Can or Can't or Won't?

Don't bank on it..

A transparent bank statement

There's something rotten in the state of the Commonwealth (Bank). Many investors who are out of pocket by not inconsiderable amounts of dosh are feeling the pain years after the GFC aftermath swallowed their savings, Commissions paid to so-called financial advisers encouraged the mob mentality that multiplied out of control and led to impossible promises and forecasts for investors.Greed and fear go hand in hand.
What is fairly obvious is the inherent inertia that is in-built in large corporations be they financial, construction or whatever. It would be nice but totally unrealistic to hope for complete transparency.

FIFA 2014

ORANJE........................Phew!

               Netherlands 2 Mexico 1

The too hard basket

Panda Baby

It would seem that in the West , we are fascinated by Chinese demand for what we can supply in the way of raw materials and energy. It helps our economy and our wealth.
China however has long term goals in mind as it tries too ensure that its insatiable appetite for energy and raw materials are met for the foreseeable future.
In her relations with the West, China has been maintaining and keeping up appearances. Low key, that is. So it's all tickety-boo as far as we are concerned. Loverly.

Our attention sadly is focused only on what we see and what interest us.

In South Easy Asia however, it;s a different story. There are a huge number of disputed areas which are causing some alarm among those countries confronting China over territorial and maritime disputed areas. China is beginning to flex its muscle more and more and reacting more aggressively in its response to disputed areas.

According to Wikipedia these are some of the following the following disputes involving China inter alia:-

1. Maritime boundary along the Vietnamese coast between Vietnam, China, and Taiwan
2. Maritime boundary in the waters north of the Natuna Islands between Indonesia, China, and Taiwan 
3. Maritime boundary north of Borneo between Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, and Brunei
4. Islands in the southern reaches of the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands between Vietnam, Malaysia, The Philippines, Brunei, Taiwan, and China
5. Maritime boundary off the coast of Palawan and Luzon between the Philippines, China, and Taiwan
6. Islands in the northern reaches of the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands between Vietnam, China, and Taiwan
7. Maritime boundary in the Luzon Strait between the Philippines and Taiwan, including islands.
8. The nine-dash line area claimed by China which covers most of the South China sea and overlaps Exclusive Economic Zone claims of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Western defence experts are also becoming increasingly aware of China's growing maritime prowess. 

One of the troubles in becoming dependent on Chinese trade and wealth is that eventually we might be faced with a situation where we will be worse off in any argument with the rising power of the economic Mandarins. 

Hope we have the stomach for it when the time comes.

Bye,bye carbon tax

Clive's titanic bluff

It was rather a bizarre day yesterday where Clive Palmer seemed to take on a green mantle, greener, in fact,  than broccoli. Standing next to Al Gore, a dyed in the wool climate change advocate, Clive calmly outlined his proposals for the abolition of our existing carbon tax.

Thanks to Clive it would seem that any savings made by this abolition would be passed on to the consumer. (You wish!)  

Bruce Baird of NSW also seems to think that power cost reductions can be achieved by selling off electricity assets. Seem to recall the same being said of CTP insurance, many moons ago when it was privatised. Call me a skeptic but I've found that while costs may be cut for a nano second in the grand scheme of things, they rapidly increase once promises made become hazy in the mists of time. Costs are usually replaced by fees.

Of course Mr. Abbott is over the Abbey steeple with joy at Clive's willingness to join in the fray. Cheshire cat doesn't even come close! Morris West once described this state of euphoria as someone "on cloud nine talking jabberwocky".

Jabberwocky all of the above may be but there's no denying Clive has got what he wanted and come out of this looking squeaky clean, a white knight, firmly on the side of the struggling consumer.

Does this not raise questions about Al Gore's credibility. What the hell was he thinking?

One weighty critic called Clive a "prankster". In  days of yore he would have been considered to be a larrikin. Funny how things change.

Promises

Storing up trouble

 Acknowledgement for Alexsander  to Darren Walsh at Passion Pictures

You can fool some of the people all of the time, andall of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

Abraham Lincoln, (attributed)

The current federal government appears to be heading for difficult times ahead. While it's true  that unpopular measures are passed in its early days hoping for a rebound prior to the next election, the current majority in Canberra seem determined to undermine public trust and confidence.

Cuts to education and welfare arts and broadcasting,  new /old tax increases and new costs as well as attempts to grab back listed heritage areas,  are all in the offing. The government has yet to get many of theses measures  through. While the  apparent success of halting asylum seekers or boat people seems to have been well accepted , there is a lingering sense of "something not quite right" in the state of Australia, particularly when compared to other civilised democracies.The current strategy of including Cambodia to our list of havens for "unwanted" people is a bit chilling. Cynicism abounds. To add to the mix our Attorney General  sees nothing wrong with rednecks being bigots.

In the past, our sights and goals were fixed firmly on betterment of living standards, the practice of democracy ,in deeds not just words,  and the  improvement in living conditions for the poorer, less fortunate countries of the world. Through globalisation of economies and trade agreements etc we were hopefully going to lift each other by the bootstraps and reach a sort of economic Nirvana. 

What appears to have been achieved, trying to achieve this, is an ever  increasing population,  thanks to higher medical standards, better economic conditions: with all of this  however we are faced with the problems of how to deal with the new reality. It appears that we set our targets without envisaging the consequences and then try to fix the problems by applying methods that are outmoded and hard to enforce.

One can’t help but get the impression that our current Prime Minister promised everything and kept his cards very close to his chest when electioneering. Cuts to welfare programs as well as  increased taxation and costs in other areas are being introduced and mooted on a regular basis. 

This in itself is not a problem, apart from the pain it imposes, but it leads to cynicism and disbelief in our current leaders. We continually  hear the argument that  “ we can’t have this with that” , when in fact the proponents of such an argument are really saying “ we can’t have that, only our way of thinking”.These are rather specious statements and are designed to justify a position.This is  a statement of belief; if you say something long enough and loud enough it becomes axiomatic.

It would be welcome to have, for a change, a forward looking bunch of parliamentarians who are willing to try to tackle our current problems in a way that benefits the majority not just the privileged, not only domestically but also overseas. That's where leadership lies. Probably too much to wish for.

                 

Semitic Semantics

Free-lance Attorney General (the very model of )

Catching cabinet as well as the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott who was in the U.S. at the time, George Brandis a  proponent of the Israeli lobby in Australia, took it upon himself to reclassify the occupied territories as disputed territories.
Arab and Muslim states are in an uproar over the reclassification while the government already under pressure  from within its ranks over certain budget measures,  is hunkering down trying hard

to present a united front and hoping the furore will die down.
George is fast becoming a  booby prize for the Libs, a loose cannon whose opinions seem rather unusual, if not strange,  in this day and age.

The Fairer (?) sex

No sex please, we're politicians.......

Clinton wasn't afraid to level criticism at the treatment of Julia Gillard during her term as Prime Minister. Her comments were cleverly phrased .It is obvious she is a diplomat and without mentioning names or being drawn into Australian politics was able to single out those who were guilty of unnecessary sexism.

Today it should be inconceivable that gender should continue to play such a discriminating role in our public as well as private lives.

Hubby Bill had a bit of bother keeping sex out of politics but in the end he seems to have been forgiven. Whether Ms Clinton can make it to the top remains too be seen but despite the  prejudice exercised in some quarters, Australia has had a female leader .

Life has a nasty habit of throwing you a curved ball when . of course, you are least expecting it. So uncool.  So it is with this..shall only be able to add a few notes  here and there and hope you'll excusez-moi for the inconvenience. Expect the unexpected is a catch-all cry that takes care of many scenarios. Jeez..I'm waffling. Apologies. So rather than sit here glumly, let's have a bit of cheer and revert to the old days before the GFC and the ensuing pain ;  shall we dance, listen to music and enjoy each others'company! Yeah? Let's '...

Walk, text and firing blanks

Not Pocket science -yet

According to statistics for 2103 there are more than 7 billion mobile phones in use , world-wide. Australia ranks 38th in world-wide terms but 6th in terms of smart phones in use. 

These are big numbers.

Of course with the use of mobile phones comes controversy , some of it proven and some not.

While the scare of cancer has been downgraded and probably dismissed at this stage as a cause of cancer there are other issues that are at play and notably the issue of pedestrian safety. Using the mobile while driving is an infringement under the law however texting while walking is yet to be put to the fore. 

More skillful than walking and chewing gum at the same time  nevertheless the number of pedestrian deaths is starting to cause alarm in police circles. To be cut off in mid sentence by a SUV or a Mack truck leaves a lot of unfinished business and yet more trials and tribulations with funerals and family trauma to come. 

Trauma director at St Vincent's Hospital Sydney, Dr Tony Grabs, has told 7.30 report on ABC ,  distracted pedestrians near roads are as at risk as someone under the influence of alcohol.

Then many are those mobile owners who travel abroad with their phone only to return home relaxed and happy , a state of mind which soon turns to so much stress when they find themselves faced with bills the size of a small mortgage.

In the latest development ,  a recent study by the University of Essex has indicated there might be a link between mobiles and fertility/infertility amongst  men who dock their mobile in their trousers when finished.  (Dr. Fiona Mathews, director of biosciences and animal behavior at the University of Exeter).

This however has not been proven beyond doubt and one researcher has stated that this will not change his habits nor does it call for concrete underwear. Back pockets are also a favourite place to dock the phone ..wonder what that holds in store?

FA 2014 Japan

The Samurai

The Japanese team under their Italian coach have had a choppy ride through to the final FIFA rounds.  They shone in South Africa in 2010 though, progressing to the second stage at the expense of the likes of Denmark and Cameroon. They came close to stunning Paraguay with the South Americans only advancing through a penalty shootout victory after regular and extra time finished goal-less.

After a somewhat lacklustre start to their 2014 campaign they managed to find their form and  drew 1:1 with Australia in the final qualifying round. AC Milan midfielder Keisuke Honda has quickly established his place as the team's new leader, 

These guys could provide a surprise or two and their determination and doggedness to achieve something should not be discounted.

The Conservative's Prayer

Takes courage (?) to fly in the face of scientists and evidence. Unfortunately the power of economics has the upper hand and under our present system this is understandable. The expense involved in making radical changes for all of us is quite a cliff to climb.
Progress is being made but it is slow and it's not clear that we have the luxury of time on our side. We seem to be delaying the inevitable. Time, unfortunately, will tell.

FIFA Germany

Always a powerful contender,  Germany has  reached the latter stages of the World Cup not a few times . Disciplined and strong in attack and defence, they have a good chance of "being up there". They are  a youthful side and have the potential to outlast many of their opponents. They never seem to give up and will try to the last second to win by an even greater margin or strive to avoid losing the match. I'm not much of a connoisseur but by all accounts they should doing well. The main disadvantage as with many European sides is that they will be playing in an atmosphere abuzz with South American temperament , where soccer truly is  King.

Excited chatter

The chattering classes

"I expect my senior front benchers to be ambitious. There's nothing wrong with ambition," so said Mr Abbott, earlier this week. (Below an excited executive).

Blowing things up "a bit".

Talk Back

 During a stoush about leadership challenges and on the airwaves ,  Malcolm Turnbull did indeed talk back to the yabbering of Alan Jones,  who mouthed off on air , accusing Turnbull , 

''No, there's no challenge to his leadership because you have no hope ever of being the leader, you've got to get that into your head but because of that you're happy to chuck a few bombs around that might blow up Abbott a bit."

Well!

Abbott ended up by defending everybody, Jones, Bolt and Turnbull. You can judge a man by the company he keeps. Jones and Bolt were singled out as being friends. 

However how does blow up someone a bit? Perhaps the cold war wasn't such a threat with the U.S. and U.S.S.R only dropping  "bits" of nuclear thingos on each other. The best commentary on Alan Jones is to ignore him completely and let him speak for himself..which he does, ad nauseam!

A "bit"of Alan Jones

Troubled by gas?

"Friends always, nyet?"

The recent gas deal between Russia and China has been described by some as "historic". Worth some $400 billion (insane amounts) the deal nevertheless has some major
glitches,  namely the issue of pipelines for shipment to China. The Chinese government wants its own direct pipeline which will cost somebody about another $22 billion. Looks like Gazprom may have to cough up but this is still under negotiation.
It's importance at this stage appears to be more symbolic. Faced with sanctions and the Western concern over Putin's political manoeuvres , the deal can be seen as precautionary and a sort of "up yours "to the West. Considering the reality that exports will not commence until 2018 and that China cannot absorb any more gas imports
( nor does it need to ) the deal is fraught with potential disputes and economic pitfalls , particularly for the Russians.
So on the economic front Putin's raspberry may well go pear-shaped. Politically however it does signify that Russia and China are ready to step up their mutual cooperation.

The long weekend

FISHING GEAR OK

CHANGE of CLOTHES OK

Another long weekend coming up..thanks to H.M.

Qatar Blues

There's a probe into Qatar's FIFA world cup bid following allegations the the U.K. Times of bribery behind the scenes.The outcome will be announced in July.

With the third largest natural gas and oil reserves In the world Qatar has quite an influence over Arab states and through it's Al Jazeera radio and television network has become a credible public voice. Recently it has been and is continuing to spend billions on infrastructure in order to attract tourism. It is an absolute monarchy.

Things have recently gone belly up for the oil rich state. A number of Al Jazeera journalists including an Australian have been incarcerated in Egypt. Of course it didn't help that Qatar \openly supported the Muslim Brotherhood as well as other groups during the period known as the Arab Spring.

Politics, religion and thousands of myriad issues within those issues,  continue to dominate this part of the world. The U.S. and Europe  is concerned that stability should be maintained at all costs. Major disruptions here could cause chaos with most economies.

There have been mutterings already re the World Cup soccer,  that temperatures might well be too high Average daily temperatures during summer  ( June thru' to September ) can easily exceed 40 C with little if any rainfall. The coastal regions can be slightly milder but there is a corresponding increase in humidity. Sport seems to be playing more and more of a role in world politics.Where there is money..... 

Dutch Lion

FIFA 2014

                        And here we are, with another competition that raises emotions, blood pressure and the

discovery of lost nationalities ( e.g. great grandmother's favourite head butler who was somehow connected to one's family and therefore entitles you to lay claim to that nationality).

                         It's going to be four weeks or so on intense commentary and discussion. I recall last time, some commentators and analysts made themselves extremely unpopular by constantly flogging one of the favourites. It's a wonder they were not lynched.

                         It would seem this time the top ten favourites are (according to some but not all analysts):-

Germany,Brazil,Argentine,Spain,Italy, Portugal,The Netherlands, England,Belgium and France.

I will try every now and then to add a picture which represents the various teams involved.The Dutch are extremely conspicuous because of their bright orange jerseys. Rows and rows of them. Should be interesting? 

Non? Hein?Nee?Nein? No?