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Are you blaming the "poms and yanks" in the forum for the decrease in value of the Australian dollar? You think that the nationality of members making comments is somehow relevant?

Here's how to do sarcasm properly: "I admire your restraint."

There is no compelling reason to believe it. It may be invented, it may not be. It's worthless.

Ya think Russia is getting the lollipop end?

A case in point for my comments immediately preceding these of JohnnyF.

I can think of 2 classes of persons who could make such a statement.

if the subject is, say, how to tile a bathroom floor, then invoking personal experience makes sense. But when it comes to large issues like politics and econoics, making it personal is worse than useless.. Not only are their claims uncomfirmable, but what's the point? What evidentiary value does it have?

Believe it or not, videos aren't the only way to absorb information. In fact, they're not even a good way. Much more difficult to critically examine arguments presented via videos (or podcsts). I don't understand your predilection for them. Here's some written stuff from Jeffrey Sachs with links to the articles. Ukraine Is the Latest Neocon Disaster https://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-articles/m6rb2a5tskpcxzesjk8hhzf96zh7w7 Ending the War of Attrition in Ukraine https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/only-negotiation-can-end-ukraine-war-of-attrition-by-jeffrey-d-sachs-2022-05?barrier=accesspaylog

Here's a good, brief exposition of what Eurasianism is all about. In the article this is taken from, the author discusses how Putin cited one of its chief proponents, Lev Gumilev, in a major speech some time before Russia invaded Crimea. This kind of bizarre dogma now permeates Putin's thinking. The ideas of the Soviet historian are influencing a new generation of hardliners " In his later years, Gumilev celebrated Eurasianism, a theory developed in the 1920s by Russian exiles. Nostalgia for their homeland and the trauma of the Bolshevik revolution had led them to reject the idea that Russia could ever be western and bourgeois...The Enlightenment, in the form of advanced European social theories, had brought Russia to genocide and ruin, while there was a harmony in the wildness of the Huns, the Turks, the Mongols. https://www.ft.com/content/ede1e5c6-e0c5-11e5-8d9b-e88a2a889797 It's pretty crazy stuff.

You're right, of course. The Tory leaderships claims tax cuts are a panacea. Whatever the economic challenge is, tax cuts will solve the problem. But, at bottom, it's all about giving the wealthy a bigger share of the pie.

Odd. The comment I was replying to should be considered equally off-topic yet mine is the one you critique. Partisan much?

Except, of course, that there's a time tested observation in economics that has resulted in something called Marginal Propensity to Spend. And the gist of it is, the less money you have, if you get some extra, the more likely you are to spend it and the less likely to save it.

Really? NHS service cuts affect everyone equally? The wealthy won't go elsewhere? The thing is the distinction between budget cuts and tax cuts is artificial. For example, if the government had chosen not to cut income taxes or the stamp duty, would it be necessary to curtail services at the NHS at all? Mightn't, in fact, service levels actually be restored to their former level? As for austerity cuts, they also lead to this: Austerity cuts to social care and health caused 57,000 deaths, research suggests The government has refused to apologise for the “appallingly unnecessary” impact of austerity spending cuts, after researchers linked post-2010 reductions in spending on social care and health to more than 57,000 deaths in just four years. The findings of the government-funded research suggest that cuts to social care, health and public health caused 57,550 more deaths in England than would have been expected if spending had continued on pre-2010 trends. The research shows the number of deaths due to austerity was even higher than suggested by previous research, which had linked about 45,000 deaths to health and social care funding cuts between 2010 and 2014. https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/austerity-cuts-to-social-care-and-health-caused-57000-deaths-research-suggests/

Silly argument. For instance, before Truss did her U-turn on income tax rates the percentage was on a percentage basis in favor of the rich. And, of course, it doesn't have to be the case that the percentage favors the wealthy. She could have proposed a five percent tax cut on lower earners and just a 1 percent tax cut for the wealthiest. So it doesn't logically follow that tax cuts will necessarily favor the wealthy.

Here's an encouraging take on recent events. Well, encouraging to some of us. Russian forces poised for ‘major defeat’ in Kherson, says DoD official The Pentagon’s international affairs chief said Monday that Russia’s new losses in the strategic southern Kherson region are about to spiral into a “major defeat” that would give Ukraine a defensive position amid “hot fighting” expected this winter. After news that Ukrainian forces broke through Moscow’s defenses in Kherson, which Moscow saw as the gateway to Odessa, Assistant Defense Secretary for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander said the Ukrainians were on the verge of pushing back the main Russian bridgehead across the Dnipro River. “That would be a major defeat for Russia because it pushes back even more Russia’s ambition to take Odessa, which was one of the stated objectives earlier this year,” Wallander said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event. https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2022/10/03/russian-forces-poised-for-major-defeat-in-kherson-says-dod-official/

I can only go by what you write, not by what you claim to have meant.

Actually, you're the one who claimed that they are the job creators without offering any exceptions. Here's what you wrote: "Perhaps you have a "thing" about well off people, you know, the ones who create jobs that actually got them well off." So thanks for your correction. Your claim was even more extreme than how I represented it.

Please. Provide some proof that most of those paying the highest tax rate are job creators.

Actually, Putin and other Russians who subscribe to his view would absolutely disagree with you on that score. Their ideology endorses something called Eurasian values which are in opposition to the values subscribed to by most of Europe.

And what makes you think that their ICE vehicles would be able to cope operating in such conditions?

You don't actually know that the war will drag on. Russia's economy may well collapse before then. Putin may suddenly find himself extremely unwelcome in Russia. "Pro-Kremlin pollster FOM reported that the proportion of Russians saying their friends and relatives are feeling anxiety jumped after the mobilization announcement from 35 percent to 69 percent. The survey was conducted from Sept. 23 to Sept. 25." https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/30/putin-speech-russia-ukraine-war/ And your concern for Ukrainians is obviously fake. We've seen what Russians have already done to Ukrainian civilians. What will they do if unchecked? Have you read some of the articles published in the official journal of the Russian govt about the nature of Ukrainians? These articles are vile and are obvousy incitements to commit genocide. As more LNG becomes available to Europe, prices will drop. And it will be years and years before Russia can connect to China. And even if it succeeds in that, China already has in place huge gas deals with Turkmenistan. So how much Russian gas will it require? In addition, natural gas power generation is already beginning to be outcompeted by wind and solar. And its other chief use, to help create nitrogen based fertilizer, is also beginning to be phased out. So the prospects for Russian gas aren't especially rosy.

Funny. I recalled after you mentioned that that someone had brought up this point in some other thread. I assumed that it was true. Then I decided to do a little hunting on the Web to see if it actually is true. And I can't find anything in the Nato Articles that make such a stipulation. And then I found this: Is it possible to join NATO in a military conflict? Most often, the seminar participants question the possibility of membership in the Alliance while the country is in a state of war. So, I propose to deal with the issue in detail from a legal perspective. The only document defining the procedure for gaining membership in the Alliance is the North Atlantic Treaty of March 21, 1949. I suggest we study its content to answer the question. https://www.unian.info/politics/10023578-is-it-possible-to-join-nato-in-a-military-conflict.html The author's conclusion is that there is no clause that forbids membership to a nation in conflict. Perhaps you can produce evidence to counter this claim?

And what about deprivatizing water? Not only have rates shot up after privatization, but pollution has skyrocketed. Huge stretches of British beaches are off limits because of pollution. The only water company with a good record on this happens to be the only one not privatized. It's in Scotland. https://www.labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Conference-2018-Water-pamphlet-FINAL.pdf

It should be pointed out that the Conservatives were more enthusiastic backers of the 2nd iraq war than was Labour or the Lib Dems. And the Conservatives are now backing the war in Ukraine more enthuisiastically as well. I think that's a good thing but it hardly supports your argument. As for wind farms being ugly...that's an aesthetic judgement. Even if the noise pollution was serious (it isn't) how does that compare to the air pollution generated by fossil fuels? Actually wind turbine blades are now being recycled. Apart from its other drawbacks, electricity generated from nuclear power plants is very, very costly.

https://fullfact.org/europe/what-does-british-public-think-about-europe/