Geopolitical Compass #28
In Australia, your money is yours.... until the government needs it for something.
TLDR:
Australian government will decide where its citizens retirement savings are directed.
Coal demand will continue to rise regardless of actions from the West.
Nuclear energy must be stopped.
Apparently it was always your choice whether to inject yourself with a medical experiment.
Ukrainian corruption, same-same.
Australia
Inevitably, any honey pot that grows large enough will be too attractive for governments to resist sticking their fingers into.
The socialist Labor federal government in Australia is proposing changes to the nations mandatory superannuation retirement scheme.
Labor has been vocal in its desire to harness the $3.5 trillion in super savings to invest in nation-building projects such as affordable housing, energy infrastructure and defence facilities.
Although this element is not incorporated into the wording of the objective, explanatory material accompanying the draft says super is an increasingly important source of capital in the economy.
So in the years ahead, expect the government to change the rules of what Australian’s are allowed to invest their savings into. You want to invest in a stock market index? “Sorry, we really need more social housing and can’t afford to pay for it ourselves, so we’ll mandate 30% if your savings have to be directed to government approved housing projects.”
The decision not to index the $3 million cap is also raising eyebrows. Although the other caps will mitigate against very large balances in the future, for those entering the workforce today it’s estimated about 500,000 super balances will eventually breach the cap – about one-third of these super fund members are now under 30.
So, today’s 80,000 is set to grow exponentially. The reality for today’s 30-year-old is that a $3 million cap will be worth about $1 million when they leave the workforce.
They are also not going to index the new cap after which more taxes will apply. So as they inflate the currency, devaluing the money and balances of accounts and push them toward the unmoving cap - they get to take more tax as a bonus for devaluing your money.
Of all these unintended consequences, unrealised capital gains heads the list. Aside from the potential to create cash flow issues for the fund, the inclusion of unrealised capital gains in the calculation of earnings could see these gains subject to double taxation – once as part of the annual taxation of earnings on the proportion of the member’s balance that exceeds $3 million and again when the asset is sold.
To add insult to financial injury, the government is also going to apply tax to unrealised gains. So if the shares, property or other assets you hold inside the retirement account increase in value beyond a certain point, even though you haven’t sold - you’ll owe taxes on the increase in value.
What happens to those who can’t afford to pay a tax on a gain they haven’t actually made yet?
Not the governments problem, just pay your taxes!
This is what happens when socialist governments gain power and an apathetic populace allow themselves to be pushed around - the increasing state of the formerly once great country down under.
Coal
China has been approving new coal generation capacity at a breakneck speed since the start of last year. The total approved to date stands at 152 GW, which Bloomberg notes is more than the total coal generation capacity in Europe currently in operation.
So the virtue signallers can close down every coal energy plant in Europe, and demand for coal will still rise. Yet coal companies are still being priced as though they’ll go out of business in five years. Asymmetry is a wonderful thing.
EUSSR
The hollowing out of European industry can and will continue. The current Ukraine iteration is just that.
European Signal
With the amount of content we’re inundated with on a daily basis, it’s often important to take a broader view.
Here is the former French Ambassador to Washington in none other than The Telegraph this week:
We Europeans are still convinced of the centrality of our small continent not only to the history of mankind but to shaping the world today. We lecture everyone else based on values that we firmly believe are universal. We think of ourselves as noble, powerful and well intentioned.
But the period of true European power was really just a historical blip.
Indeed, when I served as France’s ambassador to Washington, I noticed the extent to which our supposed heirs viewed us instead with a mixture of indifference, fatigue and neglect. We were the old aunt whose rambling utterances were more or less gently ignored.
There is nothing new or not blatantly obvious in this man’s statements. You’ve heard it all before in many places, let alone here at NWP. It’s blatantly obvious to everyone except arrogant European elite and bureaucrats.
The real questions to ask is; why am I seeing this and why am I seeing it now?
Government
If there’s one thing government bureaucrats are good at, it’s pivoting and shifting the blame.
They’re now trying to convince us it was everyone’s own personal choice whether or not to get vaccinated with the clot shot.
“Oh it’s your choice, but if you don’t inject this stuff into your arm every six months, you’ll lose your job, your kids won’t go to school, you won’t be allowed to shop for food or leave your house. But it’s tOTalLy 100% your choice.”
Why the frantic race to reshape the historical narrative? Because they know there’s a flood of adverse medical conditions already occurring, it’s starting to become mnore obvious to all and harder to hide, rising deaths are only a matter of time and a deluge of lawsuits will be incoming, not to mention anger toward these leaders as they all attempt to shuffle off into cushy private industry, speaking circuit and think tank positions.
Nuclear Threat
No it’s not what you think. I’m not talking about fabricating a Russian threat. I’m also not talking about three eyed fish or Chernobyl-like incidents.
The threat imposed by nuclear energy is that it provides cheap, safe and reliable energy, and LOTS of it. A direct threat to the renewable energy boondoggle and those feeding at the trough of government (your taxes) subsidies.
But don’t take my word for it, the Queensland Energy Minister is saying the quiet part out loud:
“the threat of nuclear power is a moratorium on your industry, your goals & your plans”
Why would nuclear energy put the renewables industry under threat if windmills and solar panels are such the wunderwaffen solution to energy they’re claiming them to be? Hmmmmm.
Ukraine
So apparently the tens of billions in funds pouring into Ukraine have been siphoned off by government officials. Wow, I’m shocked!
Late last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky removed Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov from his post, citing the need for "new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society in general". Zelensky said that Reznikov would be replaced with Umerov, whose candidacy was okayed by Ukrainian lawmakers on Wednesday.
Why would the Ukrainian military needs new approaches and a new defence minister put in place when they’re just winning so much?!
But don’t worry too much about Reznikov, as per the policies of the EUSSR that Ukraine so desperately wishes to emulate, regime loyalists are always rewarded, regardless of gross negligence or corruption.
Oleksii Reznikov may be appointed Ukraine's ambassador to the UK after resigning as Defence Minister amid scandals over public procurement for the army, but no official announcement has been made.
What’s just one more corrupt Ukrainian running around the streets of London going to matter?
At any rate, one corrupt bureaucrat is out, replaced by….. checks notes….. another corrupt bureaucrat. 🤦🏼♂️
Meet the old boss, same as the new. Understand this is nothing controversial, the entire Ukrainian regime in Kiev is corrupt, from the Cocaine Dwarf with his mansions around the world all the way down to the military recruiters who get a few thousand for looking the other way.
So what if the new guy is corrupt as well? It’s not as though the West is sending hundreds of billions worth of money and weapons into the Ukrainian abyss right?
Corruption has little to do with it, but as Ukraine’s military efforts continue to fail, someone had to take the blame and the Dwarf wasn’t going to fall on his sword. You also can’t fire the General in charge if your narrative is that the war effort is going so well.
At any rate, I give the new guy twelve months if he’s lucky before he too will be sacrificed. But don’t worry, that’s plenty of time to organise himself funds for Swiss chalets and superyachts.