It is the unpredictable nature of

President Trump which is perhaps the thing which should concern us the most.

Downunder,we are told, is in a good position because we import far more from the United States than we send there. This is hardly surprising of course. Our entire population is less than that of California.

There are also the "drug" and "immigrant" questions. We do not share borders with the United States. Undoubtedly there is some drug and illegal migrant trade between us but it would perhaps be minimal compared with those who have adjacent borders. We have our own drug and illegal migrant problems to deal with. Our coastline is vast and, despite the best efforts of those responsible, drugs and vessels do slip through. There are many other people who simply arrive by air and then stay on after their visas expire.

I wonder what would happen if we tried to hold Indonesia responsible for our illegal drug imports or the illegal migrants who come by boat? I doubt we would get very far. It would almost certainly result in huge harm to our ability to trade with the Asian countries successive governments have kept telling us are our best trading partners.

Increases in tariffs will not help anyone of course. They will simply raise prices and add to inflation. Even if the Reserve Bank does cut the interest rate (as seems likely) it is not going to have any effect on the cost of living. On the surface of course it seems that it should but the government's continued "subsidies" are making sure that the rate of inflation is being kept artificially low. After all, they want to win the election which must be held before the end of May. 

Yes, migration can assist an economy. It is often said this country was built on migration and there is some truth in that. But migration has to be controlled. It has to largely be confined to people who are willing to work and who will not bring in with them the beliefs and practices which have caused so many problems elsewhere. That will not prevent us bringing in refugees, people who genuinely need shelter. We can still offer a home to some of those most in need and we should - but we might need to make more effort to ensure they actually integrate because that is the only way we can be a cohesive society.

All this bothers me. I do not like the bully-boy tactics being employed by the President of the United States or the inflationary attempts to buy votes by our own government.  Somewhere along the line we need to work harder, spend less and save more for the future. We also need to do more to help others.