90 seconds at 9 am with BNZ: Europe scrambles for IMF funds; NZ$ under 76 USc as NZ indicators mixed; Australian mortgage insurers may be downgraded

So, all-up - things not looking too bad really.  I'm sure Warren Buffett is still making money from the situation.

North Korea is probably more of an irritant for global financiers - how to bring it into the fold of open markets? And an excuse to manipulate falls/rises on the "bad news". 

"New Zealand consumer confidence slumped, but business confidence was solid and the services sector expanded."....hmmmm I suppose New Zealand Business don't do business with New Zealand consumers ??

I suppose this is a classic example of "cognitive dissonance".

Back in Asia, I suppose everybody is expecting the "Great Successor" to lop a few missles into the China Seas to celebrate his succession....guess what that will do to the Asian Stock markets.....if not already !!

"New Zealand consumer confidence slumped, but business confidence was solid and the services sector expanded."....hmmmm I suppose New Zealand Business don't do business with New Zealand consumers ??

I suppose this is a classic example of "cognitive dissonance".

Back in Asia, I suppose everybody is expecting the "Great Successor" to lop a few missles into the China Seas to celebrate his succession....guess what that will do to the Asian Stock markets.....if not already !!

Care to put your understanding of what "cognitive dissonance" means into plain English for us? I do remember it was a phrase I had to use to get marks long ago, others being objective and subjective and anthropomorphic.

I have a theory that the reason academics and French bureaucrats like long words and thinking about abstractions is that it is a form of intellectual combat. Its like in a low powered computer, so much brain power is used to understand the argument that there is not enough left to see the false bits.

Ah cognitive dissonance Roger... its like when National say "a brighter future" but we know by looking around us that its not bright...it is actually quite dark . 

"

California's population grew by nearly 26 percent between 1980 and 1990, from 23.7 million to 29.8 million, and grew by another 4.1 million persons between 1990 and 2000. Current projections indicate that population may double from the 1990 level to 58.7 million by 2040. In the face of such intense growth, California's fragmented and competitive local land use planning structures and subsidized dependence on drive-alone transportation have contributed to severe environmental and ecological deterioration, including

•  
• Serious air pollution
• Gridlocked roadways
• Strained and polluted water supplies
• Loss of valuable food producing lands and open space
• Increased numbers of endangered species due to loss of critical habitat
• Increased energy consumption
• A lack of affordable housing near places of employment
• Loss of open space
• Excessive consumption of natural resources.

"

http://www.sierraclub.org/ca/scc/growth.asp

Texas, of course, is the source of much climate skepticism. This may be real estate boosterism, Texas being hot, dry, and flash-flood prone with much of its infrastructure and property value barely above sea level. Texas is foolish in this regard, with its access to wind and solar power and energy infrastructure expertise. We ought to be leading the world in the transition to sustainability. Nobody here is willing to face the fact that when the really big problems start to get handed out, Texas will be near the front of the line.

But the culture has never had much respect for the land, which is harsh, scrubby and inhospitable, or the fauna, which tend to be as ornery as the short-tempered folk who famously first occupied this territory not too terribly long ago. The idea of farming was never to create a legacy for future generations. The early farmers would “use up” or “wear out” a farm and move on. And of course the real cowboys spirit opposed the fencelines in the first place.

This is not a place which takes kindly to limits. It respects its peculiar legacy but doesn’t go out of its way to respect its posterity, and never has. Texans have somehow managed to prosper (mostly due to the happenstance of fuel-rich geology, though the mythos speaks endlessly about persistence, diligence, and effort, and hardly at all of dumb luck). That this prosperity is barely a century old, that it carries no warrantee, that it stands to vanish as a result of the very activities that began here and are the source of the present prosperity, warnings like these are unwelcome. The sky, we say, is the limit.

http://init.planet3.org/2010/12/limits-texas-growth.html

Looking up other comments I wonder how/why Kiwis are anti-science, anti-knowledge.

Is that the number 8 wire syndrome is at its best.

All these structures of rusting steel and decaying cement, are another sad example of property development in China involving wasted money, wasted resources and the uprooting of farmers and their families. It is a reflection of the country’s property market which many analysts say the government must keep tightening steps in place. The worry is a massive increase in inflation and a speculative bubble that might burst, considering that property sales contribute to around 10 percent of China’s growth.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/china%E2%80%99s-deserted-fake-disneyland.html

Gerry discovers just what a pain in the a---- local govt pollies can be!

 "Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has accused "parts" of the Christchurch City Council of slowing the earthquake recovery and has refused to rule out sacking councillors.

Days after being reappointed, Brownlee waded into Christchurch politics, accusing some councillors of being ill-informed and not supporting Mayor Bob Parker.

"There is a case for some elected members of the council to step up and learn a little more about what is going on than they know at the moment.

"We need to get past the idea that we are waiting for someone else to do it," he said. "I have great sympathy for the mayor. I don't know that he is all that well supported by the council." press