General Debate 27 September 2011

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hj

Developers seize farmland (no RMA in China / Growth is Good)

BEIJING — Rioters in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have besieged government buildings, attacked police officers and overturned SWAT team vehicles during protests this week against the seizure of farmland, said officials in Shanwei, a city that skirts the South China Sea not far from Hong Kong.
—
The protests continued Friday, with farmers gathered in front of a government building banging gongs and holding aloft signs that said “Give us back our farmland” and “Let us continue farming,” Reuters reported.
—
Last week, hundreds of residents protesting environmental contamination by a solar panel factory in Zhejiang Province stormed the factory and destroyed office equipment and vehicles.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/world/asia/land-dispute-stirs-riots-in-southern-china.html?_r=1
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September 27, 2011 8:09am
wreck1080

Fees for visiting certain regions in New Zealand?

“Local councils will watch the progress of legislation introducing Stewart Island entry fees. ”

It scares me that the greedy councils are going to jump on the bandwagon. My rates will have already doubled between 2009 to 2014 (at past and forecast increases).

We’re going to end up with a tax for breathing next.
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September 27, 2011 8:12am
hj

“In Lufeng, the protests were just the most dramatic manifestation of a long-running battle over land that residents say their ancestors reclaimed from the sea. According to a local Web site, the Lufeng city government has already sold off more than 800 acres of the property for industrial parks and high-priced housing. The proffered compensation per acre, villagers said, has been barely enough to buy a new bed.

“Wake up, my neighbors, if we don’t unite now, the land of our ancestors will be sold off to the last square meter! If we don’t unite now, our children will be homeless!” read one posting on the site.

“We will have no where to bury our parents or raise our children!” ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/world/asia/land-dispute-stirs-riots-in-southern-china.html?_r=1

and we get the b*****s here gracing our “wealth creating” property sector.
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September 27, 2011 8:13am
Murray

hj you’re like a giant nurf ball. There is no point to you whatsoever.
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September 27, 2011 8:14am
Scott Chris

“A Lamborghini is parked at the mansion but Terry Serepisos is no longer allowed to own it.”

A Hundred Idiots come up with the same money making scheme. All but one fails. The one who succeeds, who immediately is convinced he’s a genius, is the one hundredth idiot.

Terry Serepisos owes my old man 50 grand. Dad was an idiot to lend it to him too.
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September 27, 2011 8:14am
tom hunter

Whitehouse transcript as faithfully reported:

If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a janitor makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor. I have no problem with that.

What he actually said:

If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, uh, as a janitor makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor. I have no problem with that.

Heh, heh. Caught himself, but I see that 20 years of Black Liberation Theology just can’t be suppressed. We seem to have had a lot of religious arguments on GD recently so …..
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September 27, 2011 8:17am
Elaycee

Geez Tom, that’ll do it! 🙂
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September 27, 2011 8:21am
hj

wreck1080 (1,819) Says:
September 27th, 2011 at 8:12 am

Fees for visiting certain regions in New Zealand?
……………
Nepal has a system where tourists pay about $100/ day to visit the country. It would be interesting what sort of market price visiting NZ would produce.
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September 27, 2011 8:23am
tom hunter

Speaking of being one’s land being taken over by developers it seems that environmentalists have enabled yet another cruel institution that destroys the lives of ordinary people:

Francis Longoli, a small farmer from Kiboga district of central Uganda, is tearful: “I remember my land, three acres of coffee, many trees – mangoes and avocados. I had five acres of bananas, 10 beehives, two beautiful permanent houses. My land gave me everything. People used to call me ‘omataka’ – someone who owns land. Now that is no more. I am one of the poorest now,” he says.

Longoli and his family of six lost everything last year when, with three months notice, the Ugandan government evicted him and thousands of others from the Mubende and Kiboga districts to make way for the UK-based New Forests Company to plant trees, to earn carbon credits and ultimately to sell the timber.

Today, the village school in Kiboga is a New Forests Company headquarters. More than 20,000 people have been made homeless and Longoli rents a small house in Lubaali village. He says he cannot go back for fear of being attacked

Must be the fault of capitalist marketplaces and trading. Maybe we should forget those and go straight for the direct government takeover of people’s property – like Uganda
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September 27, 2011 8:23am
Manolo

A recent example of crony-capitalism: http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/president-solyndra_594151.html
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September 27, 2011 8:24am
Scott Chris

“Must be the fault of capitalist marketplaces and trading. Maybe we should forget those and go straight for the direct government takeover of people’s property – like Uganda”

But surely this highlights the amorality of free market capitalism, as well as the immorality it can nurture. Whole thing’s ugly.

Remedy:

Minimal intervention for the maximum societal good. Anyone know a good formula?
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September 27, 2011 8:33am
Elaycee

Another ‘beat up’ story in the NZ Herald.

A black RSA journalist is in a Taupo bar late at night and another patron complains that someone is offering drugs for sale. Identity given to the police is that the ‘seller’ is black / wearing jeans and a T shirt etc so when the police arrive they only find one dude fitting the description so they question him about the allegations / and rather than search him at the bar, they take him back to the local police station in an unmarked car and search his pockets, shoes etc.

So what is the NZ Herald headline? “NZ POLICE RACIST? (BLACK) SOUTH AFRICAN WRITER HITS OUT”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10754640
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September 27, 2011 8:34am
RF

I see Lord Burns has had a rush of blood and making headlines in the Press concerning demolition of heritage buildings damaged in the quakes.

I figure he has been reading the polls and worried about his future.

Any publicity is good publicity.
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September 27, 2011 8:36am
hj

Murray (8,263) Says:
September 27th, 2011 at 8:14 am

hj you’re like a giant nurf ball. There is no point to you whatsoever.
………
if you don’t see anything in my second post then you must have a mind like Ebeneezer Scrooge.
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September 27, 2011 8:38am
Pete George

Act dumb? Or have a decent cannabis debate at a sensible time?
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September 27, 2011 8:41am
James Stephenson

hj – I’m stuggling to comprehend the idiocy you’re apparently displaying.

Please clarify – are you comparing people here who object to the RMA, on the grounds that it tramples all over private property rights, with Chinese government forces who are trampling all over their peoples property rights?

Just checking.
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September 27, 2011 8:45am
tom hunter

A Hundred Idiots come up with the same money making scheme. All but one fails. The one who succeeds, who immediately is convinced he’s a genius, is the one hundredth idiot.

A very human trait, but do we apply it to Steve Jobs? How about Mark Zuckerberg?

I mention the latter because, although I’m not a Facebook user my wife is, and she has not been happy with recent changes to FB – apparently she’s not alone.. Amidst all the problems though I was struck by this comment from one angry user:

I don’t like the way they decide for me what’s important or interesting, I’m the only one that can make these decisions. I want to decide if I want to see all, most or important updates of friends, which is set by default on “most.” What are the criteria to declare something a top story? Yesterday a story of a Serbian friend (in Serbian, with Serbian comments) was declared a top story. I can’t read that, does FB translate everything that is posted?

I don’t like the way they decide for me what’s important or interesting, I’m the only one that can make these decisions. Oh please – Zuckerberg is a huge Obama supporter? Must be because the Z-man is a genius?

Or perhaps it’s just a lesson in AI algorithms gone wrong?
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September 27, 2011 8:46am
hj

Demolishing Heritage buildings doesn’t bother me; what bothers me is that whereas in the past rich people built monuments to themselves and never wandered far, now they build largely on the business plan and hop (first class) off to Europe where they drool at timeless architecture.
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September 27, 2011 8:47am
MyNameIsJack

Republican POTUS Candidates just cannot help themselves. A great graphic of their lies.

Bachman scores a miserly 6% for true, another 6% for mostly true. She also gets 25% for pants on fire and a further 39% for false.

Why is that those who most profess their faith find it easiest to lie?
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September 27, 2011 8:50am
cabbage

^^ Ah. One of those people that Are incensed that a free service they have no obligation to use has made changes that mildly inconvienence them.

Champion.
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September 27, 2011 8:50am
Brian Smaller

From Stuff from Phil Goof

Abolishing compulsory student membership would lead to “free-loading” by those not prepared to pay for services that others wanted and were prepared to pay for.

Wow. Labour complaining about free-loaders. Who would have thought. Pity they can’t extend that logic to all the bludgers out there living off the productive class.
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September 27, 2011 8:53am
Brian Smaller

Why is that those who most profess their faith find it easiest to lie?

You mean like Obama.
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September 27, 2011 8:55am
Manolo

MNIJ, thank you for the reasonable, balanced, and unbiased article from that stronghold of conservatism, The New York Times.

Read this gem from the same source:
Mr. Obama seems particularly adept at avoiding the Pants on Fire designation. PolitiFact has analyzed a whopping 320 claims made by the president and deemed 71 percent of them at least half right.

Yes, the same Messiah who promised to close Guantanamo, not to appoint lobbysts, that unemployment would be controlled, among other lies.
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September 27, 2011 8:56am
Scott Chris

“Or perhaps it’s just a lesson in AI algorithms gone wrong?”

Sounds like typical unreasonable customer dissatisfaction to me. The egocentric view is inherently difficult to please.

A measure of Facebook’s adequacy is its popularity, generated by fadism and the free market. Must be doing something right.

On the other hand, if AI develops the human capacity to learn, then I imagine Facebook would be very amenable.
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September 27, 2011 8:56am
hj

hj – I’m stuggling to comprehend the idiocy you’re apparently displaying.

Please clarify – are you comparing people here who object to the RMA, on the grounds that it tramples all over private property rights, with Chinese government forces who are trampling all over their peoples property rights?

Just checking.
…………

people who object to the RMA are trying to narrow property rights to those standing (directly affected) where a developer who stands to make a large capital gain through turning farmland to housing or otherwise density, is pitted against Joe Blogs. Externalities are ignored.

Over all it isn’t the same as what is happening in China yet it’s the same game played at a different level where there is a strong political representation to develop, for high migration, backhanders at the local level and dirty tricks.
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September 27, 2011 9:02am
tom hunter

unreasonable customer dissatisfaction

Fucking humans. If only we had a planet of Spock’s to deal with.

… generated by fadism and the free market. Must be doing something right.

A person built a system that enables new forms of social networking – but one of the key drivers is Fadism? You really do have a very low opinion of humans don’t you?

As the article also says:

It’s rather ironic, but Facebook doesn’t quite get the meaning of social. Users want to be in charge; they want to choose how and what they share — and what they read. Facebook’s new news stream makes that more, not less, difficult.

On the other hand, if AI develops the human capacity to learn, then I imagine Facebook would be very amenable.

I imagine Facebook won’t be necessary – but the article may have covered that too with a picture whose paraphrased caption rather nicely captures the feeling:
I have altered the Facebook. Pray I do not alter it further
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September 27, 2011 9:16am
calendar girl

“Terry Serepisos owes my old man 50 grand. Dad was an idiot to lend it to him too.”

But that’s only half the story. We really need to know what interest rate applied to the loan to understand a little about the motivations and decision-making involved for both parties.
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September 27, 2011 10:04am
Manolo

A socialist parasite plans a trip to paradise: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5688591/Councillor-heading-for-North-Korea
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September 27, 2011 10:04am
Manolo

Terry Serepisos owes my old man 50 grand.

What were the loan’s terms and conditions?
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September 27, 2011 10:06am
RightNow

Scott Chris “Terry Serepisos owes my old man 50 grand. Dad was an idiot to lend it to him too.”
Your dad wasn’t alone, every single person I have spoken to who has dealt with Serepisos has said getting paid was like getting blood out of a stone.
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September 27, 2011 10:18am
Elaycee

calendar girl says: “But that’s only half the story. We really need to know what interest rate applied to the loan to understand a little about the motivations and decision-making involved for both parties.”

Isn’t it daft that some people come out complaining about various finance company failures and the fact that they have lost money, when the reality is that the reason they went to the finance companies in the first place is because of the higher rate of return on offer due to the inherently higher risk profile.

Doesn’t make it any easier to write off the funds, but this is no different to the SCF scenario – higher R of R equates with a higher risk of things turning sour. In Serepisos’ case, his highly geared portfolio was going to come under pressure the minute the property market eased. Unless he could ride out the downturn, he was going to struggle and unfortunately for his investors, he couldn’t ride out the downturn and as no-one was willing to sink more money into his business, it failed. It had an air of inevitability about it for around 18 months….
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September 27, 2011 10:25am
Scott Chris

Re Terry Serepisos:

The investment was made through a private investment broker, who has generated a good return over the past fifteen years since the old man retired, so isn’t complaining. Caveat Emptor and all that, especially if the interest rate return on that part of his portfolio was 12%.

The investment terms and obfustication by Serepisos prevented him from recovering his money. The broker hopes to recover 40% of the investment.

You win some, you lose some. No one is complaining except Elaycee 🙂
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September 27, 2011 10:33am
Scott Chris

Doesn’t mean Serepisos isn’t an idiot. Why buy a football team, which never makes money for anyone, when you are using other people’s money, and when you are not in a financially stable position?

Because you’re an idiot.
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September 27, 2011 10:39am
RightNow

Elaycee, a factor in Serepisos’ decline was that he screwed so many people over when his business was booming that when everything tightened up he had no good will to draw on. Short sighted (and greedy). Karma got him (although I’ll bet he still has a bit squirrelled away in trust).

Edit: Scott Chris – owning a football team was for vanity, same as the Ferraris, Ingrid Mole and (way back in the day) Ecstasy Plus.
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September 27, 2011 10:40am
mikenmild

I just hope Terry has a trade to fall back on…
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September 27, 2011 10:44am
Lee01

EIGHT STEPS TO A BETTER NEW ZEALAND AND A REBIRTH OF THE WEST.

1. Resacralization of the world versus materialism.
2. Natural social hierarchy versus an artificial hierarchy based on wealth.
3. The Crown, the Nation and the Family versus artificial globalisation and multiculturalism.
4. Stewardship of the earth versus the “maximization of resources.”
5. A harmonious relationship between men and women versus the feminist “war between the sexes.”
6. Agrarianism, handicraft and artisanship versus industrial mass-production.
7. Distributism versus corporate Capitalism and State Socialism.
8. Tradition versus cultural Marxism, Liberalism and Atheism.
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September 27, 2011 10:49am
tom hunter

Speaking of not getting your money back and/or losing it all – take a look at this trader talking bluntly to the BBC about the Eurozone crisis:

… the big money, the smart money, I’m talking about the big funds, the hedge funds, the institutions … they don’t buy this rescue plan

… they know the market is toast….they know the stockmarket is finished…the Euro as far as they’re concerned they don’t really care. They’re moving their money away to safer assets.

Certainly explains the recent run-up in the $US. It’s a sign of how bad things are that US treasuries are considered the safe investment. Good grief. In any case, the BBC interviewer then makes the mistake of asking what steps could be taken to make feel investors feel more confident:

Personally, it doesn’t matter. You see, I’m a trader. I don’t really care about that sort of stuff.
…
We don’t really care that much how they’re going to fix the economy, how they’re going to fix the whole situation. Our job is to make money from it.
…
I have a confession. I go to bed every night, I dream of another recession, I dream of another moment like this.
…
Anybody can do that. It isn’t just for some people in the elite. Anybody can actually make money. It’s actually an opportunity. When the Euro and the big stockmarkets crash, if you know what to do, if you have the right plan set up you can make a lot of money from this.

The interviewer is appalled:

If you could see the people around me, jaws have collectively dropped.

And that’s before he says this:

… this is not a time right now for wishful thinking … the government is going to sort things out. The governments don’t rule the world. Goldman Sachs rules the world. Goldman Sachs does not care about this rescue package, neither does the big funds.

Well, it’s a stunningly beautiful day so I’m off to plant a vegetable patch – a very large vegetable patch!!
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September 27, 2011 10:53am
nasska

mikenmild

If he follows the normal pattern of property speculators he will lay low for a bit & then pop back up living the high life on other peoples’ money. His past disasters will be forgotten as he accumulates a new set of “friends” eager to associate themselves & their money with a financial genius. History will be forgotten as tradesmen line up for another fleecing.

Terry is relatively young…should be good for another two or three boom & bust cycles.
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September 27, 2011 10:59am
thedavincimode

If someone who owes $200m is down to borrowing in 50k tranches, that is a good pointer to that person being completely fucked and raises issues about the competentancy and exposures of the broker advising the investment in the first place. If the investment terms are such as to inhibit recovery raises further questions in that regard. If the advance wasn’t just 50K, but broker had packaged the funding with other investors, that then raises questions about “commissions” ie was Serepisos paying 12% or quite a bit more.

I can’t imagine why the broker hopes to recover 40% of the investment. Was the advance secured with a 99th mortgage over something that has net positive value? Your old man should be asking the questions that I suspect your broker won’t want to answer.

Sounds like he heard about Greek bonds going like hot cakes elsewhere.
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September 27, 2011 11:01am
lastmanstanding

tom hunter You gotta wonder at the smucks running governments. Either they are dumb or crooked or both. Most families are better at budgeting and controlling their expenditure.

As for the traders. Yep thats how its always been. they thrive on chaos and disaster. They make money at the margins.

As to Terry S. Always struck me as wide boy. A del boy. The sort you check your fingers after shakings hands.
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September 27, 2011 11:09am
Elaycee

@right now: “Elaycee, a factor in Serepisos’ decline was that he screwed so many people over when his business was booming that when everything tightened up he had no good will to draw on. Short sighted (and greedy). Karma got him (although I’ll bet he still has a bit squirrelled away in trust).”

Agree he had already lost any remaining goodwill prior to this bankruptcy – I’d heard that he didn’t even pay tradesmen for work done and that created resentment (as well as downstream financial pressures). Not good at all.

As I said, the writing was on the wall around 18 months ago…
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September 27, 2011 11:23am
Gosman

Mr Farrar,

What ever happened to Busted Blonde’s big charity shindig she was going to hold with the bottles of bubbly she won from NBR?

http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2010/08/well_done_nbr.html#comments

I seem to remember that there was going to be some invites sent out to some loyal readers.
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September 27, 2011 11:24am
tom hunter

l.m.s (and you’d better have faith in that name)…

As for the traders. Yep thats how its always been. they thrive on chaos and disaster. They make money at the margins.

Indeed. And I’ll guarantee you that people like that guy will be condemned by the average viewer as the amoral, conscienceless one – while people like Timmy Giethner and the whole Eurozone bureaucrat set of are held to be mere idiots trying to do their best.

I view traders like the guy in the interview much as you do – but I think there’s more to it than that. They’ve been screaming the warnings for years now and have largely been ignored. So they shrug their shoulders and say Well, at least I’ll make money from this idiocy. Shades of AGW in fact.
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September 27, 2011 11:26am
Manolo

Not bad for a joke:
Labour’s candidate David Parker put up a sign across billboards in Epsom: “Vote Banks, Get Both Dopes!””
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September 27, 2011 11:31am
rfdunedin

A Kiwi Expat in Bangkok on Why He Is Not Coming Home.

“New Zealand) consistently rates as one of the most desirable places on the planet to live so what puts me off returning to my homeland?

It’s not the weather, even if you can’t deny that for a few months of the year it’s just too chilly. That said, I’ve always felt that the cold hurts whereas heat is merely uncomfortable.

It isn’t the outrageous prices, some of which leave you scratching your head and wondering, for example, how NZ lamb can possibly cost more in Auckland than it does in Bangkok. The cost of living isn’t that much different, particularly if you live a Western lifestyle in Bangkok, which I do.

Is it the left-leaning attitudes, the stifling political correctness and the over regulation that kills any semblance of entrepreneurial spirit? Or is that that seemingly no-one wants to take responsibility for anything and expects assistance from the government for everything? Many individuals refuse to take responsibility for their actions. When something bad happens to them it must be someone else’s fault! Blame, blame, blame! When did this madness start to permeate my once sensible country?

When visiting New Zealand I frequently find myself accused of the modern day crime of saying something that someone deemed to be upsetting! Political correctness has gone mad in a country once known for commonsense and sensibility. Simply saying someone looks good because they lost weight might have them furious, the inference being that they were once fat.

Thinking for oneself and being confident enough to proffer an opinion that goes against conventional wisdom would seem to be a thing of the past, such comment unwelcome outside academic circles.

The populace is being dumbed down, silenced even, a problem for someone not someone capable of biting his tongue. It’s those you don’t know and who don’t know you who try to tell you how you should live *your life*. It’s a nation of busybodies.

My corner of the planet is known for its beauty, its friendly people, its fine food and wine but if you’re not into the great outdoors, the lifestyle can be dull. A country of just 4.5 million with the closest civilization a 3-hour flight away will always be limiting.

So many seem to be on the treadmill, an unappealing routine of going to work, putting in long hours and returning home to an overweight wife, stroppy kids and an evening in front of the TV. Eating out during the week is reserved for special occasions and weeknight drinks are a rarity. It’s a lifestyle for the God-fearing and those who know no different.

After more than a decade in Bangkok, I’ve been gone way too long and experienced way too much to even consider going back.

The smiles might not be as natural nor come as easily as they once did and prices aren’t the bargains they once were. Just like the durian which doesn’t have the same pungent aroma it once did, while Thailand doesn’t feel as spicy or exotic as it once did, one thing remains, sanuk. Life in Thailand is still fun!

I can be healthier and more relaxed in my homeland, but life in Thailand is infinitely more fun. I guess happiness comes ahead of health.

I don’t think I’ll ever consider Thailand home but at the same time I wonder if I really am a lifer and refuse to admit it”.

You can read the complete text of this essay at:
http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/StickmanBangkokWeeklyColumn2011/Stickman-Bangkok-Future.htm
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September 27, 2011 11:33am
Lee01

SEVEN PROBLEMS WITH MONOPOLY CORPORATE CAPITALISM.

1. Overhead. The larger unit is in proportion less expensive than the smaller in management, rent, and upkeep.

2. Information. The larger unit is better able to purchase information. It also dominates advertising, one of the worst plagues of modern life.

3. Credit. The larger unit can borrow more easily than the smaller one. It can better bargain for special interest rates, and is more likely to see the bankthrowing “good money after bad.” (Hence our current economic crisis)

4. Dumping. The larger institution can undersell the smaller one at a loss, until the smaller one is imperiled or killed.

5. Capital. You cannot tempt small capital to make the beginnings of serious accumulation at the rates which are suffi cient for large capital.

6. Corruption. Plutocracy once established will corrupt the legislature so that laws will be made in its favor.

7. Justice. The cost of recovering a small debt is out of all proportion to the cost of recovering a large one.
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September 27, 2011 11:35am
Scott Chris

thedavincimode

All I know, and all the old man is willing to say, is that the 50k principle was part of what he describes as a kind of ‘private consolidated fund’, and the loan is about 30 months old. He won’t elaborate.
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September 27, 2011 11:39am
Lee01

“Our Conservative aim is to build a property-owning democracy, both independent and interdependent. In this I include profit-sharing schemes in suitable industries and intimate consultation between employers and wage earners. In fact we seek so far as possible to make the status of the wage-earner that of a partner rather than of an irresponsible employee . . . Our ideal is the consenting union of millions of free, independent families and homes.”

Winston Churchill.
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September 27, 2011 11:41am
thedavincimode

Packaged. He knows he was taken for a ride.
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September 27, 2011 11:42am
KevinH

Serepisos parked his Lamborghini in a glass walled garage and partied hard with Wellywoods trash.The guy was a poser from day one, and took everyone for a ride, for their money. In a nutshell he was a bullshitter.

As for Bangkok, the only long term Euro residents there are ones who are into little olive skin boys or girls. The place is a polluted slum, hot , dusty, crowded and smells so awful you can easily be put off the wonderful food. Plus every tuk tuk driver tries to drop you off outside a gem store. Ko Phanaghn in the south was a wonderful unspoiled paradise for many years but has also succumbed to the tourist dollar.
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September 27, 2011 11:44am
Lee01

“Modern art is one long howl against the beautiful, the true, and the good, with shock tactics replacing virtuosity, and obscenity replacing insight.”

JOHN CARROLL
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September 27, 2011 11:47am
thedavincimode

Lee01

Did John Carroll ever go out?
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September 27, 2011 11:59am
Lee01

Western Civilization, Our Tradition:

http://www.mmisi.org/ir/39_01_2/kurth.pdf
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September 27, 2011 12:16pm
DJP6-25

Manolo 10:04. Pity her passsport can’t be cancelled while she’s away -:)

cheers

David Prosser
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September 27, 2011 12:52pm
Mick Mac

Scott Chris (1,612) Says:
September 27th, 2011 at 8:33 am

Yeah you’re right capitalism has it’s downside.
But (there’s always one isn’t there 🙂
So does Socialism.
Because the same corruption you get in capitalism you get with socialism and bureaucrats who spend OPM as they know better than us.

Key is transparency and that is the problem.
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September 27, 2011 1:32pm
calendar girl

“You win some, you lose some. No one is complaining except Elaycee.”

As I suspected, the usurious 12% interest rate, unsecured and before any commission paid to the broker, tells its own story about the extent of your father’s gamble – for that’s what it was, a gamble.

However, if the “old man” can take a hit like $50k and just consider it part of the swings and roundabouts of investing, it must be looking OK for your own inheritance in due course!
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September 27, 2011 1:34pm
Elaycee

““You win some, you lose some. No one is complaining except Elaycee.””

Clearly a comment from the ‘intellectual giant’ – fortunately comments from Scott Chris are skipped on my laptop thanks to software.

Er, Scott Chris: For the record, no one is complaining but I most confess I do hear a massive whine coming from your direction. Is it a plane shutting down? Nah – its just the dying throes of a stalk. Bye bye.
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September 27, 2011 2:00pm
Lee01

A TRADITIONALIST ON THE LEFT?

Lord Glasman, the British Labour Parties self-styled “Radical Traditionalist” and promoter of the “Blue Labour” movement, has a plan to reconnect British Labour with the people through a small-c conservatism based around “family, faith and flag”.

Amongst other things he has called for a freeze on immigration, an end to multiculturalism, the organic unity of the nation, morality as opposed to rampant individualism, the importance of rootedness and place, and a return to an economy focused on small businesses and family owned farms.

Sound familiar?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jul/19/lord-glasman-radical-traditionalist

Now if only we can get someone in New Zealand Labour to take notice…..
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September 27, 2011 2:05pm
Manolo

My apologies if this link has been posted before, but it’s an article worth reading I found at The Spectator (in print) and at The Telegraph’s website.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/8780075/The-great-euro-swindle.html
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September 27, 2011 2:20pm
tom hunter

As a follow-up on my earlier link to the trader being interviewed by the BBC – as well as the discussions around Mr Serepisos – there is this to consider from a recent study at The University in St. Gallen, Switzerland: New Study on Traders.

The study compared the results of an existing study of 24 psychopaths in German high-security hospitals with results from analysing a control group of 27 “normal” people – traders:

Even the experts were surprised by the result. They attest to the stock market professionals with a penchant for immense destruction.
…
The performance of the 27 dealers is even worse than the psychopaths.
…
“It’s like beating one of the neighbor’s expensive cars with a baseball bat with the sole objective of owning the most beautiful car in the neighborhood.”

I wonder how politicians measure up on this scale. People like our PM, Mr Key ….

Oh wait!
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September 27, 2011 2:34pm
mikenmild

I seem to recall someone once saying that the psychopath you were most likely to meet would be the one for whom you worked.
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September 27, 2011 2:46pm
Lucia Maria

Politicians and share-traders are most likely to be psychopaths.
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September 27, 2011 3:51pm
Scott Chris

Mick Mac – “Yeah you’re right capitalism has it’s downside. So does Socialism.”

Couldn’t agree more. I think a cashless society where every transaction is traceable and every possession micro-chipped may make corruption more difficult, but not impossible.

Whilst some people may see this as oppressive, it is thought that full traceability would probably result in a freer economy.

Calendar Girl – I have four sisters and three brothers, and Nanna made it to 98 and Grandpa 90, so I’m not holding my breath. And yes it was a gamble, but the risk was spread.
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September 27, 2011 4:17pm
joe90

Speaking of not getting your money back and/or losing it all – take a look at this trader talking bluntly to the BBC about the Eurozone crisis:

Reading his about page and article, Why I Pray for Another Recession, and he looks to be a nobody who runs a tin pot outfit from his mothers garage.
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September 27, 2011 4:28pm
Mick Mac

Scott
Couldn’t agree more. I think a cashless society where every transaction is traceable and every possession micro-chipped may make corruption more difficult, but not impossible.

In all honesty you may be correct BUT, (there is always one isn’t there) knowing human beings as i do, and politicians as they are would you trust a govt that big that it could trace everything?

I don’t trust the buggers now and even more so then. 🙂
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September 27, 2011 4:43pm
Mick Mac

Lee01 (971) Says:
September 27th, 2011 at 2:05 pm

sounds like even I could vote for him.

sadly The NZ Labour Party is so far off whack, they are in silly territory like the Greens and the Progressives.

It’s sad really as we don’t have decent options as a result, they have let the NZ voter down big time.
I love the idea of transparent food labeling and renewable energy in balance with non renewables but their social policies.

Hell must freeze over first.
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September 27, 2011 4:48pm
Mick Mac

And this is from a conservative Jewess.

http://melaniephillips.com/hijacking-the-language-to-stifle-debate

That is because I feel passionately that a society should be allowed to express its own culture – and this attack on BC and AD, fatuous as it may seem on the surface, is yet another attack on British culture and the Christian underpinnings which provide it with its history, identity and fundamental values.

But then, political correctness is all about dictating what people are permitted or forbidden to say as a way of controlling and reshaping a society and its values.

Look at the way the Labour leader Ed Miliband has refused to call people who defraud the welfare system ‘benefit cheats’

do read it all.
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September 27, 2011 5:37pm
adze

Rant mode on/

I’ve just heard on Prime News that the Taupo Mayor has defended Taupo police against accusations of racism, saying “40% of them are Maori”.

Oh well that clinches it then.

Because only whites are racist. Right Mr. Mayor?

And what do we say about people who assume that people of certain skin colour have (or don’t have) a particular shortcoming? I’ll give you a clue. It starts with the letter R, and you’ve already mentioned it.

Fuck his sort of perverse logic really pisses me off. It would have been better for him to say nothing at all.

/End rant
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September 27, 2011 5:47pm
Scott Chris

adze

Regarding “Rant Mode”. My off switch is broken.
Regarding Toe-paw’s Mayor. I think I see the the source of the racism problem.
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September 27, 2011 6:00pm
Mick Mac

Two lies in the world today highlighted.

http://melaniephillips.com/truth-and-lies-at-the-theatre-of-the-absurd

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/anti-semitism-the-real-issue-that-dare-not-speak-its-name/story-e6frg6zo-1226144877560

Rudds a leftie wanker I can understand, but why don’t the rest of the world want to acknowledge this truth. The problem is not the absence of a state of Palestine. The problem is that the Arabs want to get rid of Israel.

Are they all anti-semites?
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September 27, 2011 6:06pm
big bruv

“Politicians and share-traders are most likely to be psychopaths.”

Oh really?…so what does that make Catholic Priests… paedophiles?
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September 27, 2011 6:08pm
nasska

Mick Mac

…”Are they all anti-semites?”…..

Same question I’ve asked myself. As long as their stated aim is to take back Israel & destroy its inhabitants I fail to understand how anyone can expect the Jews to talk peace or extend olive branches. Inviting explanations on this forum has always produced “fluffy kitten” type responses suggesting that the Israelites should bend over & let the Muslims do what they want.

The problem is not going to disappear in a hurry.
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September 27, 2011 6:41pm
nickb

Can the moment John Banks joined the ACT party be deemed the moment ACT died as a brand?

Why they would embrace such a socially conservative dinosaur that goes against all their founding principles is beyond me.

He should fuck off back to Labour Lite where he belongs.
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September 27, 2011 6:48pm
reid

Update on Fukushima:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhDFNe0iREI&feature=related

Can the moment John Banks joined the ACT party be deemed the moment ACT died as a brand?

No I think it was the moment Brash as the new leader chose his launching message to be one of Orewa II instead of what he is the best in the country at: economics. I think the brand died then.
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September 27, 2011 7:09pm
reid

Here’s some encouraging news re: the GFC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC19fEqR5bA&feature=email
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September 27, 2011 7:27pm
wat dabney

Socialism’s inevitable end-game. Decades of venal politicians running the state for the benefit of themselves and their special-interest groups – and always in the name of the very workers they’re plundering:

“‘Some days we only buy the basics and a few days lately we were not able to buy even those. We have to count our cents to decide between buying bread, milk or butter,’ says Mary. ‘Some days are better, but some are difficult. We don’t buy clothes any more. People don’t go out. There is simply no money around out there.’ In their neat apartment in an Athens suburb, surrounded by family heirlooms and lace tablecloths, they are a world apart from the anarchist demonstrators who snatch the headlines whenever opposition to the EU-imposed austerity measures is discussed…We would like to see the politicians executed,” says Maria, not smiling as she delivers the joke. “Most people are saying this: politicians deserve capital punishment – at the Greek equivalent of Traitors’ Gate…But it is this seething anger of those who have never been on a demo that is really frightening – because we have no model for what happens if the middle class of a developed country simply switches off from politics and gives up hope. Not since the 1930s, anyway. ”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8786547/The-Greek-tragedy-no-money-no-hope.html

Greece is just the first.
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September 27, 2011 7:45pm
nasska

Two Star Hangover (Part 2 of 6)

No pain, but something is definitely amiss. You may look okay but you have the attention span and mental capacity of a stapler.

The coffee you hug to try and remain focused is only exacerbating your rumbling gut, which is craving a full English breakfast.

Although you have a nice demeanour about the office, you are costing your employer valuable money because all you really can handle is some light filing, followed by aimlessly surfing the net and writing junk e-mails.

To be continued………
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September 27, 2011 8:00pm
big bruv

I see Kedgley has given her valedictory speech in the house.

So after 12 long years she has achived…… absolutely nothing.

Good riddance, she will not be missed.
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September 27, 2011 8:09pm
Mick Mac

Nassaka
I’ve definately had those.
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September 27, 2011 8:12pm
nasska

Mick Mac

Like that & worse BUT thankfully not in a long time.

In any case wait till we get to the sixth star!
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September 27, 2011 8:16pm
Tauhei Notts

A lovely piece of eye fillet served with some rice stuff with spinach etc washed down with a great merlot. Relax while I watch Tv; nothing on so I end up on channel 94.
Ladies and gentlemen; we are losing one of our greatest politicians in November; Rodney Hide’s speech on the police surveillance bill was truly inspirational.
I got it wrong.
I told influential members of the Act Party some months ago; we have to get rid of that clown.
How wrong was I?
Nobody in amongst those 122 leeches sucking on the taxpayers’ tit could have put the argument so well.
Parliament will benefit from the retirement of that woman who looked so beautiful 40 years ago.
Parliament will be a lesser place without Rodney Hide; love him or loathe him; his speech this evening was truly awesome.
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September 27, 2011 8:22pm
nasska

A farmer got in his ute and drove to a neighbouring farm and knocked at the farmhouse door.
A young boy, about nine, opened the door.
‘Is your Dad home’? the farmer asked.
‘Sorry mate, he isn’t’ the boy replied. ‘He went into town.’
‘Well,’ said the farmer, ‘Is your mum here’?
‘No, sir, she’s not here either. She went into town with Dad.’
‘How about your brother, Robbo? Is he here’?
‘He went with Mum and Dad.’
The farmer stood there for a few minutes, shifting from one foot to the other and mumbling to himself.
‘Is there anything I can do for ya’? the boy asked politely. ‘I know where all the tools are if you want to borrow one. Or maybe, I could take a message for Dad.’
‘Well,’ said the farmer uncomfortably, ‘I really wanted to talk to your Dad. It’s about your brother Robbo getting my daughter pregnant.’
The boy considered for a moment.
‘You would have to talk to Dad about that,’ he finally conceded. If it helps you any, I know that Dad charges $200 for the bull and $150 for the pig, but I really don’t know how much he gets for Robbo.’
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September 27, 2011 8:30pm
Viking2

Homepaddock posts that Speaker Dr Lockwood Smith has referred the Erin Leigh matter to the Privileges Committee in the light of the ruling of The Supreme Court on the information given to The Hon Trevor Mallard by public servants and used by the Honorable (advisedly) Member to destroy Ms Leigh’s career.

Get the Popcorn ready people “Survivor New Zealand Parliament” is to be screened at a time to be advise

http://nominister.blogspot.com/2011/09/get-pair-of-adult-sanitary-napkins-mr.html
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September 27, 2011 8:36pm
reid

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-is-unaccountable-over-business-interests-adviser-says-2360896.html

Among the activities highlighted by Channel Four is Mr Blair’s advocacy for the Qatari-owned telecoms company Wataniya, which was granted bandwidth rights in the West Bank. JP Morgan [which Blair gets $2m p.a. from] helped negotiate a £2bn loan for the purchase of the company in 2007. It also detailed the former Labour leader’s lobbying to develop a $6bn oil field off Gaza for which British Gas Group own operating rights. British Gas is also a major client of the US investment bank.

Mr Blair’s spokesman said that the former Prime Minister’s advocacy of both projects was in accordance with the “long-standing demands of the international community,” and that his mandate at the Quartet was set out by the UN secretary general in 2007.

He added: “In neither case was Mr Blair even aware JP Morgan had a connection with the company. He never discussed it with them. They never raised it with him.”

All just a coincidence.

I think the Gweens would appwove of this. No emissions, you see.

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-atomic-automobile/
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September 27, 2011 8:39pm
Scott Chris

Mick Mac and Big Bruv landed themselves a job at a sawmill.

Just before morning tea Mick Mac yelled,”Dammit! I lost me finger!”

“Have you now?” said Big Bruv. “And how did you do it?”

“I just touched this big spinning thing here like thi–Damn! There goes another one!”
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September 27, 2011 9:53pm
Other_Andy

A California students’ group plans to go ahead with a bake sale where Asian- and African-Americans will be charged less than whites today, despite triggering a racism row.

And of course, nothing could be more racist than pointing out that liberals are racist. That’s why moonbats’ heads are exploding over the Berkeley College Republicans “Increase Diversity Bake Sale,” which offers a pricing structure that reflects race-based admission preferences.

http://moonbattery.com/?p=2713
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September 27, 2011 9:57pm
Scott Chris

M_T Tinman got a job painting white lines on the motorway.

He started Monday and completed three miles,. On Tuesday he managed two and a half miles, wednesday he only managed two miles, thursday only one mile, and friday a mere half mile.

So the foreman calls M_T Tinman into his office and says to him, “You started so well on Monday but as the weeks gone by you’ve done less and less, can you explain yourelf?” to which M_T Tinman replied, “Well duh! The paint pot was getting further away”.
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September 27, 2011 10:01pm
Scott Chris

Big Bruv and Little Bruv are out hunting in the bush when Big Bruv falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. Little Bruv whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My Big Bruv is dead! What can I do?”

The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.”

There is a silence, then a shot is heard.

Little Bruv’s voice comes back on the line. He says: “OK, now what?“
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September 27, 2011 10:14pm

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