The state would earn $15,000 per $100,000 of mortgage, at a cost of about $1,700, while the homeowner would save $88,000 in interest and pay for the home 15 years sooner. “Our bank will save people about seven years of their pay over the course of 30 years, just on interest costs,” says Dr. Khavari. He also proposes 6 percent credit cards and 6 percent certificates of deposit.

Why do we have commercial banks again? Because it sure as hell isn’t for the benefit of the community.

I thought it was established years ago that merely offending someone is not sufficient reason for a politician to be censured, unless of course there is a different standard when it comes to offending white people and offending brown people?

Ooooh, Key gets to sit with the cool kids! Hi-five, Mr PM!

Honestly, could they make Key sound any more like a giddy schoolgirl? Can’t fault the sentiment though, Key is probably wetting his jockey’s at the thought of being within touching distance of Obama.

Is it a goose-step?

The MP, UF and Act are part of this Government by invitation. The Nats have enough seats to go it alone this time, but chose to take those parties with them anyway. Next time, they won’t have the luxury of offering a gift. It will be a full negotiation to get enough votes to form a government. By then, they will have pissed all over the Maori party’s fantasies, Rodney Hide the Sausage will have reduced Act to 2 seats, if any, and Peter Dunne will take the best deal on offer.

So, if Labour can come to terms with the Greens, compromise with the Maori party (who will have some less venemusly anti-labour MP’s at the next election) and buy off Dunne, they will be back where they belong.

If Winston scrapes back in by hoovering up the redneck vote that the Nats took off him, he is a complicating feature, but I would guess he’s more pissed off with the Ntats than idealogically opposed to Labour, so that will probably help.

Some, ifs, buts and maybe’s there, Lukas, but it’s a reasonable enough scenario.

It definitely won’t be before as having an election before the cup will be like saying the government doesn’t have faith in the ABs winning. Yes, elections are lost on All Black losses.

However, Key will want to remain as Minister of Tourism so he can get the photo ops “here’s me with Johnny Wilkinson”

God help us if there is a snap election in 2010. National AND Local body in the same years thereafter? Please no.

Labour, Progressives plus some combination of the Greens, United Peter, the Maori party and (god help us all) Winston would be able to form either a minority or majority government. All it takes is for the Nats to keep stuffing up and no amount of personal relaxation is going to see Key remain PM. Key is popular, his government isn’t.

Personally, I think there will be a snap election while he is high in the polls. The issue being a mandate for privatisation. “I promised not to do it in the first term, so please vote me a new term, so I can flog off the rest of the family silver”

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