65 thoughts on “World Affairs”

  1. Reply
    mega says:

    Mega’s Dispatch from England:- Winds of change
    Well its been awhile, not much to report from Blighty……………….we had the unmasking of a PE teacher whom blagged his way to the top of British education……..sort of “jussie smollett of higher Ed”.

    We also had rather “Dissapointing” news of a bloke whom was out on bale & kept saying he was too sick to attend court………..he spent this “Free time” to Rape & murder 2 women”…the Met Police have apologized so i guess all is well.

    The Police have threatened to come down HARD on anyone protesting have “Boat people” living by them……….like a small local town facing 3,000 of them getting dumped into a former RAF base.

    Meantime the PM is going around offering to spend money he does not have on some of his pet projects. He been caught renaming existing projects to claim they “NEW”.

    Indeed he has a real problem, no money & rates are going up. Its my belief that the US $ falling will force rates higher everywhere & having now past £3 Trillion (Yes i recall pasting £1 trillion not long ago) his options are closing fast, he can either:-

    1. Call any early election, yes his party will get KILLED but it might just scrape though to form the next government. (His soon to be sacked one time Labour MP’s would hate this idea)
    OR
    2. Dig in & try to weather the storm (His one timers want this) but it could wipe out Labour for 30 years!

    Tough call either way……………

    Oh one last thing, i noticed the TV news channels are now openly doubting anything Trump is saying & now referring to “Iranian government” rather than Iranian remirean.
    Cheers
    Mike

  2. Reply
    Finster says:

    Hard to imagine how it took them so long. It was clear months ago that nothing said about Iran was worth paying attention to unless both sides said it.

  4. Reply
    mega says:

    ⚡️BREAKING: President Trump Is Ready to Withdraw from the War Against Iran If the Strait of Hormuz Is Reopened – WSJ

    Donald Trump has told his administration that he could Leave without having Reached a Nuclear Deal with Iran

    1. Reply
      Finster says:

      F Hormuz. The world’s excessive dependency on it has been a weakness begging to be exploited. Developing alternatives is building resiliency.

      Nukes are more important.

  5. Reply
    mega says:

    Mega’s Dispatch from England:- Stealth Campaigning

    ”
    Prime Minister Andy Burnham is embarking on a national tour of the UK to hear public concerns regarding the cost of living. Spending much of August in “listening mode,” his goal is to reconnect Westminster with everyday voters”

    Bulsh1t!
    Wot is he going to do, prance about like Prez Ford with his sh1tty “Win” badge on?
    Nor is this a “JImmy Carter” moment either……….its the start of a Stealth campaign. Andy cant be honest about it because his own party will rise up if they think he is going to call an election.

    Thus he doing this, allowing him to gain an advantage & keep his party (Many of whom are about to lose their seats) in the dark. I suspect he been told wot is coming & frankly he got to run NOW ASAP!

    We see
    Mike

  8. Reply
    mega says:

    BREAKING: 🇺🇸 US oil reserves have officially fall below 300 million barrels for the first time since 1983.

    And things are not getting any better if the Middle East continues to be blocked

  10. Reply
    Finster says:

    It may not “feel” like it, but stocks (VT) are up 20.89% year over year, while gold (IAU) is up 30.24%.

    That massively hyped subset of stocks known as the S&P 500 (VOO) is up 19.91%.
    All in USD.

  11. Reply
    mega says:

    Limey power troubles………
    In what used to be a rare summertime plea, the British electricity system operator has warned of tight supply tonight.

    The National Energy System Operator (NESO) has issued a call-out for extra electricity supply or for energy users to power down this evening as the UK deals with another bout of extreme heat and an eclipse threatens solar power.

  14. Reply
    mega says:

    Reform’s new prison plan…………………
    ALL OVERSEAS CRIMINALS WILL BE DEPORTED TO SERVE THEIR TIME IN EL SALVADOR!
    Blight has about 12,000 in jail right now. If Reform win its either you return home to finish your sentence …………….or off to EL SALVADOR Baby 😉

    1. Reply
      Finster says:

      I don’t think anybody really knows. I just posted on it for the geopolitical drama.

      For investing purposes, I just watch prices. No he-said-she-said. You can’t get more relevant. You can’t get more comprehensive; they take into account the entire global supply chain, not just one part of it. They’re objective, exact and all you need to know.

  17. Reply
    mega says:

    Lets see wot is happening………………China is undermining the $.
    Germany is about to trade with China WITHOUT use of the $
    China is ready to ship large scale Sodium ion battery storage
    China is ready to move to large scale new tec Sola power panels

    Chip Chip Chip

    1. Reply
      Finster says:

      I don’t know what to call that roof overhang in the back (spoiler?), but it’s getting old. Everybody’s doing it. On most cars you could get more interior space for free just by raking the rear widow less. One day clean lines will come back in style.

    1. Reply
      Finster says:

      Commodities supercycle under way …

      “Non-gold-silver commodities also deserve a closer look in 2026. Gold and silver still look good long term but have run up a lot and are historically expensive. Other commodities not so much. Oil especially is historically cheap and broad commodity indices like the SPGSCI, heavy in energy, could be the sleepers that awake in the coming year.”

      – Finster 2025 1217

      “The commodities supercycle is here…

      For example, a geopolitical shock may lift oil prices immediately, ​yet copper or gold may lag or even fall as investors cut crowded positions or reassess growth risks.”

      – Reuters 2026 0414

  22. Reply
    mega says:

    BREAKING: 🇺🇸 US diesel crack, the gap between diesel and crude, has just hit a record $102.20 for the first time in history.

    Prices of transportation, goods, food and so on are going to explode

    1. Reply
      Finster says:

      Yet at last check CME futures saw a 65.4% probability that the Fed will maintain interest rates at its next meeting on September 16, 2026. This will have been tough talking Kevin Warsh’s third meeting as Fed Chairman, with unemployment hovering near multi decade lows and official consumer price inflation way above the Fed’s own inflated target. So if there is no tangible policy tightening, that’s three strikes …

    1. Reply
      Finster says:

      It’s about time! Eighteen years of pathological financial repression. The bad news is it might be back …

  27. Reply
    mega says:

    Trump intervenes in bond markets to calm investors
    US treasury doubles amount available to buy back long-dated debt after borrowing costs soar

    I feel safer already 😉

  31. Reply
    Finster says:

    I’m seeing $86.57 for US crude. Still well below the $112.95 registered in early April but much higher than most of the time since.

  32. Reply
    mega says:

    Traders dump US bonds as Trump meddling backfires
    Wall Street warns president his credibility is at risk after intervention fails to calm market

  33. Reply
    mega says:

    Will do……………….
    BREAKING: 🇺🇸 The United States allows early sale of winter gasoline to increase supplies in an attempt to mitigate rising prices, per Bloomberg

    Wot is “Winter Gasoline”?

    1. Reply
      Finster says:

      Like using a bandaid for a severed arm.

      US uses seasonal gasoline blends due to the wide range of temperatures. A lighter more volatile distillate for the winter months and a heavier less volatile one for summer means less variation in properties. Dipping into winter production ahead of season might temporarily ease prices a bit, but of course doesn’t increase net supply over time.

  34. Reply
    Finster says:

    Economists’ worst fears realized as Trump creates ‘possibly permanent’ new era: expert

    This is about as far from actual news as you can get. No event has transpired; it’s an opinion piece. And a really flawed one at that. Trump has effed up a lot of things, but this isn’t one of them.

    While Krugman bemoans a “stagnant” labor market, US unemployment is near fifty year lows. If the absolute number of jobs doesn’t grow when population doesn’t grow, looking only at the absolute numbers is misleading. You can increase the number of jobs by 5%, but if population also grows by 5%, it’s still the same number of jobs per person. Nobody is better off. Except possibly the corporate lobby which pads profits by exploiting cheap immigrant labor.

  35. Reply
    mega says:

    “If you lined up all the economists end to end, they still would not reach a conclusion”
    George Bernard Shaw

    1. Reply
      Finster says:

      “If you lined up all the correct economists end to end, they wouldn’t reach six feet.”
      Finster

  42. Reply
    mega says:

    Mega’s Dispatch from England:-Locked on course
    Good morning dear friends, forgive the lack of MDFE but there been very little to talk about. Everyone is riding off in different directions, trying to get to the same place.

    Here in Blighty our loved “New” PM is in Ukraine today to say very little. Ukraine will be allowed to produce British Sky Shadow missiles in Ukraine………..gee all they have to do is build a factory & train a workforce…..they brightest people are dead or in a Russian POW camp so it might be hard to recruit.

    Speaking of Armed Forces recruitment dear old Blighty is having a bit of trouble. It seem that anyone who IQ is above room temp has NO wish to place their care & wellbeing in the hands of those whom are likely to inconverance them by either cutting off their internet or getting them killed. Indeed we had the joyous event of watching the British government turn their backs on any service personnel once they are of no further use.

    Having flooded the nation with assorts from God knows where the powers to be are somewhat upset to find that the real British people are telling them to go to Hell. If you want a army of young recruits why not start with what just washed up on the shores this morning?

    Meantime our new PM is about to give Mayors the power to force though building projects up & down the nation. About 10 mayors cover the nation & just watch how many suddenly agree over the wishers of the local people………& how many will suddenly have wifes or other family members on the board of the building company!

    Look, these bastards will not stop until the money ends………..which EVERY one is now praying for.
    Mike

  46. Reply
    mega says:

    Interesting route…………Was flagged as a miltay fight, flew direct to Lavia then darted across the border to Moscow. Did NOT fly over blighty or France etc…………

  47. Reply
    mega says:

    Meantime back in Blighty:-
    British Gas boss warns UK risks winter fuel shortage
    Chris O’Shea says Britain has ‘almost no gas in storage’ because of its reliance on imports

    1. Reply
      Finster says:

      Ayeah … looks like Chairman Warsh didn’t give Wall Street what it wanted. That was probably the idea. It hoped for more transparency (translated predictability; Warsh has been perfectly transparent, just not predictable). He’s continued to talk about getting inflation down. But so far it’s been all talk … we’ll see if it’s backed up with action.

  51. Reply
    mega says:

    Mega’s dispatch from England:-Heading down
    Well, just been watching a Youtube about Putin visiting a brand new car plant that just opened & thinking to myself “Gee, those western sanctions are really starting to bite !”

    Meantime back in Blighty our “New” PM Andy B is looking more & more out of his depth. True he been handed a losing hand of cards, but he looks clueless. He floating allsorts of new Tax plans………..even though he been told they taxing FAR too much as it stands. Options are very limited.

    His best bet is to parade his budget in Oct & make cuts, REAL cuts & when the woke insane MP’s (Most of whom would never have been elected in normal times) rear up & start to scream simply threaten a snap election……..either he wins or just loses out. The Woke nutters will be dumped.

    Was thinking while out yesterday walking Jess that the West has not only devalued their currency but everything! We build houses now with low energy bricks that will fall apart in short order. At one time going to Uni in England was a BIG deal, you were bright, top 10%. Now any plant pot can go & get a worthless degree.

    We devalued our people!

    It looks bleak…….
    Cheers
    Mike

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