle is yet to be won. The UK decision will certainly help the fight in these countries.
For today, we can all celebrate that the very woke UK has had its transgender activism shot down in this significant way. Given that transgender activism has been such a strong pillar of wokism, perhaps the whole agenda will collapse.
Here is a video covering the UK Supreme Court decision.
Another mRNA vaccine halted
I am aware that we have had two vaccine articles in a row, but I feel I need to share this one. This time, it is the novel mRNA vaccine against RSV. RSV is a virus that infects millions of people worldwide. It can be mild or quite serious, especially for infants. Older adults are generally immune unless they have other serious conditions. The recent test of an mRNA vaccine against the disease has been 'paused' due to serious side effects in some 12% of test subjects. The key issue is that mRNA vaccines, though easy to manufacture, have a significant drawback. Since mRNA vaccines invoke the body's cells to manufacture the antigen, there is no control over the dose of antigen introduced. Therefore, the body can overproduce the antigen.
Here is a video summarising the recent trial.
Flu vaccine efficacy is also negative!
The widespread scrutiny of the novel mRNA COVID vaccines has uncovered a range of problems. I have posted widely on some of the studies concluding that the vaccines should be suspended due to the risk-reward ratio for virtually all age groups, and most recently, because the use of multiple boosters causes weakness in the immune system, resulting in negative efficacy. Those receiving boosters are more likely to catch the disease.
Most recently, the Cleveland Clinic in the US has reported on a study on the effectiveness of last year's flu vaccine. Surprise and shock, the flu vaccine also exhibited negative efficacy. Those vaccinated were more likely to catch the flu!
Dr John Campbell has the story.
Pinocchio vs The Incredible Hulk
Image created by Flux Schnell AI image generator
In what should be like a match between The Incredible Hulk and Pinocchio after the first 3 weeks of the six-week election campaign, Pinocchio is leading in the polls. Pinocchio in this metaphor is Anthony Albanese, Australia's Labor PM, who has been leading the country for the past three years. The Incredible Hulk is Peter Dutton, leader of the coalition between Australia's Liberal (note the naming in Australia is for traditional Liberal values and equates to the Republicans in the US and Conservatives in the UK). My metaphor is not intended to imply size, it is the difference in their case for winning the election.
Albanese's government has failed to steer the ship of state towards prosperity. On the contrary, on virtually every measure, Albanese's Labor government has failed its duty. Focusing narrowly on just economic measures, the Australian Financial Review published a piece titled "These 12 charts show how the economy has changed under Labor".
These 12 measures show the changes in economic measures over the 3 years of the Labor term of government; -
- Price Pain - Consumer prices increased by 11 %, causing a cost-of-living crisis
- Interest rates have surged from 0.25% to 4% ( Mortgage interest as % of gross wages has jumped from 2.5% to 5.5%)
- Temporarily Back in Black then out, Trade surplus for 2 years, great result, but henceforth forecast deficits for a decade
- Growth Slumps Annual growth has dropped from just under 4% to just 1.3% pa
- Big Government Gets Bigger. Growth in government has exploded, with the public sector reaching a record 29% of GDP
- Job boom: Unemployment rates have fallen and remained low, but this was only possible due to the growth in non-market jobs, health education, and the public sector, supported by government spending. Market job growth has shrunk.
- Productivity Slumps. GDP per hour worked has dropped by 6%
- Purchasing power shrinks. Despite annual wage growth, the growth of 4.3% was less than inflation over the period. Australians have been in a per capita recession over the past 3 years having and are suffering a cost of living crisis.
Any objective analysis would mark these results as an F. No doubt, there are many factors that determine a person's vote. The economic results are only one of these factors, but the election campaign, so far, has not focused on these factors at all. Most people are certainly aware of the cost of living, but The Incredible Hulk has not hit out to emphasise these terrible results. As for the PM's approach, let's put it this way, his nose is growing rapidly!
Musk Unleashed
Elon Musk is well-known as the richest man in the world. He is a successful entrepreneur who has achieved his success by developing products that people want. PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, and many more in the wings. He is a proven technology leader, with the genius to see what will be needed.
He was beloved of all, especially the climate-obsessed Democrats, as he made electric cars viable. But he lost favour when he purchased Twitter (renamed X) and re-established it as a free speech 'market square'. Before Musk's purchase, Twitter was a liberal platform that could and did censor right-leaning opinions. After he joined Donald Trump's team as the coordinator of DOGE, the Democrats went full-bore. Musk was made the bête noire of the democrats, decried and slandered at every opportunity. The extremists started attacking Tesla dealerships. It seems "Hell hath no fury like a Democrat scorned"!
That is by way of background. In his DOGE role Musk has taken the stage and not shied from public commentary. Given his success with technology, we would do well to listen to him.
In this short video he makes some very cogent observations on migration and free speech. Although aimed at Europe, it applies equally to other Western democracies, Australia, Canada, New Zealand.
It is just 6 minutes; well worth a view.
Who ran the Biden presidency?
I know it is an eon ago, but are you curious about who really ran the US during Biden's presidency? After his meltdown in his presidential debate, even the Democratic leadership had to admit that Biden was not up to the job, that he was suffering from some form of dementia. Of course, this was not a surprise to anyone. He had been stumbling and mumbling over virtually his whole presidency. Hey, he had been elected despite hiding in a basement during his campaign. No doubt, many people knew he was mentally 'challenged' for years. Certainly, his wife and son would have known, and if they had been guided by what was best for the country or what was best for their father/husband's health, they should have stopped him from running. It seems personal ambition won over moral principle. Today, that is all moot, he has gone, and much of the damage he did is being redressed. Nevertheless, there is a question that many are still asking. Who is responsible for the last four years? Who were the decision makers? Does the US require legislation to prevent the power of the president being usurped?
I am not the only one wondering about these questions. Slowly, much too slowly, leading Democrat's are 'fessing up' regarding their knowledge of Biden's mental issues. Some are also shedding light on who was running the country. Here is a discussion between Lindi Li and Dave Reuben about this question. Lindi was a Democrat insider who has lost confidence in the party, and is revealing party secrets.
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