"Yet, EU vehicle safety regulations have supported a 36% reduction in European road deaths since 2010. By contrast, road deaths in the US over the same period increased 30%, with pedestrian deaths up 80% and cyclist deaths up 50%."
They seem to think that the two are correlated, they are definitely not. The US is like the wild west compared to the EU, especially as it pertains to traffic. Americans take laws as mere suggestions, where in Europe the law is the law and you follow the rules, especially in Germany / Austria / Switzerland. We also allow people to drive on the roads with super old, broke down, and unserviced cars with missing bumpers or things clearly falling off, like its no big deal. Again, they are grasping at straws suggesting their auto build quality has lowered their death rate while increasing ours, its ridiculous.
This depends upon the discretion of the patrol officer. One can certainly get citations for crossing lines, failing to maintain a vehicle, and so on. The issue is, those tickets are not as lucrative for the municipality as drug enforcement. Typically, those laws are enforced to allow an officer to search a vehicle for contraband and/or apprehend someone who was suspected of a more serious offense.
Cheaper dollar boosts US exports. Makes imports more expensive even before tarrifs. Which situationally, some industrial sectors will want. The exporting ones. The ones reliant on imports, less such.
The US isn't self sufficient in food. Food imports are going to get more expensive.
Countries may be unwilling to trade with an increasingly belligerent US that slaps everyone with tariffs. In fact, many will just slap the US with tariffs and other barriers of their own.
> Which situationally, some industrial sectors will want
No major US export sector operates exclusively as an exporter without any exposure to imports or global supply chains. Even the largest US exporting industries (oil and gas extraction, civilian aircraft and parts, and pharmaceuticals) rely in varying degrees on imported inputs, components, or capital equipment... which companies are you talking about?
I was talking about oil and gas mainly. I'm unsure if US steel is competitive with any other producer, it's probably ring-fenced markets only. I hadn't thought about their exposure to imports on the production side, your point is good.
US doesn't just make weaponry but let's roll with that. You said there are two major markets now, I assume you mean Europe, that is the most wealthy continent, and Middle East one of the most awash with cash regions in the world.
You may be tempted to assume that only active participants in wars buy weapons, but that has never been the case. And especially now, you have many countries trying to restock and prepare.
Guns and missiles don't even make it into the top five U.S. export categories. The largest good exported is civilian aircraft parts, although it pales in comparison to business services exported (>$200B) and financial services (~$175B).
A lot of foreign customers are rethinking their dependency on American services, too. Not out of some ideology, just hedging against whimsical policies. Just a year ago, such discussions would have been idle crackpot watercooler talk, now it's a normal boardroom subject. The shift will take time, but that's it's even on the agenda is incredible.
Rheinmetall shares are doing well. They're in all kinds of JV worldwide. It's not Basil Zharoff spectacular but they're healthy. The world wants the blessed Mary of the javelin, and anyone who makes NATO 155mm has a market.
People who bought the F35 have mixed views. Awesome tech. Is there a remote off switch?
British arms factories are salivating at the prospect of NATO and EU spend. The French want to ring-fence them out but almost any complex materiel is made across Europe in the wider sense. Risk management drove there, I think France will stop being silly once their factories supply books are healthy.
> The model predicted COVID-19 could not be transmitted through the air. The model was wrong; COVID-19 is highly transmissible through the air.
I'm not sure if that's the best way to put it. IIRC, the controversy was if COVID could spread through the air in the form of an aerosol or if it could only spread in the form of droplets. Droplets can't travel as far in the air, and their limitations were the basis of the "6ft social distancing" rules. It turns out COVID can spread as an aerosol, even though that was strongly denied during the early phases of the pandemic.
tbh I hate this approach of up-skilling / free trainings, all they are really after with this is squeezing every last bit of juice out of you so they can continue to consolidate job roles and make you do more with less, instead of hiring SME's for specific things, they have a jack of all trades working on an endless amount of items that use to require a team of 10+ people to do. Especially in tech roles.
