If you reached this Balkingpoints article by direct external link, stop by the front page for a rotating satellite view of the earth at night

Progressives have been saying since March that the Trump policy of imposing tariffs to influence more manufacturing in USA, would be a disaster. He has pulled them back, put them back on, changed tariff rates all over the lot and given passes to absurdly rich corporations like Apple.

All creating economic uncertainty as well as defacto price hikes. New hiring has all but come to a halt because of it. Those two elements – more costly household goods and more difficulty replacing a job you lose – cannot have any other effect but to restrain the buying power of the US consumer. Consumption fuels 67% of the national GDP.

It is unfolding slowly as corporations incur the tariffs, but unfolding nonetheless. Americans are clued in to it and Trump’s approval ratings are suffering as a result.

That comports with his approval ratings of the last few months (article and comment addendums). Trump was down to 29% approval with independents in August, and from the latest NBC poll linked above “Just 8% of independents report positive feelings toward the actions of the Trump administration”.

And this: “about a quarter of respondents say they’re in better shape today than they were one year ago. One-third say they’re worse off today and about 4 in 10 say they’re in about the same financial position compared to one year ago.”

Think about how that accrues from an electoral standpoint. Trump won the 2024 election essentially on the promise to shut down inflation. If you are in the same shape as during Biden’s inflation, then he hasn’t delivered. That adds to the 33% who say they are in worse shape. Signaling disaster for the GOP in next year’s midterm elections if these numbers hold anywhere near where they are at present. Especially independents. If you lose a majority of those voters you are usually not going to win your election.

Walmart workers are sharing photos of price hikes of 38% or more. That article goes back to June.

The favorite subject of the corporate-owned press is Dems In Disarray. You will often see headlines to the effect of “Dems scramble to respond to latest Trump move”. As I mentioned in the VP Harris post linked above, Dems don’t have to have answers right now or do anything. Dems derive electoral power when Republicans win elections and then demonstrate they don’t know how to govern. Did you see them stopping Trump from imposing tariffs that are now raising prices for average Americans? Barring a major turnaround which is not going to happen (see, incompetent GOP), they are heading toward an all out revolt in both the 2026 midterms and the elections coming up this fall.

Roy@Balkingpoints

If you reached this Balkingpoints article by direct external link, stop by the front page for a rotating satellite view of the earth at night

The 40th anniversary of the epic Live Aid concert held in London and Philadelphia simultaneously. Broadcast on radio and television to an estimated audience of 1.9 billion people in 150 nations – some 40% of the world’s population as it stood in 1985.

The venue would alternate as each band finished their set, creating a set up window for the next band, etc.

Those numbers are incredible, as was the lineup of bands. The objective was to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. The Wikipedia link above goes deep into detail about that effort and also the project of putting the event together.

There was obviously some advance publicity, however I didn’t see any of it. It was a different media landscape at that time, no internet. Just your basics of broadcast television & radio, newspapers, magazines and a newish medium known as cable TV.

I stumbled onto Live Aid in progress on FM radio, making deliveries of something called the Zana Power Disc. A device so obscure now that Google cannot even find it, except for a long-expired trademark listing. No images. It’s competitor, the Mellin Lite Saver looked like this ;

Despite the gimmick appearance it was technically a half-wave rectifier, which altered current going in to an incandescent light bulb and allowed it to burn for years on end. Many years before LED bulbs or even compact florescent, both of which rendered it obsolete.

At my delivery stops I also heard the concert a couple of times on the radios of people outside their houses – while washing a car, doing yardwork or whatever. When I got home there it was on television, long into that evening.

Different in kind than Woodstock, and reprised to a degree in 2005 with the “Live 8” concerts.

I was hopeful that 20-year cycle would pick back up this year, or better still would become a yearly event. There happens to be a global refugees crisis of staggering proportions, estimated now to be more than 100 million people, mostly due to various wars & political strife. We badly need both money and awareness, at levels far beyond the blind eye that the First World turns to it.

Many of the Live Aid performances are up on YouTube.

As well as this BBC documentary: Live Aid Against All Odds.
> Part 1
> Part 2

Roy@Balkingpoints

If you reached this Balkingpoints article by direct external link, stop by the front page for a rotating satellite view of the earth at night

Reading back that SNL 50 post, and it would seem I was pretty unforgiving on Sir Paul McCartney…

The last time I heard him in decent voice was when he got up on the Ed Sullivan Theater Marquee in 2009, which didn’t actually look safe…

On The Beatles “Hey Jude” recording he’s heard screeching towards the end, the kind of thing that could have hastened demise of his voice.

By contrast, the evergreen voice of Pat Benatar. Touring this spring at 72, sounding great. She might tell you it’s fewer high notes, nonetheless she’s putting it over like the great singer she’s been for decades.

Not like someone who would be horrified if they played it back… 😄

Keep in mind these bootlegs which are all over the place now on YouTube, are just what somebody’s smart phone can capture and not professionally shot or produced.

Roy@Balkingpoints