The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.

1.Trump-type politicians are taking a hammering in Europe. First Holland and now France. The "revolution" is mutating. Apparently Europeans want change....."Anything but a Trump-type" change will do. The traditional European attitude of disdain for anything American is clearly being reflected in high voter turnouts. The silhouette of Russian election interference  also looms in the background. COMMENT: The struggle between nationalism and globalism continues while Europe's multi-cultural approach is highlighting the lines of polarization. Next up are Italy and Germany. Their choice is between the devil and the deep blue sea. Tolerate Islamic jihad or tolerate the empty promises of racist right wing politicians. 

2.China has moved 150,000 troops to its border with North Korea. It has also refused permission for North Korean ships laden with coal to unload their cargo. NK News says the price of petrol in North Korea jumped 83 percent by the end of last week. it appears that China is slowing exports of oil to North Korea (The other option is that NK is hoarding gasoline in case of a military confrontation). COMMENT: Perhaps the US pressure on China is paying dividends. This storm in a teacup 'crisis' suits the Trump administration at this time.  
The less talk about Russia in the media the better. 

3.Analysts estimate that by 2030, self-driving cars and trucks (autonomous vehicles) could account for as much as 60 percent of US auto sales. Are they safe? They are not, but they are much, much safer than human drivers! First and foremost, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 90 percent of all traffic accidents can be blamed on human error. Next, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, nearly 80 percent of drivers expressed significant anger, aggression, or road rage behind the wheel at least once in the past year. Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities accounted for 29% of the total vehicle traffic fatalities in 2015. And finally, of the roughly 35,000 annual traffic fatalities, approximately 10 percent of them (3,477 lives in 2015) are caused by distracted driving.
Remove human error from driving, and you will not only save a significant number of lives, you will also dramatically reduce the number of serious injuries associated with traffic accidents – there were over 4.4 million in the United States during 2015. COMMENT: A rough ride for Insurance, truck drivers, first responders and more.

4.TOI: Recently released documents show that the Allied forces were aware of the scale of the Holocaust some two years earlier than previously assumed. They did little to stop the deaths or rescue the victims. The unsealed United Nations files show that the US, UK and Russia knew as early as December 1942 that two million Jews had been massacred and millions more were at risk of being killed. COMMENT: The refusal to take in Jewish refugees by many countries just amplifies why a strong Israel in todays world is a crucial component to the survival of the Jewish people.

5.Truckers from the city of Moscow and the surrounding region have joined the Platon trucker protests against new state and national road taxes, BBC reported April 18. These demonstrations, which involve blocking roads and other actions, are now taking place in varying degrees in 80 regions across the country. The Kremlin has imposed a media blackout on the strikes. The truckers now claim 600,000 of them will be out of a job if the tax hike remains in place. COMMENT: This is a symptom of the economic stress in Russia created by the fall in the price of energy and could easily spread to other parts of the economy.

6.  Canadian real estate: Ontario is following British Columbia’s lead, promising to introduce a tax on foreign homebuyers that the province hopes will help cool the frantic housing market, easing concerns about a potential bubble in Canada’s fastest growing urban region. The 15% “non-resident speculation tax” was among 16 housing measures the provincial government announced Thursday, which also included a promise to expand rent control, allow Toronto to impose a tax on vacant homes and use surplus provincial lands for affordable housing. COMMENT: Houston, we have a problem...

7. WSJ: What would a country’s stock market do if its neighboring country threatens to attack it with nuclear weapons? Hit a record high, of course. South Korean shares reached all-time highs Thursday, brushing aside concerns about a potential military conflict on the Korean Peninsula. The market’s benchmark Kospi has risen 4% since the beginning of April, when President Donald Trump warned that he could take unilateral action against North...COMMENT: Follow the money. Tuesday is election day in South Korea.

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” 

― Alexander Pope

“We fool ourselves so much we could do it for a living.” 

― Stephen King

How awesome it would be if a liars pants actually caught fire....