old man emu

You've probably seen that chart Trump showed when he was announcing the tariffs to be applied to each country. How did the Trump administration come up with those various figures? Well, they are the result of a mathematical formula using some basic data and some assumptions. The formula was first published around the time of Trump's first administration and it was developed by both the USA Dept of Treasury and some university School of Economics. The published paper, being an academic not political creation seems to be unbiased. Now, I know most of you are not mathematicians nor economists, so you might think that the equation is all Greek to you. But the presenter here is an Australian whose videos in the past have dealt with general maths subjects in a ways that are easy enough to follow. The video is about 18 minutes long, but I recommend that you watch it and in the end I think you will agree with me that what the Trump administration has come up with is economic claptrap.

I think the decision flowchart was something like this: 1. Was the item imported into the USA? a. Yes - Go to Question 2 b. No - End 2. Slap a tariff on it.

Funny you should mention Pope lawnmowers. As I kid I can remember Dad mowing our front lawn with a push mower, with the sweat pouring off him. (Not my Dad) Then one day the Pope mower arrived, with its 2-Stroke engine. I think that by that time I was big enough to be able to push it around, so Dad was relieved of one job. The Pope did not have a grass catcher, so the cuttings still had to be raked up. Those mowers with 2-stroke engines were a pain. They were always difficult to start due to oiled-up plugs, which was probably due to poorly tuned carby, but what home owner knew how to tune them. Eventually the 2-strokes were banned and we went over to 4-strokes which were easier to start, most of the time. Now the battery-powered mower is on the job. The advice I have heard from a professional lawn mower bloke is that the battery-powered mower is best suited to the lawn fanatic who is prepared to mow a lawn weekly. My sister has just bought one so she can mow close around the house. She reckons it's great because it is so light, but the BIL has a big 48 inch petrol-powered monster for mowing the much larger areas beyond the house.

I think that the change from what we were over 50 years ago to what we are now is simply a result of the evolution of a society in response to external inputs. It might seem to be a case of lost innocence, but I think that it is inevitable, especially given how intimately the means of electronic communication and rapid international travel have greatly reduced Australia's 'tyranny of distance'.

I just realised that because last Summer was so hot and dry, it stopped the flies from breeding. I hardly saw one the whole time, and I have horses in paddocks close by. As well, there were no mosquitoes.

Here' a bit of optimism from 1950.

Are you saying that I'm all piss and wind?

Que sera, sera.

She could potter around making your urn, while you chisel out her coffin.

The works of writers and composers only lives on if people continue to publish their works. I listen the ABC Classical every day and it was only a day or so ago that a work of the German composer, Engelbert Humperdinck was played. He is famous for the opera Hänsel und Gretel.

Yep. The next four years are going to make the five years of WWII look like a holiday on a tropical island. Even if the Democrats get back in in 2029, it will take years to repair the political and economic damage of the Trump years. Anyone know what Nostradamus foretold of these times?

No. Shrinkflation is when your psychologist stops bulk billing and name their own price.

Reduction in the size of a product while the cost remains the same is still inflation.

We know that one day each of us will die. Of course we all want to live for as long as possible, but we don't know the length of that 'long'. As for what happens to our bodies as they decompose after death, I would like to do my bit towards reducing global warming by having my carbon sequestered in the ground, not expelled from the chimney of a crematorium. I wonder how long it takes for a properly buried body's chemicals to become available to Nature.

But who is there to replace him? Vance would be worse than a puppet. He's be an automaton, programmed to do the bidding of those behind Project 2025. I don't think that the US constitution allows for the removal of the Executive Branch and its replacement following an election. I think we are stuck with the Republicans until January 2029. I can't see the Democrats leading a storming of the Bastille.

Apart from putting a tariff on penguins on an isolated Antarctic island, the Trump administration has been diligent in making sure that no island is missed.

I had a fish filet for dinner tonight. It came from Vietnam. A lot of our frozen or canned food comes from there or other 'developing' Asian countries.

Burial or cremation depends on a lot of beliefs. It is my belief that cremation obliterates you from history. Therefore I wish to be buried, to have a place that will exist until Earth's oblivion. On the other hand, my sister wants to be cremated. What we want done with our remains is a very personal thing. I can accept that this could lead us into a debate in this thread, but it would be a debate without resolution.

The penny drops! So that's why Trump whacked 47% tariff on Vietnam. He's actually going after the Chinese. Initially I thought it was revenge for the Vietnamese beating them in a war.

I'm pretty sure that Trump got the details of how our GST is applied all stuffed up. Of course it's not a tariff. It is just a way for the government to make some money out of online purchasing. The government of the day (probably the Conservatives) just took advantage of the boom in online shopping.

Why not make your own coffin? We are all going to need one one day and who wants to burden family with making a decision about how your carcass is going to travel on its final journey. I'm about to sign up to spend $5000 for a headstone for my wife's and my grave. When she died, the family had to make some quick decisions about her funeral. We selected a very basic coffin, but that cost $1000 three year ago. For $1000 I reckon I can make one with bells, whistles and flashing neon lights. I'd rather leave a few hundred bucks in my estate to benefit the family that fork it out to a funeral director for something that will only be seen by others for a few hours. My Mum arranged her funeral ceremony years ago and has it all documented so that my sister and I just have to follow the bouncing ball. Here's a video about a group in New Zealand who have the right idea about organising their departures. I reckon that it's a good idea to try out at a Men's Shed. All the gear is there and all a bloke would have to do is buy the wood. When out ability to have a firm hand on the control of our lives, why not extend that to controlling how we go out? After all, who of us hasn't made their Will and kept it up to date?

Here's a project for this weekend:

There's a lot of selling on the stock market, but in some ways that might represent a correction to bring the market back to where it should be after a period of speculation. The lowering of the indices might make for sensationalist headlines, but that might be all it does. However, if the drop continues past what might be considered the correct level, then we can start worrying more. Am I correct, Jerry?

There's too many threads dealing with the Trumpster. I just posted something about beef sales in another thread. Basically I expanded on rgmwa's thought, mentioning also the effects of the Queensland flooding on the supply levels. I like Marty's work around of selling our meat through a third party. The problem our meat producers face is that there is a scarcity of countries where eating beef is customary. Either that, or the population does not have the money to buy it.

Fair enough to point that out. However, considering Trump's usual behaviour, you wouldn't dismiss it out of hand. They sound like pretty typical conditions for a Trump deal. Also, a few years ago Australia started imposing GST on purchases from the USA with a value of less than $1000. Apparently, according Sky News, that is one of the reasons Trump is imposing a 10% tariff on Australian stuff. A lot of countries will be wrangling for a reduction in the tariff their products attract. I wonder what would happen if a lot of countries decided to stop trading with the USA and set up other markets. I bet the US hamburger mobs are going into panic mode. Australia supplies a good proportion of their low fat ground beef, which is probably produced in those flood ravaged areas of Queensland. So the US market will be hit with a double whammy of higher prices due to the tariff and higher prices due to lack of supply. Those companies were suffering last year due to cost of living pressures keeping customers away.