Open mike 03/01/2011

14 comments on “Open mike 03/01/2011 ”

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1. jcuknz 1

   3 January 2011 at 7:39 am

   More grist for the mill …
   Equallity, the soul food
   http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/opinion/02kristof.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212
2. RedLogix 2

   3 January 2011 at 9:56 am

   Joe Romm at Climate Progress is one of my daily must reads….today’s lead article about the floods in Queensland is very close to home.

   Last year appears to have been the hottest year on record — and it saw an astonishing amount of intense rainfall from Nashville’s ‘Katrina’ to the great Pakistani deluge.” And so it should be no surprise that the year ends with another unprecedented deluge of “biblical proportion.”

   Surprisingly modest coverage in our media about these floods that at their peak have covered an area greater than France and Germany combined.
3. Colonial Viper 3

   3 January 2011 at 11:18 am

   Public Servant Unions Get Blamed

   We’ve seen how this works

   “People I don’t even know are calling me horrible names,” said Ms. Corfield, an art teacher who had pleaded the case of struggling teachers. “The mantra is that the problem is the unions, the unions, the unions.”

   Across the nation, a rising irritation with public employee unions is palpable, as a wounded economy has blown gaping holes in state, city and town budgets, and revealed that some public pension funds dangle perilously close to bankruptcy. In California, New York, Michigan and New Jersey, states where public unions wield much power and the culture historically tends to be pro-labor, even longtime liberal political leaders have demanded concessions — wage freezes, benefit cuts and tougher work rules.

   http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/business/02showdown.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB
4. Marty G 4

   3 January 2011 at 11:24 am

   I moved the comments on Key’s ‘spit the dummy’ interview to the new post.
5. Colonial Viper 5

   3 January 2011 at 11:25 am

   Young Professionals In Europe Are Angry

   It galled her that even with her competence and fluency in five languages, it was nearly impossible to land a paying job. Working as an unpaid trainee lawyer was bad enough, she thought, but doing it at Italy’s social security administration seemed too much. She not only worked for free on behalf of the nation’s elderly, who have generally crowded out the young for jobs, but her efforts there did not even apply to her own pension.

   “It was absurd,” said Ms. Esposito, a strong-willed woman with a healthy sense of outrage.

   The outrage of the young has erupted, sometimes violently, on the streets of Greece and Italy in recent weeks, as students and more radical anarchists protest not only specific austerity measures in flattened economies but a rising reality in Southern Europe: People like Ms. Esposito feel increasingly shut out of their own futures.

   And my friends, this is what the capitalist and political leaders of the west have led its young too.

   If it wasn’t for Australia sucking up all our trade qualified and professional 20-35 year olds, we’d see a very similar situation here IMO.

   http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/world/europe/02youth.html?src=me&ref=general
   • Vicky32 5.1

     3 January 2011 at 3:29 pm

     We still could see that here – not every 20-35 year old qualified person can or wants to go to Aussie!
     (Maybe for family reasons?)
     Deb
     • the pink postman 5.1.1

       3 January 2011 at 3:40 pm

       And snakes and deadly spiders. Plus the racist atitude of a large number of Aussies /
     • millsy 5.1.2

       3 January 2011 at 10:21 pm

       I always thought that going to Aus. was like jumping out of the frying pan, and unto the fire.

       Sure, wages are high and job are aplenty, but costs are through the roof, esp. for housing, etc, and there is no ACC, or universal health care, or anything like that that.
6. Zorr 6

   3 January 2011 at 3:05 pm

   This talk is very interesting and stimulating
   http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/645
7. ZeeBop 7

   3 January 2011 at 3:12 pm

   A CEO makes million dollar decisions, but a million people making a few dollar decisions
   every hour each also have the same merit surely? See that’s my puzzle, how come one
   is more important, more in need of government bail outs and the other not? Especially
   when you consider the CEO decision depends on millions of people making a few
   dollar changing decisions!!! We can’t do without the millions of people making economic
   activity happen, but we can let a few companies fail because we know they will be
   replaced, customers will find alternatives. That’s the market. This goes doubly for
   bankers who are twice removed from citizen capitalism.
   • the pink postman 7.1

     3 January 2011 at 3:46 pm

     Well who has the most important job,, the Head Doctor or the Rubbish collector. Now think of this people. One recieves thousands of dollars a week and the other a few dollars , but who do we need the most??
     • Draco T Bastard 7.1.1

       3 January 2011 at 4:16 pm

       The rubbish collector.
       • jcuknz 7.1.1.1

         3 January 2011 at 4:32 pm

         I made a similar answer to my boss when he asked me the question many years ago … today I know the answer is actually neither or both. A sign of maturity.

         I think perhaps the greatest problem with capitalism is the concept of endless growth which has led to an ever increasing world population which the earth cannot support in any standard of living acceptable to most of us.

         Ms. LPRENT …..
         A peculiar thing is happening quite frequently these days when I have the shift key depressed as I enter the anti-spam word … after entering two or three letters I get a list of inapplicable words hiding the required word. I’m using Safari if that makes any difference.

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1. The Standard: posted on 2 January 2011 at 5:13 pm

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