Anthony McDonald

We consume a stack of it.

And, James, I did think of you earlier this week.

Populist PM Viktor Orban of Hungary, mates with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, was rolled for the first time in five elections, having held office since 2010 and become a pin-up of the populist right since

Now, James, we don't talk about hungry politics much here on the Chookpod, but your mate, Victor Schwetz from Macquarie, a strategist there who you follow closely, and he's got some great ideas on politics and markets and how it all intersects.

He said this could be a bit of a moment, and he said it shows that leaders cannot defy economics and be elected on culture wars and populist right policies forever.

Do you agree that this Hungary election is a bit of a moment?

Yeah, I agree with you.

So it's all about those prices.

But then in terms of the politics, it's like, what's the best way to put a lid on those prices?

Is it the shut the borders, protectionist type policies, trying to make yourself great again, re-industrialize the Western economy?

Or is it trying to embrace globalization like we in Australia have been doing for a long time?

And we're even retesting some of that now.

I agree with you.

That's what elections are going to be determined by.

Huge week, James, on the economics front.

You know, data, soft data, hard data, you name it, we got it.

The first one is consumer sentiment and business confidence.

Separate surveys, what the economists call the soft data, you know, that's how you're feeling sort of surveys, how likely are you to order, what do you think about life, are you going to employ more people, spend more money, all that sort of stuff.

Both of them crashed, like really crashed, like the biggest one-month drop in both since the pandemic to be at their worst since the pandemic.

It's a serious, serious drop in consumer sentiment and business confidence.