Weekly Weigh In: TSA Lines, Wealth Tax, NK, Irani Tax, UAE/Qatar and Soap Opera Mentality
The World’s Worst Inconvenience is Inconvenient
I have just seen another video of the lines in New York being far, far worse for TSA. Some report waiting over 5 hours just to get through security.
Communists are Incapable of Learning
Washington’s Senate gave final approval to Senate Bill 6346 on March 12, concurring with House amendments passed two days earlier and clearing the way for the state’s first personal income tax in nearly a century.
The tax, if enacted, would impose a 9.9% rate on household income above US$1 million starting January 1, 2028. First payments would come due in 2029.
A Close Race
Kim Jong-un wins North Korea’s parliamentary elections with 99.93% of the vote.
Iran; Modest Tax for a Wash
Brilliant move by Iran. They are planning to levy a 10% toll on all ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. This will generate $73 billion a year, almost enabling them to completely offset US sanctions AND paying for war damages. It’s estimated this could cover around 80% of these losses simply from this toll.
UAE Without Oil is Feeling it
The UAE economy is feeling a bit of a burn. While their reserves are immense, they are now viewing that stable oil profits are not going to return in the near future. The central bank has approved a liquidity package for banks as oil revenue dries up and the aviation and tourism sectors have come to a halt.
Qatar Energy
QatarEnergy listed a statement on Missile Attacks on Ras Laffan Industrial City.
Emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the resulting fires, as extensive damage has been caused. All personnel have been accounted for and no casualties have been reported at this time. QatarEnergy will continue to communicate the latest available information–however, this attack has shut off all further LNG production for the time being.
Please consider the fact that 3-5 years (major variance there) is assuming no other further disruptions moving forward. While they’ve still made net profits from it, the losses are immense…annually they’d lose $20B USD in revenue with weakened export capacity and reduced quality product.
Iran warns — hit our energy again, we destroy ALL infrastructure in the Middle East. For good. Iran held back before but not anymore. Iran warns that next strike won’t be measured. It will be total. Every refinery. Every pipeline. Every terminal.
Amazingly, the Arab nations are banding together to point the finger at Iran as being the bad guy, despite Israel and USA continuing their bomb campaign [why continue to bomb since “they’re already completely wiped out” as Trump alleges…].
Final Thought
Why aren’t more people leaving their collapsing empire countries? Clearly, they have every incentive to do so… debt, lack of freedoms, 3rd world immigration, attack on culture, taxation, weak pensions, no employment…
If you go on the YouTube channel of Nomad Capitalist (I’m not a fan for many reasons…) but you can easily read comments of people saying “Anguilla and Panama no good… Monaco is better for me” or “Switzerland is not my flavor, Singapore is better” which impresses me as someone awake at 2AM shopping for the private jet or yacht that “best suits their own needs…” notwithstanding they’re only 58,000,000 USD short from making it a reality. The point being, I feel as though many people have joined this offshore/immigration/nomad/expat world on the internet as a sort of television series as opposed to being something worthwhile doing because of the real risks out there.
A long with everything else being turned into a reality TV show…It feels that the death of Western civilization is yet another form of entertainment for most people, especially for the older “Boomer” generation who has been living up the largest period of a free-financial ride in human history.
I’ve had conversations who have the idea, “Sure the world is headed towards a new great depression but I’ll still be able to get my pension, summer vacations to Italy and golf membership in yearly”.
There’s a major cultural corruption of naivety & immaturity inhibiting people from getting their act together.
