Jerry_Atrick

I don't think Down East is a troll and I welcome his perspective. His rebuke was based on fact. Yes, he went aggressive on it, but no one has so far disputed that fact. It is easy to blame the US for everything, but as I have mentioned on the What has Putin Done now feed, the Europeans also caved in.. The "insult", IMHO doesn't detract from his point, although I agree, we should purely play the ball and not the man. "That is complete crap".. would be better but remember, the US have different cultural norms and the term used, "you are full of it" is in context of what you have presented usually, and not a general aspersion (although, yes it cane be in certaincircumstances)- but that was predominiantly the west coast for me. East coast could be different. And I am sure some will say I am full of it now 🙂 You forgt the role the fourth pillar of government - the press - plays. The press today is increasingly partisan and and misleading in their approach, and this is the primary method of informihng the public, who are increasingly time pressed just keeping their heads above water - exactly as the politbureau want it, I would suspect. so... IMHO, is spot on and applies to others I can think of - ScoMo, BoJo, and even Putin when it was more ore less democratic in Russia for that very short window.

Hi Ian, My first thought is speak to a trusted financial advisor. $100K is probably not a lot for most of them, but importantly, your kids are young and this could be the kick start for them to invest to earn and not save. Yuor strategy with your bank savings did very well.. I am guessing it was compounded or sem compounded interest that was being paid (and by semi compounding, I mean left the interest payments paid on whatever frequency in the account to add to the principal on which the interest is being paid). I am no financial adviser, and if you look at my current personal financial position, you would probably want to do the opposite of what I have done, but FWIW, which is nothing really, when investing, you have to consider at least the following: Purpose and Time Horizon: In this case, you are saying they want to buy a house and at 27 and 24 repextively, I would say the time horizon to utilise the funds and any growth will be shorter than 10 years. Risk aversion: From the purpose, I would suggest there shouuld be a low tolerance to risk. In investing, like most other things, there is suaully a risk v reward gradient - the higher the risk, the exponentially higher the reward you should seek, because at anything greater than 10% risk, you should assume you will lose it. The timeframe is relatively short and the purpose is a major capital purchase. I would suggest a very low risk tolerance Strategy of investment: Do you want to max returns or ensure the amount preserves its purchasing power/value. We all think max the returns, but I would argue, with a low tolerance to risk, it is more about preservation/modest growth - i.e. safety rather than squeezing every drop yu can from it. That is my opinion, yours or your kids may be entirely differnt. Costs and Charges: Whatever you choose there's a cost, and an opportunity cost. What may seem a "small" charge (2%) is actually high and can cost you much more, especially over time. In the EU, all unit based investmen companies have to publish the effect of their costs on projected earnings versus the cost free projected returns and the graph differences are very telling. Also remember, for unit trusts and the like, there is often trailing comissions paid to agents for years - the life of the investment. But. don't be too stingy about it. If you are paying two percent and they are giving you a 20% return, bersus paying 0.5% for a 10% return, well, I would rather take the former. It's a minefield. Taxes, which is another cost at the end of the day. There are tax efficient vehicles in Australia for investments held over 10 years, but you generally always pay some. I would suggest a short term super fund investment is not the way to go as therewill be taxes and exit fees (ooh, I forgot to mention those earlier - they can be a bummer on unlisted funds). Australia has about the worst tax regime for personal investoers. Even the US has tax free investment accounts. In the UK and Europe, there are tax free accounts - UK has ISAs - up to £20K per year can be invested and returns are entirely tax free. Also, we pay zwero input tax into Super and 25% of contributions can be withdrawn tax free after 55 years of age. It sounds like you are pretty averse to risk, but also the time horizon and purpose would mean you would want more fo a defensive strategy than a aggresive one. The infation rate in Aus at the moment is 3.8%, so a 4% term deposit is treading water - sort of. If it is compounded daily, then it can grow very much quicker than inflation as the rate curve becomes exponential-ishh0. House price inflation in the areas your kids want to buy is more important - how can you invest and keep pace with that? Also, I read that Chalmers is considering a cap of two homes for negative gearing, and I am guessing the removal of the CGT allowance on residential property investors, which personally should have been done years ago and contributes far more to house price inflation than the immigration issue (which also does contribute). Also strengthening Anti Money Laundering riles for real estate agents and solicitors shouldl also have been done years ago. These measures will slow house price inflation, but it will still be more than the inflation rate. What that may mean though, is that they want to get on the housing ladder sooner rather than later, even with the changes. I am sure there are other consisderations than the above.. Personally, an ETF that has a mix of growth hedged by defensive positions would be where I would go for. While it is very low cost here, and online brokers don't charge a fee (they get a 0.05% commission, generally), they tend to perform to the market. Despite the market turmoil, over the last 10 years, the NDX (Nasdaq top 100, I think) has performed remarkably: But note, while over the longer term, index finds do well, there is a lot of short term volatility and they may slump right when you want to cash in. There are other options than the financial markets. Despite the potential cap on negative gearing and the CGT allowance changes that may be coming, it may be worth them pooling their cash and earnings and investing in property rentals. Also, not necessarily residential. Quality commerical stuff such as medical centres, etc on maintaining leases are great and you would be surprised how you can access finance to this stuff. But also residential investments will help combat house price inflation and they can use the increase in equity over time (especially if they make improvements that add value) as collateral to expand their portfolio, and in 10 years they may have enough being generated from a portfolio to afford them each a house and some passive income to boot. The long and short of it is that they have to look at their life aims (maybe not focus on using the money to buy a house but set themselves up spo they can buy a house if that makes sense), do their research and look beyond the traditional financial markets investing . Hope that helps a bit

Well, those countries that are bound are also bound to arrest someone who is charged or wanted for an international war crime if that person steps in their country. Would be interesting to see a charge brought against Chump and he then visit (pick any country) and see if that country would arrest him. Even Net may pose a problem for them.

That does not alter the fact that the are asked by others to put their shovel on those other's ship. How goo that shovel is or how they use it is a different question altogether. Still, compared to the alternatives,despite their drawbacks, I would rather the US anyday. Maybe we have been fortunate to be on their good side. Yep.. and at the same time appealed to the US as well to force assistance through.. In addition, when you appealed to the UN for military assistance, you are really appealing to the US as they would be the only ones to take the lead. That is my point.. they saw the US as their defender, and they kept asking the US for help. Again, asking the US to put he US shovel in their ship. Agreed.. again the Kuwaitis made direct pleas to the US as well as the UN... I sort of see a pattern here. That may be true - but in the Syrian civil war, the Syrian opposition groups made direct representation to the US for military help. Others want them to weild that shovel. Just as in Iran, opposition proxies also called for help.

It sometiomes gets like that.

WTF am I talking about? Well, yeah, I got the Airbus thing wrong as before them, Europe relied on the US (and lately, I see US tankers refuelling European aircraft.. so not sure why). But the rest? Are you saying that is all BS? Yeah, Biden, who did live up to his nickname of sleeepy Joe when it came to Ukraine vetoed jets and other equipment. But Ukraine. a European country, still did ask for help - and still got over $20Bn of direct support from the USA. And finally, but too late, did get some old jets allowed to be transferred to them. Or did that minor fact - and the rest of the post get missed?

We're lucky here, too. Our first foray into regional life was not the best. We took 12.75 acres between a hamlet and a village. I don't think I ever saw anyone from the hamlet in the 3 years we were there. Through the kids school, we knew and got on well with the patriarchal farming family in the village, but somehow never felt welcome or fit in. So we sold uo to a large farmer from West Sussex who was looking to downgrade in retirement. They lasted the same amount of time and despite putting a lot into the community (they were retired, after all), also felt they were not welcome. As it turns out these small inter-generational farming villages are social fortresses and newbies take a very long time before the are welcomed. Our next move to rural village life was between the village my partner mostly grew up in - a tight knit intergenerational farming village, and where we are now. We visited the village occasionally after we moved here and SWMBO caught up with old friends. We looked at a property there ready made (i.e. not a bit of work needed) and this one, which we are still finishing. I noticed that while those that were left in the village (a lot moved out and visited for festivals and gatherings) were friendly enough, they weren't warm in ther welcomes. They were more interested in catching up to compare lives than rekindling any serious friendships. We selected this village, which although about the same size, is not an intergenerational farming village, and has a good mix of local and newbies. We also knew two families from the kids schools and we got on with them well. The day we moved the furniture in, we were stuffed and had dinner at the village pub. The villagers were warm. welcoming and basically said they are very happy for us to be there and intergrate with the village or live our own lives. We chose the former and it has been an excellent experience. Yep, there is the village politics, which can be downright entertaining, and despite there being some grudges between people, it is generally an excellent vibe. It is also a good mix of young families and retirees. I am in a real quandry. We are getting closer to selling and moving on.. I am not sure I want to sell, as it owuld be good to have a long distance bolt hole. Or, if for some reason, Australia doesn't pan out.

I didn't say European, I said northern hemisphere. And the support of America does not necessarily mean boots on teh ground, does it? Haven't seen US boots on the ground in Iran yet. But since you ask, European, none. But no European nation can air to air refuel without the USA. Most of the weapons systems.. provided by the USA (though that is now changing). Where would NATO be, and the defence against the cold war without the USA? You could argue with the USA bases through Europe, there were boots on the ground to prevent a real war. No? And here are a few that may be unpalatable, but were at the bequest of the respective government, as I understand. Happy to be proven wrong: Korean war - at the request of the South Korea Vietnam War - at the request of the South Vietnam Gulf War - at the request of the Kuwaitis. Syrian civil war - not by Syria of course, but by those that were part of Operation Inherent Resolve Although no boots on the ground, Ukraine - which is part of Europe (and now being criticsed for saying its a European thing to solve - and of course, appeasing if not siding with Pootin) Outside the northern hemisphere, Taiwan relies heavily on USA for its sovereignty. Australia relies heavily on US miltirary equipment (can we air to air refuel??). And AUKUS is payback, I guess.

Sadly, a good old fashioned shoot=em-up war will grab the headlines. The Epstein files saga is a disgrace and shows just how much the swamp will go to protect itself - regardless of political colour. Of course, in their position, I doubt there are many of us that would go to war for it, but we would use whatever other means at our disposal (short of violence, I hope) to protect ourselves, too. # But, I guess you have to be of certain character to even be entertained by the likes of Epstein, let alone need to worry about defending oneself after the fact. The saga reminds of when I entered banking. I took a job with a bank that was embroiled in various misconduc scandals (before I joined, I hasten to add); and even when succumbing to billion dollar + fines from the Fed, still engaged in one last hurrah of misconduct (which kept me gainfully employed for some time at other banks who did the same). When public pressure was impressed on them (as they had taken loans from the Bank of England), the executive team came up with 5 golden question of conduct, which if followed, and largely were to be fair, meant they would be a much better bank for it. I can't remember the first 4, but they were largely around would you do this to your loved ones type questions. The last though always resonated with me, and it was something like, "If what you are doing went public, would you be able to hold your head high in good conscience in 5 years time?".. It was better worded. If people lived thir lives trying to answer yes, the world would be a better place - but only based on the individuals moral and values compass. For example, stoning gays and I believe is some cases, women who are raped, to death in some countries is perfectly acceptable and respectable. And to be honest, if that is the case, then they will have lived their lives according to their cultural and societal values, regardless of what other societies think. I should point out, I condemn such action myself, but I am making an observation. Sadly, I haven't always passed the test, but jeepers, there are a lot worse than me, by the looks. And they will do anything to cover it up.

Pretty hard to do, when the rest of their(at least northern hemipshere) allies rely on and come running to the US to dig them out of their "shit"

From who's pont of view, exactly?

I had a feeling you're from the US.. And ex-Navy, too.. I know a few ex US Navy people; I worked for a company that was founded by one of them. Best job I had and best company I worked for, by far.

I wanted to edit the post with the below, but ran out of time: Europe showed its weakness and timidness in the early days of the Ukraine war. Given the security guarantees already provided to de-nuclearise, if that is a word, has been reneged on, and Europe even kept funnelling millions of Euros daily to Russia while offerin pittance to the country that is the buffer between them and Russia - just because they didn't want to pay a little more to stay warm that winter was enough to change my mind on the so called progressive and enlightened views they hold.. They fail to recognise there is a balance that has to be struck, and that sometimes, you have to endure some hardship to preserve those values as it is clear a lot of the world don't agree with them and will try to exploit those views for their gain. We are now seeing the same with Iran. There is no doubt that Chump couldn't really care about the average Iranian in the street. There is little doubt that Netanyahu is motivated by anything other than his self preservation first and Israel's second (although, yes, it may be the other way around). But, Iranians are dancing in the streets amidst bombs reigning down on them as the potential of freedom. They would also know that the road ahead is long and uincertain, but the road starts here. There is an opportunity to improve the lives of Iranians and somewhat stabilise the middle east at the same same time. Should Chump and Net have waited for a UN Security Council Resolution before going in? Maybe, except that those that cite international law being not followed and therefore no justification for the attack forget two things. For Israel, they are constantly attacked either by Iran or its proxies, so given the current regine of Iran sponsors its proxies, they are a clear threst to Israel and attack it. For the US, there is the reduced threat of terrorsim on their own soil, but a constant wage of war against them. And of course, there is oil to be had. The US's justification is less clear if any at all, apart from standing by and supporting an ally and reaping the potential rewards for it. Now, speaking of standing by and supporting allies, I am guessing most people would say Chump has shown that is no longer the case, especially with Europe. That may be the case, but a Nato country's air base was attacked in Cyprus and nary a word from anyone - not even s warning of do it again, and article 5 will be looked at very seriously. With firends like that, who needs enemies (and given how rogue Iran has gone with its neighbours, de-escalation is hardly a point now). I am no international law expert, but if, say, NZ (no offence intended to NZ'ers - purely hypothetical) unleased a wave of terror organisations on Australia while building up nucelear capabilities and a stated aim of destroying Australia and Australians, would I care if the UN Security Council had been consulted before the Lodge sent in the forces to dispatch the perptrators? Not really. Unfortunately, sometimes the international order of the UN is too slow, has too many single nation vetos (I couldn't see Russia nor China agreeing despite the multiple 10s of thousands being killed - can you?), When your legal system is not fit for purpose, those bound by it start taking matters into their own hands, I guess. As I asked before, if it were Europe or Canada or someone else going in, would it be more pallatable? Had no response, but you don't have to go too far back in history to say, yes, it probably would be more pallatable. Milosovic, the mad dog he was, used brutal tactics to quell a movement of mostly Islamic immigrants starting their own country within the now former Federal Republoc of Yugoslavia. This was largely and internal sovereign issue, but his brutality led to Nato bombing Yugoslavia without a UN Security Council resolution - you know the same legal requirement that academics and some journos are calling the current attacks as unjustified and illegal.. But, it wasn't the US and Israel, I guess, so that was OK.

Welcome to the forums, @Down East I pretty well agree with the sentiment of the above, except universal health care and enlightenment doesn't necessarily mean giving up sovereignty, which much of Western Europe have done, as well as a lot of the rest of the western world. If you're not a superpower, you have to forge alliances through more compromises than the superpowers.. Post WWII, and with the EU, Europe did have a chance to become a superpower, but they dilly-dallied. An old Chinese saying is that political power grows from the barrel of a gun. As much as we like to think it's not true, it is. Diplomacy works much better when you have a decent arsenal and those loyal who know how to use it.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/trump-s-attacks-are-not-about-iran-he-s-after-a-much-bigger-fish-20260303-p5o6ws.html Looks like big oil may be an objective after all

I don't doubt this for a minute., but Iran has one of the world's largest known reserves of oil.. and el Chumpo would love for the USA to have first dibs at knockdwon prices, if not control the reserves. Since he meeds to find a supply his sponsors can use (cf. Venezuela), then, I bet there will be large contracts to be had - by US firms.

Does Iran have oil? That may provide the answer to Chump's ultimate goal, I would think. Does Iran pose a threat to Israel? I would suggest that is Netanyu's motivation, as well as keepong out of court. Does that make Chump subservient to Israel? Hmmm.. I will leave that one to the court ofpublic opinion. Do Iranians want to be free of the Sharia based regime? I guess that makes them at least partially supportive. Will the civilian deaths directly resulting from the offensive be more or less than those by the regime resulting from what looked like peaceful protests? We'll have to wait and see. Is there a good chance it will get worse before it gets better? Definitely.# Is there a good chance it will eventually get better (by that I mean restoring Iran to its political place or better than it was pre-1979)? Andiwhat time would that good chance take? That is subjective, but based on history of these interventions, especially in the region, I would not give it 50/50.. Is it justified?

I'm assuming there is some humour in the above, as there's been a fair share of slap-dash, if not shady mechanics in my pre-UK years. It has gone imnto the shop today, for the first time, I rolled up to a red light with both hands off the handlebars to relax them a bit. Blimey, the front wheel started oscillating right to left - not tank slapper terriroty as it steadied as soon as I my hands ont eh handlebars. So, I am guessing it is a balance issue - which will be done with the new tyres I decided to get. I have to admit, I am disappointed with the previous mechanic - he took over the business from the mechanic I used to use, who was a ripper. I didn't know, but all three motoircyclists in the village that I know used the same bloke, but switched to the one I took the bike to today because of hacing the same experience as me. I found that out afterwards of course.. should go to the pub more often, but I have all but given up drinking. Back onto the riding: Am now riding weekly into London. Apart from the heated grips, the bik performs very well and is comfortable. I would prefer it had slightly less fuel consumption, but, it is around 1/2 the consumption of the mini and a little less than that of the Volvo. Also, I am not spenging £24 for two days of travelcards (£10 on fuel and parking is free). Ride extensively with the son as we have an intercom set and he likes the company. Yesterday, the weather was OK and we did about 50 miles of just cruising around - windy country roads, which I don't like, and better A and B road twisties, as well as a stop for lunch. Nice continued bonding time. Son is prepping his license, which at 23 will give him up to a max of 47hp.. We love his little 125, which is quick for a 125, but he has already outgrown it. The plan is for him to do the theory test, which has two components - pure theory and an interactive threat awareness/avoideance test - the latter of which you cannot prepare for. Then he will do a 1 week course, which they book his test at the end of. When he has done that (and assumed he has passed), we will sell the 125 and look for a second hand Triumph Tiger Sport 660, Trident 660, or a Scrambler. If they are over 47bhp, then they can be restricted as long as they don't have a power rating greated than 94bhp.

er.. specsavers is a UK brand.... My guess is fixed speen cameras have been around a long time and they had to be that size to be read.. Or maybe an EU thing, as German, French, and Italian seem to be similar sizes.

I think the regime change in 2021 worked wonders.. Sadly it reverted in 2025.

I dunno.. the regime change in 2021 in the US was a big improvement, I thought.

A bit of an update. The mechanic who I had look at the bike when I purchased it seems to have cut few corners, although the amount of rain we have had and the distances I cover may have something to do with it. The grips were wired direct to the battery, presumably as they detech the voltage that indicates the battery is not charging and then decide to cut out automagically - allegedly. As the bloke who jump started me said, the shoudl be wired into the fuse box. I decided, on a recommendation, to give another local mechanic a look. He said the same thing and that the heated grips were notorious for the controllers losing the ability to self-switch off. Then he pointed out wither the gripes weren't glued to the bars, not enough was used, or some inferior gluwe was used as he was able to move the grips around the bar. Then he pointed out a few things, including completely worn front sprockets, all of which I asked the last mechanic to look out for. And, to boot, the rear disc needs replacement.. which is better than the wheel bearing, which is what I thought could be the problem. He pointed out everythign I asked the last mechanic to look out for. FFS. As I have 10 thumbs when it comes to engineering, I basically have to pay up. Which I was expecting most anyway. So, it goes into the shop tomorrow for its fix. But, I had ridden it to London and back, and am riding with the lad, still. And, it is great fun, even in the wet, with freezing hands, and a little less fuel economy than I was aiming for.

My son's 125cc bike gets 140mpg; I may have to start using it.

More ammo to justify the war, I guess. Containerised freight futures are down; may be a good time to go long on longer dted contracts.

My son calls them bomb-villes. I told him what an old bomb is in Aussie auto vernacular.. He wasn't too happy.. he is a Triumph-o-phile They do look nice, though..