Yearly Archives: 2016

Donald Trump’s statement on Brexit

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This is ​DONALD J. TRUMP STATEMENT REGARDING BRITISH REFERENDUM ON E.U. MEMBERSHIP:

The people of the United Kingdom have exercised the sacred right of all free peoples. They have declared their independence from the European Union and have voted to reassert control over their own politics, borders and economy. A Trump Administration pledges to strengthen our ties with a free and independent Britain, deepening our bonds in commerce, culture and mutual defense. The whole world is more peaceful and stable when our two countries – and our two peoples – are united together, as they will be under a Trump Administration.

Come November, the American people will have the chance to re-declare their independence. Americans will have a chance to vote for trade, immigration and foreign policies that put our citizens first. They will have the chance to reject today’s rule by the global elite, and to embrace real change that delivers a government of, by and for the people. I hope America is watching, it will soon be time to believe in America again.

For the contrasting response from Barack Obama, who had supported Remain, you can go here. In April, Hillary had supported Remain as well:

Hillary Clinton believes that transatlantic cooperation is essential, and that cooperation is strongest when Europe is united. She has always valued a strong United Kingdom in a strong EU. And she values a strong British voice in the EU.

And from the BBC, Five reasons Brexit could signal Trump winning the White House. It begins:

The two most surprising political phenomena of this year have been the rise of Donald Trump and the success of the Leave Europe camp in Britain’s referendum on Brexit.

Few pundits saw either coming (and full disclosure, I include myself here, particularly on Trump) – but we should have and now would be a good chance to make up for past oversight by looking at how the two are linked.

You don’t have to wait three years and an election cycle

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Malcolm is gone goose so far as the Liberal Party is concerned. For those conservatives who wish to see him lose the election, you may regret having what you wish for. There is no possible positive seeing Bill in the Lodge for the next three (six) years, none at all. A catastrophe in no uncertain terms. What has astonished me has been just how weak Malcolm has been. This, from Andrew Bolt, does not surprise me. It’s filed under Labor surges:

I am hearing that there has been a surge to Labor, so bad that Malcolm Turnbull could be left with a majority of just two seats – a disaster that could finish him. Control of the Senate will be lost for a generation or more.

Laurie Oakes on Channel Nine is also reporting more support for Labor in the marginal seats.

And how has Malcolm Turnbull been campaigning lately? He’s spent more than a week talking about Medicare – a Labor issue – and spent a whole day going to the handover of Aboriginal land. He also infuriated his base by saying Australia was “invaded” and by hosting an end of Ramadan meal with Waleed Aly and Muslim representatives, some of whom believe in stoning adulterers and vilifying gays.

This is Turnbull’s strategy of taking the base for granted taken to ludicrous extremes.

To talk of “Turnbull’s strategy” is to give him more credit than he deserves. He is an incompetent clunk and can only be elected because of the people whose value he is incapable of understanding. But even if he wins, he will be gone within half a year. He is not to be feared. He will be gone because he now has no followers. He is too dull witted to understand himself, but
they will do him over early. You can safely elect him PM and see the Liberal Party renewal happen while in government. There is no need to elect Labor and then wait. It will happen all by itself.

For another view of how pathetic Turnbull has turned out to be, there is this article by David Flint from Quadrant Online: The Withering of Malcolm Turnbull. He gets Malcolm right but I think misses the fact that everyone now gets Malcolm right.

The strategy has to be to get the Libs over the line – which is all anyone can hope for – and then see Malcolm turfed out before the year comes to an end. Whatever he may think, the Turnbull agenda is now comprehensively dead.

Cameron has just resigned

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Cameron speaks.

No immediate changes in anyone’s circumstances.

We must now prepare for a negotiation with the EU. But above all it will require strong and determined leadership. I have also believed we must confront issues. I fought this campaign by saying what I felt. Clear about my belief that the UK was better off in the EU.

The country requires fresh leadership, but it would not be right for me to be the captain to steer the country to its next destination. Aim to have a new leader by the next Conference in October.

The negotiation should take place under a new Prime Minister.

And to help you make this day really special: This was picked up by Baldrick and uploaded into the comments but this really needs to be shared. As he says, a billion dollars later and the ABC still can’t get it right.

live canberra

See EU later – they’re out

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brexit headlines

The papers of the left – the Mirror and Guardian – clearly wanted to stay while The Times stayed neutral. The rest wanted to leave. A definite left-right split.

And on the morning after? Listening to the BBC commentary, it is Labour and the Greens who are most downcast while it is the UKIP and the Tories who are obviously pleased beyond measure, although David Cameron might be in a spot of bother. Listenting to the grizzling on the BBC, the left even admits how hard it is to get medical services or to buy housing but just think they ought to increase medical service and have built more houses without a thought to the migration that had been a big part of the problem. And, of course, Obama wanted the UK to remain, so add that to the total.

And while they are different parts of the Anglosphere, the results do have a bearing on the American presidential election, and even on our own. National sovereignty still matters.

No comments here, but continue on the main Brexit thread.

The real question is why they didn’t see it coming

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The title is Obamanomics: R.I.P. and the data are nothing no one knows:

The previously bullish Fed finally and openly acknowledged that sluggish growth is the long term new normal for America. Secular stagnation is here to stay. The growth rate has limped out of the 2008-09 recession at a 2 percent pace now for seven years. The Joint Economic Committee of Congress tells us a normal recovery gives us about 3.5 percent growth and the Reagan and JFK booms were closer to 4 percent. So the GDP today thanks to President Obama is about $2 to $3 trillion smaller than it should be. This is roughly the equivalent of losing the entire annual output of every business and worker in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana combined.

And on and on he goes. If you elect your own version of Chavez, none of this should come as a surprise. But it is not that they didn’t see it coming, they have no lens through which to make sense of what is going on. How ridiculous is this:

The lesson of the Fed under Ben Bernanke and now Yellen is that easy money is no economic solution to this decade-long malaise. As economist Larry Kudlow puts it: “The Fed can print money, but it can’t create jobs.” Our central problem now is not with our monetary policies. It is severe regulatory and tax drag.

Of course it’s with your monetary policies and your fiscal policies and your regulatory policies and your tax policies. They are blinded by their own economic theories, and it is apparently not suicidal for Hillary to say that her intention is to carry on where Obama left off.

Bolt on Sky

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I never watch television with the only exception I used to make was the Bolt Report on Sunday mornings. But then Bolt switched to Sky on weekdays @ 7:00 pm which meant I would get home too late, and I don’t anyway like to find myself shifting my timetable to fit into what’s on when. And although I can video, other than an occasional ball game of some sort, the main reason I have videoed things in the past is so that I could happily miss them and not worry about it when the program was finally deleted unwatched a month later.

But here it is. I now do watch Bolt most days. I find I get home that half hour sooner so that I can watch the program in real time. So let me note this from Bolt:

The audience for this difficult 7pm to 8pm time slot on pay TV (note: not taxpayer-subsidised free-to-air) was once very tiny. When I took over less than two months ago, it rose to the 20,000 Barry claims.

But since then we’ve grown, with your very welcome support. On at least two days last week, we topped 50,000 viewers. The word is getting out and, clearly, some people appreciate the alternative enough to pay to watch it. If Barry cares to test his own pulling power, I am sure Sky News will offer him a slot, too.

Well, part of that rise is the two of us, and we usually make it through to the end. If you can watch, that is, if you have cable, you should when you can. It’s the only current affairs on TV worth the effort, not that I watch any other so perhaps I am being unfair, though I doubt it.