Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts
the stars to flight.

And, lo, the hunter of the east has caught the sultan’s turret in a noose of light

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable – Christopher Howse: ‘A Pilgrim in Spain.

Cosas de España

Lenox Napier: Getting out onto the streets.

Decidedly bad news . . . Real estate agencies are reporting that foreign buyers are looking beyond traditionally strong property sales areas of Spain to purchase a home. Rather than immediately opting for the Costa Blanca or the Costa del Sol, agents are noticing a trend to look at different parts of the country, especially the north.

Mark Stucklin addresses here an issue of the moment: Tourist rentals and the Spanish housing squeeze: Growth engine or pressure cooker?

Cousas de Galicia

It was a big day for me today . . . As I walked towards the Pv city book shop I cited the other day, on the ground floor of the ex Casa de Los Masones, I saw a couple looking at the window display. Indeed, one of them actually entered the shop. Though she did emerge just a couple of minutes later, empty-handed. So, I remain unconvinced that books are what is being sold there.

Portugal

Good to see that Lisbon says it will now be cracking down on the manufacture of narco-launches.

And impressive to see that Portugal will be setting up 4 floating laboratories off its coast, to ‘test the energy value’ of the sea.

The USA

At last, someone clearly enunciates here the objectives behind Trump’s economic strategy. Such as it is. He also identifies the rationale for these, against the history of the US quest for the attainment and retention of global financial hegemony. And stresses the serious risk of counter-productivity, or ‘blow-back’ of a strategy which demands that other countries not only accept this but pay for it as well. With his prima facie view of the beauty of tariffs, it’s easy to see why Trump would buy into this stuff. But while the overall strategy might or might not make at least academic economic sense, it surely lacks an understanding of human nature and of geopolitical realities. Just as Trump does, of course. So, a match made in Hell.

A number of questions arise from this analysis but, for me, the biggest are: If it comes to a stand-off between the USA and China, which will be more able to pursue self-sufficiency? And which will be able to withstand the interim pain for longer? Surely China, inn both cases.

Maybe we already have the answer to the second question in Trump’s 90 day pause on his senseless tariffs. For it seems to have been turmoil in the bond market – not just the stock market falls – that finally forced Trump to face reality and to do what, only 24 hours previously he and his Munchkins had insisted wouldn’t be done.

Meanwhile . . . Which of these Trump assertions do you find credible?

• This is not a negotiation. My policies will never change.
• Be cool! Everything’s going to work out well.
• I’ve reduced the price of eggs by 78%
• Inflation is down!
• Groceries are down!
• Oil is down!
• The US will be bigger and better than ever before
• 75 countries are begging me for a deal. They are all licking my arse*.
• I am pausing the tariffs above 10% because no country has reacted aggressively to my tariffs.
• I have made the pause because we need stability and some people were jumping out of line and getting yippy.
• But you also need to be flexible
• Things are going great, exactly as planned
• Joe Biden handed us an economy that was in serious trouble
• I will decide instinctively which companies won’t have tariffs placed on their imports from China.***
• I am raising the tariffs on China to 125% because they have shown disrespect to the world’s Markets[sic]. ***

• *The White House has refused to provide a list of these brown-nosers.
• ** Err . . . Canada? Mexico? The EU? China?
• *** Expected to be Tesla
• **** Perhaps the best example yet of Trump’s habit of projection

Can it be that Lewis Carroll is ghost-writing the White House scripts? And that the Queen of Hearts is Trump’s muse?

And who cashed in via insider trading on the knowledge that Trump was going to send the stock market back up via a 90 day pause? Will we ever know? But I’d wager some bets would be safe.

But all that said . . . I believe Trump has one massive talent that one is compelled to admire – The ability to lie, dissemble and deceive and to defend his inanities with the utmost aplomb. As if he really believed the nonsense he spouts. Which, of course, he might. However different it is from the previous day’s lunacy.

Here and here are a couple of commentators who appear to know their stuff.

Quotes of the Day [from Americans]

• Trump is a cave man. He certainly caved yesterday.
• As much as Trump loves naming things after himself, the last thing he wanted was what everyone is calling the Trump recession.
• Americans have always been susceptible to conmen.
• Trump has been distilled to his essence. He is more P T Barnum than Shakespearian.
• When the bond market blows up, you can say Goodbye to the US economy.

Spanish

I dropped a syllable yesterday . . I should have written Voy viniendo, not Voy viendo. And maybe this really should have been Voy yendo. Equals Ya voy. [The English ‘I’m coming’ translates as ‘I’m going’ in Spanish]

You Have to Laugh/The Way of the World

A friend has been barred from Facebook for 4 days for using the expression “shoot yourself in the foot”. Apparently, this encourages people to self-harm or commit suicide.

Today Through the Ages

Courtesy of the Autodidact Professor

Finally . . . .

The last word on Trump . . . As I was saying . . . El alacrán siempre pica a la rana. The scorpion always stings the frog.

Well, no. I just got the last word from a friend . . .

My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts.

The Usual Links . . .

• You can get my posts by email as soon as they’re published. With the added bonus that they’ll contain the typos I’ll discover later. I believe there’s a box for this at the bottom of each post. If you do this but don’t read the posts, I will delete your subscription. So perhaps don’t bother if you have other reasons for subscribing . . .
• I can also be read on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/colin.davies.752861 or on Substack at https://doncolin.substack.com/
• For new readers: If you’ve landed here looking for info on Galicia or Pontevedra, try here. If you’re passing through Pontevedra on the Camino, you’ll find a guide to the city there.
• For those thinking of moving to Spain:– This is an extremely comprehensive and accurate guide to the challenge, written by a Brit who lives in both the North and the South and who’s very involved in helping Camino walkers. And this is something on the so-called Beckham Rule, which is beneficial – tax-wise – for folk who want to work here. But see here on this. And this article ‘debunks claims re wealth and residency taxes’. Probably only relevant if you’re a HNWI. In which case, you’ll surely know what that stands for.
• Getting a mortgage in Spain: Some advice on this challenge.