Leaderboard

You know that old thought exercise about which famous people, alive or dead, you'd invite to you ultimate dinner party? People choose Einstein, Jesus, Confucius, Plato etc. I'd choose Trump, Vance, Hegseth, Putin, and Netanyahu. Catering by Erin Patterson.

The project won't be canned for good. This stoppage is just a reset to get all the unnecessary hangers-on, off the gravy train, so the project can get back to realistic costs. I've seen so many of these major projects just become an open cheque book for opportunistic businesses, charging anything they like, simply because lazy, inefficient management, just wants to see progress. Once the shock of the gravy train ceasing to exist comes home with a thump, the companies and contractors then become a lot more realistic and competitlve.

More info on oil benchmark pricing ..... https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=18571

Nev's right though. For all their absolute stupidity for going off to join the caliphate, and the abhorrent isis, they remain Australian citizens with Australian passports. Any crimes they have committed over there, which are offences under Australian law or international laws that Australia is signatory to, will be charged. The children of course are innocent and should be given the same opportunity to grow up in Australia as any of us. To suggest we should somehow prevent Australian citizens from returning home is just wrong.

For what it is worth: https://time.com/article/2026/05/07/trump-xi-china-meeting-what-to-expect/

That would require him to hold three different trains of thought in his head at the same time. I think that level of strategic thinking would too much for him.

IF they were Dumped there, Ford's project would be dead in the water. They Know what they are up against. Trump should spend a week or 2 in CHINA. to open his eyes. Nev

It is not surprising that Ford are pursuing the EV pathway. Their earlier efforts were not that flash but the CEO Jim Farley went to China and airlifted a Xaiomi SU7 EV home which he uses as his daily drive. AI Overview Ford CEO Jim Farley has heavily praised and personally driven a Chinese-made electric car—the Xiaomi SU7—for over six months, describing it as a superior product and a "game changer". While calling it a "shocker" that Chinese EVs are ahead of Western rivals in efficiency and software, he is focusing on keeping them out of the U.S. market to protect domestic manufacturing. Key Takeaways Regarding Ford & Electric Cars: 1. The Daily Driver: Farley stated he did not want to give up the Chinese Xiaomi SU7, stating on the Fully Charged Podcast that he didn't want to switch to a U.S.-made EV. 2. The Competitive Threat: Farley warned in 2025 and 2026 that Chinese automakers are "completely dominating" with superior products. He called their competition an existential threat on steroids compared to the 1980s Japanese auto boom. 3. Ford's Pivot: To compete, Ford has created a specialized, independent "Skunk Works" team in California tasked with developing a new, lower-cost EV platform to compete with Chinese competitors. 4. Upcoming Focus: Ford is planning a $5 billion investment in EVs, focusing on a new midsize pickup truck. Despite his admiration for the technology, Farley has urged the U.S. government to prevent Chinese carmakers from bringing their vehicles to the U.S. to prevent a massive hit to American, and specifically Michigan, manufacturing jobs.

They are NOT being given any free passes. Some have been charged already by the AFP. We accept our Legal International Obligations as any DECENT Country should. They got here Under their Own steam. That's the repatriation Bit. Why don't YOU provide a few FACTs? Because it would spoil your story? You HATE this Place or else you are Just Playing silly Mind games. Get on with the rest of your life. Plenty of People in this World are far more hard done by than you are.. This site is Mainly for Aviators. Interested?? Nev

Interesting as the types of crude oil is not something I have taken much notice of in the past. At least the market is not something Trump has got any control over but I bet that is something he wants as well as being King of the world. The other thing about prices of everything in the US is that is not what you actually pay. States impose their own sales taxes added on at the point of sale & there are even POS taxes for local authorities projects or even schools & churches.

Well, late to the party. So is Toyota. I reckon it will hinge on Ford's ability to make better assembly robots than the present Chinese robots. Hence the 'T model' comparison. Tech changes fast these days. Good luck with that.

I think that inland rail project was originally heading to Toowoomba. They talked about plans to have a big transport hub at Wellcamp,just west of Toowoomba with the Wellcamp airport, the Toowoomba Range road bypass and the inland rail all meeting up there.

Here's a short news video on Ford's new EV move - which goes against everything the Tangerine Toddler has been promising, as regards fossil fuel power in America.

Back to EV's - the original subject of this thread. Ford are going all-out to try and beat the Chinese EV onslaught with a new EV pickup. It means starting a whole new style of assembly line from scratch. The Wall St Journal has the original full story, this part below is merely an excerpt. You need to pay a subscription to the WSJ to read the full article, but the excerpt provides the "guts" of the story. QUOTE: "Crews are preparing Ford's Louisville factory to make a planned line of EVs. Photo Credit: Houston Cofield for WSJ The secret is now out as Ford races toward building its first model, a new truck it says will be nearly as fast as a Mustang, travel around 300 miles on a single charge and feature in-car technology to compete with Tesla and China. It’s aiming for a 2027 launch and a price tag of around $30,000, the cost of a Toyota Camry. Getting there means tearing up a century of manufacturing practices in a notoriously hidebound industry. At stake for Ford is securing a future beyond the gas-guzzling pickups and SUVs that have long defined its bottom line. The project had been kept quiet from its 2022 start, led by veterans from Tesla and Apple who worked on designs out of a California office. Ford eventually brought in some of its own employees to help execute the vision. The process was filled with misunderstandings and distrust as the techie outsiders worked to win over the risk-averse industry veterans. To build these new EVs, the company must use fewer people and simpler parts, and dismantle decades of engineering inertia. Chief Executive Jim Farley is calling it Ford’s new “Model T moment.” Rival automakers say overcoming China on EVs can’t be done, given their advantages: extensive government backing, low-cost labor and a massive head start. With its new truck, Ford says it has eliminated thousands of feet of heavy copper wiring, cut out hundreds of parts, and made it 15% more aerodynamic than its other pickups. The process included rethinking the assembly line, which Ford helped to pioneer. That process is traditionally iterative, slow and depends on scores of outside partners. On Ford’s new “assembly tree,” a modular system stamps out two massive, aluminum castings and a battery that get merged at the end of the process—closer to how Tesla and China’s automakers build EVs. “We’ve never blown the whole thing up before and just started over,” Coffey said. “If and when we build this, we will rewire Ford.” For a year, a team of 17—tiny by Ford standards—worked out a design for the first new EV. Their vision collided with Farley’s. He nixed the first vehicle the California team was developing, an SUV-type model. Build a midsize pickup instead, he told them. It fills a void in the EV market and will be a bigger hit with car buyers, he said. Then they attacked Ford procedures and mandates the team deemed obsolete, or even nonsensical. Field described one such rule. All Ford vehicles must be built with a slight lip above the opening to prevent rain from spilling in the window when a driver or passenger cracks it to smoke a cigarette. Nicknamed “smokers window,” it added aerodynamic drag, costing battery range. The new truck won’t have it. Managers were fanatical about keeping Ford’s ranks away from the project. “There were so many times that I protected the team,” Clarke said, fearing that outsiders could slow the building momentum. Dreaming up a design was one thing. Building it was another. That’s when Clarke and Field started recruiting company veterans to join its ranks. They sought out the misfits and malcontents within Ford—the type of people, Clarke said, chafing under Ford’s often-rigid structure. The freewheeling phase is over now. At a sprawling factory in Louisville, Ky., where Ford used to build gas-powered SUVs, crews are working to set up tooling and the new trio of assembly lines to build the EV. The company tested about 30 hand-built prototypes to try to root out problems earlier in the process. Later this year, they plan to start building—then road-testing—the first factory-built models. Ford says the truck’s interior will be roomier than a compact crossover SUV’s. Hyundai Motor CEO José Muñoz, asked recently whether it’s possible for an automaker to build a vehicle in the U.S. that competes with the Chinese, was unequivocal: “It is impossible,” he said." The future of Ford will likely hinge on how effectively it can counter the Chinese car onslaught. I guess Ford is hoping this EV will pull a rabbit out of the hat for them. IMO, they have left their run too late, the Chinese have a massive head start, and have virtually unlimited financing from Xi and the CCP. Only time will tell.

Show me the country that has "first past the post" voting, and which has a far superior style of Govt to the one we have here in Australia? FPP voting is highly susceptible to gerrymandering due to unfair electoral boundary distributions. This is the reason why Trump and the Republicans are seeking to alter electoral boundaries in many U.S. States to favour the Republicans. In FPP voting, smaller parties get no representation at all. The Republicans want the poor, the blacks, and Democrat voters to have no say in what they want to do, and to have no power to oust any Republican Govt. It's gerrymandering at its best. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-past-the-post_voting

Because even though America produces all the oil and fuels it needs, American oil companies don't set the "global benchmark" for oil pricing. This is done by international oil traders, and especially oil futures traders. The benchmark prices for oil are Brent crude ("Brent") and West Texas Intermediate ("WTI"). As a result, American oil prices go up when the benchmark prices go up. American oil companies will sell their product to the market that is paying the most. If that market is somewhere else in the world (such as Europe), American refineries have to pay more to acquire their crude oil supplies. https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2026/03/20/america-produces-the-most-oil-so-why-are-gas-prices-surging/

However, to balance the above..... Since September last year, the US military has conducted 47 strikes on civilians marine vessels travelling in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, leading to over 190 deaths. No criminal trials, no evidence provided to the public to justify the violence, merely an arbitrary allegation of terrorism with no transparency nor accountability for who they have summarily executed. The USA then sent its military into Caracas, killing more than 80 people, to abduct the President of Venezuela and replace him with a compliant proxy. It then commenced a military campaign against Iran that has already killed thousands, without even attempting to conduct themselves within the parameters of international law. The UN Security Council was not consulted, and no evidence has been provided to support its flimsy attempts of retrospective justification. The US President has made genuine threats to invade Greenland, Panama, and Cuba, without ever once bothering to even pretend to discuss a legal justification for the hostility. People who live in glass houses......

In Oz ICAC watches what Oil companies do with Pricing vs Cost including exchange rate effects. Maybe the West coast of the USA sources oil differently Regarding California, Asian Countries refining prices May be very Competitive. That's why we closed down 4 Refineries when the Libs were in. Storage amount relates to the Number of refineries so that (having a considerable COST) reduces accordingly. No-one Wants to Pay for these things till they Have to Lets face it . ALSO, anyone can be smart AFTER the event. WE didn't cause the Fracas in the ME either, but there's enough Hate there for anything to Happen with MAD People with axes to grind to Muck up things. Nev