See no evil.
Money talks unfortunately and how often have we seen before where a person, entity or nation for that matter is behaving appallingly badly, denying everything and but being allowed to continue because of trade maybe, jobs maybe or sadly maybe downright corruption.
Just like kids sometimes, if bad behaviour is overlooked with no consequences more bad behavior can follow. This is not a new story but has broken into mainstream headlines lately. The United Nations believes there is creditable evidence that China has and is detaining a million ethnic Uighurs in a secret detainment camp or camps. We’ve seen this kind of thing before, haven’t we? We’ve ignored this kind of thing before, too haven’t we? How did it end? Horror is the only word I can find.
Journalism can be a dangerous profession. It’s bad enough that my colleagues are killed and maimed covering conflict zones but to be allegedly murdered by one’s own state in one’s own consulate. I’ve read reports that the Turkish authorities have audio and visual evidence that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Arabian consulate. This stacks up as bad as or worse than the Russian nerve agent poisoning in the UK. The U.S. has a lot of influence with Saudi Arabia. Is the government going to step up to the plate and protest and maybe more or will it hang back because it’s worried about U.S. jobs and contracts? This is one of the times where true leaders can show their worth.
It’s storm season. We shouldn’t be surprised at seeing them. What is surprising though is the ferocity and strength of them as we’ve seen in the U.S., Japan, UK and more recently India. Blame what you will. They are a fact and hundreds of thousands, even millions of people are affected. I expect worse to come as the seas and oceans continue to warm. One can’t stop the storms, but authorities can define vulnerable areas and maybe start burying power cables and changing codes so that outlets and switches are halfway up the wall instead of above the baseboard both measures might be a useful start.
Is the stock market bull run coming to an end? There’s been a pretty serious correction. Will it continue? Do you feel lucky? I’ve thought that stocks have been over valued for some time. I believe many stocks are trading at 16, even 17 times earnings. That’s OK I guess if a corporation’s balance sheet reflects a decent amount of assets. But with many smaller companies selling for three times earnings or less I can’t help but wonder what would happen if some of these corporations came onto Dragon’s Den with their valuations. The fear this time is generated by rising interest rates, rising bond rates and, get this, worries about China, such as the trade war, and maybe a declining Chinese economy and companies with commitments to and in China. I’ve been warning about that for years. Oil prices are likely to fall too folks.
The Mueller investigation has been somewhat out of the news what with the nastiness over the U.S. Supreme Court nomination. Have the Republicans traded a court seat for control over one or both houses? We’ll have to see. Advance voting in some states for the mid-term elections has already begun. Back to Mueller, I’ve read that lawyers for the investigation and for President Trump are negotiating over written questions to be posed to the President. I did think Mueller’s report may be issued before the mid-term elections. Now I’m not so sure.