Alan Kohler

Donald Trump's declaration that, "I have the right to do anything I want", didn't get the attention it deserved.

The failure to match population with housing and infrastructure has led to a more serious decline in living standards than is evident from GDP per capita statistics.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers must find a way to repeat what Paul Keating did in the 1980s and 90s, and lift productivity. Good luck with that.

We can now conclude that the strategy of taxing and banning nicotine addiction out of existence is a complete failure. The result is organised crime making about $10 billion a year in revenue.

The AI battle between China and the US is less about profits and return on investment, and more about geopolitics — national machismo, security and defence.

Four Ts dominated the conversation about Anthony Albanese's China trip: Trump, tariffs, Taiwan and trade. But look a little deeper and it's clear green iron was a key talking point, too. 

It's entirely appropriate that Albanese is meeting Xi again before he meets Trump for the first time. Xi is more important than Trump now.

To meet the government's housing target every year there will need to be infill land created about 26 times the size of Melbourne's CBD across Australia. 

The economic reform round table set down for August will talk about tax reform but a strategy for the future of artificial intelligence and robots should be part of the conversation.

America is sidetracked and weakened by wars and unrest. Donald Trump understands the problem but has been unable to resist the pressure from America’s military establishment and Israel. 

The oil price surged more than 7 per cent on Friday after news of the attack hit commodity traders' screens, and any thought of the price staying below $US60 a barrel this year now seems dead. 

We've done quite well maintaining a wary, non-trusting trade relationship with China. We need the same with the United States. 

Donald Trump's team is fighting one of the most consequential legal cases in US history, but there are plenty more where that came from — 250 lawsuits are currently featuring his administration. 

With housing affordability now improving as interest rates come down, housing accessibility is likely to worsen further as prices again rise.

It does not look feasible for a political party to succeed in Australia without a credible commitment to reducing carbon emissions. 

Is Albanese up for it? Does Chalmers have a "passion for bold policy" to indulge? Does the country need it?

Australians saw through the Coalition's attempt to have it both ways and dealt with Peter Dutton as if he was Donald Trump.

I've seen the future of an important part of Australia's healthcare system — a private hospital owned by a health insurance company. 

The policies of both parties designed to increase housing supply are fine — they're just nowhere near enough.

It seems only a matter of time before Donald Trump uses a crisis and the National Emergencies Act to bring about a revolution in the United States.

The Australian government after May 3 will no doubt want to try to negotiate with the Trump administration about our 10 per cent tariff, but they might be better off to just work around it and move on. 

Both major parties know how to improve Australia’s abysmal productivity performance but they have deemed it too hard.  

While Australian politicians argue about power bill relief and non-existent nuclear power stations, pressing issues like the great US retreat, global warming and AI are being ignored.

While markets and media were chasing Donald Trump’s tariff fiasco last week, something far more important was unfolding in East Palestine, Ohio.

What's most important for Australia — and the entire Western world — is that America has fallen to anti-globalists, and they are carrying out a deep regime change in the style of an autocratic takeover.