Date: 2025-08-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00028884
COMMENTARY FROM TPB
ORIGINATED DURING 2025
Massive changes are taking place ...
Donald Trump's leadership is failing!
ORIGINATED DURING 2025
Massive changes are taking place ...
Donald Trump's leadership is failing!
Thoughts on the thinking of the rich and powerful ...
and the damage they have done, are doing, and will do!
I was lucky enough to get a very good education ... a lot better than most. I was able to get a very strong technical foundation thanks to the Cambridge University Engineering Department as well as a good working understanding of economics and society in the Economics Department. I made the choice to broaden my education rather than deepen my education. I had become concerned that higher education was becoming more and more specialised and less and less relevant with respect to most of the world's issues.
After graduating and leaving Cambridge I participated in some industrial management training and articled to qualify as a Chartered Accountant. I have made practical use of this education and training now for more than 60 years.
During this time the world has changed a lot. Few people seem to understand the nature of the changes and seem to be stuck in the past. Another group od people understand how the world works and have exploited this to their benefit. This has resulted in what is sometimes referred to as a New Golden Age of super-wealth ... an era of inequality more extreme than anthing seen before.
Trump ... Putin ... Musk ... Thiel and other hyper rich and powerful people are bad for the world. Hopefully these people have over-played their hand ... and it will be possible for all the world's population to share the wealth in a far fairer way.
My father gave a speach in 1948 when I was 8 years old. The title was 'The Good Old Days'. The theme of his talk was that the modern world ... even in the dark days of post war Britian in 1948 ... was far better for most people than at any time in history. May decades later, my experience confirms this reality in spite a huge amount of greed and wasted effort that gets in the way.
I find it interesting that German and Japan ... losers back in 1945 at the end of WWII ... are now prosperous and able to be positive factors in the modern world.
Peter Burgess
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY ... July 19th 2025
Remembering an incident in the Cote d'Ivoire
Many years ago, when I was the CFO of Continental Seafoods ... an American company operationg commercial fishing vessels in about 20 countries around the world ... our British management team in the Cote d'Ivoire were invited to a reception at the British Embassy. I was in Abidjan at the time, and was included in the invitation.
It turned out that Prince Charles was visiting ... and a few 'Brits' were needed for an Embassy reception. It was an interesting event, and I was impressed by the Prince!
I had been a 'fan' of Prince Charles for a very long time. Frankly, I was impressed by his judgement in the face of a lot of difficult 'push back'.
I cannot say the same for Princess Diana. The issues Prince Charles cared about had substance. The same really cannot be said for Princess Diana.
Peter Burgess
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY ... July 10th 2025
CANADA ... CROSS BORDER TRADE
Trump FURIOUS as Canadians Quietly Withdrew Billions from U.S. Stores
See txt00028848
I migrated to North America with my new wife in early 1967 ... initially moving from London to Montreal to Vancouver in Canada, and subsequently to Texas in the USA.
In my first job, I earned more in 2 months than I had been earning in a year in the UK. I was an 'economic' migrant.
But that was almost 60 years ago, and in many ways the US economy has stagnated during the past several decades since the 1960s.
I tend not to agree with most of the economic and social analysis of US performance over the past 80 years since the end of WWII. Most of the analysis seems to be way too simplistic.
For 20 years or so aftet the end of WWII, the United States dominated the global economy. The rest of the world was 'recovering' after the destruction of the war while the USA simply converted military production to civilian production to satisfy world demand.
By the late 1960s the USA was losing some of its competitive edge. Specifically, the US was using energy ... mainly petroleum energy ... in a much less efficient way than the rest of the world. 'Gas guzzling' American automobiles were the norm and the price of gas 'at the pump' was less than 20 cents a gallon. Around that time in Europe the price of gas at the pump included a substantial tax and was at least twice as much.
But things got far worse in 1973 when OPEC ... the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ... got organizaed and imposed an embargo on crude oil exports from their member countries at the old prices. The wholesale price of crude oil rapidly moved from around $3.50 a barrel to $13,00 a barrel. Within a year this price had sisen to around $35,00 a barrel.
This was an economic disaster for the 'gas-guzzling' USA,
But the economics of 2025 are different from those that existed a decade ago ... and especially four decades ago. Most countries are not tied to the USA the way they were in the past ... both the distant past and indeed the quite recent past.
And especially Canada!
Peter Burgess