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Bernard Hickey talks with Marcus Lush on Radio Live at 6.50 am about Fonterra's milk price review; Bill English's 'ugly' forecast; PGG Wrightson's golden parachute

Bernard Hickey talks with Marcus Lush on Radio Live at 6.50 am about Fonterra's milk price review; Bill English's 'ugly' forecast; PGG Wrightson's golden parachute
<p> Bernard Hickey and Marcus Lush talk every weekday morning just after 6.50 am about business, economics, markets and personal finance.</p>

Every weekday morning just after 6.50 am I talk with Marcus Lush on Radio Live about the latest news in business, markets, economics and personal finance.

I usually send through suggestions the night before or earlier in the morning.

Sometimes we veer off into other areas or pick up on things that happen overnight.

But here's my suggestions as of 6.30 pm this evening. I'll update later with a link to the audio.

Marcus,

1. Fonterra's new Dutch CEO wants New Zealanders to be drinking more milk so they can be big and tall like Dutchmen. It's good for the Rugby he says. So he's going to review how Fonterra prices milk. He says he's concerned New Zealanders think milk is expensive and are reducing their consumption. See more here in our article.

2. The Chinese bankers are coming to Christchurch. The state controlled China Development Bank has announced an alliance with PwC to lend to projects for the reconstruction of Christchurch. This is all part of a global trend of China trying to spread around its US$3 trillion pile of foreign reserves around into countries other than America and Europe. Fair enough. Might give some competition to the Aussies. See more here in Gareth Vaughan's article.

3. I just don't get this. The former managing director of PGG Wrightson, Tim Miles, has received a NZ$3 million golden parachute. PGGW has been a train wreck of a company and Miles certainly can't claim credit for turning it around. He was impressive at Vodafone but not so much at PGGW. Miles, who led the rural services firm for two-and-a-half years until October last year, was paid NZ$4.3 million in the latest financial year. That was made up of the NZ$3 million ex gratia payment, his base salary of NZ$615,000, and a short-term incentive bonus of NZ$703,000. That must have been some pre-nup. See more here in Gareth Vaughan's article.

4. It looks to me like Bill English is softening us all up for a tougher budget outlook for 2013 and 2014. After returning from his 'ugly' meetings in New York, he warned today that growth was likely to be slightly slower over the next two to three years. See more here in Alex Tarrant's article.

5. There's money in old people. And we might actually see some of this business listed on the NZX. Quadrant Private Equity is looking to repeat its success with the Kathmandu Holdings float, seeking up to $136 million in a partial sell-down of its stake in retirement village owner Summerset Group when it lists on the NZX. See more here in our earlier article.

cheers

Bernard

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7 Comments

Bernard the link between protein and the height of a person is a strong one. I have read several pieces on that link over the years, including in time magazine. Yes the Dutch are the tallest in the western world, but would be eclipsed by the Fijians. It has been shown that a population can increase its average height by 6" over two generations by ensuring adequate protein, particularly though the peak growth phases. The difference in height is actually down, not up, with the extra length showing up in the legs:)

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Cheers. Probably right. I grew up on a dairy farm with my three brothers. We practically lived on milk and cheese.

I'm 6 ft 5 in. My three brothers are 6ft 3 in, 6 ft 6 in and 6 ft 11 in respectively.

 

cheers

Bernard

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That's one retirement village money grab to stay well away from....unless you want poor service wrapped in the advertising.

Now we can see why the cost of credit must rise for those who believed the media and bank bullshit that this was the time to borrow and buy. The pain will start post November. Bollard cannot print to bail out the banks that have to refi foreign debts. This is why the banks are about to swing an axe on their own . Fat cat bosses paid bonuses for firing at will and golden parachutes for being so bloated. 

The splurge on infrastructure has been dependent on govt borrowing...all based on creating jobs to hide the unemployment and faith that improved infrastructure leads to growth through efficiencies.

But the Bernanke 'printing' rort has failed to do more than bubble commodity prices. They will sink back down. The rural safety net is being put away. The great eastern market is in trouble with bloated debts and export market decay as the US farce fails to fake another boom on the free money on offer. Forget Europe and the UK. They are buggered with debts and political filth. The very best to expect from there will be a time without rioting and civil war...a time of no growth...of perpetual nothing.

Meanwhile the debasement of the Kiwi$ continues like some giant scam the public seem incapable of understanding even when it boots them up the bum. And the drive to make building too costly to contemplate, stuffed with engineering demands and red tape. Expect to see the promised chch and rotting rebuild visions turn to a big fat stuff all. The building sector has yet to see the real bottom in this 'new normal'.

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 "Hi ho Hi ho it's off to the bank we go..to grab our euro while we can, Hi ho Hi ho...."

"A default by Greece or another country would send shock waves through the global economy, particularly in Europe, authorities fear. Banks would suffer such large losses on government bonds they hold that they would cut off credit to the wider economy and cause a new, sharper recession.

A split has opened in the eurozone over the terms of Greece's second €109bn bail-out with as many as seven of the bloc's 17 members arguing for private creditors to swallow a bigger writedown on their Greek bond holdings, according to senior European officials

France and the European Central Bank are fiercely resisting any such move. They fear re-opening the bond deal could spark renewed selling of shares in European banks, which have significant holdings of Greek and other peripheral eurozone debt

 the shock waves would have been far less had banks, the ECB, and the EU accepted realistic losses two years ago and simply let Greece default.

Losses will now be four to 10 times as large"

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/

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"Black budgets...golden parachutes...perk trips overseas!"

 "....In November, Mr Brown will travel to China and will be looking at some of the more advanced tunnelling technologies the country uses." herald...

He has to go you see...not the job of skilled engineers who would know a tunnel from a worm hole...no it has to be Mr Brown. I am sure many Auckland ratepayers will be hopeful Mr Brown will end up down a tunnel he cannot get out of. Is he going alone.....not on your friggin Nelly.....he will have a whole army of flunkies and splurgers joining him at the luxury hotels.

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Len, like many Socialists is absolutely fascinated by trains !    OK-  if we were a city of 15 million or something it might be viable . I mean why shouldnt Nelson have a multi-runway International airport  or Kiwi rail have an  ultra high speed from Picton - Invercargill

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