84 days ago
I continue my series on the Russia Ukraine war and the US General Election. Things are now looking really bleak for Ukraine and that will be another blow to a Democrat campaign in the USA that now seems to be faltering.
270 days ago
In this podcast i cover what is happening on the front line in Ukraine, the panicked and illogical reaction in the West, how a Trump win would force Ukraine’s hand, the Michigan Primaries and the latest polls all of which point more and more to a Trump win in November, what could derail that and what could make it more certain.
333 days ago
From the war in Ukraine to the General Election next year. Will the war end? Will Donald Trump win the Presidency again? For the avoidance of doubt I’d like to see President Tulsi Gabbard but it will not happen and I am not a Putin apologist just a realist. Ukraine is losing.
1560 days ago
Michael Pento President and Founder of Pento Portfolio Strategies does not mince his words. He says that “We see now a rebound in the virus, the closing of the economies, and a fiscal cliff that is going to be absolutely devastating… The cliff is coming because you can’t print trillions of dollars and borrow trillions every few months. No economy in the history of planet earth has ever been able to do that without destroying its currency and bond market. I don’t think the US will be any different.”
2419 days ago
As I write civilian airlines have been told to get out of Syrian airspace for the next 72 hours. The very real fear is that the USA and possibly Britain and France will launch air strikes against President Assad's regime. The justification -the alleged chemical attack on Douma. If the West blunders in, it does not do so in my name.
2696 days ago
It is really simple being a lefty. You have to be dogmatic and have a set world view. Otherwise you may be suspect in your liberalism. As such certain things are beyond doubt. LGBT and abortion issues are important above all else - these are the number 1 concerns of "real people", or at least of real people among the Metropolitan elites, not thick working class people or evil Christians because they don't matter. The USA is wrong on everything and Donald Trump is stupid and satanic. Israel is also wrong on everything. The EU is right on everything, The Daily Mail should be shut down to protect free speech. The Palestinians are always right. The BBC is a vicious right wing tool of the enemy but we'd all love to work there. You get the drift.
3233 days ago
I take this as a reader request. Happy Birthday K. So is the USA booming, a bubble or bust. I do my best to answer.
4240 days ago
I took the booking on Sunday Morning as I prepared a private lunch for a friend at Real Man Pizza Company. A table for twelve on our quietest evening – Monday. Sure thing. The 12 turned out to be students from New York University studying in London for a year. They loved their pizza and chatted gaily. Can anyone name the capital of South Dakota? Er.. I was happy to assist. It’s Pierre. Bit as they chatted happily I look at my computer and saw what was happening in Boston.
I told them. Immediately they grabbed their i-phones and sat their gaping at the awful pictures, swapping snippets of rumour and mis-information, stunned. The natural reaction: did they know anyone in Boston. Of course they did. Emails and texts were sent. Will there be other attacks elsewhere. New York is in lockdown. Or maybe it is not. Who did it? Does it matter? Naturally we all have suspicions. But no-one aired them.
After offering them some chocolate pizza on me, my mind turned instantly back to Lockerbie. My first great love Abbe (who so cruelly spurned me all those years ago) was a student at Syracuse. So too were a big party on that fateful flight. Some died at once. Others only as they hit the ground after a 30 second freefall. I know Abbe has been haunted by the friends she lost and by a terror of flying ever since. I guess it is more than 25 years ago now.
There will be some folks in Britain who will harp on about America getting its just desserts. The same sort of revolting people who will be celebrating as others mourn on Wednesday. As it happens I regard America as, generally, a force for good in the world and a free and dynamic society I can only but admire. But as these youngsters wander back tonight I feel for them. They will be exposed to the nasty side of Britain as the nasty left spits bile not sympathy. All they will want is to be back home with their families.
My thoughts are with those hurt, killed or mourning in Boston. But my thoughts are also with a stunned and unhappy group of twelve young Americans wandering home tonight.
4368 days ago
Recorded in a freezing Warwickshire once again I think both sound and picture are okay. I prayed, rested the camera on my step-mum’s religious books and it worked. Praise be the Lord.
The Tomograph Newsletter will be out by 7 PM. It includes an article on 12 steps to more than halve the UK deficit at once. To register to receive the newsletter click HERE
On the agenda.
1. Yarg cheese joins the menu at Real Man Pizza Company – do you know how Yarg got its name?
2. Nifty Fifty – 2 more share tips this week. A bit more about the site. You can join or get more details here.
3. The UK Investor show on April 13th. Many more details about the speaker line up and companies attending. You can get more information and book your seat here. Attendance is limited by ‘elf ‘n safey to 2,500 so book now ahead of ADVFN (whose show it is) really pushing it in the New Year. Book here
3. The FTSE 100 at 5,900 – a loss of 700 points in 12 years. What does that say to you.
4. US Fiscal Cliff but worldwide deficit denial
5. Value on AIM
6. Greed, corruption and generally rubbish on AIM
4407 days ago
It is just over a week until the General Election in the US. I wrote here a month ago that I thought Obama would win and I still believe that he will – not that I am celebrating. But the result does not make any difference at all from an investment perspective. The USA is still a short.
Most polls suggest that Romney has a slight lead. However the two things the polls cannot tell you are how many folks voted early and how many of those answering polls will actually vote. Both those factors will, I fear, favour President Obama.
4429 days ago
Thirty years ago the Mujahidin were fighting against an evil Russian installed regime in Afghanistan. I think we all knew that the Mujahidin were not very nice people either but your enemy’s enemy and all that and so we in the West, gave them stacks of guns and money. Among the lucky recipients was that fellow Osama Bin Laden who sure showed his gratitude to the West and the USA (the largest donor of guns and money) at a later point.
And so we turn to Syria where Mitt Romney, after consulting with his dressage horse for the tax implications, says that the US should provide weapons to the Syrian rebels – the FSA: not the UK financial regulator or the body trying to stamp out the evil that is home made jam, the other FSA.
4481 days ago
As someone who now has a healthy Body Mass Index (under 25) for the first time in his life I have a real interest in fatness. And so I am intrigued to discover a website showing just how fat Americans are. The US is the fattest industrialised nation on this planet (a few freak 3rd world places beat it for special reasons) with 33.9% of Americans defined as “obese” – that is having a BMI of more than 30. The percentage of Americans who are obese or overweight is close to two 66%.
The website is packed with data and can be found here.
What is baffling is that since 2002 Americans who are obese have been able to get tax breaks for special healthy food and weight loss programmes. Do not tell Mitt Romney’s horse
4502 days ago
I occasionally exchange tweets with Dominic Frisby – mining commentator and comedian. So, as he will read this, anyone there is no need for me to tweet him to say that his latest video is wonderful. I am not sure why the birds have to end up partially clad but since I am unlikely to be hired as the dress code advisor to the Saudi Arabian women’s Olympic team (the token two) there are no great objections on that score. The lyrics are superb. And the point is, of course, bang on the – soon to be utterly denuded – fiat money. Congratulations Dominic. Enjoy.
4524 days ago
The reasons Obama deserves not to be re-elected are legion. Sadly he is running against Mitt Romney who offers no real hope for change (change – why does that ring a non liberty bell?) and so America’s worst President since Coolidge will probably get another term. Ongoing illegal wars, continuing suppression of civil liberties via the Patriot Act; a ballooning deficit, crackpot healthcare plans…do I need to go on? But hoisting hopey change by his own petard, we turn to the issue of jobs, or rather the lack of them.
As we all know, Obama has a grandiose 5 year plan to create jobs. So far the only jobs created are for beltway insiders and otherwise unemployable liberal arts graduates.
4525 days ago
I am a big fan of the USA. I love visiting friends in New York. I believe that over the past 50 years she has acted generally as a force for good (a few recent illegal wars notwithstanding) in fighting the cold war and acting as a responsible global military and economic policeman.
The principles behind the US Declaration of Independence and Constitution are generally inspiring. And so congratulations to, Britain’s friend, the US on her Independence Day celebrations. But on this day I can also reflect on the 10 Americans I am most glad do not potentially reside in the UK as a result of the divorce of 1776. Sadly bankster Bob Diamond cannot make the list as he is already over here. In no particular order.
