Latest news with #MAGA-inspired
New York Post
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Post
How Wall Street's exuberance — despite Trump's tariffs — masks major warning signs
'Either the entire street is wrong, or the good times will continue to roll.' So said a top hedge fund manager, remarking recently to On The Money about the weird disconnect he's seeing lately in how the market is pricing in Trump's trade war. What surprised him is the latest iteration of the market zig-zagging is that after freaking out, investors appear to be pricing in the Trump tariffs as a big bowl of nothing. Advertisement 4 With Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick out of the picture, investors appear to be pricing in the Trump tariffs as a big bowl of nothing. Jack Forbes / NY Post Design The recent maybe irrational exuberance comes even as Trump keeps throwing fuel on the tariff fire. After pausing them on the world, including the most draconian levies on China, which supplies the US with cheap goods and keeps our inflation rate stable, he just blurted out that he's doubling tariffs on steel and aluminum. The market didn't tank as it did during the early days of the tariff tantrum. In fact, there's green on the screen for a policy that is supposed to slow growth and/or increase inflation, according to most economists. Advertisement So, what gives? First, economists aren't making the market bets you're seeing. Asset managers, hedge funders, traders and a bunch of so-called mom-and-pop investors continue to show an appetite to buy, and digest bad news in the most favorable light. The best I can tell is that they're making a forward-looking bet that Trump, through his trusty and highly competent Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, will negotiate all of the tariffs — even against super adversaries like China — down to something either meaningless or manageable for the economy to absorb. Advertisement 4 The recent maybe irrational exuberance comes even as President Trump keeps throwing fuel on the tariff fire. AFP via Getty Images Stocks will then trend higher on his deregulation and tax policy found in the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' the thinking goes. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's MAGA-inspired dream that tariffs on foreign goods will create a domestic manufacturing utopia will never materialize, because Lutnick is largely out of the picture. Bessent has taken the reins, and he's crafting trade deals that will lead to stable economic growth, low inflation and high-tech manufacturing jobs the Trump tax and regulatory policy will create, or so the thinking goes. So, what could go wrong? A lot, according to a few smart Wall Streeters I know as they look back at recent market history and figure out when was the last time the markets defied conventional wisdom and got things so wrong before an economic storm hit. Advertisement 4 Stocks will then trend higher on his deregulation and tax policy found in the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' the thinking goes. REUTERS One big misread came in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis. Every major CEO and most large investors (not all but most) viewed the 2007 'credit crunch,' where banks cut back lending as housing prices tanked, as simply a downturn in the economic cycle. A few Fed rate cuts, and presto, things would be back to normal. Recall how the Dow hit then historic highs in October 2007 (around 14K), just before the bottom fell out early the following year. It began with bond insurers imploding, then subprime lenders, then Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. By the end of September 2008, the meltdown hit nearly ever bank and Wall Street firm because the housing downturn was more than a downturn, it impaired the balance sheets of major financial institutions so much that most (except Jamie Dimon's 'fortress balance sheet' at JPMorgan) were on the verge of insolvency 4 Traders are betting Trump will negotiate tariffs down to something either meaningless or manageable for the economy to absorb. JOHN G MABANGLO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock After the financial collapse, and the government bailouts, came the Great Recession, which forever altered the political landscape. It ushered in a wave of left-wing (Barack Obama) and later right-wing populism (Donald Trump). There are plenty of structural differences between 2008 and today. Our banks are pretty sound, but we have more debt, a lot more. We are more dependent on foreign buyers of the debt, without whom interest rates would be much higher as debt payments continue to grow. Advertisement The trade war has pissed off some of our foreign bond buyers, namely Japan and China. Plus markets hate being surprised. If we're experiencing a bit of irrational exuberance before the reality of higher baseline tariffs kick in no matter what deals are cut, if the economy does begin to falter and inflation does pickup, if foreign buyers don't keep buying our debt and interest rates spike, the correction could be pretty brutal if history is any guide, traders tell On The Money. Until that happens, it's all blue skies ahead.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Kim Kardashian's $148 pierced nipple bra is not a stunt – it's empowerment
Kim Kardashian's Skims clothing brand announced a new product last month, and it's pretty wild. The 'pierced nipple bra' has fabric nipples pierced with a barbell so that, under a close-fitting shirt, it appears the wearer has very cold, prominent – and pierced – nipples. Skims' Instagram explained: 'Our sexiest bra gets even hotter with faux nipple piercing design so you can get the 'Ooo' without the ouch!' Following the marketing success of the original 'nipple bra' in 2023, this version has already garnered awe, cringe, and bewilderment. You've got to acknowledge Kardashian's prowess for seeing a gap in the market, filling it, and then piercing it. At $148, this is an investment bra for those likely to show it off on their socials rather than being an everyday basic. Like a Guerlain perfume, or Chanel sunglasses, it makes a statement about your school of style. What kind of statement does it make? While the average reader of this masthead would likely not wear skin-tight crop tops that bare their (seemingly highly aroused) nipples for a casual day out, it's no longer taboo (if a walk through Fitzroy is any indication) to go braless or expose underboob. In urban Australia – as much as Los Angeles, Berlin or London – porn, music videos, fashion advertisements, and reality TV now coexist in an 'anything goes' era. Women should have every right to modify our bodies and dress as we want, but we don't have the luxury of taking our choices for granted when men are still advocating for MAGA-inspired 'tradwives', the US Vice President J.D. Vance says women should stay in violent marriages to keep their families together and, according to a Harvard Institute poll from last year, 46 per cent of young Republicans believe 'women are too promiscuous these days'. You might scoff at the idea that Kardashian, an influencer and billionaire, is waving a feminist flag with a fake pierced nipple bra. But it fits perfectly with her push for women's autonomy and empowerment through products that occasionally provoke but also appeal to women's aesthetic and desire for comfort. Male designers have long commodified women's bodies with ill-fitting tat, so the argument that she's exploiting her name for profit doesn't wash with me. Yes, her advertisements are heavily airbrushed and her clothing is unaffordable for many of her followers, but Kardashian built her wealth through Skims (worth approximately $US4 billion) and other savvy investments, by serving women first. In March, she told Vogue Business that it matters to her to have shapewear and lingerie that cater to a broad range of body shapes, sizes (Skims go up to the equivalent of Australian sizes 20/22), skin shades and styles. These sculpted bras are not a mere novelty – the nipple bra was embraced by women who'd had a mastectomy, too. Kardashian built this empire all while completing six years of legal studies and advocating for criminal justice reform. At 44, Kardashian refuses to follow the safe marketing route in showcasing Skims lingerie only on 20-something, skinny, white girls. Her models are diverse, and her grey, brown and beige designs are not created predominantly for the male gaze, but for women's comfort. That's radical in itself. So, to the pierced nipples. This bra design is close to my heart (boom, tish!) because in my late teens, nipple piercings were a trend among the cool girls in university. I didn't dare. Then, about six years ago, when the cool girls of Hollywood (Kendall, Miley, Bella Hadid, etc) were all baring their pierced nipples in paparazzi photos, I decided to join the crew.
The Age
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Kim Kardashian's $148 pierced nipple bra is not a stunt – it's empowerment
Kim Kardashian's Skims clothing brand announced a new product last month, and it's pretty wild. The 'pierced nipple bra' has fabric nipples pierced with a barbell so that, under a close-fitting shirt, it appears the wearer has very cold, prominent – and pierced – nipples. Skims' Instagram explained: 'Our sexiest bra gets even hotter with faux nipple piercing design so you can get the 'Ooo' without the ouch!' Following the marketing success of the original 'nipple bra' in 2023, this version has already garnered awe, cringe, and bewilderment. You've got to acknowledge Kardashian's prowess for seeing a gap in the market, filling it, and then piercing it. At $148, this is an investment bra for those likely to show it off on their socials rather than being an everyday basic. Like a Guerlain perfume, or Chanel sunglasses, it makes a statement about your school of style. What kind of statement does it make? While the average reader of this masthead would likely not wear skin-tight crop tops that bare their (seemingly highly aroused) nipples for a casual day out, it's no longer taboo (if a walk through Fitzroy is any indication) to go braless or expose underboob. In urban Australia – as much as Los Angeles, Berlin or London – porn, music videos, fashion advertisements, and reality TV now coexist in an 'anything goes' era. Women should have every right to modify our bodies and dress as we want, but we don't have the luxury of taking our choices for granted when men are still advocating for MAGA-inspired 'tradwives', the US Vice President J.D. Vance says women should stay in violent marriages to keep their families together and, according to a Harvard Institute poll from last year, 46 per cent of young Republicans believe 'women are too promiscuous these days'. You might scoff at the idea that Kardashian, an influencer and billionaire, is waving a feminist flag with a fake pierced nipple bra. But it fits perfectly with her push for women's autonomy and empowerment through products that occasionally provoke but also appeal to women's aesthetic and desire for comfort. Male designers have long commodified women's bodies with ill-fitting tat, so the argument that she's exploiting her name for profit doesn't wash with me. Yes, her advertisements are heavily airbrushed and her clothing is unaffordable for many of her followers, but Kardashian built her wealth through Skims (worth approximately $US4 billion) and other savvy investments, by serving women first. In March, she told Vogue Business that it matters to her to have shapewear and lingerie that cater to a broad range of body shapes, sizes (Skims go up to the equivalent of Australian sizes 20/22), skin shades and styles. These sculpted bras are not a mere novelty – the nipple bra was embraced by women who'd had a mastectomy, too. Kardashian built this empire all while completing six years of legal studies and advocating for criminal justice reform. At 44, Kardashian refuses to follow the safe marketing route in showcasing Skims lingerie only on 20-something, skinny, white girls. Her models are diverse, and her grey, brown and beige designs are not created predominantly for the male gaze, but for women's comfort. That's radical in itself. So, to the pierced nipples. This bra design is close to my heart (boom, tish!) because in my late teens, nipple piercings were a trend among the cool girls in university. I didn't dare. Then, about six years ago, when the cool girls of Hollywood (Kendall, Miley, Bella Hadid, etc) were all baring their pierced nipples in paparazzi photos, I decided to join the crew.
Ottawa Citizen
5 days ago
- Health
- Ottawa Citizen
Kaplan-Myrth: Why I resigned as a trustee from the OCDSB
On June 3, I resigned from the position of trustee for Zone 9 (Capital and Alta Vista) at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. 'If you resign, please tell people why. Don't just leave,' said a fellow trustee. Article content So here I am. This is the story of my three years as a trustee. It is a cautionary tale about the ways in which public school boards in Canada are under siege. Article content Article content Article content Following my medical advocacy during the pandemic, I was approached by neighbours in July 2022 to run as a trustee in Ottawa. As a progressive voice in the community, I was tasked by my constituents with the responsibility to keep social justice issues on the agenda, and to advocate for academic supports for students with disabilities, neurodiverse students, 2SLGBTQ students, Indigenous and racialized students. Article content School board trustee is a part-time position with hundreds of hours of work, board or committee meetings, sometimes twice a week, 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. It comes with a $17,000 salary, no support staff, a flood of emails from angry constituents and very little political esteem. It is nevertheless an important position. Trustees develop strategic plans, shape elementary and secondary school programs, oversee budgets (for the OCDSB, more than $1 billion), and develop and revise policies that affect every student and educator in the school district. Most trustees have no background in education, economics, urban planning, management, policy analysis or disability. Article content Article content Article content Sadly, school boards are also particularly vulnerable to political manipulation. In the United States, there is a well-established pattern of MAGA-inspired takeovers of school boards by people whose agendas include banning books, removing topics such as sexuality, gender identity and sex ed from curriculum, and even erasing the science of evolution. In Ontario and across Canada, this is a very difficult time, in general, to run a Board of Education, with chronic underfunding from the ministry, staff shortages, over-crowding of classrooms, unprecedented dysregulation of students, and the concomitant challenge of increasingly radicalized groups that seek to influence us through an avalanche of emails, petitions and disruptions of our board rooms and schools.
Sydney Morning Herald
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
MAGA-inspired outrage machine has a new target in this election
'Never make predictions, especially about the future,' New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel famously said. In the sport of politics we are in peak prediction mode this week – and Saturday night will reveal what surprises are in store. I've been part of many elections where the polls have got it spectacularly wrong – most shockingly in Labor's 2019 loss and most painfully in Donald Trump's 2016 win. Both were a result of the fact that while we obsess about the number of people who report a certain opinion at a given moment in time, we pay much less attention to the strength of that opinion. Large and unpredicted swings between polls and actual results are usually a reflection of the 'softness' of the opinions held by those being polled – the likeliness they will change their mind. Too often we report public opinion as if it is chiselled in stone. We experienced this collectively as a nation in 2023. The prime minister, encouraged by polls that showed up to 75 per cent support for an Indigenous Voice to parliament, ploughed ahead with a referendum to enshrine it even after Peter Dutton's denial of bipartisanship. As we found out, in the face of a barrage of unprecedented disinformation and a sophisticated MAGA-inspired outrage machine, that support turned out to be very soft. Over the course of the campaign it evaporated – on polling day the Yes vote garnered less than 40 per cent. Similarly, we have in recent years taken the same levels of support for renewable energy as if they are chiselled in stone. More than 70 per cent of Australians support the transition to renewables, and more ambitious climate targets. Most pundits take broad social licence for a transition to clean energy – a fancy way of saying the community is on board – as a fait accompli. Loading But renewable energy is right now facing a barrage of unprecedented disinformation and a sophisticated MAGA-inspired outrage machine, akin to what we saw during the Voice. Its very purpose is to undermine the social licence under which renewable energy projects operate. Having lost the argument on the existence of climate change, as the world proceeded to burn before our eyes, opponents quickly pivoted instead to undermining support for renewables. While the Voice had to withstand a torrent of misinformation-based attacks on social media, from 'say NO to save Australia Day' to 'farmers will need a permit to put up a fence', renewables face the same. Social media is ripe with anti-renewables outrage. Hysteria over offshore wind farms killing whales (they don't). Hysteria over solar fields ruining pristine farmland (they don't). Hysteria over vehicle fuel-emissions standards banning utes (they don't) or ruining the weekend (they don't).
