Posts by Rich of Observationz
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We talk of Asians and Europeans in New Zealand
I dislike the term Asian (not least because it's misused to mean only East Asian) and prefer to find out where people are from and call them Chinese, Korean, Thai or whatever.
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Hard News: About Occupy Wall Street, in reply to George Darroch,
There's a difference between lending and long/medium-term investment on one hand and complex instrumentalisation and derivative trading on the other
Not really.
Say one is a bank (of some kind) and have customers who want five year fixed rate mortgages, but only takers for one year term deposits.
One option would be to borrow short, lend long and hope for the best. Get an All Black or two to testify to your solidity and rely on the term deposits being reinvested at an acceptable rate,
The other option might be to use a derivatives exchange to lock in the fixed rate so that if rates change, you can fill the gap. Or get Japanese investors to lend in yen for the five year term and use currency derivatives to deal with the exchange risk.
The first makes you a worthy philanthropist who came unstuck, the second an Evil Manipulator, right?
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The idea that "it's all the fault of evil (and quite possibly Jewish) conspiratorial bankers" unsettles me.
In short, 21st century capitalism relies on a large middle class whilst at the same time failing to maintain that middle class's income levels in the face of globalisation and resource exhaustion.
In order for people to maintain their expected living standards in a society with increasingly limited employment prospects, property inflation was encouraged - this gave people an alternative source of "income". Governments fully bought into that, seeing it as the route to a docile "property owning democracy".
Maintaining this bubble required increasingly large loans, a demand government was reluctant to staunch.In NZ, with a conservative banking system and no financial markets tradition, these loans were provided by accountants in rural towns shovelling money at their mates, Elsewhere, more sophisticated stratagems were used. Either way, it was a bubble with the government, media and mainstream population wholeheartedly engaged. (How much of TVNZ's 2007 output was house pr0n?)
The "evil bankers" were simply meeting a demand. The ordinary traders, administrators and geeks were just doing a job no different to people in similar jobs at Google, or Apple. (Both of which rely on complex financial markets for their existence).
It might be convenient to scapegoat Wall Streeters, but the real culprits might be closer to home.
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Hard News: Where are the foreigners?!, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Bouchon
As well as the meanings of a class of restaurant, or a cork, a bouchon is also translated as a traffic jam. That's kinda appropriate, given the location.
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rugby’s a marginal sport
in all the participating nations except NZ and maybe Wales and Ireland. (Although soccer is big in Wales as well as Gaelic Football in Ireland).
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if the sentiment that the tournament is to blame for a big drop in turnover foments and continues through to the election
C'mon, you think they'd allow that to happen? Any economic analysis will get buried sometime in December,.
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seriously calling [Key] a psychopath
Possible but unproven
a sociopath
Undoubtedly
..and an alcoholic
No evidence for that, as yet. Many senior politicians wind up that way, though.
Personally, I just reckon he's become seriously jumpy about his personal security - a combination of believing the self-serving fairy (or monster) stories he gets from career securocrats, and not having come up through the ranks of being a minister.
That outburst in the house had the hallmarks of "OMG they're coming to shoot me!".
Does he still wait in the Koro lounge, or do the tarmac transfer/private jet thing?
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pearl-clutching
That's the sort of phrase that sounds like it should be an erotic act..
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I think it's similar to saying "Pixies: just a band" on bFM.
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aired Public Address Radio
Sure. If you think fair and balanced involves taking views from the slightly-left-of-centre through to Michael Lhaws.
Radio Live is a commercial radio station – that’s all you need to know.
And yes, you can make money airing rightwing propaganda, if it's packaged right. You can also make money airing left-wing views - look at Billie Joe Armstrong, or Michael Moore.