General Chat

The UK earns about half of its export income from the EU which goes up to 65% Inc all earnings based on EU membership. US earmings are 15% mostly weapons and invisibles. Tariffs on physical goods are 2% max. The post brexit UK has very little to sell to the USA. Otoh USA food, big pharma and health mgt are v keen to fill their boots eating UK pie.
Brexit is already a disaster shaping up to destroy our economy giving whats left to USA bigbiz is mad.
Read Richard North brexit blog. North is all for a managed brexit but not the train crash we are heading for.

As a well read student of the rise to power of the Third Reich Joy L will be aware that his rise was expedited by the money making opportunities for bigbiz. Many of the men and firms who financed the 3R survived its collapse and went on to big things in modern Germany eg Siemens gmbh.

In the USA Trump and his minions are facing hard line resistance from the west coast states and modern biz which have 70% of the US economy. They are likely to win out leavin May and Bojos strategy looking v silly at best.

You are right, Rollo. Many who escaped retribution after WW2 did so because of their promising contribution to the economy.

In helping to build war-torn economies, many know that the Marshall Plan gave the USA the upper hand. Its implementation was not too difficult; after all, if a country is on its uppers, a helping hand/loan is easier to accept than loss of power in an election.

It also made it easier to legitimize an American-designed world - how many MCDs, KFCs, Ford manufacturing plants etc are now spread around the globe. Some countries have adopted American spelling for English words; even in Oz, where schools used English spellings exclusively, one now finds that some now accept American and English spelling - even using American text books in primary schools.

It is going to be an interesting and (probably) rough ride in the USA as time progresses and we see Trump attempting to redesign the USA to his liking. He is in the honeymoon period at the moment but the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary are bound to clash eventually. Wait until the Pacific rim nations dig their heels in.

It was German bigbiz which financed the Third Reich. The only USA firm involved was G.M. who built trucks and half tracks for the Wehrmacht.

Trump's honeymoon is over in the USA where he had maj -ve opinion after 8 days. All other POTAS since 1938 managed well over a year.

No wonder he is seeking solace with the ladies at court.

Mind your pussy. Miaow.

OMG he would be the last person to want to play with he is gross .The latest news his visit it could be downgraded to Political .but not for some time yet .The Papers will be Busy & media keeping up with Mr Trumpton ;-)

Of course he should come here.

We need to see him, we need to see exactly what we are dealing with the better to protect ourselves.

'The presidency of Donald Trump has already provoked a series of angry skirmishes between himself and his staff on the one hand, and with the mainstream media on the other. The Press feels – with good reason – that Mr Trump’s attachment to the truth is fluid.

He makes contentious statements which he apparently wants people to believe, yet they are often inconsistent with his earlier assertions on the same matter. Or, as with his boast about the crowd size at his inauguration, they are disproved by the available evidence.

It is his indifference to truth which leaves many serious journalists and television commentators somewhat dumbfounded. How do they report what is happening when, for instance, a White House spokesperson talks of “alternative facts”, as if there was another universe where things are different?

Facts are no longer sacred in this Orwellian world, it seems, but are whatever the President wants them to be'.

(A short piece from a hard-hitting article in this week's 'The Tablet' magazine.)

Politicians peddling "alternative facts" is hardly new even for the current POTUS. Far more serious is Trump admin. Refusal to accept that the USA has a govt subject to the law not men. Pushed hard enough this will end up with blood on th streets.

Sharon should read the petition before commenting on it. It does not seek to deny Trump visits to the UK only the withdrawal of a state visit and only then so long as the visa / green card imbroglio continues.

No other POTAS has been accorded a state visit before a year in office. The true purpose is to prop up May's govt which will disintegrate once brexit plan a kicks in.

May also has issues with the rule of law. Each time she goes pasr the Banqueting House in Whitehall she should pause for thought.

N

The Tablet never in front of the curve has yet to work out that Trump is playing Judy to the hard man Steve Bannon's Punch. The real rumble in the jungle will be in the South China Sea.

Bannon does not care a flying duck about the UK except as a lever to destroy the EU and NATO.

Should I read it as well Rolo?

Song of Solomon 2.1 the rose of Sharon the lily of the valley...

So whoever filled out yr birth cert couldn't spell.
It ain't unusual, happens all the time.

Better a 1000 roses than a single Trump.

:-)

JoyL posted ............

"I, myself, do not care for Trump who appears to care not a jot for opinions of his advisers or those around him. He has the makings of a despot ......... "


He does care for the opinions of his advisors but only if they agree with him, that is why he has surrounded himself with advisors who have the same beliefs as himself .............

what he does NOT like is anyone contradicting him and telling him he cannot do what he wants, so he has no-one around who will or can do that .............

that is the real reason why he fired the Acting Attorney-General yesterday .......... she dared to contradict him. The fact is that no lawyers were consulted about the Executive Order, or at least, none that would offer the opposing view and say the Order was unconstitutional.


Many American psychiatrists and psychotherapists are being condemned by their own association because they are diagnosing him from afar, without actually talking to him in person ........ but they are saying publicly that he is narcissistic, and mentally unstable because of it. They are stating that he is unfit to be President of the US.

He wants what he wants, and will brook no denial.


It's getting more and more scary, especially living so close to the US.

The debate will take place in Parliament I believe it's Feb 20th according to news tonight. :-)

On Friday, GM announced that it is moving the manufacture of the GMC Terrain from Canada o Mexico. Over 600 jobs lost ..........

Interesting eh???

They don't seem to have considered moving back to the US, largely because Mexico has tax-free tariff agreements with countries that do not have them with the US, and so GM can export the cars more cheaply to those countries from Mexico than from the US.

So just what do you expect when Trump goes toe to toe with Xi Jin Ping?
Xi cannot lose face. Trump cannot be contradicted

As a sub plot how will May's brexit play out when Russia = good China = bad?
Up the Creek without a paddle.

power politics is not a game for beginners.

Few shrinks ever met Hitler or Stalin yet their diagnosis that both were mad is rarely disputed in what was once the west.

What sort of rude pomposity is that supposed to be Rollo? Just how superior do you think you are?

LOL he's superior to all mere mortals

Badly brought up without the class he aspires to. Can't comment on what he might be like when he is sober!

Few things are as pompous as making a song and a dance about the way yr name is spelt board handles doubly so.

Oh I don't know if someone doesn't spell your name correctly then they're using the wrong name.....so how is that pompous.....IMHO as a mere mortal.