JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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An Interesting Read – A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System
It turns out Trump’s entire game plan may have been taken from economic advisor Stephen Miran’s playbook.
In November, Miran wrote A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System, which according to experts precisely parallels what Trump is now attempting to carry out.
One of the core tenets of the document is the deliberate devaluation of the US dollar in order to make US exports favorable again to reignite American manufacturing. The entire issue revolves around the famous Triffin’s dilemma, which notes:
A country whose currency is the global reserve currency, held by other nations as foreign exchange (FX) reserves to support international trade, must somehow supply the world with its currency in order to fulfill world demand for these FX reserves. This supply function is nominally accomplished by international trade, with the country holding reserve currency status being required to run an inevitable trade deficit.
To summarize the above for the laymen, a country which holds the world’s reserve currency faces a significant dilemma wherein its national trade policy and monetary policy are effectively at odds against each other. In order to keep its currency as reserve status—and reap all the geopolitical benefits this creates—the country must hamstring its own economic output by running a huge trade deficit, which means the country imports far more than it exports, which hurts—or in the case of the US, kills—domestic manufacturing.
Why must a country run a trade deficit to retain its global reserve currency status? Because when your currency is the global reserve currency, the entire world constantly hungers for it in order to use it in all the various countries’ international trade between each other. The only way to keep those countries constantly supplied with dollars is for Americans to buy tons of foreign imports, which effectively sends dollars to those countries, since these purchases are made with dollars. If the countries instead bought a ton of US exports, they would be paying for those exports with dollars, which means all the dollars would be sent back to the US, and global nations would have a severe lack of US dollars. What would happen then? They would have no choice but to trade with their own currencies, which would mean the collapse of the dollar reserve system.
Plus – https://x.com/typesfast/status/1907600619420147833/photo/1
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On the flip side, the US has (had?) a massive advantage in that when it issues debt and introduces more money into circulation, the debt obligation reduces in real terms. When other countries devalue their currency, their debt obligation increases because the debt is usually denominated in USD.
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” to keep its currency as reserve status the country must run[ing] a huge trade deficit, which means the country imports far more than it exports, which hurts—or in the case of the US, kills—domestic manufacturing.”
Trump should therefore be aware that re-balancing the trade deficit to neutral means that $US can not be the sole reserve currency.
If nobody needs $U.S. in order to trade, then all those $U.S. that are out there in the world will come home to The U.S.
If the U.S ceases to be the net importer that it is now, then there will be a mass of $U.S. dollars looking for things to buy that are not imported (are NAFTA goods really imports? It depends).
The inflation risk is fairly glaring, But The Don loves inflation . . .apparently.
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Whatever the plan it has caused the worst two day stock wipe out ever
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-14571907/wall-street-stock-market-crash-trump-tariffs.html
Presumably there a floor to all this but it’s easy to imagine the whole thing spiralling out of control as countries seek to retaliate and new alliances are formed
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Two points Old Ozzie,
(1)Firstly:
I believe this should be ‘The Primary way’ as I understand what was the the ‘Third World Debt’ held by institutions primarily the World Bank was laundered through various financial institutions and then sold to the US Pension Funds as an asset.
Or you could sell the US population 10 doses of a ‘vaccine’, any number of pieces of paper pretending to be Derivatives, Property Portfolios, Prommisory Notes for Gold held in the City Of London ‘Fiat Gold’, or even cheap products inflated by being restricted such as Fentanyl, Coccaine, Pornography etc.
Even, the sale of endless conflicts to the American people. The Ukraine war could be one such example.
(2) And last but not least:
So why is Australia undertaking this strategy when the Aussie Dollar commands the respect of the Peso?
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“pieces of paper pretending to be. . . . . . ”
That is so last century ; they will now accept zeroes and ones. No paper.
And auto-sign is cool . . .apparently.
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As the old world order is on the wane BRICS could make progress trading in their own currencies, but that is a bit dodgy. The Reserve currency may end up being a crypto pool devoid of dollars.
‘The BRICS countries overtook the G7 countries share of the world’s total gross domestic product (GDP) in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2018. By 2024, the difference had increased even further, the BRICS now holding a total 35 percent of the world’s GDP compared to 30 percent held by the G7 countries.’ (Statista)
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In theory yes, but the problem always comes back to who controls the money supply, which country ‘invents’ new money to put in the pool to compensate for growth.
The UN would love their “Special Drawing Rights” to be the reserve, so they control it. America their dollar of course. Crypto just gets played with until it matures enough to be understood and stable, and gold is still the best even if we just dig it up to bury it underground. I can’t see why the BRICS don’t use a gold-based standard, apart from the fear all Govts have of NOT being able to inflate their currency as they wish.
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My understanding is the BRICS+ currency will be gold-backed , but also commodity -backed (oil, etc.) but not necessarily convertible on demand.
China is not the only country buying gold.
A U.S. gold-backed CBDC is not off the table. An impoverished populace might demand it if hyperinflation was killing them. They could all need new phones 🙂
The transition will occur over the term of the current Presidency, and beyond ; so at least 4 years.
And then some , surely.
Anyway , Trump World has set the wheels in motion; presumably that’s his job.
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Pat Condell is back on YouTube and in the following video discusses the now-dysfunctional woke institutions that identify as “universities”.
It’s tragic what has become of them.
They used to be centres of learning and scholarship, back in the day.
https://youtu.be/DXqpAO9CNhw
Under 5 mins.
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There’s no doubt about it this man speaks Truth to power in plain English. Thanks
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The SpaceX Fram2 mission has returned from space, the capsule recovered and the crew are waiting to exit the capsule. I’m watching live.
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They are all out now.
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Tariffs are NOT Reciprocal –
“How did the Trump Administration come up with these tariff rates? Why would a nation like Madagascar, for example, with a small economy, be hit with a 47% tariff? Reciprocal tariffs were determined based on America’s trade deficit with other nations. They took each nation’s trade surplus with the US by total exports and divided that number by two, proclaiming we are asking them for half of what they have been charging the United States.
The assumption behind this method is that a trade surplus means one country is “taking advantage” of the other. However, trade imbalances do not function in such a cut-and-dry manner. The US runs trade deficits with some countries while running surpluses with others. The global economy is interconnected, and imposing arbitrary tariffs based on a deficit does not reflect the broader picture.
For example, China may have a surplus with the US, but it also imports raw materials from other nations to manufacture goods. If the US places a retaliatory tariff, it does not necessarily mean that China has been unfairly charging the US. China’s advantages of natural resources and lower production costs is part of the trade deal. There is a reason the US and China were one the largest trading partners, as China relied on American consumers the same way that America relied on cheaper Chinese goods. China was then investing in US debt, which it once viewed as a safe trade, but that is no longer the case, and America will suffer as a result. All of these measures are causing America’s trading partners to flee.”
More at –
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/world-trade/tariffs-not-reciprocal/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS
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Maybe it’s Trumps concern for the “little country” that is being usurped by China which is on route for global domination one little country at a time. Australia too is on the verge and our uniparty doesn’t fill me with much joy.
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” They took each nation’s trade surplus with the US by total exports and divided that number by two, ”
Simplicious reckons they took each country’s trade imbalance and divided by the US imports from that country, but yes, a straight-line formula. America’s biggest export is the American dollar, as it has been since WW2, and they don’t need to export anything else so long as the rest of the world keeps buying them. That’s why they are happy to go to war with anyone who thinks of moving away from the $US, and Trump is going to have to tackle the BRICS over this or America will have to work for a living.
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Flood of the century: how our most stoic Aussies survived outback disaster
JAMIE WALKER and MACKENZIE SCOTT
To begin with, it made such a beautiful noise: rain, sweet rain, drumming on the roof of Ted and Pip Robinson’s home in Adavale.
The Vietnam veteran and his wife went to bed early, as people do in this far-flung corner of the Channel Country in southwest Queensland.
It had been tipping down for days but they weren’t worried: every drop seemed like manna from heaven after a parched and punishing summer.
Blackwater Creek, wrapping around their place, was running again, part of the spider’s web of ephemeral rivers and waterways that crisscross the vast western plains leading into the Simpson Desert.
The couple knew what happened when they erupted – how drought turned to flood overnight – yet nothing could prepare them or their friends and neighbours, in communities and stations stretching all the way to Longreach, for the 12 desperate hours to come.
Flood of the century
The time was 3.30am on Thursday, March 27, day one of the outback’s flood of the century.
Only now, as the flood ebbs, having inundated an area twice the size of Victoria, killing at least 150,000 head of cattle, sheep, horses and other stock as well as a multitude of wildlife, are people able to draw breath and share their stories of courage and forbearance in the face of this epic disaster.
The cost will be counted in a damage bill of billions and higher meat prices nationwide, but also in the trauma experienced by some of our most stoic Australians.
Hard-bitten cattlemen are dreading the clean-up. Mass graves will be dug to accommodate the reeking piles of decayed carcasses blackening the landscape.
There’s anger at the absence of warnings about the scale of the rain event, partly due to a blindspot in the Bureau of Meteorology’s weather radar system.
Thousands of kilometres of fencing and hundreds of properties have been devastated, erasing a lifetime of sweat and back-breaking toil for the hardest-hit graziers and business operators in the stricken towns.
“People are potentially going to go three years without income,” warned Quilpie mayor Ben Hall.
“That’s three years before they generate a dollar, not making a living. They may be able to keep their head above water for a period, but realistically what are they going to survive off when their entire livelihood has been wiped out?”
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I was in Winton for these https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/129095754
Not sure about the ‘of the century’ – depends who measures!
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There was a locust plague after too – v. biblical.
Even though the house was screened, you would sweep a big pile up each morning.
And it stunk!
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Flood of the century? Which one they happen every 100 years or so
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As Donald TRUMP said, “Everything woke turns to s**t.”
The Left destroy everything.
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Here is a video regarding the dispute over the age of the Omo 1 skeleton founded in Ethiopia in 1967. The real age has a huge impact on the “out of Africa” theory.
But woke anthropology (“consensus science”) has already established the Official Narrative and won’t allow alternative interpretations.
https://youtu.be/Byk18lRBKa0
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Domestic terrorists in the US, Leftists, are facing 20 years jail for setting fire to electric car dealerships.
But don’t the Left want EVs to “save the planet”?
And are Leftoids too stupid to understand that every time they destroy a Tesla insurance companies have to pay for another one to be purchased from Elon? It results in another sale!
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Cards are open on the table now.
Tesla terrorism shows they were playing with pretty low cards.
No more bluffing
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Maybe every time they torch a Tesla, two or three other people decide not to buy one.
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Ism Schism Isis Crisis:
First they burned the forests and shouted: See? Man-made Global Warming!
Then they burned the towns & cities and shrieked: See? Trump’s fault! Change!
After 4 years of ice-cream sleepwalking, they’re back, burning electric vehicles while shouting: See? Climate Crisis! Trump is H….r!
Arson, [ah’-son], noun, wilful malicious burning of property [Latin arsio].
Does one require a Degree of insanity to act this way or is it the final stage of Mental Breakdown Eugenics (MBE) Disorder?
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Possibly not the sale of another Tesla and possibly not a battery powered car.
But definitely increased insurance premiums for Tesla owners.
Time will tell how effective law enforcement is on suppressing this spate of wilful property damage.
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Where is the study (ies)?
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Shown within video.
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Don’t forget your shingles vaccination…
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/08/study-finds-shingles-increases-risk-of-cognitive-decline/
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As a data point my GP has offered me such an injection.
I asked whether it was safe and effective.
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One of the relentless string of climate propaganda sausage machine climate stories is appearing on most outlets.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14571397/Belizes-Great-Blue-Hole-concerning-secret.html
The storm count proxy they have studied shows
variability over millennia but more storms more recently, but long before man-made climate change was a factor.
They have produced a hockey stick by adding a projection for the 21st century onto the end of the data, without this there is nothing outside the apparent recent ‘normal’ range.
https://www.science.org/cms/10.1126/sciadv.ads5624/asset/1f4b2584-6446-402a-b1ac-db0a808b8560/assets/images/large/sciadv.ads5624-f3.jpg
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ads5624
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The daily mail is not on my list of newspapers. Unlikely it will be in future.
Still Michael Mann made a lot of money over 20+ years with his Hockey Stick Illusion, so I assume that the editor hopes for some subscribers.
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More on the experimental covid “vaccine”.
REMINDER FOR LEFTOIDS: Time for your 37th booster.
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Certainly messed with their reproductive systems from the information I was given by Pharmacy assistants talking to women who were undertaking the ‘gene therapy’. Happily post-menopausal women were suddenly having periods and women used to regular perods were missing periods. This caused great concern as many husbands were stuck in fly in fly out states or across borders and there was a possible virgin birth to be explained. One pharmacy assistant exclaimed at the increase in sales of preg tests, “They are breeding like rabbits”.
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Storms and tornadoes for 5 days in central US. Threat of flooding in the Mississippi Valley.
https://i.ibb.co/TFCkYgk/gfs-hgt-trop-NA-f036.png
https://i.ibb.co/1GWV7wp2/Screenshot-2025-04-04-22-19-05.png
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Are they blaming TRUMP?
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Sounds like ‘spring’ to me.
Too much rain, not enough rain, too much snow, not enough snow: it’s hard finding the perfect planet, especially when you’re green…
Kermit the frog.
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The remade Snow White was a woke disaster.
Normal people refused to watch it.
But surely there were enough wokesters out there to patronise it and make the film profitable for their favourite woke corporation?
Where were they all?
Or are wokesters just a noisy but influential minority that make life miserable for the rest of us?
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And why did they write real short statured people out of the story? They were replaced with animations. The real people were rendered invisible and also real short statured actors were denied rare employment opportunities.
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New article on NoTricksZone: “New Study: Corals Thrived When Global Sea Levels Were Meters Higher Than Today 6000 Years Ago”:
https://notrickszone.com/2025/04/03/new-study-corals-thrived-when-global-sea-levels-were-meters-higher-than-today-6000-years-ago/
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I have seen a lot of Australian Government advertising to raise awareness of shingles and for certain age groups to get the shingles vaccination (which incidentally my doctor doesn’t believe to be very effective).
Why the sudden need for awareness about shingles?
Two possibilities are:
1) The marketing arm of Big Pharma, the TGA is promoting the vaccine.
2) Increased rate of shingles due to possible immune system damage by covid “vaccines”.
Or both of the above.
Of course, some blame covid-19, not covid-19 vaccination for the observation of increased shingles risk.
https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/covid-19-linked-to-higher-shingles-risk-for-over-5
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As I noted above my GP offered me such an injection.
My question was whether it was safe and effective.
If told him if he said no I wouldn’t take it.
If he said yes I told him I would run a mile.
He just said it was up to me.
And therein lies the natural consequence of the recent compulsion and propaganda.
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I have my amateur radio station running in the background and some people are chatting and I was alarmed to hear one proudly announce that he just had his covid “vaccination”. Apparently even now, there are true believers…
He had a VK3 callsign so he is a Victoriastani.
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Further listening reveals him to be an anaesthetist…
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FWIW- How tariffs might work –
“Tariffs: Wall Street versus Main Street
There’s a significant amount of noise-versus-signal debate over President Trump’s new tariffs. I thought I’d offer a simple explanation, that glosses over many of the finer details but clarifies the essence of the problem.”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/04/tariffs-wall-street-versus-main-street.html
And
“Heads up, shooters: tariffs and our ammo supply”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/04/heads-up-shooters-tariffs-and-our-ammo.html
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The US has been at war with China since Nixon. Not Russia. And China is playing the long game.
The current issue is not exchange rate, tariffs, inflation, stocks, it is deaths. At present 100,000 young men a year are dying from Chinese Fentanyl, 50x more dangerous than Heroin.
America lost 400,000 young men in WWII, a war which created the modern world to one of mass manufacture and consumer goods and booming life expectancy and quality of life, world wide.
But the boom is faltering for lack of people.
Economists blame the birth rate, contraception, choice for lack of workers and offshoring production and mass migration. But imagine what 100,000 young adults in America a year means. Every consumer society needs consumers and workers and new people.
And the blame goes back to China. Aided by Canada and Mexico across two very long borders which have been wide open. With neighbours like these, who needs enemies?
It’s not about exchange rates, the NYSE, electric cars or Facebook or gold or trade. It’s about the destruction of America by China and enabled by Mexico and Canada.
But no one wants to talk about it. As if it didn’t exist. If the standoff with Russia was the Cold War. The attack on the United States is the Silent War between the US and China.
In a nuclear age, the Wuhan Flu was just the start. From Darwin to Panama to Greenland and Europe, Taiwan and Japan, the war is hotting up. And Chinese warships are circling and threatening Australia and New Zealand and Taiwan. And spy balloons cross America and communications cables in the Baltic are cut accidentally by a number of Chinese ships, in a show of incredible weakness, governments pretend not to notice. Meanwhile Russia and China sign a friends forever pact. So reminiscent of the Molotov Ribbentrop pact in 1939.
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And Trump is goading NATO and the UK into doing something in their own defence. But they are once again too busy squabbling and the world’s industrial giant of the 19th century, Britain, no longer makes and only melts steel. They can buy it all from China which makes over half the world’s steel. Plus Russia.
All their money is going into reversing the industrial revolution because of a completely science free UN religion called Climate Change. Which almost no one else believes except Australia and New Zealand and Canada. Even though it is transparent nonsense run by a massive 80,000 person UN filled with retired politicians who care nothing about world peace. Fire the lot of them. As Trump has shown, we now have the telephone.
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“Every consumer society needs consumers and workers and new people. ”
It has been talked about for decades that this model was unsustainable, but no new idea were forthcoming until it was taken out of our hands. You will not have white Western societies in the future, women’s lib has taken that choice away.
Its quite fascinating that giving women the choice to have children, the basis of life for us all, has resulted in them saying ‘no thanks, not in this sort of society’. So the declining birth rates mean we will run out of people, ie customers & the producers of production, or we will import people from other cultures and be drowned by them, or we will automate the means of production and have fewer people living in a different society with robots making everything.
The internet is diluting the control Govts had over the propaganda for each country, so the differences are blurring and patriotism is fading. There will not be the pressure for immigrants to become staunchly Australian or British or whatever their new country is. Going to war might be a lot more difficult when a lot of your population side with the enemy…
The selection of who ends up as the society is also interesting. Do we have the lowest classes leading a life of luxury attended to by robots, because they were the last ones breeding? Do we have a short-lived luxurious society where production is automated but the people are incapable of keeping it going as those who set it up are bred out of the society?
I’m sure ‘the people’, those most affected, won’t get any choice in which direction the country goes.
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FWIW –
For better or worse?
“New Car Performance Tech: Electrohydraulics Enable Software-Defined By-Wire Suspension”
https://www.motortrend.com/news/new-car-performance-tech-electrohydraulics-enable-software-defined-by-wire-suspension/
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