the US is long bankrupt.

That's an interesting concept.
The country as in govt is in deep shit but in funding the wars they took govt money and paid it to american war mongers, so while many american's are broke, some american's are loaded.
a bit of income redistribution through…

John Key used the noun ‘contagion’…

are you joking?
the US is long bankrupt.

Definitely morally bankrupt :-)

I wouldn't get too happy about the US going bankrupt though. You can bet your boots if that happens, everyone else will be bankrupted first.

On the flipside, bankruptcy is actually the only known safety valve for too…

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

And more US Vets are commiting suicide than soldiers dying overseas.

http://www.warcomeshome.org/content/%2526quot%3Bshh%21%2526quot%3B....-1%2C000-veterans-attempt-va-attempt-suicide-every-week

How long before the US actually bankrupts itself?

are you joking?
the US is long bankrupt.
it's just that the creditors continue to pretend that their worthless US Treasury bonds are actually going to be repaid someday.
it's a Mexican standoff. A game of "chicken".
mutually assured financial destruction, if…

How long before the US actually bankrupts itself? Or does it still have the global clout to zoom down into astounding negative figures and not lose its collective shirt?

If we add in the Citi bailout, the total…

does that mean the other half of the antipodean crime fighting will also be seen?

I have to say, and it may not be popular, but I kind of resent that Public Address has too become a sport swamped place. It used to be a place to…

In a feted University of Otago study (BMJ, PDF), the health and other benefits were found to be significant.

A conservative cost-benefit analysis of this intervention
trial indicated that the tangible health and
energy benefits outweighed the costs by a factor
approaching…

Sixteen hundred more New Zealanders die every winter than during other seasons, with researchers pinning part of the blame on cold, damp and poorly maintained homes.

That's a lot of excess mortality, a lot of preventable sickness, and a lot of cold children and elderly.

Not for…

It's the job of the opposition parties to oppose the bad things that National do. Like [[http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2008/11/repealing-bail.html|locking up…

It happens going from one page to the next – like p2 to p3 – and it only started yesterday.

Has someone bought a load balancer?

googlereader only captures the first sentence or so, and with work blocking the site, i'm not getting any reading done...

however. they do have kiwiblog. if they don't unblock paddress i'm…

Sigh. Russell can you please get your Cactus folk to fix whatever is logging me out today every now and then when I go from one page to another (without having altered a single setting or upgraded any components at my end).

I suspect this has to do with how…

Also – I need you over here. Bar chart, damnit!

I'm afraid, Graeme, that discrete data can be plotted on a line graph when the sample is a rugby player.

Interesting thing: no entry for OnPoint has yet reappeared on the PA homepage blogroll (though this post is on the PAS roll). So how permanent is this return, Keith? Is there something we should know?

Interesting thing being how many of your have managed to read it regardless. Are you…

I'll get onto it.

Thank you.

Interesting thing: no entry for OnPoint has yet reappeared on the PA homepage blogroll (though this post is on the PAS roll). So how permanent is this return, Keith? Is there something we should know?

Don't fret. He took me a bit by surprise. He'll be back on the masthead…

Sigh. Russell can you please get your Cactus folk to fix whatever is logging me out today every now and then when I go from one page to another (without having altered a single setting or upgraded any components at my end).

Can you email me with details — OS,…

Something seems to have gone astray with their…

I might be misinterpreting this but, if you mean the US, their domestic economy is huge... therefore a much more effective buffer against a downturn in offshore demand. They also have a much more diverse trade profile, less dependent on commodities etc.

;-) yup. I was joking. I don't think…

the richest nation on the planet

you mean the one that's on the brink of bankruptcy and default?

maybe it's not the end of the world

but might we be nearing the end of the world's largest dysfunctional economy?

(Iceland x 1000, anyone?)

Tax cuts can be a problem if, instead of spending the money, people just save it.

You can avoid this if, instead of giving tax cuts, you throw the money at infrastructure projects etc. You can stimulate a lot of growth, particularly in a low population region by building stuff.…

The process may increase my typos...

I wonder what response I'll get it I explain my typos at work with detailed and salacious explanations of kink...?

The curious thing about the terrible balance of trade is that the very worst offender for this kind of the thing is also the…

it was rather the point.

Heh, ic...cause of the last guy. But it unfairly slurs the next guy too.

The curious thing about the terrible balance of trade is that the very worst offender for this kind of the thing is also the richest nation on the planet. Which kind…

The process may increase my typos...

It would also boost Russelll's readership quite a bit, I would think. But let's not digress.

The focus on stimulating domestic demand makes sense in the short-term, but the domestic economy is small. Longer-term NZ has too boost trade... thankfully McCully's just the man…

What he said... perhaps if it gets kinky but, Ms Hart will at least write about it?

The process may increase my typos...

Quick! Somebody chain that woman to her computer (but not in a kinky way).

What he said... perhaps if it gets kinky but, Ms Hart will at least write about it?

Yay, Keith's back from his re-education program!

I'll get my coat.

Quick! Somebody chain that woman to her computer (but not in a kinky way).

Was POTUS the final conclusion for an acronym for the recession? I didn't get a vote,

Vote??? heh that was just my suggestion and yes I was aware of the other meaning for the acronym – it was rather the point.

But I don't expect it will catch…

Bart I agree with all of that. The only way I can see NZ breaking out…

Speaking personally, my answer to…

Act wants the action and they're getting but are going to have to watch they don't talk themselves into a corner if they're raising the volume on Issues National knows are poll poison.

Or a molotov magnet.

What makes me think that the Key/Hide relationship will be much like the…

What makes me think that the Key/Hide relationship will be much like the Lange/Douglas one?

Welcome back Keith!

See what happens when you don't blog an election..?

On the National/Act policy tango, I think National is more than happy to have someone pushing them on right wing issues as moving to the centre would've been an uncomfortable necessity to many in the party and its…

Why waste breath when those that can possibly affect things have already made up their minds, and those that care but can't affect things become paralysed with cynicism and ennui.

You have a point. Why talk about the apocalypse, just run! Or eat, drink and be merry.

I'll get my coat.

No-one listens to us out here anyway ;)

Why waste breath when those that can possibly affect things have already made up their minds, and those that care but can't affect things become paralysed with cynicism and ennui.

If National were to dump Act in two years' time, I'd be tempted to vote for them in a glorious act of schadenfreude.

Oh, the wailing there would be from some quarters. How can we make it so?

If National were to dump Act in two years' time,

If National dumps Act and runs a strong candidate in Epsom, I'm not sure Act gets back into Parliament. I'm sure it will get mentioned in the odd heated meeting.

Aha! So you have some goods on them.

Or they on him.. :)

I already said Yay on another thread, but it bears repeating.

I'm not sure what an orange cloud would be symbolic of, however.

I'd probably invest in a badass umbrella (ella ella! ehh ehh ehh!... ahem, sorry, damn Rihanna-brain) at that point.

I'm not sure what an orange cloud would be symbolic of, however.

I'm guessing sunset. Or the apocalypse.

How can you have a blue cloud James? Apart from anything else, it would very difficult to see against the background.

It would be pretty obvious on an otherwise overcast day, if all the rest of the clouds were grey. or orange for that matter. I'm not sure what an…

How can you have a blue cloud James? Apart from anything else, it would very difficult to see against the background.

So how do you know there aren't blue clouds? Maybe there's lots of them, but you've always mistaken them for part of the sky.

Looking forward to more in the future...

I made you a bar chart

I think he wanted you to admit that you were wrong. And buy everyone beer.

Keith's back! I'm making my happy face.

Yeah, me too!

Bar chart, damnit!

I made you a bar chart

The reason was simple: I wanted to peek behind the curtain, and see what goes on in the heart of the machine.

So it wasn't the money?

Also – I need you over here. Bar chart, damnit!

I'm afraid that I won't be writing about my time inside.

Aha! So you have some goods on them.