Last night’s Sky News People’s Forum, which can be viewed in full here, was deemed by 44 out of a hand-picked audience of 100 undecided voters to have been won by Anthony Albanese, with 35 favouring Peter Dutton and 21 undecided. I suspect though that to the extent that the broader public notices the low-rating event at all, what’s most likely to filter through is that Peter Dutton performed creditably immediately after learning that his father had suffered a heart attack. The event was conducted at Wentworthville Leagues Club in the electorate of Parramatta, a culturally diverse electorate notable particularly for its Indian population, which seemed suitably well represented.
The next debate, to be held from 8pm next Wednesday, will assuredly reach a larger audience by virtue of being broadcast free-to-air by the ABC. It too will be held in Parramatta, that being the location of the ABC’s new studios, though that’s of no great consequence as it will not follow the town hall format of the “People’s Forum”. Whether any further debates are held later in the game remains to be determined.
Trump told his adoring fans at a Gala last night that “I know what I am doing. You know what I am doing and that is the reason why you voted for me.
Being true to his word, Trump is fixing to come after Australia next:
Mr. Trump acknowledged on Tuesday that his tariffs had been “somewhat explosive.” But throughout the day he continued to defend his approach, saying that it was encouraging countries with what he calls “unfair” trade practices to offer concessions.
“We have a lot of countries coming in to make deals,” he said during remarks at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. At a dinner with Congressional Republicans in Washington later that evening, he said other countries wanted to make a deal with the United States but he was happy just collecting the revenue from tariffs, which he claimed would reach $2 billion a day.
“I know what the hell I’m doing,” he said, adding that he would announce “a major tariff on pharmaceuticals” very shortly.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/us/politics/trump-tariffs-greer.html
No doubt Centre, pied piper, ScromoII and paul A will cheer this attempted dismantling of Australia’s PBS and Generic Medicine regime. Because Trump Kool Aid.
9.8 trillion that’s the loss in Australian dollars since the world recently changed.
It’s not going back USA spends 20 trillion a year its economy is worth 30 trillion.
EU today warned Communists not to flood Europe with cheap goods.
Good luck with that they hate EU etc look at cars flooding into Europe from China .
World knows China is not trusting aka debt bondage and belt and road scams so China is on its own.Japan and South Korea dumped China and negotiations with US already happening.
Trump has 70 countries pleading to do trade deals already.
It’s already ugly in markets Australia is going to be smashed thanks to labor hooking us back into sinking China!
Blaming Trump is stupid.
Next up Aus drug exports will be tarriff affected.
Deranged Dem in states bagging republicans about Aussie beef tariff well Australia has a non tariff barrier for decades that is a disgrace.
Welcome to the new world .
Thanks a lot labor for calling trump a traitor!Hows that going for you turkeys?
Sane people question what they’re doing. Insane people say they know what they’re doing.
Dutton just can’t seem to get out of the echo chamber. I’m sure most people on Murdoch websites agree. Match made somewhere in orc land.
Boerwar says:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 5:50 pm
On current settings China will go from having a massive balance of trade gain over the US to a smaller balance of trade loss to the US.
The whole concept of deficit/surplus in the context of transactions settled in USD is essentially meaningless from the standpoint of the US. The US settles its imports with USD – with IOUs – that are really only any use when circulated in the US. They have little or no use in China or anywhere else. The US gets away with this. But this advantage is being put in question by Trump.
When the US settles a bill for an import it receives the imports. The currency is also returned to the US. So the US gains both ways. Of course when the US sells goods or services outside the Continental US the settlements also occur with USD. The US creates demand for its currency….currency that has to be purchased by external economies. By contrast, the US does not purchase its currency. It creates currency from nothing.
Trump very clearly does not understand this. He operates with an implied assumption that the USD derives its worth because it is convertible to something tangible, like gold, for example. But this is not the case. The USD is an artefact of US law and nothing else. It’s accepted for settlements and Reserves by others. But this can change. Most likely, it will.
C@tmommasays:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 6:09 pm
Being true to his word, Trump is fixing to come after Australia next:
Mr. Trump acknowledged on Tuesday that his tariffs had been “somewhat explosive.” But throughout the day he continued to defend his approach, saying that it was encouraging countries with what he calls “unfair” trade practices to offer concessions.
“We have a lot of countries coming in to make deals,” he said during remarks at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. At a dinner with Congressional Republicans in Washington later that evening, he said other countries wanted to make a deal with the United States but he was happy just collecting the revenue from tariffs, which he claimed would reach $2 billion a day.
“I know what the hell I’m doing,” he said, adding that he would announce “a major tariff on pharmaceuticals” very shortly.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/us/politics/trump-tariffs-greer.html
No doubt Centre, pied piper, ScromoII and paul A will cheer this attempted dismantling of Australia’s PBS and Generic Medicine regime. Because Trump Kool Aid.
”
Of course, it is par course for Liberals because they always wanted to destroy Medicare.
https://9gag.com/gag/a2vyWrD
The federal lib/nats propaganda media units control the federal lib/nats, that is why Dutton and the rest of the federal lib/nats repeat what they are told by Murdoch and other pro lib/nats media units hacks
Halfway through the Big Gina Cult video, to the point where the Big Gina Choir is singing about how wonderful she is, and Jordies raises some good points.
“Are you hearing this? This corporation as much as they can sit there and rail about how they’re these bastions of freedom. Everything about this rains on two levels at once. It wreaks of Soviet-style command shit, it also wreaks of cult-like behaviour. Really culty. Who the hell has an entire chorus about loyalty? Embedded into a song, forced to be played, while you’re not even there.”
Hack, woke, Partisan says:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 6:13 pm
Boerwar says:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 5:50 pm
“On current settings China will go from having a massive balance of trade gain over the US to a smaller balance of trade loss to the US.”
The whole concept of deficit/surplus in the context of transactions settled in USD is essentially meaningless from the standpoint of the US. The US settles its imports with USD – with IOUs – that are really only any use when circulated in the US. They have little or no use in China or anywhere else. The US gets away with this. But this advantage is being put in question by Trump.
When the US settles a bill for an import it receives the imports. The currency is also returned to the US. So the US gains both ways. Of course when the US sells goods or services outside the Continental US the settlements also occur with USD. The US creates demand for its currency….currency that has to be purchased by external economies. By contrast, the US does not purchase its currency. It creates currency from nothing.
Trump very clearly does not understand this. He operates with an implied assumption that the USD is somehow convertible to something tangible, like gold, for example. But this is not the case. The USD is an artefact of US law and nothing else. It’s accepted for settlements and Reserves by others. But this can change. Most likely, it will.
____________
This is the endgame.
pied piper says:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 6:10 pm
9.8 trillion that’s the loss in Australian dollars since the world recently changed.
Pfftt…losses in market cap. Only modest so far. During the depression of the 1930s the US stock market lost 90% of its value. We are a long way from that. But Trump can do it. He is sure going to try.
For someone who’s been a federal minister multiple times, Dutton is showing himself surprisingly economically illiterate.
Vampiric ghouls don’t have a reflection.
Thank you, Fancy Dancer.
”
leftieBrawlersays:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 5:45 pm
“We should be running up the score on Australia”
Labor now commences a dalaince with Ms 85-90 in the reps.
”
Please Leftie, get a grip.
Luigi Smith says:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 6:05 pm
Boerwar, Just as we were told to do when China imposed tariffs on us, China must find new markets.
….’
================
Possibly China’s most immediate economic concern is avoiding deflation. One of the drivers for this is massive over capacity generated by repeated rounds of stimulus.
If China had been able to use that over capacity it WOULD have used it to export new markets already.
Clearly, it couldn’t. Losing around half a trillion in sales, annually will, quite simply add to the massive over capacity.
Xi is desperately trying to inflate consumer demand by way of subsidies.
I am not sure how this re-allocating the resources is going to work – easily or with difficulty.
The pressure will be on Angus Taylor to show why he should be the federal liberal party and opposition leader next month
“I wonder if Bill Shorten is regretting his decision to leave politics. He could have been a minister for another 3 years instead of allocating tute rooms for hospitality courses.”
@nath
Nath I know you love to have a dig at Shorten. But I really don’t think Shorten’s motivation for leaving was he thought Labor was going into opposition. It was reported when Labor was high in the polls he would likely depart the election after so it was obviously on his mind. The last interview on Insiders before it was announced he was leaving he did look burned out. He performed well but he also did look a bit over it.
To better understand external trade from the standpoint of the US, consider what it would be like if a household could issue its own currency to settle its bills. That household might run a nominal deficit with the supermarket, but the supermarket could only “use” or “bank” its receipts by returning them to the household – to their issuer. The household could never be short of groceries. The supermarket would have a financial balance with the household, which could use that balance to build a pergola.
Oh how I wish household finances worked the same way as the USD-centred monetary order.
Trump is in the process of burning down the house.
For a more informed view of how a trade war of USA vs the Rest might turn out, consider expert SE Asian trading nation Singapore. They have formed a task force to examine Trump’s decisions and how to respond.
In this video Singapore PM Lawrence Wong talks about Trump, trade and Asia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5GMKzJVQJM
I haven’t watched it yet but the description looks promising.
Hack, woke, Partisan says:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 6:33 pm
To better understand external trade from the standpoint of the US, consider what it would be like if a household could issue its own currency to settle its bills. That household might run a nominal deficit with the supermarket, but the supermarket could only “use” or “bank” its receipts by returning them to the household – to their issuer. The household could never be short of groceries. The supermarket would have a financial balance with the household, which could use that balance to build a pergola.
Oh how I wish household finances worked the same way as the USD-centred monetary order.
Trump is in the process of burning down the house.
___________
Yes! That deserves a song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3eC35LoF4U
At 10 am MAGA called Trump a genius: By 4pm the S&P 500 was near a 20% decline since mid-Feb
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/8/2315398/-At-10-am-MAGA-called-Trump-a-genius-By-4pm-the-S-P-500-was-near-a-20-decline-since-mid-Feb?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
Early in the day, the MAGAs looked at soaring stock markets and pronounced their boy Trump was an economic genius. His spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, announced that, “President Trump has a spine of steel and he will not break.” Conveniently short memories had forgotten the bloodbath of the last three trading days.
Here are some other farcical claims from Leavitt, the Trump administration’s version of Baghdad Bob:
“Countries are falling over themselves to reform unfair trade practices and reopen their markets to our country.”
“These countries greatly respect President Trump.”
“President Trump has a spine of steel and he will not break.”
“America will not break under his leadership.”
“By supercharging American manufacturing, the president is already delivering on his promise to usher in an economic golden age for our country.”
Nice try. By the close of play, the markets had collapsed again. Traders recalled that Trump is a fiscal illiterate with rocks for brains. They must have also remembered that the Mar-a-Lago moron is an inveterate liar. His cabinet are cheerleaders for his delusion. And being stubborn when you are wrong is no virtue.”
Mostly Interestedsays:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 6:21 pm
For someone who’s been a federal minister multiple times, Dutton is showing himself surprisingly economically illiterate.
As others have observed, the guy was never given an economics portfolio to run. We can now see why.
That picture looks more like a constipation strain than a genuine smile!
Americans are already getting ripped off bigly with the price of pharmaceuticals so just imagine what a swathe of tariffs will do to them.
The actions of a stable genius!
Weren’t the media running an implied line that Albo was weak for not instantly flying to Washington?
How did that line of questioning go?
Just now on 9 news, the reporter said that the price difference between 2 servos 100 metres apart is 50c/ litre.
So when the 25c reduction in excise tax is applied at the expense servo, the expensive servo will be still expensive than cheaper servo.
And a lot of people will still buy petrol from expensive servo without getting advance from reduction in excise duty.
I never thought we would see Republicans cheering a $2 billion a day tax rise.
Whoever does Duttons makeup isn’t doing a very good job. Makes him look like a robot.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-09/leaders-debate-sky-news-peter-dutton-anthony-albanese/105148158
C@tmomma says:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 6:53 pm
As others have observed, the guy was never given an economics portfolio to run. We can now see why.
——————————-
To Make matters worst for Peter Dutton he did have a economic portfolio
Final stages of the Howard government
Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer from 27.1.2006 to 3.12.2007.
A poll!
Ucomms Wentworth seat poll incoming…
The Liberal Party’s hopes of winning back the once safe Sydney seat of Wentworth could be dashed, with polling showing teal independent Allegra Spender on track to win.
A uComms poll conducted in late March gives Spender a 58-42 two-party preferred lead over her Liberal rival Roanne Knox.
The automated poll – commissioned by funding vehicle Climate 200 – sampled 1015 Wentworth residents.
….
Asked which candidate would receive their first preference, 32.9 per cent of respondents nominated Spender, ahead of Knox on 32.5 per cent. Labor’s candidate Savanna Peake received 12.2 per cent.
Among the nearly 7 per cent of voters who said they were undecided, nearly two thirds said they were leaning towards voting for Spender. A further 16.3 per cent said they were leaning towards Knox.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/spender-has-strong-lead-over-liberal-challenger-poll-20250409-p5lqjn
Whoever does Duttons makeup is doing a very good job. Makes him look less like a robot.
Just warming up for Young Jimmy Vs Well Done Angus…
What will tomorrow’s front page bring?
Andrew Bolt has Sean Spicer on…
sprocket_ says:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 7:13 pm
The Reactionaries have further entrenched their estrangement from long-time core Liberal constituencies.
The parallel would be if Labor decided to walk away from working people….something the ideologues on the Green wing have been urging Labor to do for many years.
By abandoning their natural constituencies the Reactionaries have voluntarily excluded themselves from power for many years to come. Very good thing. This election will consolidate their irrelevance. The counter-reactionary vote will exceed 60%. This is the most significant shift in affiliations since the Labor split of the 1950s.
Trump: “I told my people, never use the word ‘coal’ unless you put ‘beautiful, clean’ before it.”
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/9/2315469/-I-told-my-people-never-use-the-word-coal-unless-you-put-beautiful-clean-before-it?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
Bolta manages to ask a question which starts with Musk, rambles via Netanyahu and ends up with China’s retaliatory tariffs. What do you think, Sean?
‘Socrates says:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 6:38 pm
For a more informed view of how a trade war of USA vs the Rest might turn out, consider expert SE Asian trading nation Singapore. They have formed a task force to examine Trump’s decisions and how to respond.
In this video Singapore PM Lawrence Wong talks about Trump, trade and Asia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5GMKzJVQJM
I haven’t watched it yet but the description looks promising.’
=================
Thanks. Well worth a look, IMO. ‘Grit’ and ‘gumption’ get a guernsey.
Which plan are you on with Foxtel sprocket_?
The $42 a month plan. Sports plus channel 103.
OK, now that you’re outed as a Murdoch subscriber, lets get on with the debate!
Bolt now onto slagging the Greens…
sprocket_ @ #440 Wednesday, April 9th, 2025 – 7:20 pm
I suspect that headline had to be rolled back a few times since the original sentiment on the Daily Terror floor “Sneaky Little Bitch-Vole From Hell Albanese Narrowly Cheats To Get Audience Plurality In Debate Against Manly Light Of The Nation Peter Dutton”
sprocket_says:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 7:27 pm
Bolt now onto slagging the Greens…
___________
The greatest impact of the Greens is that they make conservatives go apoplectic.
Paul A
Kayo gave me a 6 month free Binge subscription, thankfully Kayo has now been bought by some UAE sportswashing outfit.
Binge includes SkyFoxNews along with a bunch of other cable channels like CNN, MSNBc..
”
sprocket_says:
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 7:20 pm
Just warming up for Young Jimmy Vs Well Done Angus…
What will tomorrow’s front page bring?
”
If the PV on election night is
ALP: 44%
LNP: 35%
then the election result will be ALP landslide.
So this crap by Daily Dutton that Albanese sneaked in is just that.
The Trump implosion will damage the Reactionaries for decades. Perhaps the thumping that’s coming for them will be terminal. Trump is going to shrink the US economy – its Continental and its shadow/external domains – very considerably. Anyone politically or ideologically linked with Trump will be unelectable for decades.
Our own home-grown Reactionaries will rue the day they ever heard of Donald Trump.
No audience
Ross Greenwood is the moderator – reckon he has a thumb on the scale going by this biased opening
Anguish Taylor is a scholar from Rhodes, not a Rhodes scholar.