old man emu

Just some random musings arising from the US election. Not so much about how the Yanks conduct their elections, but more on how they run their governments after elections. When we change governing Parties it simply seems to be an exchange of office space. The Ministers of the outgoing government are usually replaced by the person who was the Shadow Minister when in Opposition. I don't know how well briefed Shadow Ministers are on the general running of a particular Ministry, but I would say that whilst in opposition they keep pretty well on top of things. So, come a change of government, the Shadow Minister slides into being the Minister without major upheaval. On the other hand, it seems that the Yanks' equivalent for Ministers (Secretaries of whatever) don't seem to have had previous interactions with the Department they are supposed to run. It seems to me that for those people who were acting as Secretaries before the election get fired if their candidate loses. The the winning candidate repays favours by allocating secretariats as rewards for service. One wonders how that results in a smooth transition of power which is essential for the good operation of the machinery of government.

Ummm Work on the reno???? Oh, yeah. That. Can't forget that.

Donald Trump will return to the White House officially on January 20, 2025 on Inauguration day. Probably 21st January.

How did they perform, generally? I do waffle on, don't I?

The house is one thing, but where is the place to put it. The water, drainage and power connection to make it work. The transport infrastructure to get to and from it?

Makes you wonder what sort of fool you are for being honest.

It is interesting that when writing most European languages, all the letters of the alphabet are used. Europeans are taught to translate those written symbols into sounds. However, languages like Arabic and Hebrew do not use the vowels. They are written using the consonants, and the meaning of each group of consonants representing the sound of a word is created by the context of the idea that is written down. The fact that Europeans can read something written with only the first and last letters in their 'correct' places suggests that putting in the vowels is not essential to the ability to decipher meaning from writing.

Not for a while. In 2028 Baron will be 22 years old. The U.S. Constitution requires a president to be 35 or older.

Less/more are relative. The basis of corruption is that the person making the offer desires more of something that the recipient has, and the person making the offer has less of something that the recipient has. Once the offer is accepted the desires of both are satisfied and an equilibrium is reached. Both parties could be very powerful in their own circles of influence, but those circles may only overlap narrowly. The interaction between the two circles can be represented by a Venn diagram. The overlap represents the opportunity for corruption to occur between those considered powerful.

I believe that we are equally intelligent at birth. It is not intelligence that is learned, but it is how that intelligence is developed to remember what a person needs to remember, and also the ability to call on what is remembered and apply that recall to new situations. I reckon that if I did an IQ test, I wouldn't do so well because that test looks for abilities to problem solve in areas that I have never needed to enter. However, if you look at what I've done with the renovation, I reckon it shows my ability to solve problems in that area. It is now known that there is great variation in the ways that a person is educated, that is, how information that needs to be remembered is presented. Unfortunately, that knowledge may not have trickled down to the places where our young are sent to be educated.

But wait! There's more!

He looks like a young Lurch.

What we see as corruption in human activities is simply the result of the evolution of a basic animal survival technique. The less powerful do something for the more powerful in order that the less powerful has a better chance at survival. That's why we see young chimpanzees grooming the senior adult males. Within human civilisations gifts of money, objects or services are used by the less powerful to gain benefits from the more powerful. The less powerful will initiate the process, but it is the more powerful who complete it, either by accepting or rejecting the offer. So, the continuation of corruption is dependent on the morality of the more powerful, and since moral norms are the product of the society which developed them, corruption can only be eliminated by revising those social norms. The lesson from human history is that such a revision will never occur.

Imagine meeting a vegan jet pilot!

Not depressed. More 'forewarned is forearmed'. We oldies might be able to tough it out, but it does not bode well for our kids and grandkids.

Here are some thoughts on the likelihood of a depression in the USA beginning within the next few months

I think that this video would be useful in this thread. I got the impression that it was a balanced explanation.

If tin whistles are made of ton, what are fog horns made of?

It's pretty clear that we are going to be hearing of a lot of decisions that Trump and his associates will be making pretty soon. So I reckon it might be an idea to collect them in one place. Here's the first one I've heard of. Trump to impose 200% tariff on John Deere products manufactured in Mexico. The basis of Trump's decision is that by moving production to Mexico, John Deere is removing jobs from the USA. John Deere's decision is based on the bottom line. This despie John Deere being a massively profitable company already. Also at the moment John Deere is embroiled in a number of consumer initiated civil suits arising from its refusal to release fixes for software bugs in its vehicle operating systems. If something controlled by the software glitches, John Deere technicians are the only ones who have the digital keys to get into the software to debug it. Imagine being in the middle of harvesting many thousands of hectares of crop and you can't continue because you have to wait for a technician to travel from a depot out to the machine in the field. Not only are you up for the cost of the service call, but you lose due to down time.

It's a sign that they are acting on the square.

Not an edit - I was just letting you know that I recognised the source.

When we were worrying about what would happen if Trump lost the election, I suggested that if civil unrest occurred in the USA, then the World economy would be in danger of entering another Depression. Well, he won and we can forget about that scenario and begin to worry about what is going to happen if he imposes tariffs on imports to the USA. While tariffs on imported goods let a country's manufacturers whose production costs are higher that those in exporter countries compete on a equal footing for sales, they generally mean that prices rise in the country that imposes tariffs. On the other side of the balance, the countries which have been exporting will have the level of their exports to the tariff imposing country reduced. Those exporters will still be producing products, but will need to seek markets elsewhere amongst the countries that have also lost market access. The incoming administration has already flagged its economic agenda: lowering taxes, raising tariffs, withdrawing from key agreements and moving away from the rules-based global trade order. These measures could have profound impacts world wide. A big for Australia is Trump’s pledge to impose tariffs of 10–20% on all imports to the US. The US accounts for only 5% of Australian exports, it still ranks as Australia’s fifth-largest export market. The US imports relatively small amounts of our commodities, but it’s a different story for much of our advanced manufacturing sector. Australia exports more than 40% of high-tech engines, 50% of aircraft and space parts and almost 60% of machine tools to the US. While small in absolute volume these are high value items with total export value possibly higher than that of agricultural and mineral exports. Australia will also need to watch the impact of Trump’s policies on China, still our largest two-way trading partner. Large tariffs on China could slow its growth, in turn slowing its imports of Australian exports such as iron ore. And Australia will not be alone in having to deal with the consequences of the tariffs. If Trump raises tariffs on all imports to the US, other countries will almost certainly follow suit. They may also impose new tariffs on trade with countries other than the US. Imposing tariffs on imports was great election rhetoric for the masses, but the consequences won't necessarily make MAGA.

If Cliff is a pedestrian, it can be fatal.

Yul never said a truer word.