Above, the New Year fireworks celebrations earlier today (Thursday) in London – or as my US readers would have it, London, England!
During the US Presidential election last year, I stressed that that election would prove to be THE most significant election since 1940 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected for a third term.
By electing President Donald J. Trump in November 2025, the voters in the USA have proved me right!
We (and by “we” I mean all of us on Planet Earth) are living with the consequences of that decision.
It is therefore with some wry satisfaction – aka schadenfreude – that the negative consequences of that decision are being visited on many of those who voted for Trump.
Readers who know me personally will know that my personal income is made up by the UK state pension and dividend income from a portfolio of stocks that I self manage. I do this – rather than pay an independent financial adviser regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to do this.
I do this because I am quite good at it and also this activity, along with me calculating and filing my own self assessment tax return, provides me with an activity in addition to the other non-emolumentary activities I have chosen to undertake in retirement.
Because of my knowledge of the stock market and the other London markets (commodities, derivative and futures) I am familiar with phrase, “folly pays it’s own dividends” – an aphorism suggesting that foolish or ill-advised actions will eventually result in their own specific, often negative, consequences or outcomes.
In terms of Mr Trump’s actions some other countries (other than the USA) are in receipt of such dividends!
2026 will demonstrate the various forms and nature of these dividends of folly.
It is to be hoped that we will ALL be still here on New Year’s Day 2027 (a Friday) to bear witness to what this year will bring us!