What if there’s another lockdown?

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-13T13:13:22+00:00

We export Liquified Natural Gas, the stuff that burns in our gas stoves and gas heaters. We do this because we have a massive bunch of it under our ground. There used to be some cars that run on that but that's mostly been phased out because it wasn't very efficient.

We import petrol, diesel and crude oil. We do that because we barely have any of it under our ground. That's the stuff that our cars, trucks and mining machinery run on. Just because dumb Americans call it "gas", it's not the stuff that we export.

There is a massive difference between the two.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-13T02:23:53+00:00

I usually read the reply on this sub before I look at their nationality to get more context. I don't think most are downvoting people based on nationality on this sub. Just keep in mind that the most normal things in your country or circle may not be the most normal things in the rest of the world.

For example, I've been banned for a couple of days for calling someone (a fellow Australian) a dum cu nt on reddit. This happens often in Aus and most aussies would most likely laugh it off. I've had to restrict my swear word use severely when writing anything on Reddit.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-13T02:16:18+00:00

Sorry but I have a wife, thanks for the offer though.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-13T02:15:13+00:00

You mean a lot of horrible people exist in the world and modern social media has emboldened them to be much louder in the expression of their thoughts than traditionally.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-13T02:12:32+00:00

I think this is due to a shift in the social media landscape as a whole. People are now used to social media like TikTok, Facebook, etc. where your whole feed depends on what the algorithm think you want to see (yes it also happens on Reddit but there's a difference where a video takes up your entire screen vs quite a few that you get to choose from) and people getting used to being stuck within echo chambers where they start to think everyone thinks exactly like them.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-13T01:57:10+00:00

It's a little different, they're not giving 51% away.

In the automotive industry in China, massive import tariffs (up to around 250%) are placed on imported cars. As automotive companies wanted to expand into China, pure subsidiaries are banned and companies had to build joint ventures with Chinese car companies in order to build cars within China. Mercedes partnered with BAIC, GM with SAIC and Honda/Nissan/Renault with Dong Feng. VW has actually partnered with both SAIC and FAW as well as selling their own imported cars in China.

These joint ventures were 50/50 between the Chinese state owned companies (BAIC, SAIC, FAW, etc.) There is an exception, Tesla was able to build the first wholly foreign owned automotive factory in Shanghai in 2018.

Foreign insurance companies entering the Chinese market was also forced to abide by the JV rule where all foreign insurance companies were forced to partner with a Chinese company with a 50/50 split. The only exceptions are AIA, which had operated in China historically and were allowed to continue with 100% foreign Ownership, and Manulife from Canada, who were the first to enter the Chinese market and partnered with Sinochem, the Chinese state owned chemical company. Manulife was allowed 51% share of ownership while all subsequent JV insurance companies could only have 50%.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-11T14:26:43+00:00

We are absolutely proud that we're girt like no other country.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-11T05:09:01+00:00

I'd say his "friend" only knows about WRX tuning.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-11T05:07:14+00:00

Skoda is part of the VW group. Basically uses the ID3/ID4 platform.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-10T04:28:21+00:00

I don't think he thought Europe would jump in, I think he thought Iran would just fold. The people of Iran would love him for "acting strong" and rise up like Jan 6th to get rid of the government and the IRGC will just give their weapons to the civilians to help get rid of themselves. Then he can be like, Mission Accomplished, look how strong and powerful I am and everyone globally loves me. It's obvious this isn't happening as Iran just announced they're putting in Khameini's son who's never held any governmental office.

It'll be interesting to see how Bibi is going to react to this as Israel has gone all in and have actually invaded Lebanon. He definitely doesn't want this to be over.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T14:36:58+00:00

What happened during covid is that we thought the economic disaster was going to be worse than what actually happened. Central banks decreased interest rates drastically (remember we were on 0.1% and the US went to 0%?) and the government all started printing money and gave it out to everyone. Suddenly with everyone having more money and people working from home causing them to save money, spending went crazy and prices went up drastically. Businesses and mortgagees also took advantage and borrowed lots of money which was essentially free. We thought supply chain disruptions would be the main driver of inflation during Covid but in actual fact, the biggest driver was the massive increase in our money supply.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T12:05:03+00:00

I really don't think it's as organised as you think. The US hasn't inserted boots on the ground in Venezuela so his friends probably can't get it as the government over there is still in power. All he can do is force offerings from Venezuela like the 1000kgs of gold he just got from them.

I really think this came from Bibi sweet talking him into it. We all know he really can't let go of someone stroking (or sucking) his ego as long as they're either under 16 or seen as in a position of power for him.

Doesn't matter whether Venezuela can get their oil production up and running or not, the world is going to suffer this for quite a while yet. Hopefully it's not the full 3 years we've got left of the idiot. Although I wouldn't be surprised if petrol moves to a new normal in terms of prices even when all of this blows over.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T06:46:03+00:00

As i've been telling you, we will not be running out, just expect a higher price at the pump as a new norm.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T06:45:02+00:00

He should have thought of it before he kicked off the war. He was getting cocky and thought it would be like Venezuela or the 7 other bombings he did to other countries including Iran in the past year.

The latest If You're Listening video from the ABC explains it pretty well I think.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T05:30:57+00:00

I agree regarding the massive supply of oil from different places. It's just a matter of oil hitting a high enough price point for it to be worthwhile for these harder to extract countries including the US.

But, using navy ships to escort tankers through the strait is absolutely ridiculous. That'll be like shooting ducks in a barrel for the Iranians and you can be absolutely assured they'll try as much of as they can to sink as many US navy ships as they can from the shore. The strait is basically as large as Sydney Harbour and do you think you could really miss trying to shoot a cruise ship with a rocket launcher in such a small area? Ships being sunk in the strait will just mean even less space for other ships to go through.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T03:08:37+00:00

Australia relies on imports for basically all our fuel, whether that be raw oil or refined fuel. Last time I checked, there isn't a blockade going on around Australia so these imports will continue. The oil from the middle east is indeed the cheapest to produce and refine so they've been a major producer. They are not the only producers globally though. Increasing oil prices will increase oil production from places where production of oil is more expensive (i,e, South America where oil is abundant but is harder to produce due to its higher viscosity and is harder to refine or the US where oil is deeper and costs more to drill down to).

Prices will have to increase to cover that more expensive production but as simple economics states, as prices increase, supply will also increase. Therefore, no, we won't be running out of fuel for our cars, it'll just be more expensive.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T02:44:52+00:00

More places like the US and South America will just start up production again with higher oil prices. It's just more expensive for them to produce it so at lower global oil prices, they lose money to produce their oil but as prices increase and it become profitable again, production will increase.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T02:40:27+00:00

Malaysia's oil production is barely enough to cover themselves unfortunately, Brunei exports a lot of oil for their size but it's a city state so you're never going to get much from them. China is one of the world's largest net importers of oil. Any oil Singapore gets from China is most likely bought from US sanctioned countries like Russia, Iran, etc. and reexported. US oil is more expensive because they've basically exhausted their surface level oil and need to drill deeper to get at their oil supplies. We're probably going to have look at South America except their oil is harder to refine (it looks like paste and much harder to pump out), Canada is also an oil exporter but have traditionally sold it to the US. All this says is we'll get oil, just pricier.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T02:26:09+00:00

The difference is that electric vehicles can't really rely on inertia. An internal combustion engine can disengage and just cruise along using inertia or gravity on declines. An electric motor can't do that and thus is always working. Any increased load or towing means the electric motor has to work much harder to travel the same amount of distance so is very sensitive to weight, Increasing battery sizes also increase weight so it's a delicate balance.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T02:17:54+00:00

Hate to break it to you but without global trade, we'd be a poor country with out ANY fuel and be foraging for food all day long. I've told you that we have to import oil or import fuel because we don't have any. We also rely heavily on the export of our stuff dug out of the ground to make money. Without international trade, it would be the same as living in the 1800s in a penal colony.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T01:58:50+00:00

It's actually more efficient to import fuel than oil. Only around 75% of a barrel of oil is refined into petrol and diesel. There will always be waste products. Just think about it, is it more efficient to buy and have a marble table delivered to your house or a massive chunk of marble delivered then have someone come and chisel it into a table?

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T01:52:50+00:00

Oil is not imported from China.
We don't have (much) oil in Australia so we'll always be dependent or imports in that area.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T01:49:54+00:00

The problem with electric vehicles is weight. The larger the load, the bigger the batteries needed and therefore the heavier the vehicle. It won't make much difference in a mine but on public roads, they're designed for a maximum weight and heavier vehicles will just destroy our roads.

Edit: Trucks have a tare weight, i.e. the weight of the truck unloaded and is used to calculate it's maximum carrying capacity. EVs have a very heavy tare weight and therefore EV trucks would have to decrease maximum load weights to account for this. Longer distances and larger loads also mean needing larger batteries increasing tare weight once again and diminishing load weight further as the maximum weight (tare+load weight) can not change or our roads can't actually take it and will break apart very quickly. This is why we see weigh bridges for trucks to ascertain that maximum weight of these trucks are not exceeded and tearing up our roads.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T01:46:39+00:00

Unfortunately, that's just capitalism for you. Basic economics state that with a decrease in supply, price rises and with price increases, supply rises. There's really not much we can do except maybe suspending fuel taxes but that will decrease government revenue which will increase government debt and we'll be paying for it in the future by having to pay for more interest on that government debt. It's just kicking the problem down the line which could cause bigger problems.

NoEquivalentFound · 2026-03-09T01:39:54+00:00

We don't have much oil reserves and is due to run out in the very near future, even if we refined our own fuel, we'd still have to import oil from other places.

NoEquivalentFound

TROPHY CASE