Posts by Sylvie Zlami

  • Hard News: The Voyage of a Lifetime,

    That's a great initiative and a fantastic opportunity for Aucklanders.
    Any chance of a live stream?

    auckland • Since Dec 2007 • 31 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Schnapp Election,

    Well done for securing some advertising revenue!

    It's a bit ballsy of them to lay claim to being the first NZ produced schnapps though. There's a reasonably well-known producer in Tauranga that has been distilling excellent schnapps for a decade now. Just saying ...

    auckland • Since Dec 2007 • 31 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: The Bollard Book,

    so look for a run on Gold and Silver

    I suspect you're right on the money ... bar ETF calamities.
    Mind you, a run on delivery might well fuel demand for the real McCoy.

    Oh well, speculation.

    Had read about the tungsten scam some time ago - thanks for the YouTube link.

    auckland • Since Dec 2007 • 31 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: The Bollard Book,

    And yet, by any conventional measure, the people in question are extremely bright and hugely knowledgeable.

    I’m sure they are very bright, but I suggest they haven’t been prudent in their assessment of the situation. Looks like the default was to run with the crowd, rather than asking inconvenient questions.

    I think the system Bollard was referring to was the derivatives system which is so complex that a few people actually understand it. Such claims aren't new, however, credible IMO.
    (It makes my brain explode when I read the bumf that most people actually understand)

    Taking that at face value (and considering the sheer sums involved in derivative transactions), should we not be concerned that the people who are responsible for the financial system of entire nations, don’t fully understand the nature of those key financial mechanisms?

    If regulators don't have the balls to ask questions, does it not raise the question of who exactly is running the show??

    auckland • Since Dec 2007 • 31 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: The Bollard Book,

    My point being it is hard to sift the wheat from the dross

    I take your point. But I also think it's reasonable to expect that those who are in charge of a nation's monetary policy have the intellectual capacity to do so.

    auckland • Since Dec 2007 • 31 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: The Bollard Book,

    Although he does, remarkably, credit unnamed expert blogs with helping him understand the crisis as it began to unfold.

    Well, if that ain't telling (and more than a little alarming) I don't know what is.
    Long before the crisis unfolded, its inevitability was discussed in great detail in (alternative) financial/economic media where the fundamentals were laid bare.
    Was it conveniently ignored because it wasn't on the official song sheet? Or was it just too damn difficult to understand? Or perhaps it was too bloody scary to admit that the global financial system had long ago become a casino ruled by gambling lunatics.

    I'd really like to know why this crisis came as such a surprise to the likes of Mr Bollard & Co. You'd think they should have seen it coming like Xmas. Plenty of individuals in the blogsphere did.

    Makes you wonder what - if anything - has changed since then.

    auckland • Since Dec 2007 • 31 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: A brief message for the disorganised,

    Bloody excellent!
    Thanks for putting it on!!

    auckland • Since Dec 2007 • 31 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: Day Five,

    Emma, I’m utterly amazed that you found the mental capacity and emotional strength to write this! I simply can’t begin to imagine what it must be like. Seriously.

    Experiencing it all from a distance is strangely odd and unsettling also. It still seems curiously surreal somehow. I thought that would have changed by now, but it hasn’t as yet for me.
    On the one hand, the aftermath of the earthquake is so immediate (well, omnipresent in news & social media). And yet at the same time it seems a world away … because nothing much seems to have changed in Auckland.

    Feeling awfully helpless up here and unable to do much more than to send messages of support. Really hope that it all stops … very soon!!

    auckland • Since Dec 2007 • 31 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: PEDA: Who, what, where, why,

    Disgraceful behaviour from the Banks camp.
    Mind you, I didn't expect much more.
    Leopard ... spots ...

    auckland • Since Dec 2007 • 31 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Fear, authority and ... Judy Bailey?,

    Maybe they'll invite Deborah Hill Cone next time.
    Her idea of not letting kids travel until they're 18 would fit right in.

    auckland • Since Dec 2007 • 31 posts Report Reply

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