Sunlit uplands. Are we there yet?

[malumbu]

Trump is driving a wedge between the UK and EU. 

[Sephiroth]

which is why I call places and people calling it a Brexit Win Putin appeasers 

 

Why would Trump want to drive a wedge between UK and EU? Because he is mates with Putin and that's what Putin wants

[Sue]

I feel totally knocked off balance by all this stuff.

What it must be like to be living in America, I can't begin to imagine.

[Spartacus]

I have to wonder who's going to benefit from the Trump tarrifs 

Possibly those in tje know who dumped their shares before it happened, banked the cash,  bought shares at rock bottom  and are now waiting for stock that crashed to go up again and make a fortune.

But the bigger losers will be Americans who expect industry to move their factories to America, provide jobs and revive the economy, 20 years ago that could have happened but since then most factory jobs can now be done by robots  including warehouse movements, and if a tech company is going to build a new factory they will obviously use robotics and maybe AI to do the work, which means a gluten of goods and no one with the cash to buy them. 

America will go into another depression and take the rest of the world with it.

Forget the issues Liz Truss and Rachel Reeves combined have caused the economy, the trump tarrifs will make them look like saints by comparison.

[Earl Aelfheah]

Yes, but don't forget Obama wore a tan suit. So you know... swings and roundabouts. 🤷‍♀️

[Rockets]

The real worry is that Trump will never admit he got anything wrong and, as he did today with more threats to China, will keep doubling-down. Those tactics might work in real estate in the US but this is not real estate. I do wonder whether other governments will be forced to absorb the short-term pain in the view that they need to let him crash things to such a point that Americans go...what are you doing. Although he seems to be trying to mitigate dissent within his own party by turning on them quickly - like all good dictators do.

It just seems ludicrous to think this puts the US in a stronger short-term position - I saw analysis that a Boeing 787 bill of materials now costs $20m more with the tariffs due to them only being assembled in the US and the parts manufactured all over the world. Just who is this supposed to be benefiting.  American 401ks are linked to the stock market so American pensions are going downhill fast.

Edited April 7 by Rockets

[Sephiroth]

Imagine a country voting for something that has a major financial hit to a country and having an electorate and different governments too proud/embarrased/dumb to reverse said decision

After 9 years

America and Trump might be on a different scale but England could do with a bit of reflection before judging other countries (at a national level.  I know lots of you sane, wise posters are not culpable) 

[Rockets]

Yeah but I suppose the issue is that Brexit/Truss moment destabilised our economy and Trump's Truss moment is destabilising every economy globally and rocking the very foundation of global trading. Our stupid moments were just our stupid moments - Trump's stupid moment is everyone's stupid moment. The fact that people have been getting out of gold as well as stocks speaks volumes - gold is normally the safe-haven investors head for but lots are just cashing out completely.

[Sephiroth]

Well yes.  But only up to a point

eu countries have had to spend a LOT of money to accommodate English madness  - and has had to deal with years of incoherent positioning.  It has destabilised the EU as a group - or has at the very least distracted it and consumed bandwidth 

which is why Putin was so pro-Brexit. Which enabled other subsequent events - it’s hard to imagine the world as it is now without Brexit.  A stronger EU.  Uk not a mess and in its own after multiple elections and way more prime ministers than 9 years could possibly allow

 

a stronger united front 

[Sephiroth]

Grim

and the U.K. govts past and present have no answers

And even if they did the papers and enough of the population would rise up in protest and prevent 

far easier to complain and vote reform next time, watch everything get worse and complain some more 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/apr/20/nhs-cancer-patients-denied-life-saving-drugs-due-to-brexit-costs-report-finds?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[Spartacus]

Looks like your theory on voting reform is turning to reality 

Both main parties are getting a spanking which reflects on how they've treated the public recently (from party gate to pensions raids and employer NI increases) 

Labourbwant to go faster and further which may sink them further into the quagmire 

Torys possibly haven't a hope in hell  in reforming before 4 years are up 

I dispare over UK politics at the moment, but then again looking at America, we're all doomed , doomed I say 

[malumbu]

Don't panic, don't panic. 

Heavens knows how Reform will run councils; I expect most of them are ex Tories.