Bernard Hickey, Peter Bale, Cathrine Dyer & Robert Patman chat about the week in geopolitics, the economy & climate; Plus Geoffrey Miller on the Middle East conflict(s) & how it affects NZ
A word conservatives used to bang on about was "prudence".
We can hope it will all blow over, that we may be fine with just-in-time fuel supplies from South Korea. We may not want - or even need - to hit the panic button right now but it would be PRUDENT (and reassuring) if the government were seen to be obviously planning...and encouraged others in civil society to do so too, even if they rammed home the message to not activate things just yet.
Our fuel supplies are just enough so far to keep things ticking over. Just. But there is not really that big a margin. They will be wary of sending signals that lead to panic buying and hoarding that will lead to a serious depletion of stocks and the introduction of rationing faster than needed.
But they do need to be thinking about who gets what if we all get stuck in low supply - or we can get fuel, but it becomes so expensive that some sort of control is needed. They need the plans ready to go.
Unfortunately, the government seems to automatically word-associate "planning" with "socialist" and then gets all sweaty and queasy and has to take a cuppa and a lie-down. But planning for eventualities is not just some pants-wetting lefty syndrome. It used to be the hallmark of serious National governments acting in the country's interest too.
A significant portion of this coalition has a constituency that reacted very badly indeed to being "told what to do" in COVID [the unspoken bit: by a woman] and I wonder how much this is retarding what would normally be a more practical response where politics are swept aside and thoughts were more directly concentrated...
Or maybe they really are just that incompetent (I have long suspected it).
Maybe our government is just a caricature of a late 19th Century Tory administration confronted by a potato blight:
"Eh what? DO something?! Gad Sir! Do my ears deceive me? The Invisible Hand will prevail sir! Spend money you say? Are you quite mad?! That money belongs to tax cuts in the hands of Virtuous Wealthy Supermen such as former airline CEOs.
Poor people cannot afford to drive, eh? Well, that Sir is the Wages of Sin Sir - for being Poor Sir! Let them walk that they might reflect on their misspent and improvident lives."
Enjoyed that chat, can here echoes from Articles . understanding what's happening is a start. but can anyone else see so clearly what's happening. I hate to be the doom a gloomy guy, but people are going to starve to death. animals and entire species will go extinct. money has lost its attractiveness. some talk about bouncing back! its delusional if you look at the numbers.
Still a lot of time wasted, about what the hosts gave been doing and wearing. Please cut this intro guff out. My patience is wearing thin. Last week the chat took a full 8 minutes.
Probably deranged, Peter?
Ngā mihi. You guys (and gal) done good
As you said a couple of weeks ago Bernard. One big clusterf..k!
Allbirds did the exocapitalist lift, with a bit of speculative drag to drive the price!
A word conservatives used to bang on about was "prudence".
We can hope it will all blow over, that we may be fine with just-in-time fuel supplies from South Korea. We may not want - or even need - to hit the panic button right now but it would be PRUDENT (and reassuring) if the government were seen to be obviously planning...and encouraged others in civil society to do so too, even if they rammed home the message to not activate things just yet.
Our fuel supplies are just enough so far to keep things ticking over. Just. But there is not really that big a margin. They will be wary of sending signals that lead to panic buying and hoarding that will lead to a serious depletion of stocks and the introduction of rationing faster than needed.
But they do need to be thinking about who gets what if we all get stuck in low supply - or we can get fuel, but it becomes so expensive that some sort of control is needed. They need the plans ready to go.
Unfortunately, the government seems to automatically word-associate "planning" with "socialist" and then gets all sweaty and queasy and has to take a cuppa and a lie-down. But planning for eventualities is not just some pants-wetting lefty syndrome. It used to be the hallmark of serious National governments acting in the country's interest too.
A significant portion of this coalition has a constituency that reacted very badly indeed to being "told what to do" in COVID [the unspoken bit: by a woman] and I wonder how much this is retarding what would normally be a more practical response where politics are swept aside and thoughts were more directly concentrated...
Or maybe they really are just that incompetent (I have long suspected it).
Maybe our government is just a caricature of a late 19th Century Tory administration confronted by a potato blight:
"Eh what? DO something?! Gad Sir! Do my ears deceive me? The Invisible Hand will prevail sir! Spend money you say? Are you quite mad?! That money belongs to tax cuts in the hands of Virtuous Wealthy Supermen such as former airline CEOs.
Poor people cannot afford to drive, eh? Well, that Sir is the Wages of Sin Sir - for being Poor Sir! Let them walk that they might reflect on their misspent and improvident lives."
Enjoyed that chat, can here echoes from Articles . understanding what's happening is a start. but can anyone else see so clearly what's happening. I hate to be the doom a gloomy guy, but people are going to starve to death. animals and entire species will go extinct. money has lost its attractiveness. some talk about bouncing back! its delusional if you look at the numbers.
Still a lot of time wasted, about what the hosts gave been doing and wearing. Please cut this intro guff out. My patience is wearing thin. Last week the chat took a full 8 minutes.
If you want to listen to stuffed shirts, go elsewhere then.
That comment typifies the downside of social media. Fine if you disagree with me, but why not be straightforward about it?