Lacessit

What do you think happens in Thailand? It's a carbon copy of Chinese policies. I don't do business in China. I am happy to buy their products at the right price and quality. I would not have the skills or temerity to start a business there. Having said that, I have worked with several Chinese. They are smart people. I've worked with smart Americans too, but their numbers seem to be diminishing.

I remember a flight with Air Canada. The hostesses were so overweight they had to go down the aisle sideways. I found myself wondering how much extra fuel was needed for the extra weight.

Who was it that enabled the rise of China, by shifting production there? Apple, Nike, Walmart, GM, Ford, Tesla, Dell - the list goes on and on. Example - Tesla delivered about 337,000 vehicles globally in Q1 2025. Its Shanghai plant has an annual capacity of over 950,000 vehicles. In other words, the Shanghai plant can manufacture 70% of its total output. Nobody likes the CCP. However, blaming them for crapping in your own nest IS childish.

The US government is blinking. China has embargoed rare earth exports. Without them, what's left of American manufacturing capacity is stuffed. That's why Trump is making noises about de-escalating. China holds the aces.

What absolute rubbish. Australia and the Middle East have so much LNG some of it is flared. Australia itself has 157 trillion cubic feet of gas, and that's not even counting coal seam gas reserves. I have no doubt Australia would be quite happy to sell more gas to China.

The obesity level of America is more than 40%. The obesity level in Japan is less than 4%. Per 100,000 population, Japan has about 5 fast food outlets. Per 100,000 population, the USA has about 70.

I wonder if he will get around to closing McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut? If America wants to get serious about its obesity epidemic......

It doesn't matter who sits in the White House, Trump has no more answers than Biden or Harris might have had. The problem - America has unsustainable debt and unfunded liabilities. Since Clinton was President, politicians of both parties have been kicking the can down the road. IMO there are two choices. Slash SS and Medicare, or raise taxes. Trump is effectively trying to do the second with tariffs, which is just another word for a sales tax. It's regressive, because it hits the poor hardest. He's hoping his adherents won't notice. He can't raise taxes on the rich, they put him into power. If he hits SS and Medicare, Jan 6 would look like a polite tea party.

Why do you think Trump and Musk have been combining voluntary redundancy offers with firings at the SEC?

The Chinese won't be backing down. Trump will tout a surrender as a win.

My policy with the moron sniper is to give him zero oxygen.

It gets better, Laura Loomer advising on the stuffing staffing of national security.

It's rather naive to think the corrupt agent- corrupt IO nexus would vanish if such a change took place, although the higher fees may push more of the indigent out. It's also unrealistic to say Thailand is more prosperous. Not in my GF's village, where the average wage is 2000-3000 baht/month. That's a village which crops rice twice a year, so one can only guess at the poverty level in Isaan, which only has one. I can meet the raised requirement with cash in Thai banks now, although I suspect many people would be irritated by cash that is only earning 1% for them, while the banks are lending it out at 5-6%.

There is a podiatrist in Chiang Mai, if that helps. 399/208 M3 Siriporn Garden Home No 9, Sanamaeng, Sansai, Chiang Mai. Off the 118. Phone 053 352 529 Mobile +66 62 5255556 www.mftthailand.com

Well, that means 77 million people who voted for him are fools.

Let's see - rename the Gulf of Mexico, make Canada the 51st state, buy Greenland, make the Panama Canal American. End the Ukraine war in 24 hours. Why would anyone think he is not?

There's a clip somewhere on YouTube where Ronald Reagan explains free trade grows an economy, and protectionism stifles it. Rich people don't have to worry about tariffs, an extra 10% on an item means nothing to them. It's the poor who get hit hardest. Insanity was defined by Einstein as doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. Trump lost the trade war with China in his first term.

Then the fall in US tourism of 20% by Europeans since Trump took power is short-term too? About $64 billion worth.

If Trump fires Powell, a voice of reason, the rush to the exits will become a stampede.

Since Trump's inauguration, the euro has appreciated against the dollar by 8.3%. The Japanese yen is over 10% up. That's about as convincing a sign trust in the dollar has tanked, as one can get. It might be great for American exporters; however, American consumers will be hit with a double whammy. Which means inflation, whether the product can be made in the US, or not.

Pine Gap is one-third of US satellite surveillance capability. North West Cape is your communications to every submarine in the Indian Ocean. That is here and now. I'd like your last sentence to be true; however, having a demented narcissist in the White House gives me no comfort. When you fire two of your most experienced intelligence operatives on the word of a conspiracy theorist, what kind of message does that send to your allies? It's nuts. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgerl183j3o

If not suffering fools gladly is the definition of a bigot, guilty as charged.

Asking if someone is 2 years old, or on drugs, is a personal attack. Save your false concern. You don't seem to understand 50% of what is imported from China is made by American subsidiaries. Why are those companies there? Simple, labor costs are too high in the USA. Americans are so used to instant gratification they voted for Trump in the expectation he would fix things overnight. Instant gratification is also why America is in the biggest debt hole on the planet. The ancient Greeks said hubris is always followed by nemesis. That's where the US is now.

You destroy your credibility when you resort to personal abuse. Yes, English is simple for most people. They use capital letters when appropriate, and know what apostrophes are for. They also know the difference in meaning between your and you're.