Things really are grim, just like the experts said, only Labour claim they had no idea how grim

Promises? What Promises?

During the UK’s underwhelming general election campaign, fiscal experts warned that none of the parties were being honest about the scale of the state’s finances, making unrealistic promises of spending increases without tax hikes. Labour, trying to avoid their stereotypical tax-raising image, committed not to increase any taxes aside from the few they specified in their manifesto.

Now in government, cue the pearl-clutching. Things really are grim, just like the experts said, only Labour claim they had no idea how grim. New chancellor Rachel Reeves declared things are far worse than previously thought, and she has to raise £22 billion from somewhere. She’s announced sweeping spending cuts, and is rolling the pitch for — you guessed it — tax hikes, with taxes on assets looking most likely.

To be fair, some of the information was not known before the election, but Reeves has made political choices, like scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners who earn enough not to qualify for benefits; and canceling infrastructure projects, choosing instead to spend nearly £10 billion on above-inflation public sector pay raises; and over £8 billion on a state-operated clean energy provider. Labour are learning quickly that to govern is to choose, and, true to center-left form, they have made their choice of state over enterprise.

30%

The proportion of Americans who have confidence in the Secret Service’s ability to protect presidential candidates from violence. The fabled institution’s credibility has been badly shaken since Trump’s shooting. The director resigned, but questions remain about the worst Secret Service failing since the 1981 attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.

Venezuela’s Voters Ignored Again

Being a pollster in Venezuela really is a pointless job. The exit poll from last month’s presidential election showed a thumping majority for opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, at 65%, with incumbent socialist Nicolas Maduro at 31%. But the official results had Maduro beating Gonzalez 51% to 44%.

The first sign that something dodgy was afoot was the initial announcement of the results, which allocated minor opposition parties 4.6% each instead of collectively, totaling a farcical 127%. Add the fact that the government refused to publish the voting tallies from polling stations, together with Maduro’s partiality to remaining in control, and there’s no doubt that the election was rigged.

The dictatorial Corbyn pal has been in power since 2013. Venezuela is one of the few countries whose per capita income has declined since 1999, even without adjusting for inflation ($8,500, down from $12,000). Both he and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, have squandered Venezuela’s oil money on buying international support and funding lavish lifestyles while ordinary Venezuelans starve.

The US recognized Gonzalez as the official winner, like it did with opposition politician Juan Guaidó in 2018, though this is unlikely to persuade Maduro to admit defeat. Hard-left regional counterparts Gabriel Boric of Chile and Lula da Silva of Brazil have condemned the rigging and demanded electoral transparency. How long Maduro can resist the tidal wave of anger expressed by voters remains to be seen.

Digital Comes to Deutschland

YOu’d think the home of advanced manufacturing and Teutonic efficiency would have long ago discarded fax machines. But only last week, Bavaria, Germany’s largest state, announced that a December ban on the archaic devices in state offices had resulted in a 50 percent reduction in fax machines.

As recently as 2021, it was revealed that the federal government was still using 900 fax machines, primarily to exchange classified information, particularly in the Foreign Ministry. Digital Affairs Minister Fabian Mehring has called the fax “a relic of the digital Stone Age,” and has hailed this marker of technological progress.

It’s a strange phenomenon, governments in advanced countries operating with anachronistic systems — think tech powerhouse Israel’s bureaucracy, most of which doesn’t seem to have heard of the Internet — but in Germany, at least, they’re moving on.

Beating (around) the Bush

Another member of the “Squad” is facing a moderate, pro-Israel challenge. Jamaal Bowman’s primary defeat in New York has put his far-left allies on notice, and Cori Bush of Missouri is now feeling the heat. The Black Lives Matter activist swept to victory in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, and has proven a reliably anti-Israel socialist ever since.

Now, Wesley Bell, a black county prosecutor, is running on a law-and-order, pro-Israel ticket, backed by $8.4 million of AIPAC funding. Bell is casting his opponent as an excessively confrontational and ineffective legislator, while Bush is accusing her rival of parroting Republican talking points (otherwise known as appealing to the mainstream). Tellingly, Bush has refused to debate Bell, citing an unwillingness to “platform his lies.”

Bush is also facing an investigation into her campaign spending on security services, and spent almost 20 percent of her campaign resources on legal fees. Her campaign was hoping she could overcome these difficulties by virtue of being a social justice warrior. That may not be good enough for her electorate; recent polling gave Bell a ten-point lead among regular Democratic primary voters. The next member of the Squad may be about to fall.

Chinese-Built Dreams

With a glut of electrical vehicles, and Western countries shutting their ports to foreign imports, Chinese manufacturers have to look to other markets. They’ve alighted on the ride-sharing industry, for whose drivers shorter battery range is less of a problem than the average consumer. BYD, which has surpassed Tesla as the biggest EV player, has partnered with Uber to deploy 100,000 of their cars on the ride-sharing platform in Europe and Latin America.

Though Europe has slapped tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, they’ve yet to follow the US’s 100 percent tariff on such goods. Some of Latin America’s more left-leaning countries are building closer ties with China, and BYD has plans to expand into friendly countries like Turkey, Brazil, and Hungary. They remain unbowed in the face of US protectionism. After all, there are plenty of emerging economies and fragile democracies eager to do business with the Chinese EV juggernaut.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1023)