FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU
2010-06-19
2010-01-01
2009-09-15
bring it on
Dr Joe Flood, the [Flinders University Institute for Housing, Urban and Regional Research] adjunct professor, said the "the writing is on the wall for the 'Australian dream'."
"The country that promised limitless land, cheap housing and near universal home ownership to all comers now has the most expensive housing in the world amid very tight housing and land markets and little prospect of restoring the balance," Dr Flood said.
"As long as the Government, the public and the media remain in denial, and self-congratulatory rhetoric continues that Australia has cleverly avoided the housing market correction it needed to have, there is little chance that matters will improve.
"The only ways that this would happen are through a US-style price collapse or a complete re-evaluation of the situation and a coordinated effort by governments, planning and financial institutions to restore the balance between housing supply and demand - or tax away the imbalance - so that all Australians may benefit."
Dr Flood and his team assessed Census data to conclude that Australia's housing market is in "a very dangerous and unstable situation which has received little adverse attention".
The researchers found that after 1996, average house prices increased by three times on average - to around 6.8 times medium household income - and debt levels surged.
"On the one hand Australia is vulnerable to a collapse like the United States, where prices fell by a half during the sub-prime collapse ... or to a long slow decline as in Japan since 1988," Dr Flood said.
Source: House prices 'need US-style collapse'
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOMBOOMBOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
2009-04-20
I dreamed a dream that I didn't live in a soul-destroying culture (that is heading for collapse anyway so fuck it)
I really, really, REALLY hate the editing on these clips. Just show the woman singing, maybe with a cut or 2 to the crowd. But we saw more crowd/judges/backstage than we saw singing. Whoever edits for this show is a retard.
Well if the audience hadn't been screaming like banshees from note one, I might've been able to enjoy her voice. Really, how rude is that? If you want to hear the woman sing, it's best to close your gob and listen. Screaming like a mindless lout is not the best way to appreciate talent.
I can't stand how people react to stuff like this. Everyone gets all inspired and sad because basically - an ugly/common person can sing well - same with Paul Potts.
Now I'm not insulting her at all - she does indeed have an amazing voice. Nor do I resent her for being a rather ordinary looking person. It is the fact that the ONLY unique thing about her is she is ordinary looking.
And why should it be so inspiring that she has a good voice even when SHOCK HORROR she's ugly!! It's a sick observation of our society that people look at an ugly person and automatically think that they will be untalented and/or about to make a fool of themselves.
Downvote me if you wish, but it is total ug-sploitation junk. Look at the editing techniques in this clip and the inspiring backing music toward the end.
2009-04-19
All Hope is not Abandoned, Ye Who Enter Here
The Pirate Bay verdict is being criticized by the Swedish public and protests are being planned. Opposition to the decision is widespread, indicated partly by the surge in new memberships to Sweden’s Pirate Party. It has seen its ranks grow by 20% in the handful of hours since the verdict and the number of members is increasing by the minute.
More than thousand people have gathered in the streets of the Swedish capital Stockholm today, to protest against yesterday’s Pirate Bay verdict. The demonstration was organized by the Swedish Pirate Party that is campaigning for the European Parliament elections in June.
2009-03-14
2009-03-13
2009-03-12
CNBC but mostly BS (part 2)
Broadcast 2009-03-10:
I think it's important to see what Stewart is doing here.
He's not criticizing Cramer and Co from CNBC because they were wrong - there's plenty of people who are wrong.
He's going after them because:
1. They claim to represent "the heartland" of the American public (see the Santelli rant), when they really only represent a very specific cross section of mostly male, mostly white, and almost entirely wealthy people.
2. The hypocrisy - this is probably Stewart's #2 button to push about people. He can't stand it, so when you've got people on CNBC going on about the "losers" who "caused all of the problems in the economy" or the "the Obama administration who's ruining everything" - all the while almost pointedly ignoring the billions that the financial markets received because of their own actions, then Stewart is going to shine a giant flashlight on their double standard.
3. The lying. This is usually Stewart's #1 button that just gets him going more than anything else. If you lie, he will go out of his way to destroy you. So when Cramer goes on about "Oh, I didn't tell people to buy Bear Sterns", Stewart has no problem saying "You liar." When the guys on CNBC go on about how wise they are, and how well they know everything, Stewart isn't mad about them being wrong - he's mad about them lying about it.
4. And finally, the media. I think of all the targets that Stewart and Colbert go after, the media is probably one of their favorite. Again, he's not so much mad about CNBC being wrong about the former bubble - but for going out of their way to promote the bubble. Daily Show has made a point of going after reporters for being a bunch of wimps when questioning the former and the current administration, too scared of giving up "access" instead of looking to find out the "truth". So while the CNBC guys were softballing CEO's that, with any amount of homework, could be seen as lying and, in Standford's case, operating a ponzi scheme, rather than being directly challenged with real, earnest reporting that so-called "experts" in financial matters should have done, the CNBC crew all but licked the balls of the oh-so powerful CEO's they invited on - because if they didn't, they feared not being allowed to talk to them again.
From what I've seen of Stewart, this is an unpardonable sin. The media's job isn't to be a friend to the powerful or the famous, but question them, push them, research the facts and when there is a contradiction between fact and statements, point that out.
Personally, I hope Stewart does to CNBC what he did to that horrible Crossfire show. Sure, CNN replaced it with another, but at least for a shining moment, Stewart revealed that the Emperor really had no clothes, and made people start to think again about what they were doing.
The fact he made Tucker Carlson look like a dick in the process was just gravy.
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