Dennis Fitzgerald

1 week ago | panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald

UNITED STATES President Donald Trump has announced that he, or really the US, will impose a “major” tariff on pharmaceuticals. The word “major” is vague but it can be suggested that it will be in the 30% to 50% range rather than the general 10%. This is shameful. In an ideal world, any neccessary medicine would be free but that’s not realistic, so the best that can be hoped for is cheap and readily available.

2 weeks ago | panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald

THE MORNING news wasn’t great in Australia. We got hit with a 10% tariff. We had a free trade agreement with the United States yesterday, today we have chaos and 10%. I understand some economics but more of mathematics so I find the values of some tariffs puzzling. One would assume the rate might be “even” such as 10% or 20% or a major divisor, 25% or 50% whereas of course we want it at 0%. Where do some of the values come from? China faces 54%; Vietnam, 46%; Cambodia, 49%; or Taiwan, 32%?

3 weeks ago | panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald

LIKE many people who are now seniors, I had measles when I was a child and there was no vaccine available. It was uncomfortable, very contagious, and occasionally deadly. By the mid’60s vaccines were appearing and by the mid-‘70s they were compulsory in Australia. The disease was basically controlled and effectively eradicated. Why has it come back? In reality it wasn’t gone; it was just preventable using vaccines.

1 month ago | panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald

THE UNITED States’ Environmental Protection Agency is going to eradicate its own scientific research arm, with over 1,000 scientists going from working on protecting us and our environment to standing in an unemployment queue. Removing scientists that are working on climate change won’t change the facts nor will it remove it from the news. As a science teacher I always promoted the value of science and research even if it wasn’t immediately obvious.

1 month ago | panaynews.net | Dennis Fitzgerald

THERE are many ways to finish a war with the best being to stop it starting, but that rarely happens despite the obvious horrible consequences of wars. The causes of conflict and then wars are many and varied, often based on centuries of memories that should have faded away. Most of the world is concerned about the two main current wars, in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, both of which were to be solved by United States President Donald Trump on the first day in the job but then reality struck.