Good thing the USA has a strategic helium reserve... oh wait... they did, but sold that off in 2024. 

mattwnz:

 

We also saw what happened when they looked through inflation during Covid. They missed the boat and it increased to over 7%.

 

COVID was different,

It was originally seen as a "demand" shock... [People unemployed, factories closed etc, no income[  The world cut interest rates and drastically increased cheap money being supplied to Government and banks, which was passed through to consumers...

Once the "pandemic" part ended with vaccinated populations, the time taken to restart global supply chains  turned the event into a "Supply" shock, and with outlets like international tourism/experiences slow to start, juiced up consumers spent on physical items , and demand went through the roof driving inflation...

The oil shock is a straight "supply" shock and no one it thinking of fighting it by giving consumers "free" money and low interest rates.... 

cddt: Good thing the USA has a strategic helium reserve... oh wait... they did, but sold that off in 2024. 

gzt: Apparently Helium, a consumable in medical MRI machines, comes from Qatar and the tap is closed:

"The United States-Israel war on Iran, and Tehran’s response, have disrupted about one-third of global supplies of helium, which is critical for medical uses such as MRI scans,"

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/3/26/helium-hitch-why-us-israel-war-on-iran-could-cause-mri-scan-delays

Helium is produced as a "byproduct" of the LNG process, Qatar are big in the LNG trade, as the US scale up even more LNG they will likely pump out more Helium, but things take time...

IMHO, Letting consumers buy Helium tanks to blow up Balloons is one of the greatest affronts to science and medicine going .

https://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/p/party-inc-helium-filled-tank-7l/R2982099.html

wellygary:

 

IMHO, Letting consumers buy Helium tanks to blow up Balloons is one of the greatest affronts to science and medicine going .

 

https://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/p/party-inc-helium-filled-tank-7l/R2982099.html

 

 

 

 

My wife thinks I'm a miserable bastard for having that exact same opinion.

SaltyNZ:

 

wellygary:

 

IMHO, Letting consumers buy Helium tanks to blow up Balloons is one of the greatest affronts to science and medicine going .

 

https://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/p/party-inc-helium-filled-tank-7l/R2982099.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wife thinks I'm a miserable bastard for having that exact same opinion.

 

Wives are, of course, always right ... but in this case she's, ahh, misinformed 😉

Balloons are in general an abomination, regardless of their filling.
They're single-use, made of oil-derived plastic, they make a hideous amount of non-biodegradable litter, and - worst of all - they go BANG! at unpredictable moments.

Ok, so the next thing to annoy Trump is going to be "Allies" using the Iranian controlled "Toll gate" to navigate the strait via Iranian waters north of Larak island,
https://mykn.kuehne-nagel.com/news/article/tehrans-toll-booth-system-is-25-mar-2026

Both Japan,
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/iran-ready-to-facilitate-japanese-vessels-passage-through-strait-of-hormuz-foreign-minister/3873629

and Korea
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603262941

appear to have agreements to use this route  potentially also good for NZ, as we take from their refineries) ,,,

But just those two countries alone are a big chunk of the gulf demand  + China which which is also assumed to be permitted, 

There are so many golden opportunities to weaken our dependence on both oil and the US here if we all play it right. The trouble is, we don't really want China filling the superpower vacuum either. They're not as crazy, but they don't exactly have a stellar human rights record either.

SaltyNZ:

 

There are so many golden opportunities to weaken our dependence on both oil and the US here if we all play it right. The trouble is, we don't really want China filling the superpower vacuum either. They're not as crazy, but they don't exactly have a stellar human rights record either.

 

total global dependence on oil and US are linked due to the petrodollar cartel engineered by Nixon

it's hard to see how this petrodollar mafia can be collapsed - even during this time the USD has strengthened at the expense of everything else

And now the Yemeni Houthis have fired missiles into Israel in support of Iran. This war just stepped up a level or two. That's not good news.

Have the Houthis not been doing this for years? And as a proxy for Iran?

Houthis have been doing this on and off fro years,and have at times targeted commercial shipping.

they're better positioned to impact shipping through the suez route which did pick up some slack during security concerns circa 2023.