Trump is happy as long as he can collect tariffs aka more taxes

Trump is gloating about all the tariff successes. One question he and Scott Bessent dare not answer - Who are paying those tariffs?

Alright, there are agreements with Japan and now the EU, but who is going to pay for the 15% tariffs on imports from Japan and the EU? Not the Japanese or EU manufacturers. They are not going to eat the tariffs. The importers inside the USA are paying those tariffs to be passed on to USA consumers. The Hillbillies are paying for it, not the importers eventually. The importers will have to close shop if they are to absorb those tariffs. So, the question is still - Who are paying those tariffs? Simple question, but a very difficult question for Trump and Scott Bessent to answer. It is just fortunate for them that the Hillbillies are so easy to be manipulated, just like the Native American Indians before them.

As for the touted US$500 billion investments coming from Japan, that is a non-event to gloat about Japan already invested close to US$2 trillion in the USA and if Japan invested more in manufacturing, who can they sell their products to? On the other side of the coin, the USA wants to sell more to the Japanese, by forcing the Japanese to accept a lower threshold of safety for example USA made cars. The Japanese Government may relent, but Japanese consumers are not going to buy them knowing that safety features cannot stand up to Japanese consumer standards. What sounds great does not translate into great if we look closer at the picture. Japan is a country that relies on exports, not imports.


Anonymous

America, China or Singapore political system, which is better?

China has the best system of government in taking care of its citizen. Not like the so call democratic system, where politician only work to benefit themselves & their family/friend. Democratic system tends to lead to fight/disagreement among its citizens.

Perhaps we should think out of the box and create a system without any political party. Create a political school where people who wish to take up Ministerial appointment can enroll and study the various aspect of government.(study attachment to G various dept./town council..etc). Upon graduation after 3-4yrs, they could stand for election individually to sell their koyok of how they wish to run the country. We citizens will then vote for the one to lead the country. The winner can select from his course mate to run various G dept.

Unfortunately the current people in power will not allow such a system to appear, they will die die want to maintain their power till eternality.


Anonymous

Health checks - Another happy client

I'm a 51-year-old man and I’m psychologically allergic to health checks

Mr Imran Johri, a father of three children, knows how important regular health screenings are. He reflects on why he continues to resist getting the check-ups....

And as fate would have it, at the screening my wife wrestled me into doing, the doctor did detect an irregular rhythm in one of my arteries.

There were tears – mostly my wife's. After all, one of her deepest fears – that I would leave this world first – was suddenly very real.

More checks later revealed that my sputtering artery was the result of a combination of caffeine abuse, work stress and poor sleep habits. I am getting it sorted with follow-up checks, a revised diet plan and a crackdown on my coffee intake. CNA

Above is from an article in CNA emphasing how important a health check is and how happy one can be for doing the health check and discovered an irregularity. It would be another case of, wow, so lucky to do the checks or else, like striking lottery. Without the health check, the irregularity would not be detected. So, for those who would want to find out irregularities in their bodies in the early stages, some can be quite serious, it is better to go for health checks. This is the message of the article.

Imran is glad that he could live longer with the early detection and the preventive measures he is taking to take care of his condition. This is the part that I don't agree with. How long one lives is not directly related to one's health. Many irregularities and conditions are not death threatening and would not determine how long one could live. A health check could reveal whatever irregularities there are in the body. And most people have irregularities, big or small, life threatening or not. For those who want their bodies to be perfect, regular health checks are important to detect and treat any irregularities in the early stages. Some may make do with the little irregularities as they did not affect the quality of their lives.

In my own philosophy of life, how long one lives is fated, in a way predestined. Have or do not have irregularities or serious impairments in the body is not a factor that decides how long one would live, but would determine how well one can live while alive.

For those who are in doubt, fear of having irregularities in their bodies, they should go for check ups for peace of mind. This is a lifestyle choice.

Gaza Genocide continues unabated, with increasing deaths...Soon would be a forgotten issue

 Where is the conscience of the world when the Palestinians, a people just like anyone else, is being massacred everyday by the hundreds. And these are the women, old folks and children, defenceless, just to be butchered by the Americans and the Israelis. All the world could do, or think that is the best they could do, is to kpkb, call for ceasefire and nothing else. The UN is hapless, the ICJ, ICC, the Arab and Muslim world, ...forget about NATO, they are accomplices to this genocide.

BRICS, SCO, Global South, all could not do a thing to his shameful and barbaric slaughtering of a people right before their eyes. And the new hopeful, a group of 32 nation states called the Hague 30, looked so promising, claiming to be disgusted by the inactivity and haplessness of all other organisations, wanted to do something immediately. But nothing has been done, ended up just like the rest of the useless organisations, talk and talk, no action.

At the very least, they can cut off relations with Israel, stop trade and all activities with Israel, sanction Israel and Israelis from visiting their lands. But no, these simple unilateral things also cannot do, afraid to do, or being coerced by the Americans not to do.

After more than 70 years of lies and deceits by the Americans, with empty promises and theatres about defending the right of the Palestinians, but actually working with the Israelis to slaughter them and stealing their lands, only the very stupid would still believe in the Americans and their words. But there is no need to stretch any imagination to see the queue of Arab and Muslim leaders outside Washington, shaking hands with rogue Trump and all his murderers, and still begging the American terrorists to defend and protect the Palestinians. And when rogue Trump conveniently said yes to them, they are so happy and went home believing that Trump will honour what he said.

Stupidity has no cure. And it is happening everyday. After more than 70 years of being cheated and duped by the Americans, they continue to go to Washington to ask to be cheated, duped and made a fool of in front of the whole world and their people. Trump and his butchers and all the white leaders must be laughing themselves silly at all the Arab and Muslim leaders crawling to Washington to be fooled.

Is there really no Arab and Muslim leader that can see through the lies of the Americans? Is there really nothing that can be done to save the Palestinians from being massacred by the Americans and the Israelis? Have more theatres, more cries and make more calls for ceasefire to please their conscience or to appease the rage of their people for not doing anything to save the Palestinians. This is the best they could do.

And the massacres go on and on. Soon there will be no Palestinians left and the Americans would come and save the leftovers by creating a few reservations in West Bank or Gaza and march the last of the survivors into them, to save them like protecting extinct animals. And all the sillies and stupids would praise the Americans for their goodness and protecting the rights of the Palestinians to be alive.

And a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump and Netanyahu.

American Democrazy is so flawed, a broken system that elects jokers, clowns, scoundrels and criminals to power

Let them enjoy the show while it lasts, thinking that China is going to be rattled. It is just a gathering of flies over dead rotten meat.

I want to talk about China's strategy over the decades, a strategy that has at its core the 'continuity' of China's agenda, unlike the Western democracy that has no long-term ideal. In the Western democracy, leaders come and go with each change of Government, no loyalty, no long-term strategic goals, and all catering to self-gain and how to grow richer.

Chinese leaders rise from the ranks. They rise from the bottom, working together, planning and inputting their expertise even as new potential leaders are inducted. It is an ongoing process of renewal. Of course, some will not fit in and are eventually discarded. But the core idea is that China's policies are born not on the spur of the moment - waking up at 3 am from a dream and implemented the next day, but a calculated response to global threats and competition. Chinese leaders work together as a unit, finding solutions to problems like eradicating poverty, building a better living environment for the Chinese population, investing in sectors that they think will continue to bolster China's progress into the future.

Has that strategy worked? I think it has worked perfectly for China. I think it is a big, beautiful and successful strategy all along. There is no wastage of resources holding elections that ultimately brings little stability but plenty of confusing policies, some to get rid of those from the preceding regime. But little changes, as those taking over the power all come from the same swamp. What is the point of electing leaders that just represents the right or left hand of the Deep State? The whole democratic process has evolved into a very corrupt system of Government - the legislative, administrative and judicial all drinking from the same trough and coming from the same swamp.


Anonymous