Doesn't Rate At All

Here's some more dismal science.

So a ratings agency downgrades the USA and carnage ensues on the stock market - globally.  One of the main reasons the US and global financial markets are in such a mess is that a few years ago many worthless American mortgages were bundled-up and on-sold as "five star" investments to American and international investors.  The resulting carnage from that debacle was the GFC: banks folded, the retail and housing sectors collapsed and massive unemployment followed.  It's with facing all these difficulties that some "experts" have now decided that the USA isn't what it used to be.  

Now to be sure, the whole thing is more complicated than this but there are some very obvious culprits.  For example, who was it who gave the thumbs-up to these useless investments?  Oh that's right, it was a group of ratings agencies, including the one that's just downgraded the US economy and started the next crash.

Anyone else seeing a dog chasing its tail?

Oracle of The Clash

The Casbah's rocking, London's burning and what with the Olympics being in London next year, I'm wondering "Should I stay or should I go?"

Yes We Have No Bananas

If there's one thing I definitely do not understand, it's economics.  Shortly the RBA will be meeting to decide whether or not to put up interest rates.  One of the main causes for concern apparently is that the price of fruit, bananas being the most quoted example, has gone up dramatically following last year's Queensland floods.

Now I get that part.  I can understand that if 70% of a state was underwater, less fruit is grown and because demand can therefore not be met, prices go up. 

What I don't understand is how making me pay an extra $20 a week on my mortgage is going to solve that problem.  My paying an extra $20 doesn't suddenly make all the water go away and the trees come back.  There's still a shortage of fruit.   

Now perhaps, for some people, that extra mortgage payment suddenly means that they'll stop buying fruit and therefore the demand and price will drop but in my opinion there is no rationality to that argument.  Those people who want to buy fruit and can still afford it are still going to do so.  The rest of us just think about the good times when we could afford fruit.  We've already stopped adding to the demand side of the equation. 

No wonder they call it "The Dismal Science".

But the real kicker?  Other than the extra mortgage repayments?  I don't even like bananas!

Punktuation

I enjoy reading the comments to the various opinion pieces in the paper but it can sometimes be amazingly difficult because people choose not to use punctuation obviously the people writing these comments never read them back to themselves because if they took the time to do so they might notice that somewhere along the way they had lost the meaning of what it was they were trying to say they might also notice that they have run out of breath which is a sure sign that a full stop or comma somewhere has been missed

iNoLookWhereiGo

I'm going to start walking down the street doing cool things on my phone. 

I haven't got a phone that does cool things but I don't see why I should be the only person looking where they're going.  Don't blame me if we bump into each other.

U-S A-U-S

Heard some people chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A" the other night on TV.  Do you know that if you only tune into that two thirds of the way through, they're actually chanting "A-U-S, A-U-S".  Makes me feel very patriotic.  So much so, I'm off to buy a strudel.

There Should Be A Law About...Umbrellas!

After three days of rain, one can only be struck, often literally so, by the lack of etiquette regarding the use of umbrellas. 

A lot of the Sydney CBD is fortunately under cover, which is handy on a rainy day.  It would be even more handy if people didn't walk under those awnings with their umbrellas up. 

The menace comes in two forms.  The first is the District 9 Mothership-sized umbrella-wielding individual.  Yes, it's a great umbrella but why are you worried about getting it wet?  The second is the usually shorter person operating in ostrich-stealth mode, umbrella pulled tightly down around their head, completely oblivious to everybody else ducking and weaving around them trying to avoid getting their eyes poked out.

It's simple really.  If you've got your umbrella up, you can walk in the rain; that's what it's for.  If you want to walk under cover alongside the less-prepared, please take it down.