The John Batchelor Show

Tuesday 18 August 2020

Air Date: 
August 18, 2020

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 1, Block A:   Brett Arends @BrettArends, @Marketwatch, MarketWatch ROI, in re:  “Investors predict ‘Dow 50,000’ ”—i.e., the average person expects the stock market to generate sky-high returns of 15.4% a year over the next five years.   Market collapse—but no worry, trees will grow to Heaven. Fed & Treasury pumping unimaginable amounts of money into the economy; massive deficit; confecting money out of thin air. When there’s a fed deficit, corporate profits boom; e.g., Amazon. March was the fasted crash ever recorded, then the fastest rebound ever recorded.   Economic necrosis: shops closed. 
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 1, Block B:    Bill Whalen @Hooverwhalen, Pacific Watch, Area 45 blog, Forbes, & recovering speech-writer, in re: Joe Biden’s empathy.   https://www.forbes.com/sites/billwhalen/2020/08/16/will-a-new-biden-emerge-this-week/#5a1c1419311b  . . .  Biden repeatedly reverts to his habit, from college on, of plagiarizing.
     Kinnock: “Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Why is Glenys (his wife) the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Was it because all our predecessors were thick?”
     Biden: “[W]hy is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? Why is it that my wife . . . is the first in her family ever to go to college? Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? Is it because I’m the first Biden in a thousand generations to get a college and a graduate degree that I was smarter than the r est?
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 1, Block C:   Joseph Sternberg @josephsternberg, @WSJOpinion, WSJ editorial board; in London; in re: What is a system designed to do? In a democracy, someone will always be disappointed.  Parliamentary system works differently from the US: no one ever really wins or loses; they jostle around.  Will a new Biden emerge this week? Biden says he can get all kinds of people to work together, will be a sort of prime minister.  Neville Chamberlain said the same thing of himself.   Compromise has to be about something—taking steps toward some goal; not clear with Biden.    Have to be prepared to tell some people that they won't get what they want at the end of the day. Not clear about Biden. He’s been overwhelmed by [some branches of the party].   In an executive system, such as the American, decisions have to be made; the buck stops at the Oval Office.  In giving AOC sixty seconds, she’ll be listened to closely; a launch for the presidency in 2028.
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 1, Block D:   Joseph Sternberg @josephsternberg, @WSJOpinion, WSJ editorial board; in London; in re: Life in virus time.  Discouraging employees from taking public transport. How to get to work?  Grading down the A Levels—to a very upset public.
 
Hour Two
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 2, Block A:  Liz Peek @LizPeek, Fox Business & TheHill, in re:  recently people had enormous amounts of cash on the sidelines; but the economy is bouncing back quickly.  The decline in flu cases seems to have been going on for weeks. If no reversal, the virus impact on the economy and sentiment may has peaked.  Sales up; hiring increasing.  Overarching: consumers are feeling pretty good; net worth is spiking—home prices spiking; market good. These lead the economy by two quarters. Greg Ip: It's not a V-shaped recovery, but it does look like a U.  https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-s-p-500-sets-first-record-since-february-erasing-its-coronavirus-plunge-11597781130?mod=hp_lead_pos1
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 2, Block B:  Liz Peek  @LizPeek, Fox Business & TheHill, in re: The virtual convention of the Democrats: what policies of the two policies, especially about growth.   Democrats didn't much speak of growth.  Zero on creating jobs.  Had four quasi-Republicans speak; one said, “Joe Biden has a plan for the economy.” Really—what?  Fifty-six per cent of Biden voters say they're merely voting against Trump.   https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-to-nominate-joe-biden-bill-clinton-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-to-speak-11597777946?mod=hp_lead_pos5
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 2, Block C:  New World Report. Joseph Humire @jmhumire, @securefreesoc, and Senator Maria Fernanda Cabal @MariaFdaCabal, in re:  Troubles in Venezuela.  Western Hemisphere strategic framework. Five pillars.
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 2, Block D:  New World Report. Joseph Humire @jmhumire, @securefreesoc, and Senator Maria Fernanda Cabal @MariaFdaCabal, in re: Troubles in Colombia.  Breaking news: former President Uribe under house detention by courts for “corruption” and obstruction of justice.    Surprise for the populace.  Current president Duque .  .  . All tragic. Was about to be a Venezuela, but was turned around.   Now—FARC members in congress!
 
Hour Three
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 3, Block A:  Andrew C McCarthy @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion,  and Thaddeus McCotter @ThadMcCotter, American Greatness; in re:   Allocution in the law: must be knowing and willful. Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, defendant whom the govt hopes to use as a cooperating witness.  “Kevin deeply regrets having altered the email.” Who told him to do that?
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 3, Block B:  Andrew C McCarthy @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion,  and Thaddeus McCotter @ThadMcCotter, American Greatness; in re: Senate Intell Committee has carefully presented the facts so, had it been the Titanic, you'd never know that it sank. “The Trump campaign did not collude with Russian operatives in the 2016 campaign.”   The most useless committee on Capitol Hill. Obfuscation.  How can these guys sleep at night in the midst of a Constitutional crisis?  Has the potential of undermining everything—muddying the waters for Durham.  Recall Paths of Glory, film on WWI: commander orders his own artillery to file on his own unit who are retreating under heavy fire.  Rather than be caught, “What do you want for this?”  “Mistakes were made.”  No kidding.  Individual cowardice. 
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 3, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re: Space.
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 3, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re:  Mars.
 
Hour Four
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 4, Block A:  Gregory Copley, Defense and Foreign Affairs, in re:  Oromo Liberation Front. Ethnic cleansing of undesirables. 
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 4, Block B:  Gregory Copley, Defense and Foreign Affairs, in re:  Ethiopia: China’s role and efforts in the Red Sea and around the Indian Ocean.  Failed US policy in Ethiopia during the previous administration. 
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 4, Block C:  Lorenzo Fiori: Direttore Generale Ansaldo Fondazione; in re:  Tuscany; recovery from the virus.   Ministry of Health prohibition against dancing during the contagion, although the numbers are comparatively low. Tourism. Siena. Masks.
Tuesday 18 August 2020 / Hour 4, Block D:  Simon Constable @RealConstable, Forbes, Barn’s. WSJ; and Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics Fellow, Global Health and the Study of Business Enterprise , in re: Gold and silver. Funds.  Financial instability worries—vast fiscal stimulus from the US govt; fear of inflation or deflation, of financial instability. Fewer silver purchases move silver’s price higher.  Demands may change but supply doesn’t.  Palladium: in the platinum  group, used for catalytic converters; pandemic shut down the world’s largest automobile mkt, China, so palladium demand has fallen.  Price has gone from $2,900 to around $2,000.  Commercial vehicles in China use platinum, not palladium.  In Edinburgh, pubs are open.