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Allow me to translate the title of today's colum:
"Let the trade-wars begin"
The USA has introduced levies on imports from Canada and Mexico, those tariffs coming into effect on February 1st.
In response, Canada has announced it will be adding 25 percent tariffs to goods and services imported from the USA.
Idiots!
I love the way that politicians play with people's lives in this way with scant regard for the effects these ludicrous taxes will have on people's budgets.
Faced with an already surging cost of living, the addition of 25 percent to many food items and other essentials is going to hit many households very hard.
Of course if you're a politician then odds are that you're getting paid well above the average wage so the effects of these increases will have far less impact on your standard of living than it will on those who rely on minimum wage jobs or welfare.
Nobody wins in a trade war.
Let me correct that.
Governments win because all those tariffs go into the government's coffers.
Call me a cynic but I have no doubt that governments are seeing this as a fantastic opportunity to effectively raise taxes while blaming a foreign nation for that increase.
I'm sure that there will now be plenty of politicians going on "fact finding missions" to important destinations such as Fiji, Tahiti, The Bahamas etc... all funded by these clever taxes disguised as "tariffs".
What has gone wrong with the world?
I seem to recall that the politicians of the world were telling us that it was time to break down trade barriers, increase "free trade" and create a unified global marketplace so as to increase prosperity for all.
It would appear that this approach is now no longer convenient?
I suspect it won't take long before the citizens of countries affected by these tariffs send a very sharp message to their political overlords that the massive price-hikes being created are totally unacceptable. That will be a critical moment.
Will these governments remember that their role in a democracy is to serve the people who elected them? Or will they instead say "we know what's best for you, shut up and keep paying your taxes"?
The world is already becoming a tinderbox on the verge of exploding into flames on so many fronts.
Another example of growing pressures that could erupt into civil unrest (again) are very much apparent in the video below which shows what happens if you dare to burn a page or two of the Quran. Some 30 police rapidly converged on the "offender" and hauled him off to jail. Was this an Islamic country? Well it was in the UK so you tell me.
Question of the day...
If this guy had burnt a page or two from the Bible instead of the Quoran in exactly the same location, would he have suffered the same fate?
This incident has created massive outrage in the UK although, for some reason, the mainstream media are providing virtually no coverage -- something that further outrages some of UK's non-Islamic residents.
Will it be one of these festering pools of social discontent or financial pressures that finally push people over the top and produce pushbacks of hitherto unprecidented scale?
Now,where's my popcorn...
Carpe Diem folks!
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Here is a PERMANENT link to this column
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