full

Episode 469 - 2025 Federal Election - Polls and Policies

Topics:

In episode 469, Trevor (Iron Fist), Scott (Velvet Glove), and Joe (Tech Guy)discuss various pressing issues, including the federal election in Australia, the current polling trends, and the policies of different political parties. The conversation also covers international topics such as Israel's blockade in Gaza, the US-China tariff disputes under Trump, and the economic and societal implications of these events.

00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview

00:33 Panel Introductions and Banter

01:05 Federal Election Discussion

04:29 Vote Compass Insights

06:02 Polling and Gender Differences

11:57 Housing Market and Policies

28:48 Gaza Crisis Update

32:52 Indonesia Joins BRICS: A New Direction?

34:22 The Gaza Conflict: Medical Workers Targeted

36:44 Historical Parallels: Israel and Nazi Death Squads

46:05 Trump's Tariff War with China

49:49 The Fall of the American Empire?

58:00 North Korea's Role in Ukraine

59:24 Trump's Cabinet: Sycophantic Praise

01:05:08 Travel Woes and American Hostility

01:07:56 Concluding Thoughts and Sign-Off

To financially support the Podcast you can make:

We Livestream every Monday night at 7:30 pm Brisbane time. Follow us on Facebook or YouTube. Watch us live and join the discussion in the chat room.

We have a website. www.ironfistvelvetglove.com.au

You can email us. The address is trevor@ironfistvelvetglove.com.au



Transcript
Morgan:

We need to talk about ideas, good ones and bad ones.

Morgan:

We need to learn stuff about the world.

Morgan:

We need an honest, intelligent, thought provoking, and entertaining

Morgan:

review of what the hell happened on this planet in the last seven days.

Morgan:

We need to sit back and listen to the iron fist and the velvet glove.

Trevor:

Hello and welcome back, dear listener.

Trevor:

Yes, episode 469, the Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove.

Trevor:

A full panel is present and accounted for.

Trevor:

For this episode.

Trevor:

I'm Trevor, the Iron Fist over there in regional Queensland.

Trevor:

Scott, the Velvet Glove.

Trevor:

How are you, Scott?

Scott:

Not too bad, thanks.

Scott:

Good day, Trevor.

Scott:

Good day, Joe.

Scott:

Good day listeners.

Scott:

I hope everyone's doing well.

Scott:

I.

Trevor:

And of course, Joe in the um, Dutton electorate of Dixon.

Trevor:

How are Joe Evening?

Trevor:

Hello?

Trevor:

Mm, right.

Trevor:

Today, tonight we are going to talk a little bit about, um, the

Trevor:

federal election in Australia.

Trevor:

Maybe look at some policies, look at some polls, and then, um, Israel is starving.

Trevor:

The Palestinians in Gaza.

Trevor:

We should talk about that.

Trevor:

And then there's the whole.

Trevor:

Tariffs saga with Trump and China and the rest of the world

Trevor:

and what's going on over there.

Trevor:

There's enough there to fill in a couple of hours of just Trump

Trevor:

craziness as he promised to do when he got elected for the second time.

Trevor:

And it's hard to just,

Joe:

I didn't think he meant that he was actually going to do it.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

From the, um, the, what is it?

Trevor:

The leopards are eating my face party, whatever it was called.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So, so yeah, if you're in the chat room, say hello, John's there.

Trevor:

Good on you, John.

Trevor:

And, um, we'll try and incorporate your comments if we can.

Trevor:

Um, so the last couple of episodes have been good fun, a little bit different.

Trevor:

We had the boys from the Socialist Equality Party initially, and

Trevor:

then last week we had Cameron Leki from Australia's voice.

Trevor:

Scott, you.

Trevor:

Liked the sound of what, uh, Cameron Lackey had to say.

Scott:

Yeah, I did actually.

Scott:

I was quite impressed with him.

Scott:

Mm. I thought he had a, uh, thorough knowledge of what he was talking about.

Scott:

He didn't seem to, um, and a or anything else.

Scott:

He, you know, he said that the policies of the party and everything like that

Scott:

are still being developed, which I appreciate, you know, he didn't actually

Scott:

say, we'll do this, we'll do that, and everything like that, without any sort

Scott:

of eye on the future or anything else.

Scott:

He did say that, um, he was looking to improve the country, which

Scott:

I agreed with wholeheartedly.

Scott:

I thought he was a very good bloke.

Scott:

So, yeah, I did actually vote for that party in the Senate, which,

Scott:

uh, 'cause I've already voted.

Trevor:

There you go, Cameron.

Trevor:

If you're listening, you gotta vote out of as a result.

Scott:

Well, the party got a vote.

Scott:

Yes.

Scott:

So yeah, I'm not sure how many, I'm not sure how, how long it'll

Scott:

filter down to him, but anyway.

Trevor:

Right.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Very good.

Trevor:

Scott.

Trevor:

I thought it'd be right up your alley, that party, because he said they were

Trevor:

positioning themselves, or Fatima Payment had them positioned, uh,

Trevor:

somewhere between the Greens and Labor.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

And, um, and given that they're not saddled with a history of things that

Trevor:

have annoyed you in the past, like the Greens have then, um, then that's

Trevor:

just right up your alley, really.

Trevor:

Just a, a sort of a, a softer greens without a history

Trevor:

of disappointment for you.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

I suppose, you know, it's just that, like going through this vote compass

Scott:

thing, I disagreed with the greens.

Scott:

70, 17% of the time I agreed with them.

Scott:

83% of the times I disagreed with the Labor party.

Scott:

39% of the time agreed with them.

Scott:

61% of the time disagreed with the liberal nationals.

Scott:

64% of the time agreed with them 36% of the time.

Trevor:

So hang on.

Trevor:

Which party did you agree with the most?

Scott:

Probably the greens.

Trevor:

Alright.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

No surprise there.

Scott:

Yeah, but I, I cannot vote for them.

Scott:

Lemme give some context for them.

Scott:

I cannot vote for them after that.

Scott:

Lemme give some context to this shameful behavior over their, um,

Scott:

over their housing infrastructure.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Anyway, just let me give some context.

Trevor:

So you're talking about Vote Compass?

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

So the A BC runs Vote Compass every election where they

Trevor:

basically ask you a series of questions about different issues.

Trevor:

And get your response.

Trevor:

And then they match it up with the policies of the parties and then

Trevor:

describe, um, where you sit, um, based on your answers, which party you are

Trevor:

most, you know, closest to or whatever.

Trevor:

So it's a good exercise to do, dear listener, if you are, uh,

Trevor:

not sure of where you stand.

Trevor:

So, um, what did I have here?

Trevor:

Um, for Vote Compass?

Trevor:

Uh, so, um, yeah, this would be me, I think.

Trevor:

Yeah, I'll just change that to this one.

Trevor:

So that was me.

Trevor:

I was between the Greens and the a LP closer to the a LP than to the Greens.

Trevor:

So, um, that's where I was positioned and Joe, um, an almost identical spot.

Trevor:

So that was interesting.

Trevor:

Joe and I, uh, may have had different answers, but uh,

Trevor:

overall ended up in the same spot.

Trevor:

I. And where are you in that sort of picture?

Trevor:

Scott, are you similarly?

Trevor:

I'm actually closer to the

Scott:

Greens than the Labor Party, which is very concerning.

Trevor:

Ironically, you're even closer to the Greens.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So, yeah.

Trevor:

So, so yeah.

Trevor:

So worth doing, uh, vote Compass and then it will tell you things like, uh,

Trevor:

in my case, um, uh, no, I got that answer there, but else do, what else do we have?

Trevor:

Oh, just overall, let me just backtrack a little bit, dear listener.

Trevor:

Just in terms of, um, uh, the current polls, um, it's got labor ahead.

Trevor:

I had predicted I thought Dutton was gonna sneak in on this election.

Trevor:

I just, I just associate with a lot of boomers and a lot of ex Victorians

Trevor:

and they all just seem to be heading towards Dutton's way, but it looks

Trevor:

like I'm gonna be wrong on this one.

Trevor:

But, uh, we can, anyway.

Trevor:

He might even have trouble holding his own seat.

Trevor:

Uh, I did

Joe:

see, again, we can only hope.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So

Joe:

1.7% margin on the last election.

Trevor:

Mm. So, so we'll see.

Trevor:

And um, in the same poll actually, um, so if, so two party preferred had,

Trevor:

uh, labor on 53.5, coalition 46.5.

Trevor:

So a solid a LP victory looming.

Trevor:

Um, in terms of just your first vote labor, according to the polls, it's 33%

Trevor:

coalition, 31% greens, 14 not bad, which will push the Labor Party over the edge.

Trevor:

Um, one Nation, 10.5.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

And there's a theory.

Trevor:

The theory seemed to be that people who are not happy with the Dutton

Trevor:

Coalition are heading over to One Nation.

Trevor:

So 10.5% of Australians ready to put one Nation as their first preference, it seems

Scott:

Why.

Trevor:

Um, they read the Murdoch Press, obviously.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

Because their anti-immigration, their protocol.

Trevor:

Yes.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

They're anti vogue.

Trevor:

Yes.

Joe:

Um, anti, because they believe that the Oxley war

Joe:

on is the person to vote for.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So that's it.

Trevor:

And 2% trumpet of Patriots.

Trevor:

According to the poll, uh, at least 2% of Australians, you guys have

Trevor:

been getting the text messages.

Joe:

Yeah.

Joe:

I've received six so far.

Scott:

Right.

Scott:

Well, I've already put mine into spam, so I don't know how many No, no, no.

Joe:

So every time I've report a spam report and block,

Joe:

they use different numbers.

Joe:

Mm-hmm.

Joe:

They, they come through a third party service.

Reporter:

Yeah.

Joe:

It's like spamming me with six messages makes me no

Joe:

more likely to vote for you.

Joe:

In fact, if anything, it makes me less likely.

Scott:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

It's one of those things like, you know, he's actually taking lying to

Scott:

the electorate and to an art form.

Scott:

You know, he's ex Clive Palmer, he's actually lying, allegedly, right?

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

Okay.

Scott:

He's allegedly lying to the electorate.

Scott:

Yes.

Scott:

And I just cannot believe that he's got any, any of those sorts of vote.

Scott:

You know,

Trevor:

this is the man who is, is trying to sue the Australian government

Trevor:

for billions of dollars having, having registered his company in the Singapore

Trevor:

and his, you know, using the, um, investor state dispute resolution

Trevor:

clauses to, to, to just try and rip the country off of billions of dollars.

Joe:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

Claiming to be a patriot of Australia.

Joe:

Well, he's like, Trump is a patriot.

Joe:

Yeah.

Joe:

So anything that's pro, he's increasing his, his personal

Joe:

wealth and screw everyone else.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

In the chat room.

Trevor:

I think, um, uh, let me just see what did, let me just, I a different look

Trevor:

here 'cause I'm looking at the screen.

Trevor:

Um, um, John, uh, he did the vote compass and came out green, then red

Trevor:

green, then labor.

Trevor:

So if you've done vote Compass, let us know.

Trevor:

Um, yeah, so that's, um, that's a little bit about the polling, at

Trevor:

least for the upcoming election.

Trevor:

And, um, what else did I see there that interested me?

Trevor:

Um, oh yeah, let's just get to, um, uh, what's this one?

Trevor:

Uh, that was my agreement there, but I think I've got gender.

Trevor:

Maybe it's in my notes I didn't put up on the screen.

Trevor:

Bear with me a second.

Trevor:

Dear listener.

Trevor:

I get back to where I was.

Trevor:

Um,

Joe:

it also depends whether you put weighting in because you can wait.

Joe:

How much the.

Joe:

You care about the questions,

Trevor:

how important the questions are to you.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yep.

Trevor:

Um, yeah, I found, I just wanna find this gender one.

Trevor:

I'm sure I had it in my notes here and I'm just trying to find it.

Trevor:

I mustn't have, must have got rid of that picture for some reason.

Trevor:

Oh, voting intention by gender.

Trevor:

So, um,

Trevor:

uh, the big difference was the greens.

Trevor:

19% women are prepared to vote greens only 9% of men.

Trevor:

So, um, so when it came to labor in the coalition, men were more likely to

Trevor:

vote for both of those by a 5% margin, and the difference of 5% in each of

Trevor:

those cases transferred to the green.

Trevor:

So, significant difference where.

Trevor:

Uh, the Greens appeal, um, they're getting 19% of female first

Trevor:

preference and only 9% of men.

Trevor:

I thought that was an interesting,

Joe:

what about the right Rightwing parties?

Joe:

I'm guessing pretty similar

Trevor:

actually.

Joe:

Really?

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

One Nation, 11% women, 10% men and other, other, uh, it's got women, 11% men, 12%.

Trevor:

So, um,

Joe:

well, other includes the independence, so that's not TEALS

Trevor:

and stuff.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So that makes sense.

Trevor:

But in terms of One Nation

Joe:

mm-hmm.

Trevor:

Um, yeah, 11%, so, Hmm.

Joe:

I, I decided to have a look at the, the lower house parties on my ballot.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

And have a quick look at their policies.

Joe:

Oh,

Trevor:

yes.

Joe:

And fascists.

Joe:

I'm family first.

Joe:

Uh, I, I clicked on the link and it went straight to a page with the

Joe:

candidate, and, and three quarters of the page was begging for money.

Joe:

Right.

Joe:

Sign me up to their newsletter.

Joe:

Right.

Joe:

They, they, they really didn't wanna tell me their policies.

Trevor:

Right.

Joe:

What a surprise.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yep.

Trevor:

Um, this is another interesting graph I'll put on the screen.

Trevor:

Basically, it's a, um, the triangle that, that shows that back in, uh,

Trevor:

1975, uh, looking at the House of Representatives, uh, essentially it

Trevor:

was a hundred percent made up of a LP Liberals and nationals and a, a very

Trevor:

strong voting trend for those two.

Trevor:

Whereas in the, um, 2022 election you've got, um, it's just not so hardcore with

Trevor:

the two, well, the three parties, but essentially two parties more sentence.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

So there's a much more, Australia's really shifted from, uh, 75 through

Trevor:

to 2022 in its willingness to explore other parties and is not as.

Trevor:

Rusted onto these, um, traditional parties.

Trevor:

One can only see that movement growing.

Trevor:

And particularly it's got, you know, 19% of women first preference for the greens.

Trevor:

That's a significant number.

Joe:

I, I, I'm interested 'cause this sort of, the graph shows

Joe:

almost that we are more centrist than we have been historically.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

But I think if you pulled out the greens on the left on one nation

Joe:

and the trumpets on the right

Reporter:

mm-hmm.

Joe:

Whether that would actually show more.

Joe:

We, we are more spread out, we're more polarized than we used to be.

Trevor:

Mm. Yeah.

Trevor:

Um,

Trevor:

yeah.

Trevor:

Maybe

Joe:

because it lumps all the independence or all the other candidates.

Joe:

Yeah.

Joe:

Whether they're left or right in, into a third axis.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

I dunno, Joe.

Trevor:

But um, anyway, there's definitely a movement towards minor parties.

Trevor:

We, at some stage, uh, we'll be headed to a minority government, whether

Trevor:

it's this election or the next.

Trevor:

And probably we'll stay there for a long time, presumably.

Trevor:

So that's, um, it's one of those

Scott:

things Europe has coped with minority governments,

Scott:

generations, you know?

Scott:

Yes.

Scott:

It's, we've just gotta re-align our think thinking, that's all.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Essential.

Trevor:

Lord Don, I think Joe wanted us to discuss the major party policies.

Trevor:

He, is that right?

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Uh, Lord Don, I try.

Trevor:

I, I've, I've only got so much patience and intolerance, but I sort of figure

Trevor:

these guys get all the air time that they want and that's why I liked sort of

Trevor:

highlighting the Socialist Equality Party and Australia's voice and any other minor

Trevor:

party that would want to, uh, come on.

Trevor:

So.

Trevor:

I really see, uh, the government and the opposition as a duopoly that really are

Trevor:

tinkering at the edges of major issues and are not significantly different.

Trevor:

Um, particularly on important things like they'll tinker at the

Trevor:

edges about a few million dollars here or a billion dollars there.

Trevor:

Yet both of them are prepared to spend $368 billion on God damn Aus and get us

Trevor:

potentially going to war against China.

Joe:

The, um, vote compass, when you get to the results,

Trevor:

it,

Joe:

it actually tells you of the 30 questions, how each party would

Joe:

vote, and it's amazing how often the LMP and the A LP are aligned,

Trevor:

right?

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So I just see them tinkering at the edges.

Trevor:

Um, particularly the, the LMP, you know, the, the coalition

Trevor:

with just some nonsense.

Trevor:

Proposals, Scott first home buyers deductibility for mortgage

Trevor:

repayments for the next five years.

Trevor:

If you're lucky enough to be the group now who signs up?

Scott:

It's just that it is just gonna amp up the prices of the houses.

Scott:

'cause you know, both, both sides have done that.

Scott:

You know, the, the Labor Party has tripped over themselves to

Scott:

offer 5% deposits to people.

Scott:

All that's going to do is just inflate the prices that people are

Scott:

prepared to pay, which is going to inflate the overall property prices.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

Now this is all right for me because I've, you know, I own

Scott:

three properties, you know?

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

It's just that, um, everybody else is gonna have a shit timer, but that's all.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So as I was looking at the, um, at the oppositions policy page on the various

Trevor:

topics, and essentially what they would be saying is almost like Trump.

Trevor:

Everything, every tweet you read from t Trump still talks, first of all,

Trevor:

complaining about Biden and Obama

Joe:

and what they did mm-hmm.

Joe:

And how these things wouldn't have happened if he'd been in power.

Joe:

Correct?

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

And still, when you read the policy page for, um, for the

Trevor:

opposition, it's the same thing.

Trevor:

Labor has caused.

Trevor:

The housing crisis, labor has caused the cost of living crisis.

Trevor:

Like all this stuff that they start off with and then they just give

Trevor:

some airy fairy response like, we'll fix the cost of living by our energy

Trevor:

policy of, you know, nuclear power.

Trevor:

And you just go for God's sake, you've fuck wits, like the nuclear power

Trevor:

option in Australia is by far the most expensive, isn't gonna be in place.

Trevor:

Even if you tried your best for 20 or 30 years.

Trevor:

And, and that's your cost of living policy amongst others.

Trevor:

It just, it is so full of crap.

Trevor:

Uh, it's, I, I can't bear wading my way through it.

Trevor:

Lord Don, you do it.

Trevor:

I can't do it.

Trevor:

I just drive me nuts.

Trevor:

Um, but on the other hand, when I read the Greens one, I thought there

Trevor:

was some fairly specific things in there, which I really liked.

Trevor:

So

Joe:

has anyone had a look at the, um, Senate parties?

Joe:

Did anyone notice that Frank Jordan is on the, uh, fusion ballot?

Trevor:

I did see somewhere on Facebook that Frank's Butterfly man,

Trevor:

who was appeared on this podcast.

Trevor:

Oh, way back.

Trevor:

Way back in the early days, in the early hundreds, something like that.

Trevor:

So, um, I haven't paid any attention to the Fusion Party.

Trevor:

Is the secular party the

Joe:

plus others?

Joe:

Yes.

Trevor:

The train spotters party and the, I mean the very fast

Trevor:

train party or something like that.

Trevor:

Is that right?

Trevor:

Be

Joe:

trail?

Joe:

Probably.

Joe:

I can't

Trevor:

remember.

Trevor:

Few others like that.

Trevor:

So yeah,

Joe:

I, I did notice that, I mean, he was, um, the legalized cannabis party.

Trevor:

He was,

Joe:

uh, and they aren't part of the fusion, so he's moved off from them.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Joe:

Um, I did also see one of the parties was calling itself in

Joe:

the ballot, um, God, what's the u?

Joe:

Universal Payments?

Joe:

Universal

Scott:

Basic Income,

Joe:

UBI.

Joe:

Mm-hmm.

Joe:

So they were literally, their tagging, the Senate paper is universal basic income.

Trevor:

Right.

Trevor:

No, I hadn't seen that one.

Joe:

Yeah.

Joe:

So I hadn't a look at that.

Joe:

I really couldn't see any policies.

Joe:

I mean, they were kind of, uh, talking about engaging the community more.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

I remember in previous elections, there were parties that sounded

Trevor:

like they were Pro-Health.

Trevor:

Yeah,

Joe:

the anti-vaxxers.

Trevor:

But they were anti-vaxxers, anti fluoride.

Trevor:

But the actual name of the party kind of indicated the opposite.

Trevor:

So, yes, be wary deal listener.

Trevor:

If you just be, don't, don't judge a Senate party by its name.

Trevor:

Um, 'cause you,

Joe:

I, I mean the, the Great Australia party or whatever it is, is as right wing

Joe:

as you'd expect with a name like that.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So I can't

Joe:

remember the exact name.

Joe:

I looked at the par, I looked at the name and went, oh,

Joe:

they sound like right wingers.

Joe:

And then clicked on the link and Yeah.

Joe:

Sure enough.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yep.

Trevor:

Alright.

Trevor:

Um, uh, yeah, Alex in the chat room, l and p looks like they're

Trevor:

trying to intentionally strip young people of their super.

Trevor:

Is that still one of their policies accessing super Yes.

Joe:

Use, uh, access your super to buy your house.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Which just bumps up the price of the houses and Exactly.

Trevor:

Which is great

Joe:

for them because they've got lots of investment properties and

Trevor:

destroys your super.

Joe:

Yeah.

Joe:

For God's sake.

Joe:

But that's a, that's a problem for later.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Joe:

Because they'll all be dead by the time you need to get your super.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

But you know, it's one of those things, I remember super was set

Scott:

up as a way of us walking away from an age pension as a country.

Scott:

Now, if you actually allow people to take out $50,000 and

Scott:

they can buy a house, okay.

Scott:

The reality is that if you own your own place, you can eke out some

Scott:

sort of survival on the age pension.

Scott:

So if everything goes to he in a hand basket and all you've got is the age

Scott:

pension provided you own your own place, you can eke out some sort of survival.

Reporter:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

However, by taking out $50,000 for someone that's 35.

Scott:

You know, that is a very big chunk of their superannuation then, that they're

Scott:

not gonna be having accelerating, they're not gonna be having any accumulation

Scott:

and all that sort of thing over time, which means they're gonna end up with

Scott:

two thirds of bugger all in the super.

Scott:

Yep.

Scott:

So I can, I could sort of understand why some people are saying that it is

Scott:

a problem for later because provided you're own your own place, you can

Scott:

eat e out some sort of survival.

Trevor:

Surely we can aim higher.

Trevor:

I agree.

Trevor:

We, we eking out a, a, a life where you just managed to pay

Trevor:

off your home upon the time.

Trevor:

I agree.

Trevor:

I agree.

Joe:

How heartedly with you?

Joe:

So the, the greens in the state election were saying that they wanted to employ

Joe:

more people in Q build and they wanted to build government property to give people

Joe:

to, to basically increase the number of houses available, um, so that people

Joe:

had relatively cheap places to rent.

Joe:

And, and because there are less people fighting for the, the rentals that's

Joe:

gonna depress the, the investment property prices, which will allow

Joe:

you to buy your own place if you want to, or you can stay renting forever.

Joe:

Uh, and that seems to be the only way, rather than trying to force the price up

Joe:

by doing which shenanigans of, of giving people money so they can buy their first

Joe:

house, is to depress the property market.

Joe:

But of course, given that the average number of houses each MP owns is two

Joe:

point something, wasn't it, they're never gonna do that because they've

Joe:

got their investment properties.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

I suppose now, you know, I think we've, I don't know how the hell we're gonna

Scott:

do it, but I think what we've gotta do is aim for a very long period of

Scott:

stagnant growth in the property market.

Scott:

Correct.

Scott:

You do not want, you do not want the price of properties to fall.

Scott:

If you do that, that depresses the owners and that sort of

Scott:

stuff, they stop spending, which buggers up the whole economy.

Joe:

But do you honestly think we can build houses quickly enough

Joe:

to do anything other than slow down the rate of the increase?

Scott:

I dunno.

Scott:

No.

Scott:

It's one of those things, I'm just not sure of that.

Scott:

I'm just saying what an ideal situation would be is that you have

Scott:

a long period of stagnant growth.

Scott:

But I dunno how the hell we're gonna engineer that.

Scott:

Um, because it'll be a,

Trevor:

it'll be a problem if prices plummet.

Scott:

Absolutely.

Trevor:

Yep.

Trevor:

But it's a problem.

Trevor:

Problem if they keep going higher, higher it, if they

Scott:

keep going higher the way they are, then that is completely unsustainable.

Reporter:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

Now, if we end up, if we end up with a property bubble that bursts at

Scott:

some point in the future, then we're gonna all find ourselves in a world of hurt.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

Well, Scott Boomers are struggling at the moment because they, uh Oh really?

Trevor:

Because their investments have taken a bit of a hit, you know,

Trevor:

the share market as, as, um.

Trevor:

Has, uh, has struggled 'cause of, uh, what Donald Trump's done.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

So, um, I saw a, um, a, a tweet, um, bit of advice, um, to boomers for this.

Trevor:

Uh, dear Boomers, I heard your retirement funds have taken a bit of a hit.

Trevor:

I'd like to offer some advice.

Trevor:

Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

Trevor:

Hard work pays off.

Trevor:

Stop buying so much avocado toast and fancy lattes.

Trevor:

Get an entry level job to get your foot in the door, walk into some

Trevor:

stores and hand them your resume.

Trevor:

Live within your means, cutting out the fancy stuff.

Trevor:

Save every penny.

Trevor:

Put it in a savings account and watch it grow.

Trevor:

Quit wasting money on all those subscription services.

Trevor:

Just walk into your boss's office and ask for a raise, pack a lunch.

Trevor:

You don't need to eat out.

Trevor:

Put $20 a week in a jar.

Trevor:

You'll be surprised how fast it adds up.

Trevor:

Hope this helps.

Trevor:

You are sincerely each following generation that you've fucked over.

Trevor:

Did make me laugh.

Trevor:

Apologies to all the boomers out there.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

I am technically one.

Joe:

Uh, are, are you aware of something called reverse mortgages?

Trevor:

Yes.

Joe:

So, um, mum's boyfriend has a reverse partner, sorry.

Joe:

Mm-hmm.

Joe:

Has a reverse mortgage.

Joe:

Mm-hmm.

Joe:

So he's basically sold his house, but he has a lifetime enjoyment of it.

Joe:

Yep.

Joe:

And, and they gave him the cash to spend.

Joe:

Right.

Joe:

And they are gambling that basically he will die more quickly

Joe:

than the value of the property.

Trevor:

So he got an annuity outta that.

Trevor:

Did he?

Trevor:

Somehow?

Trevor:

Yeah,

Joe:

I believe so.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Right.

Trevor:

Yep.

Trevor:

Okay.

Trevor:

So ba

Joe:

basically when he kicks the bucket, the house is gone.

Joe:

Yep.

Joe:

Um, but he's effectively turned that into, uh, an, uh, an amount

Joe:

of cash that he's living on.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Well, you know, it is an issue with people who are asset rich and income

Trevor:

poor and that's the solution where they don't wanna sell their property.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Um, is to, they can't ordinarily mortgage it 'cause they don't

Trevor:

have an income, so they need a special type of reverse mortgage.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

It's one of those things.

Scott:

I just think to myself that, um, the other thing we've gotta do is we've gotta

Scott:

actually encourage the boomers to sell up their old family homes and that sort of

Scott:

stuff and move into a two bedroom unit.

Scott:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

You know, I just think that we've actually gotta get them outta their homes into

Scott:

a, into a two bedroom unit because that would be a hell of a lot more sensible.

Scott:

Mm. You know, it's one of those things, I just dunno that you're ever gonna

Scott:

be able to move them and all that sort of stuff because they think,

Scott:

oh, I've lived here for 40 years.

Scott:

I've paid it off, it's mine.

Scott:

You know?

Trevor:

Yeah.

Scott:

Which I can fully understand and appreciate, however.

Trevor:

Yep.

Scott:

If you've got people that are at that stage that they wanna start a family.

Scott:

Then they don't wanna live in a two bedroom unit.

Scott:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

They wanna live in a four bedroom house or a three bedroom

Scott:

house or something like that.

Scott:

And you've got boomers that are sitting there in four or five

Scott:

bedroom homes and that sort of stuff.

Scott:

They're certainly empty nesters.

Reporter:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

But they don't wanna move.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

So, I don't know what the answer is there.

Scott:

I just think to myself, well one of the things I have always never

Scott:

understood is if you're going to have an assets test, why the phone?

Scott:

Why are the home is, is exempt from the asset test.

Scott:

You know, culture,

Trevor:

Scott,

Scott:

I know the principle

Trevor:

and place of residence is always exempt from everything.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

I know.

Trevor:

Australian culture.

Scott:

That is, that is one of the things that I think is ridiculous because it

Scott:

wouldn't, you know, it wouldn't take.

Scott:

Current affair very long to find that little old lady who'd been living in

Scott:

since the war and everything else.

Scott:

And you know, she's on a pension, but she's in a several million dollar home.

Reporter:

Mm-hmm.

Reporter:

You know,

Scott:

you know, it's, it's one of those things, it, it's just

Joe:

Well, that's the nest egg for the next generation, isn't it?

Joe:

Well, that's what they say,

Scott:

but I don't think it's

Joe:

you.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So, um, so yeah, so that's, uh, federal election coming up.

Trevor:

Did you want to talk about that, um, Anne Reed's comment, Joe, or not?

Joe:

Uh, I, I think realistically, uh, the only Dixon voter that is involved in

Joe:

the podcast is listening to the podcast.

Joe:

So I dunno how much interest it is.

Trevor:

Right.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Fair enough.

Trevor:

Okay.

Trevor:

Um, look, we should talk about Gaza, um, 'cause we haven't for a while and.

Trevor:

The Israelis are just starving them now.

Trevor:

So, um, I think it's coming up to the 24th of April.

Trevor:

At four days, we, we are getting close to 60 days that no food, water

Trevor:

medicine has entered the country.

Trevor:

The Israelis are just stopping, uh, any of that stuff crossing in.

Trevor:

So they're basically just relying on what stores they had prior to this blockade.

Trevor:

And um, uh, honestly, we are going to be seeing the other image of the Holocaust

Trevor:

of just people who are just a bag of bones, um, who are just starving to death.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

There's now just increased cases of malnutrition.

Trevor:

I mean, it was bad enough looking at these images of just toddlers and

Trevor:

kids, dead or dying limbs blown off.

Trevor:

All sorts of just horrible scenes and now we're going to see them.

Trevor:

Um,

Joe:

and cholera will be coming through sooner.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

Alright.

Trevor:

Probably already there.

Trevor:

Just, it's amazing those people have survived, uh, how they have.

Trevor:

Um, so, uh, it's not an accident like that is the intention

Trevor:

of the Israeli government.

Trevor:

Um, so, uh, Israeli defense minister vowed on the 16th of April that Tel

Trevor:

Aviv will not allow the entry of any humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Trevor:

Um, so they, it's, it's not up for debate as to whether they

Trevor:

are really stopping this or not.

Trevor:

They've declared they're intentionally stopping it.

Reporter:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

And the world just watches on again and, um, and

Trevor:

approves, um, Donald Trump, one of his, um, truth social truths.

Trevor:

Um, said, I've just spoken to Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu

Trevor:

relative to numerous subjects including trade, Iran, et cetera.

Trevor:

The call went very well.

Trevor:

We are on the same side of every issue.

Trevor:

He's not really help

Joe:

gonna fash.

Trevor:

Yep.

Trevor:

He's got his eyes on that.

Trevor:

Um, Riviera of the Middle East in a Trump tower in, um,

Joe:

no, no, no.

Joe:

The, the, the, the, um, Nobel Peace Prize.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

He'll get it for

Joe:

stopping the war.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

So,

Scott:

um, which war is he trying to stop?

Scott:

He's trying to stop.

Scott:

Two of them is,

Joe:

yeah, exactly.

Joe:

Gaza, he's gonna stop by killing all the Palestinians.

Joe:

Mm-hmm.

Joe:

'cause if there's none left, then there won't be any W War.

Reporter:

Mm-hmm.

Joe:

And, and then Ukraine, he's gonna stop by handing it all over to Russia.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

But I don't think he's real impressed with Vladimir Putin lately.

Joe:

Well, it's interesting that Zelensky managed to follow

Joe:

him at the Popes funeral.

Scott:

Yeah.

Joe:

Uh, and I think said you do realize that.

Joe:

Um, Putin is taking you for a ride and, and, and you know, I think the way you get

Joe:

through to him is say, um, Putin's making you look an idiot in front of the world

Joe:

and, and that will really piss Trump off.

Scott:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

It depends whether or not he actually believes Zelensky.

Joe:

I think he's getting the feeling that everyone's laughing at him.

Joe:

Mm. And I think he's very sensitive to that.

Reporter:

Mm.

Trevor:

He thinks he can just bully people and he thinks he can bully

Trevor:

Zelinsky and he can bully Putin and he thinks he can just bully anybody.

Trevor:

He thinks that America's this all powerful creature that can just tell people to

Trevor:

jump and they all will say how high and

Reporter:

mm-hmm.

Scott:

Doesn't

Trevor:

understand that there's a lot of countries now who

Trevor:

don't have to jump anymore.

Scott:

I know that.

Scott:

And it's one of those things like, um, Cameron Lackey, is it

Trevor:

Lackey?

Scott:

Lackey?

Scott:

He said that, um.

Scott:

Indonesia has just joined Bricks, which is our closest neighbor, and

Scott:

also one of the growing economies in the world, and that type of thing.

Scott:

So I just think to myself, well, if we can't, if the Yanks are gonna

Scott:

walk away from us and all that sort of stuff, maybe we should be looking

Scott:

closer to home and that type of thing.

Scott:

I think that we should be at least cozying up to bricks and that sort of stuff,

Scott:

finding out what their price is and, you know, working out whether or not it is

Scott:

something that we could be a part of.

Trevor:

There's, there's no price.

Trevor:

It's just do you want join and trade in your own currencies And, um,

Joe:

well there is a price because we'll be excluded from EU trade and US trade.

Trevor:

So, so it's not that bricks charges a price,

Trevor:

it's just that other Yeah.

Trevor:

Other people outside of bricks might retaliate that be a price

Joe:

You might, yeah.

Joe:

You might not get friendlier deals from, uh, being part of the EU trading block

Joe:

or, uh, US trading block, whichever.

Joe:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

But given our position geographically and what we've got to sell

Trevor:

and what we like to buy makes complete sense for us to join bricks rather

Trevor:

than probably any of the other groups.

Trevor:

Crazy not to.

Trevor:

So, um, it's the future and it's already bigger than the G seven and

Trevor:

is gonna get increasingly bigger.

Trevor:

So yeah, still on Gaza.

Trevor:

We also, uh, since we last spoke, you know, there was that situation

Trevor:

of Israel killing medical workers.

Trevor:

So, um, basically buried the ambulance vehicles with the.

Trevor:

Occupants and

Joe:

accidentally

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

As Caitlyn Johnston said, oh, come on.

Trevor:

Who amongst us has not accidentally massacred 15 medical workers and

Trevor:

buried them and their vehicles in a shallow gray from time to time

Trevor:

we're only human mistakes happen.

Trevor:

And um,

Joe:

I mean the only reason they fast up to it was 'cause there

Joe:

was video of them doing it.

Trevor:

Correct.

Trevor:

When they eventually dug up, uh, when they found the burial site and recovered

Trevor:

the bodies, one of them had a phone that was there on their person and

Trevor:

they were able to recover the video.

Trevor:

And the guy who was filming his death, 'cause he knew it was

Trevor:

coming, said, forgive me mother.

Trevor:

This is the path I chose to help people.

Trevor:

Those were the last words of Refa Wan who filmed his own murder.

Trevor:

So there was just a red crescent convoy aiding wound wounded civilians.

Trevor:

Convoy was clearly marked.

Trevor:

And the bullshit excuses

Joe:

definitely terrorist organization,

Trevor:

the bullshit excuses that the Israeli gave were completely

Trevor:

proved to be false by the actual video that then turned up.

Trevor:

And it's just another example of, um, the craziness of Israel

Trevor:

and what they're prepared to do.

Trevor:

There is nothing that they will not do.

Trevor:

Um, what a, you know, the thing about Israel now as well, of course, is the,

Trevor:

the, the, the people who have been working in Gaza for the Israeli Defense Force

Trevor:

and the stuff they've had to do, they'll come out of this completely insane.

Trevor:

Like, you would not want your son or daughter to get together with

Trevor:

somebody who's been involved with the Israeli Defense Force in Gaza.

Trevor:

They will be.

Trevor:

Terribly scarred and disfigured human beings mentally after

Trevor:

what they've been through.

Joe:

Watched the documentary on the Aza Klu.

Trevor:

On the what?

Joe:

Aza.

Joe:

Klu.

Joe:

They were the death squads that went through Eastern Europe.

Joe:

Right.

Joe:

Shooting Jews, the Nazis, shooting Jews.

Reporter:

Mm-hmm.

Joe:

A And, uh, one of the episodes covered the mental

Joe:

toll it took on the soldiers.

Joe:

And this is why they moved to the gas chambers, was because the death squads,

Joe:

uh, the soldiers were drinking heavily, uh, were suffering serious depression.

Joe:

And the senior officers recognized that if they didn't do something

Joe:

about it, um, that would be a, yeah.

Joe:

Despite the fact that they all believed in what they were doing and that they

Joe:

thought they were doing the right thing, that this was still women

Joe:

and children, they were cheating.

Joe:

Uh, and it, it weighed heavily on them.

Reporter:

Hmm.

Joe:

So, you know, you can be an, a true believer and still

Joe:

just murdering thousands of people eventually gets to you.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So the, the poisoning their own society by what they're

Trevor:

subjecting this generation to, um,

Scott:

and all they're doing is creating the next generation

Scott:

of Muslim fighters too.

Trevor:

Yes.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

Because, you know, no one's gonna be able to live through

Scott:

this and not have lost someone.

Scott:

And if they come out with 10 fingers, 10 toes, and two hands, then

Scott:

they're gonna pick up a rifle and they're gonna point at the Israelis,

Reporter:

you know?

Reporter:

Yeah,

Joe:

yeah.

Joe:

But yeah, the idea is that there's gonna be none left to fight.

Reporter:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Anyway.

Trevor:

Um, well, I

Scott:

can't imagine that they, they're gonna sit still and

Scott:

quiet in the West Bank, though.

Scott:

I imagine they're gonna actually start to rise up before too long.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Anyway, this issue of the medics who were killed, um, was brought up at

Trevor:

a press conference in the States.

Trevor:

I still just don't get this whole concept of these spokespeople who

Trevor:

represent the US government and can off the top of their heads, supposedly

Trevor:

convey what government policy is on every issue that the reporters bring up.

Trevor:

But, uh, anyway, here's an example of that.

Trevor:

I'll play a little bit of this.

Reporter:

Alright?

Reporter:

Yes, sir. Go ahead.

Reporter:

Um, on Gaza, the UN's Humanitarian Affairs office has said that, uh,

Reporter:

15 paramedics civil defense and, uh, a un worker were killed in

Reporter:

their words, one by one by the IDF.

Reporter:

Uh, they have dug bodies up, they said in the shallow grave that had been gathered

Reporter:

up, uh, and also vehicles in the sand.

Reporter:

Um, have you got any, have assessment of what might have happened and given

Reporter:

the potential use of American weapons.

Reporter:

Is there any assessment of, uh, whether or not this complied with international law?

Spokesperson:

Well, I can tell you that, um, for too long, Hamas has

Spokesperson:

a abused civilian infrastructure, cynically using it to shield themselves.

Spokesperson:

Hamas' actions have caused humanitarians to be caught in the crossfire.

Spokesperson:

The use of civilians or civilian objects to shield or impede military

Spokesperson:

operations is itself a violation of international humanitarian law.

Spokesperson:

And of course, we expect all parties on the ground, uh, to comply with

Spokesperson:

international humanitarian law.

Reporter:

This is specifically a question on any, it is, it's a question

Reporter:

about accounting and accountability.

Reporter:

Given it may have been the use of US weapons.

Reporter:

So it's a question about the State Department rather than Hamas.

Reporter:

Um, is there any action to,

Spokesperson:

well, every single thing that is happening in Gaza

Spokesperson:

is happening because of Hamas.

Spokesperson:

Every single dynamic, I'll say again, I, I've said it.

Trevor:

She goes on.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

So, you know, Israel murders, 15 medics varies their bodies,

Trevor:

and it's all Hamas' fault.

Trevor:

The idea that Hamas uses innocent people as shields, there's a problem with

Trevor:

that theory in that it's quite clear that the Israelis just kill everybody.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

They don't, they, I haven't yet seen any footage of them going,

Trevor:

hold on a minute, we can't.

Trevor:

God damn, we can't, we can't, um, bomb that hospital, uh, that shelter,

Trevor:

um, that mosque, that church, that university, because Hamas is using

Trevor:

human shields to protect themselves.

Trevor:

They just bombed anyway.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

If, if there was a row of civilian children walking down the street and

Trevor:

a Hamas fighter, um, hunched over, um.

Trevor:

Following behind them, it's clear this Israeli government would, would get out

Trevor:

a machine gun and would just kill all the kids to get to the Hamas fighter.

Trevor:

'cause that's effectively what they're doing.

Trevor:

So this idea that Hamas uses human shields, they'd be stupid to, because

Trevor:

it doesn't work these colonies

Joe:

well.

Joe:

And the fact that the Israeli government have agreed, have, you know, have, have

Joe:

admitted that they would kill their own citizens rather than let them be hostages.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

Says, well, they think about, um, civilians,

Trevor:

the Hannibal directive.

Joe:

Hmm.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

And then what they're doing is they have been taking Palestinian civilians and

Trevor:

forcing them to walk in front of, uh, Israeli troops as they entered tunnels

Trevor:

and other areas, um, to set off any trip wires or bombs or other things.

Trevor:

So.

Trevor:

They have been using, I think that's a legal

Joe:

under international law, isn't it?

Joe:

Well, well

Trevor:

they've been doing exactly what she's been talking,

Trevor:

accusing Hermas of doing.

Trevor:

And this is not all con, this is not conjecture.

Trevor:

It's all on the record.

Trevor:

So, um, so yeah, that's, that's where we've got to with this.

Trevor:

It's just gonna get obscene with the starvation that's coming.

Trevor:

Um, so, uh, so that was that, um, um, max blooming hole.

Trevor:

Um, you remember, um, remember there was that thing where Trump said that

Trevor:

he could stand on fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and get away with it?

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Reporter:

Max

Trevor:

Leal says Netanyahu could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot a

Trevor:

dozen people and Trump would blame a mass.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

Which I think is what's happening there.

Joe:

Uh, well, wasn't there the um, uh, the Jewish guy in America

Joe:

who shot another Jewish guy.

Joe:

And they both blamed Hamas.

Trevor:

Uh, I don't remember that one, but,

Joe:

uh, there was some ridiculous thing that they, they'd seen each

Joe:

other acting suspiciously and thought that the other one was a

Joe:

Palestinian and one shot the other.

Joe:

Or I, yeah, I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was just stupidity.

Trevor:

Yeah, I mean, when this colonization project, um, was

Trevor:

initially implemented, you didn't have to be Einstein to figure

Trevor:

out it was gonna end in tears.

Trevor:

Um, but in fact, if you were Einstein, you would've wrote a

Trevor:

letter, which he did in 1948.

Trevor:

This is the Einstein, um, condemning the Zionist sort of movement.

Trevor:

And he wrote, when a real and final catastrophe should befall us in

Trevor:

Palestine, the first responsible for it would be the British.

Trevor:

The second responsible for it, the terrorist organizations

Trevor:

built up from our own ranks.

Trevor:

I'm not willing to see anybody associated with those misled and criminal people.

Trevor:

Like he wasn't going to be part of the Zionist movement, but he,

Joe:

so when he says terrorist organization, they were literally blowing

Joe:

up the British Protectorate soldiers.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

So they, so they were terrorists.

Joe:

He wasn't just saying Zionism is terrorism.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

He was saying these particular people are carrying out terrorist attacks.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

In fact, they say that modern terrorism was invented by

Joe:

the Zionists in the forties.

Trevor:

There you go.

Trevor:

So, uh, Einstein, um, could see all that happening and did not

Trevor:

wanna be associated with it.

Trevor:

Mind you.

Trevor:

Some of the things he said, you could be in problem, you know, uh, problem in

Trevor:

terms of, uh, speech laws these days, if you said the sorts of things that

Trevor:

Einstein was saying, um, because he made a distinction between Zionists and Jews

Trevor:

and, uh, various people are trying to tell us today that, um, that that's not

Trevor:

a valid distinction and that people are using those words as a sort of a trickery.

Trevor:

And, um, therefore, you know, if you do say you've got a problem with Zionism,

Trevor:

you're really saying you've got a problem with Jews and therefore, uh, speech that

Trevor:

that purports to criticize Zionism is really antisemitic and must be stopped.

Trevor:

So that's where we've got to.

Trevor:

Ah, okay.

Trevor:

Um, Scott, how are you going for time tonight?

Trevor:

You, are you with us for an hour off?

Scott:

Yeah, I'm off to bed in 15 minutes.

Trevor:

Okay.

Trevor:

So.

Trevor:

The whole, um, tariff saga with Trump.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

Which has kind of happened over the last few weeks.

Trevor:

Um,

Scott:

I did actually admire the way the Chinese stood up to him.

Scott:

Yes.

Scott:

And alone, you know, say again alone.

Scott:

They were the only ones.

Scott:

It's one of those things like

Scott:

you do have to admire them for some things.

Scott:

And this is one thing where they did actually stand on their own two feet.

Scott:

They raised their middle finger eating and said, well, fuck you.

Scott:

Fuck you.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Scott:

You know?

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

And then all those bloody memes and everything that

Scott:

was started in the, in China,

Trevor:

yes.

Trevor:

They

Scott:

were exactly bang on the money with these guys because they're

Scott:

all overweight and everything else.

Scott:

They're having to sit there and work at things that they haven't done in decades.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

They

Trevor:

started using AI to recreate.

Trevor:

Uh, sort of factory floor conditions Yeah.

Trevor:

With mm-hmm.

Trevor:

With fat Americans, sewing things and, um, looking very despondent

Joe:

and working really slowly trying to build iPhones.

Joe:

Yeah.

Joe:

Say again.

Joe:

And trying to build iPhones.

Scott:

Yes, exactly.

Scott:

It's just, I

Trevor:

it was very cleverly done.

Trevor:

Humor often cuts through, doesn't it?

Scott:

It does.

Scott:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Yeah, yeah.

Trevor:

So, um,

Scott:

anyway, I, I did have to admire the way that China has stood up to the

Scott:

Americans, you know, and God knows why, but, you know, Albanese over here, he

Scott:

is just, he's being so limp, wristed towards them and all that sort of stuff.

Scott:

I think we all be, actually, governments are.

Scott:

Yeah, I know.

Scott:

But, um, don't you think that it would be, at this time, rather than

Scott:

talking about making rare earths that Australia's got as part of a deal.

Scott:

To protect Australian and get the tariffs off our stuff over there,

Scott:

we should have actually said, no, those rare earths are over here.

Scott:

They're staying here and if you want 'em, you're gonna come over here, you're

Scott:

gonna pay for 'em, you're gonna pay top market value for 'em and then you

Scott:

can take 'em back to your own country and pollute that for refining them.

Scott:

Isn't there any

Trevor:

number of things we could have said to them?

Trevor:

You want these American Army bases here?

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

You want playing gap.

Trevor:

You want us to continue with Orus?

Trevor:

Like

Scott:

said anything?

Scott:

Anything Ever have actually said that, had they actually said that to him?

Scott:

Well, you know, I don't think, you know, I think we should actually just

Scott:

say to them, I think Jackie Lamby has actually said it, that it's time for them

Scott:

to piss off, out of, out of Pine Gap.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

You know,

Trevor:

it's time.

Trevor:

The part I really liked was um, basically there was a tit for tat exchange of.

Trevor:

Increased tariffs like

Reporter:

Mm.

Trevor:

You know, thirty, sixty, ninety, a hundred and twenty.

Trevor:

And it just was sort of a, a tit for tat process.

Trevor:

And at one point the, uh, the Chinese said that, um, uh, uh, so this was when, um,

Trevor:

China raised the tariffs from 84% to 125%.

Reporter:

Mm. Ones

Trevor:

China, uh, that was the retaliatory tariffs.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

By China imposed on US goods.

Trevor:

Um, they reached 125% and China said, given that there is no possibility of

Trevor:

market acceptance for US goods exported to China under the current tariff level.

Trevor:

125% China will ignore any subsequent tariff increases

Trevor:

by the US on Chinese goods.

Trevor:

So it was like, we're tired of this exchange.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

125% is enough that nobody's ever gonna buy you a shit.

Trevor:

So even if you increase our anymore, we we're done with this issue because

Trevor:

you're, you're already outta the game.

Trevor:

I thought that was a fantastic response by China.

Trevor:

So, um, uh, so yeah, so there was that.

Trevor:

Um, what else was there?

Trevor:

Um, really, you know, historically when you talk about the collapse of Empire

Trevor:

and the, the points that you can look to historically as to when did the Roman

Trevor:

Empire fall, when did the British Empire, when was the transition, et cetera,

Trevor:

and what were the important moments?

Trevor:

You could put this one down as an important moment where.

Trevor:

It became clear to the world that the US is not the economic superpower

Trevor:

bully boy that it used to be.

Trevor:

Mm. And, and its position as top dog was finally demonstrated to have gone.

Trevor:

And this tariff episode demonstrates that historically, like in a hundred, 200,

Trevor:

500 years time, when they're looking back on the fall of the American empire and

Trevor:

key movements, this will be one of them.

Trevor:

Yeah, exactly.

Joe:

I mean, the European Union has a bigger population,

Joe:

it has a bigger economy.

Joe:

If only they acted together rather than individually treating with

Joe:

the Americans, they could cut America out and just ignore them.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Joe:

And And have minimal impact.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Because the Americans have de-industrialized.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

They just offer finance real estate.

Joe:

Insurance.

Joe:

The Americans.

Joe:

The Americans, uh, sorry.

Joe:

The, yeah.

Joe:

The Americans were complaining about, uh, Europeans don't buy American

Joe:

cars, but Americans buy European cars.

Joe:

Yes.

Reporter:

It's

Joe:

because, you know,

Scott:

I would prefer a European made card to an ade car.

Joe:

Well, I, I, I think maybe the EU should just take the tariffs off and

Joe:

go, you've got no terrorists, but the Europeans are still not gonna buy your

Joe:

shit heaps just because they're crap cars, you know, they're oversized,

Joe:

they're not, you know, they, maybe they're cheap, but they're badly

Joe:

billed and they're not economical.

Scott:

Yeah, exactly.

Scott:

They're, they, they're, they're just poor out pollutants and that sort of stuff.

Scott:

They're not,

Joe:

but also fuel efficiency.

Joe:

I mean, Europe has some of the highest fuel taxes in the world.

Reporter:

Mm-hmm.

Joe:

Um, so, you know, I've moved over here.

Joe:

My small car over here is a 1.6 liter.

Joe:

Mm-hmm.

Joe:

Now that's unheard of for a small car in Europe, it'd be a 1.2 at the best,

Joe:

maybe a 1.4 for a performance girl.

Reporter:

Mm-hmm.

Reporter:

Mm.

Joe:

Um, and you know, even a big car, a family car is two to two and a half

Joe:

liters, and over here they're 4, 5, 6.

Joe:

And the same in the States.

Trevor:

When the, uh, when we last spoke on this, um, three weeks ago, um,

Trevor:

I said, I think it'll last four to six weeks, the tariffs before we mm-hmm.

Trevor:

Before he allowed to do a back flip.

Trevor:

And almost the day after our podcast, um, he, he had to do a 90 day pause

Trevor:

for everyone else except the Chinese.

Trevor:

So, um, I don't know how that goes in terms of our prediction.

Trevor:

Um, so, uh, Scott's losing his connection.

Trevor:

We'll keep talking anyway, but, um, uh, what was it saying that, um, so yeah, we,

Trevor:

I predicted four to six weeks and you'd have to do a backflip and it ended up

Trevor:

being about one week and he had to do the backflip for everyone except the Chinese.

Trevor:

And, um, so again.

Trevor:

Trying to get into the mind of Donald Trump requires you to look at his truth,

Trevor:

social truths, and um, uh, on Twitter, I'm following something that basically

Trevor:

reposts his truths, and this was what he said When maintaining the tariffs

Trevor:

against the Chinese, but pausing against everybody else, based on the lack of

Trevor:

respect that China has shown to the world's markets, I am hereby raising

Trevor:

the tariff charge to China by the United States of America to 125% effective.

Trevor:

Immediately.

Trevor:

At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days

Trevor:

of ripping off the USA and other countries is no longer sustainable or acceptable.

Trevor:

Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 countries have

Trevor:

called representatives of the United States, uh, blah, blah, blah, to

Trevor:

negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to trade,

Trevor:

trade barriers, tariffs, et cetera.

Trevor:

These countries have not at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way,

Trevor:

shape or form against the United States.

Trevor:

I have authorized a 90 day pause and a substantially lowered

Trevor:

reciprocal tariff during this period of 10% effective immediately.

Trevor:

Thank you for your attention on this matter.

Trevor:

So, so basically because the Chinese stood up to them, well,

Trevor:

you know, it, it's up to 125.

Trevor:

Everybody else, because you are good little vassals.

Trevor:

Um, we'll pause the big tariffs and we'll just put you on a temporary 10% tariff.

Trevor:

Um, so

Joe:

that it's like Oprah running around going, you've got 10%.

Joe:

You've got 10%.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

So, uh, so that's the nature of how they're treating people and, um.

Trevor:

Uh, here's Besant.

Trevor:

Who's Besant?

Trevor:

Joe?

Trevor:

Um, Scott Bessant.

Trevor:

He's one of, um, uh, what's his official?

Trevor:

He's

Scott:

the US Secretary of, um, trade, isn't he?

Trevor:

Uh, let me just see if I can get his, something like that.

Trevor:

Treasury Secretary.

Scott:

Treasury Secretary.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So, um, so let's, let's see how he describes Trump's actions and.

Trevor:

How the world has responded.

Bessen:

This was driven by the president's strategy.

Bessen:

He and I had a long talk on Sunday, and this was his strategy all along.

Bessen:

And that, you know, you might even say that he goaded China into a bad position.

Bessen:

They, they responded, they have shown themselves to the world to be the bad

Bessen:

actors, and we are willing to cooperate with our allies and with our trading

Bessen:

partners who did not retaliate it.

Bessen:

It wasn't a hard message.

Trevor:

Yeah, and here's another one.

Trevor:

Same guy in terms

Bessen:

of escalation.

Bessen:

Unfortunately, the biggest defender in the global trading system is

Bessen:

China, and they're, they're the only country who's escalated.

Bessen:

And I can tell the rest of the world that.

Bessen:

I, I'm not sure whether it was the Prime Minister, the economic minister

Bessen:

in Spain made some comments this morning, oh, well maybe we should

Bessen:

align ourselves more with China.

Bessen:

That would be cutting your own throat.

Bessen:

Because I can tell you that these Chinese exports, that the US tariff wall is gonna

Bessen:

keep out, that China for all, all of you who can remember that Disney movie

Bessen:

of the brooms carrying the buckets of water that is a Chinese business model.

Bessen:

It never stops.

Bessen:

They just keep producing and producing and dumping and

Bessen:

dumping and it's going somewhere.

Bessen:

And, you know, I think, uh, Rob, at the end of the day, that we can probably

Bessen:

reach the ideal with, with our allies, with the other countries that have been

Bessen:

long term, they've been good military allies, not perfect economic allies.

Bessen:

And then we,

Trevor:

so we can approach China as a group.

Trevor:

So.

Trevor:

The strategy is that you all westerners out there and us will

Trevor:

gather together and we will work together against China is the strategy.

Trevor:

And he claims that Trump's mastermind stroke was to go

Trevor:

to China into retaliating.

Joe:

Sure.

Joe:

Jan.

Trevor:

It's just all well in times that we live in the shit, these

Trevor:

people talk that we're supposed to just believe is phenomenal.

Trevor:

So yeah.

Joe:

Have you seen the North Korean News Agency?

Trevor:

I thought you were gonna say North Korean soldiers in Ukraine.

Trevor:

No, no, no.

Joe:

Have, have, have, uh, quoted the North Korean leadership as

Joe:

saying that the, uh, withdrawal of, um, Ukraine from the KIS region.

Joe:

Is a, uh, a sign of how North Korean troops working with the Russian

Joe:

Army have been very successful.

Joe:

Ah, been a sign.

Joe:

So this is the

Trevor:

new North Korean government.

Joe:

North Korean government have agreed to have admitted that

Joe:

North Korean troops were in Kiers.

Joe:

No, I hadn't

Trevor:

seen this.

Trevor:

I can send me that.

Trevor:

I'd like to see that.

Joe:

This is Reuters who, uh, um, yeah.

Trevor:

So I'd like to see who they say where that came from, Joe in your,

Trevor:

at your leisure, Joe at another time.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

Or whatever.

Trevor:

So, um, that's interesting.

Trevor:

Um, speaking of, of North Korea.

Joe:

Yes.

Trevor:

You know, we, we ma we mock them for their sycophantic,

Trevor:

sort of adulation of the dear leader and how wonderful he is.

Trevor:

You know, I. Fa golf and scores, six holes in one in a

Trevor:

single round and, and just, and

Joe:

doesn't go to the toilet ever.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

And just what, you know, and we laugh about stupid North Koreans, you

Trevor:

know, dominated by their propaganda, how pathetic to, to kneel and bow

Trevor:

to your dear leader like that.

Trevor:

Meanwhile, uh, in Trump's cabinet, this is the sort of stuff that

Trevor:

goes on as they discuss stuff,

Sycophant:

sir.

Sycophant:

First we are, I would say, more than friends.

Sycophant:

We've all become family.

Sycophant:

And, uh, I think that what you have assembled in your vision is

Sycophant:

a turning point in an inflection point in American history.

Sycophant:

And so just being a part of that is the greatest honor.

Sycophant:

So thank you for that.

Sycophant:

And, and again, just the, the relationships here and the honor and

Sycophant:

respect we have for each other is a reflection of you and your, oh,

Trevor:

well that seemed to be cut short, was that right?

Trevor:

No, that's done.

Trevor:

So, um.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

Surrounding himself as

Joe:

sick.

Joe:

He loves Yes.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

Everybody in that room as they were giving their presentations started off with,

Joe:

well, 'cause they've all seen what happened in his last

Joe:

term to people who weren't oph.

Joe:

Fantic.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

It's, it's almost like, who was that dictator in, uh, Iraq.

Trevor:

Um, in Iraq or whatever it was.

Trevor:

And people would have to say all these wonderfully, it's like, it's, yeah.

Trevor:

It's like you don't wanna be the last person, you don't wanna be the

Trevor:

first person to stop clapping mm-hmm.

Trevor:

In one of those things.

Trevor:

Otherwise you're gonna be called out.

Joe:

Mean, you, you mean the, where, um, Saddam takes over

Joe:

the bath party leadership?

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

And he basically takes a whole, he, he gets people denouncing each other.

Joe:

A and the, the desk squads are coming in to take them out and shoot them.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

That'll be next.

Trevor:

Um, at the rate that they're going at, uh, in America.

Trevor:

So, um, so yeah.

Trevor:

Um.

Trevor:

That was that in terms of North Korean analogy.

Trevor:

So one of the things about this was Trump claimed that China had reached out and

Trevor:

was trying to negotiate, and the Chinese came, uh, and officially said, bullshit.

Trevor:

Nobody, nobody is, uh, is reaching out to this government to try

Trevor:

and negotiate stuff nobody has.

Trevor:

And, uh, let me just find the exact quote here.

Trevor:

So, um, uh, let me just find it somewhere.

Trevor:

Um.

Trevor:

China and the

Scott:

US are not having any consultation or negotiation on tariffs, the US

Scott:

should stop creating confusion.

Scott:

The Chinese embassy in Washington wrote on social media.

Scott:

Is that the quote you're looking for?

Scott:

That's, thank

Trevor:

you, Scott.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

And no worries.

Trevor:

And then Trump just insists that, oh, no, no.

Trevor:

We're, we're talking to them.

Trevor:

But the, the embassy is saying we are not talking.

Trevor:

We're not talking to it.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

But this is the sort of shit, and he gets questioned by a reporter here about it.

Trump:

A question on China, can you clarify with whom the US is speaking

Reporter:

with China?

Reporter:

They're saying it's big news that trade talks are happening.

Trump:

Well, they had a meeting this morning, so who, I can't tell

Trump:

you it doesn't matter who they is.

Trump:

Uh, we may reveal it later, but they had meetings this morning and

Trump:

we've been meeting with China and, uh, so I think you have Jeff, as

Trump:

usual, I think you have your report.

Trevor:

Actually he's got, he is reporting perfectly correct.

Trevor:

It's just bullshit.

Trevor:

And um, and what was the other one here?

Trevor:

I had of course, um, just on this general theme of people ringing

Trevor:

Trump to try and negotiate a deal.

Trevor:

Uh, this is what he had to say in the

Trump:

history of our country.

Trump:

And don't let some of these politicians go around, say, you know, 'cause

Trump:

I'm telling you, these countries are calling us up kissing my ass.

Trump:

They are, they are dying to make a deal.

Trump:

Please, please make a deal.

Trump:

I'll do anything.

Trump:

I'll do anything sir. And then I'll see some rebel Republican, you know, some guy

Trump:

that wants to grandstand say, I think that Congress should take over negotiations.

Trump:

Let me tell you, you don't negotiate.

Joe:

No.

Joe:

They actually get stuff done.

Trevor:

It's just not only pathetic, it's just so ugly.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

Why would we wanna associate.

Trevor:

With dickhead like that.

Joe:

Remember, this is the man who managed to bankrupt three casinos.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

That's how good of a negotiator he is.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

He's just a, we, we want this sort of person, this sort

Trevor:

of country as our friend.

Trevor:

No, we don't.

Trevor:

And they go, well, let's just Trump, you know, next election

Trevor:

it'll be somebody else.

Trevor:

You can still trust us, but you generated this asshole.

Joe:

Exactly.

Trevor:

And you'll generate another one just like him.

Joe:

Trump is merely a symptom.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

Trump is not the problem.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

The problem is the American people.

Trevor:

Yes.

Joe:

Or the American news, the American system, whatever.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

It's just been totally bastardized.

Trevor:

And this is the crazy town clown car that they've ended up with.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

We are not there.

Trevor:

We are looking on, we've got all the information that makes

Trevor:

it perfectly clear to us.

Trevor:

That associating or relying on these idiots would, would be, um,

Scott:

a bloody disaster.

Trevor:

A disaster.

Trevor:

And, and just embarrassing to just subject yourselves to these bullies

Trevor:

who think they can walk around and, and gloat that everybody's kissing my ass

Trevor:

and they're coming up to me, oh, please, please, sir, can you do a deal for me?

Trevor:

And the people in the room were all laughing, Ugh, ugh,

Trevor:

ugly Americans,

Scott:

I'm done with them.

Scott:

I don't blame you.

Scott:

It is one of those things, like me and Brian are talking about where

Scott:

we're gonna head to next, and I said, I'd like to go to Canada.

Scott:

I said, but I do not wanna set foot on American soil.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

And he agreed with me.

Scott:

He said, you know, he, 'cause he actually told me that story about that

Scott:

Australian woman that was coming via.

Scott:

Hong Kong, and she was questioned by the American border guards

Scott:

and everything like that.

Scott:

Well, why'd you come via China?

Reporter:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

And she said, well, I came over here on premium economy.

Scott:

They had the lowest price.

Scott:

So that's why they came, that's why she came, flew over there

Scott:

via, um, Hong Kong and they turned around and sent her back home.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

And there was a German backpackers who, um, who arrived in Hawaii and hadn't

Trevor:

pre-booked their accommodation or enough of it, and, um, and found themselves in

Trevor:

one of these detention centers and, um, you know, strip searched and thrown in a

Trevor:

cell with all sorts of hardened criminals.

Reporter:

Mm.

Trevor:

Um, this is how they're treating their friends as if a German is going

Trevor:

to needs decay to America as and, and claim asylum or something and stuff.

Joe:

It's, it's,

Trevor:

it's start abusing their social, their wonderful social security system.

Joe:

It's the same as over here.

Joe:

The, the.

Joe:

Vast majority of illegal aliens over here are Yes.

Joe:

Poms y. Yes.

Joe:

And it's gonna be the same in America.

Joe:

It's gonna be white skinned people who are the majority of illegal immigrants.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

But honestly, a couple of German pack pack packers.

Trevor:

Honestly, no.

Joe:

I mean, they're probably on their holidays, but

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

So no last place I would want to go to, so

Joe:

no, I wouldn't go to America at the moment.

Joe:

Apparently they're demanding phones and, and, um, computers and whatever.

Joe:

Yes.

Joe:

And then going through your social media to see if he posted

Joe:

anything negative about Trump.

Scott:

Yes.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

See, I'd be screwed.

Scott:

Yeah, exactly.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

You know, because I've, I've posted a lot of negative stuff about that bastard.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

If you, you wanna be careful, Scott, if, if you do get a flight to Canada and

Trevor:

it passes over American territory and something happens where the plane has to

Trevor:

take an emergency landing in the States.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

Well, I would, you should start worrying.

Scott:

I would actually have to worry then, because I just think to

Scott:

myself, I'd end up being locked up.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Scott:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

You know, it's,

Joe:

they, they haven't come for the gaze yet.

Scott:

No.

Scott:

But they are going to, you know, it's just, it's like I said a few years

Scott:

ago, I said, you know, America's two or three bad decisions away from

Scott:

becoming the Republic of Gilead.

Reporter:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

They're getting closer all the time.

Trevor:

Mm-hmm.

Trevor:

Actually, I did have a clip, maybe I didn't put it in, but, uh, where he

Trevor:

talks about religious leaders and, uh, how he keeps, they keep there.

Trevor:

I'll, I'll bring that up for next time.

Trevor:

Hey, that's probably enough for us.

Trevor:

Uh, 8 38.

Trevor:

You've gotta go to bed.

Trevor:

I've gotta get stuff done.

Trevor:

Joe's gotta work as well, so.

Trevor:

Uh, in the chat room.

Trevor:

Good on you there for your comments.

Trevor:

Thank you for that.

Trevor:

Essential, Lord, Dawn, you should know that you are our dear leader, Trevor.

Trevor:

Well, I don't get enough, uh, sycophantic, uh, you know, sort of praise Lord, Dawn.

Trevor:

So, and, uh, Alex says, travel with a burner phone and an empty laptop.

Joe:

Uh, so I think we might have mentioned it last time.

Joe:

The European Union has now, um, is issuing burner phones to all

Joe:

of their, uh, employees who are traveling to the, the United States

Joe:

on a, any form of diplomatic.

Joe:

Um,

Trevor:

is that right?

Trevor:

Yeah.

Joe:

Wow.

Trevor:

Wow.

Trevor:

Hmm.

Trevor:

Okay.

Trevor:

Right, Scott.

Trevor:

Very good.

Trevor:

Are you around next week?

Trevor:

Uh,

Scott:

yeah, I'm around next week.

Scott:

I just wanted to.

Scott:

Alex up on something.

Scott:

Alex, the stamp duty that was removed in Queensland was on

Scott:

the stamp duty on um, chairs.

Scott:

We still actually have to pay stamp duty on our housing

Scott:

when we sell, when we buy it.

Scott:

Was

Joe:

there something for first time buyers though?

Scott:

I couldn't tell you about that.

Scott:

It's been a very long time since I was a first time buyer.

Joe:

Well, exactly.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

Mm-hmm.

Joe:

Sing John.

Joe:

Remember there was something about first time buyers.

Trevor:

Yeah.

Trevor:

John says, and one beer for me, Trev.

Trevor:

Well, oh yeah, because

Scott:

the, um, I imagine he's asking for his beer after the, um,

Scott:

north Koreans were exposed in kis.

Trevor:

Yes.

Trevor:

I've, I've learned over time to be.

Trevor:

I wanna check the sauce first John.

Trevor:

See how we go.

Trevor:

Alright, we'll be back next week.

Trevor:

Talk to you then.

Trevor:

Bye for now.

Scott:

And it's a good night from him

Joe:

and it's a good night from him.

Scott:

Ah, sorry.

Scott:

It's a good night from me.

Scott:

We'll do that again, shall we?

Scott:

And it's a good night from me.

Joe:

It's a good night for him.

Scott:

Good night.

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