Bernard Hickey details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with Bank of New Zealand, including news stock markets and the New Zealand dollar rallied sharply overnight on some hope that Europe may finally be getting serious about fixing its sovereign debt crisis.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso gave a speech calling for a coordinated recapitalisation of Europe's banks and the early deployment of a permanent and large rescue fund. See more here at Bloomberg.
Reuters reported European banking sources saying Europe's banks would be required to lift their tier one capital ratios to around 9% from 5% currently and that banks would be told to accept haircuts of up to 50% on Greek debt. Reuters' bank capital calculator suggests such settings would require fresh bank capital of 250 billion euros.
Barroso also proposed a ban on dividends for those banks that needed capital and said the banks should use their own private sources of capital rather than rely on government bailouts or the new 'Big Bazooka' bailout fund likely to be created to buy government bonds from struggling governments.
However, this plan is far from agreed and elements of it may need the approval of 17 parliaments. This was reinforced by first the failure of Slovakia to agree to an earlier Greek bailout fund and then a deal done this morning between the government and the opposition to agree the plan. See more here at Reuters.
Also, such bank recapitalisations and the creation of a rescue fund may cost France its AAA sovereign credit rating.
The European crisis will come to a head next weekend (the weekend of the World Cup Final) when a summit is being held in Europe, where it is hoped the key leaders can agree on a 'mega-plan' to take to the G20 summit in Cannes on November 3/4.
European stocks rose around 2.4%, while US stocks were up 1.5% in late trade. See more here at Reuters.
The New Zealand dollar, which often moves in tandem with global stock markets, commodity prices and perceptions for global economic growth, rose to 79.9 USc overnight from 77.5 USc yesterday on the hopes for a European solution.
Meanwhile in America, the Democrat-controlled US Senate has passed a bill that would allow the US government to impose tariffs on the imports of those countries that subsidise their exports by holding their currencies artificially low. This is aimed at China, which protested at the bill's passing.
However, the bill is not expected to pass the Republican-controlled lower House of Representatives and US President Barack Obama is also opposed and has the power to veto any bill passed by the two houses. See more here at BBC.
81 Comments
Bernard, sorry to hijack but the oil distaer on our BOP coastline was totally preventable - and it should be widely reported - this was written on Sunday, 9 Oct after the MNZ press conference;
http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/Battle-to-get-oil-off-stricken-ship-appears-lost-before-it-starts/89421
For reasons not explained, the rescue team have not deployed the two 100tonne volume inflatable barges from Auckland manufacturer, Lancer Industries which are owned by Maritime New Zealand who are co-ordinating the fuel offload. Lancer are the largest supplier of inflatable barges in the world, and the purpose of the barges is that they can be easily transported, and in this instance would have been available in a few hours.
The two barges are capable of working in a significant sea condition of six feet - meaning that the barge will remain operable on a 10ft wave height.
Instead Maritime NZ have opted for a strategy using a larger vessel the Awanuia, usually used for refuelling vessel in the Port of Auckland, and will transfer to HMNZS Endeavour if required. That strategy has taken five days to implement.
And this written the day before;
http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/Predicted-heavy-winds-could-trigger-container-ship-breakup/89405
Someone needs to ask why these New Zealand made barges were not deployed immediately the ship was grounded and during the ensuing 4 days of calm weather?
And why is this reporter speaking to the CEO of that company to get his advice - where was the government?
According to Maritime NZ:
Why aren't oil booms being used?
The oil spill response equipment MPRS has, in particular the containment booms, is primarily designed for inshore waters. MPRS does have some equipment that can be used offshore, but only if prevailing conditions allow it. The conditions since Rena ran aground have been quite rough so the response team has been unable to deploy containment booms.
neco - please, read on why:
http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/Publications-and-forms/Environmental-prote...
go to page 58 booms - 61 skimmers. Reading through the documents in my opinion despite the relatively high risks
New Zealand is simply not equipped enough and with modern safety gears to fight such an oil spill. Authorities reacted far to slow. While the sea was calm - I’m wonder if the case was regarded as serious in the first few hours ?????
The goverment let big companies operating here for short term profits, but don't have long term plans to really care about safety standards enough.
Guys type in google: nz parliament oil exploration - and read how pathetic and unprofessionally ministers answer questions.
And it just gets worse and worse - beaches closed - oil smell in the air intolerable - residents told to keep their windows shut.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10758672
Once again - there were four (nearly five) days of calm weather preceeding this disaster.
WHAT WAS GOVERNMENT DOING? Issuing a "notice" to the boat owners about "taking all reasonable steps.... blah, blah, blah"
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/blogs/john-pagani-left-leaning/5774394/Who-is-to-blame-for-Rena
And we heard earlier that they couldn't board the Rena in a timely manner in order to take breathaliser tests of the crew. What kind of absolute pushovers are we? A Filipino crew says, no, you can't come aboard and we say, okay fine, we'll get back to you once we contact your owners?
Give us a break - this Government is hopeless, hopeless, hopeless - the most damaging on record.
And why are these officers being bailed? If we fear for their safety we should keep them locked up awaiting trial. Now we hear they weren't being paid by the overseas owner - had worked far longer hours than they should have - and their Embassy folks are heading down under... likely to plead for their release/expatriation.
Gee Kate you take the term "armchair expert" to a whole new level.
Every man, woman, their dog and cat knows that reef is there......it wasnt John Key that drove the boat up onto it......
Nope - but could they have prevented the oil spill is the question;
http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/Battle-to-get-oil-off-stricken-ship-appears-lost-before-it-starts/89421
If you can answer this question - then by all means I'm all ears:
For reasons not explained, the rescue team have not deployed the two 100tonne volume inflatable barges from Auckland manufacturer, Lancer Industries which are owned by Maritime New Zealand who are co-ordinating the fuel offload. Lancer are the largest supplier of inflatable barges in the world, and the purpose of the barges is that they can be easily transported, and in this instance would have been available in a few hours.
The two barges are capable of working in a significant sea condition of six feet - meaning that the barge will remain operable on a 10ft wave height.
Instead Maritime NZ have opted for a strategy using a larger vessel the Awanuia, usually used for refuelling vessel in the Port of Auckland, and will transfer to HMNZS Endeavour if required. That strategy has taken five days to implement.
So, why did MNZ take the option they did? Someone needs to ask!
No he did not Kermit ..but his Minister was informed early enough that Fuel oil pumping craft were available and ready to respond at an early point in the debacle...
The Minister following usual red tape proceedure sought to ensure the appointed fuel oil pumpers were chosen by whatever bureaucratic...lameduck...longwinded...method it is they choose ..
This was an error of judgement that compounded what was already a serious situation...As the Minister's Senior, Key would have been involved in the process and shares equally in the category of Apalling Response to Crisis Awards.
So I have no problem with Kate's view as I'm sure many voters in Tauranga will reflect in due course.
Exactly. And even now we still have not declared a national state of emergency - which clearly it is.
The wider effects being a total close down of Tauranga Port and fishing grounds for hundreds of miles being affected. - so, yes, it's a national disaster.
The economy of Chch, our second largest city is in tatters - now our fourth largest city.
would never have happened if Winston was still Tauranga MP
Winnie..( I'm not in it for the baubles of Office)....who..? but joke aside your probably right there.
Here we go again taxpayers!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10758672
Prime Minister John Key said today he had discusssions with Transport Minister Steven Joyce about the issue of compensation and the Minister of Social Development Paula Bennett would likely be included in further work.
The cost of the spill to livelihoods was still unknown but was largely dependant on the amount of oil spilled and where it leaked, Mr Key said.
However temporary packages were likely to take the shape to those offered to Christchurch businesses after the two major earthquakes.
Like you, Kate, I too am furious that this disaster will cost the New Zealand taxpayer even more money when really, we don't have any.
I think it's getting time for a full overhaul of our systems and legislation to ensure that those responsible pay.
The financial pigeons have well and truly come home to roost on the liberal agenda of the last 35 years that has left us with a society where it's not my fault and nobody is responsible.
Ah, but that's OK. As we all know, taxpayers have bottomless pockets.
Yeah, right.
Yes I agree. A national state of emergency should be declared immediately and we should all rush to man our letter boxes!
Oh come on. What on earth would declaring a national state of emergency achieve? I'll tell you what, absolutely nothing.
This is a complicated salvage operation that requires sophisticated marine engineering solutions, expertise and experience, and even with all of that, it remains largely at the mercy of forces way beyond our control, the weather.
Some of the stuff I have read and heard over the last few days from the all of a sudden Kiwi marine salvage experts and arm-chair critics is becoming embarrassing. One really gets an insight into how thick a lot of people in this country actually are. When it reaches the level of some going so far as to say that they have stuff in their garages that would fix the situation and why isn’t the govt. doing something about it, well I think it’s safe to say the hobbit’s doth protest too much.
Next thing we’ll get all the hobbits telling their surgeons how to proceed with their triple bypass operations, brain surgery and kidney transplants. After all that’s just as bleeding obvious as well, right?
Given that there is 1400 containers onboard that vessel, how on earth could anybody expect all of those to be taken off the ship in 4 days before the weather turned? That’s 350 a day. Given that it would only be safe to do that during daylight hours, that’s 350 containers in 12 hours. If it took 1 day to get a suitable boat there, that would then be 467 containers, or 38 containers an hour, or one every 1 ½ minutes. From a listing ship stuck on a reef, that’s laughable!
As for pumping the ship out of its oil, well they already took off about 10 tons before the weather turned. But how do you pump off oil from a ship that isn’t designed to pump oil, only to take delivery of it? And what’s the fastest rate that the pumps siphon at? 20 tons an hour? That would take 85 hours of non-stop pumping, and that equals 3.5 days, if that was the case. Longer when you add in trips back to port to off load the recovery tanks when full. And for that matter, does the ship even have power? If not, then generators have to be sourced, transported, delivered, installed, hooked up, etc. I suppose New Zealanders think that that can all be done in half an hour as well, just like they do it in the shed with the lawn mower.
Well David.....the only response to that I can offer is, perhaps Joyce should have your contact number to aid him in allaying any fears people may have about their response capabilities.
And That's no joke Joyce...!
I am sure all concerned would have felt better....maybe not.
Well I think ‘their’ response capabilities and ‘the’ response are too different things, and will require analysis at a later time.
Given that this has never happened before in New Zealand, yet container ships have been visiting our ports for 40 years, (how many ship visits would that add up to, a million?) just how much salvage kit to you keep on hand, and how much money do you spend on it if you seldom actually use it?
How long should that piece of string be, that’s the question?
Well I think ‘their’ response capabilities and ‘the’ response are too different things, and will require analysis at a later time.
Here's the thing David ...people (ordinary) have had a gutfull of expensive inquiries reaching whitewash or inconclusive findings and add further to the strain on taxpayer burden.
Analysis....We have a large craft a long way off course beaching itself on a reef and subsequentally leaking fuel oil into the sea for it to come ashore causing destruction of a number of living things in it's path and possibly longer term damage when more analysis is undertaken.
Now you see ...that is what has happened ...
Some in depth analysis revealed the Captain may have been off duty so to speak..!
Now that smells to (ordinary people) of avoidable
One avoidable grounding with this outcome ....is...one too many.
I remain satisfied the Minister was found lacking and feel it was likley due to bureaucratic dithering.
Why should it be the ministers (govts.) responsibiltiy to do anything, Christov? They didn't run the ship onto the reef.
David I know your better than that.....so lets not get defensive to the point of silly about it.
The ramifications of the incident and the possibility of circumventing or mittigating the effect thereof was...is...in the brief of the Minister David,
In the duty of his brief He/She has an obligation to ..inform...obtain best council at shortest possible notice..and respond with the utmost urgency to what may be deemed as a maritime disaster...becoming an ecological disaster...becoming a livelyhood disaster...
In the best case scenario he should respond to questions raised as to why ..when the offer of inflatables was made it was not considered...if he was not informed why not..? and so on.
May I ask...if a vehicle collides with you front gate scattering debris for your children to injure themselves...do you not share in the responsibility if not take control in order to protect them from associated damage.
I'm not being defensive about it at all. I just happen to think that a lot of what is been written, and spoken about, is uninformed hysterical drivel by people who haven't a clue of what it is they are talking about.
This sadly seems to be a New Zealand pastime. Even in here!
I still surf the mount whenever possible David....it feels personal....Hysteria..?....it's a funny thing when it works for them they call it positive public opinion feedback.
We all cannot be experts but we retain the right to respond to to what we see and how we feel about it....So I guess even a knobbled democracy has a downside eh..?
I imagine a few of those marine dwelling critters and those that rely on them are a tad hysterical (if not dead) about the whole thing......they should really do more research and calm down a bit don't you think..?
Didn't the government take control at Rugby Party Central because people couldn't get on a train?
President Harry S Truman had a plaque on his desk that read: "the buck stops here". Shouldn't this apply to all of those in exalted positions like our Prime Minister?
Why didn't the PM involve himself earlier and stop what is fast becoming a real ecological tragedy?
We have a National Government that is more interested in selling assets rather than protecting assets within NZ
Maritime New Zealand maintains a response capability of sufficient size to counter an oil spill of 3500 tonnes, which is deemed to be a "one in a 100 year" event.
http://www.hawkesbaytoday.co.nz/news/how-prepared-are-we/1134534/
What is this capability then?
I'm not aware of a fully laden container ship running around and spilling oil and containers at the bottom of Stewart Island, mist42nz. Got a link to that?
"If it took 1 day to get a suitable boat there, that would then be 467 containers, or 38 containers an hour, or one every 1 ½ minutes. From a listing ship stuck on a reef, that’s laughable!"
Container ships are designed for just that...in a correctly setup port infrastructure and an even keel of course, the rial system wont work like that it will be jammed solid. I forget what the number is, 1 every 30seconds or something, but that just stacks them on the wharf......I think looking at those pics they would be pushed to do one every 30mins and i doubt even that.....their only chance is to float it off and that looks about zero.
10tonnes is drop...that thing at 24knots could consume 300tonnes per day. If its what I'd expect for a container ship of taht size and era it would hold 6 to 8 weeks of fuel.....ie round trip Japan to the UK is about 5 weeks I think....
The fuel oil is heavy 3500sec or maybe worse, to pump it it has to be at about 100~120Deg C, if there is no heating (steam) on that ship ie a running generator and a boiler that heavy fuel becomes like treacle or even solid, then its a shovel job....
regards
David - while I agree partly with you on the technical and operational aspect of the disaster, the problems are still created by a government, which is out of touch with economic and financial reality.
As a nation we are simply not able to pay billions of taxpayers money, to cover the governments inappropriate, thirsty plans for unsustainable growth. Under financial and operational stress we already see increasingly man made disasters occurring, with miners losing their life’s and humans and our environment suffering under irresponsible and megalomaniacal decisions from the government. The massive increase of our account deficit is a clear indicator of that and forces the nation and its citizens into severe financial situations. For years several ministers are unable to adapt to the world situation, constantly underperforming and should be sacked.
It is time for revolutionary reforms considering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQqDS9wGsxQ
Reading NZparliamentary documents the government (Minister Parata, Brownlee, Joyce) make big decisions to allow big companies to operate here in New Zealand, but does not have safety standards, expertise, management, personnel and the money in place for modern equipment to protect us from disasters.
On top they investigate their own failures - how corrupt !
Hi DB - I assume such a declaration gives the Government extraordinary powers - and I'm assuming those powers supercede int'l maritime law - which (just a guess) is likely the excuse the Filipine crew used for not allowing our officials on board straight away - and why instead we took the slow route of sending a "notice" to the owners about taking all reasonable precautions etc.
Our army should have been aboard as soon as the Police were initially turned away (at least that's what I understand happened - as they wanted to board to breathalise the crew - but couldn't).
Then we take charge of the pumping matters - as opposed to waiting for the overseas owners crew to arrive in town.
In the calm of the first four days, our Govt just didn't think it would deteriorate to this degree - yet others predicted it. See the article links to sail-world.com reporter's articles, starting here;
http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/Battle-to-get-oil-off-stricken-ship-appears-lost-before-it-starts/89421
But this guy has articles written on same two days earlier as well.
Well hopefully there will be a thorough examination of the response and its timing in the months ahead. It will be extremely important to learn from this. Having said that it may well turn out that the response still meets with international best practice, time will tell? The only people who can answer that are those with the expertise and qualifications to make such an assessment. And with all due respects to Richard Gladwell who wrote the article you refer too, I note form his linkedin profile that his expertise appears to be in the areas of sailing and yachting. If that is the case, then I'm not sure if he is really qualified to speak/critique authoritatively on operational matters of the type unfolding outside of Tauranga?
Sounds good in theory kate but I suspect much of the time was spend by Crown solicitors bringing themselves up to date with Insurance and Maritime Law. All very well sending in the troops and taking over, however not such a great idea if the result is that you make the owners insurance cover null and void....end result being poor old NZ tax payer foots the bill for the entire clean-up.....
......I am afraid I find the public bleating about this shipwreck hollow at best...there is much worse going on in NZ on a daily basis that we turn a blind eye to......the state of the Hauraki Gulf being a prime example........
' well they already took off about 10 tons before the weather turned.
Here is the thing in case you havent noticed - had they begun the process earlier they would have got a heap more oil off than that measley 10 tons (before the weather turned). But they didnt. The only initial response was to spray dispersants.By my reckoning attempts to pump out oil only started 4 AFTER the grounding
As Kate has pointed out knowledgeable people were onto the lack of urgency as early as the 7th of October and were highlighting what should be done:
http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/Time-running-out-fast-for-oil-recovery-fro…
I dont know what is more nauseating, the stink of oil on the beach or the apologists lining up to parrot National's weasel excuses.
And what exactly are your qualifications and expertise in the areas of marine salvage operations, Andy? Or are you just expressing an opinion, bigoted and all that it is.
Whats up David, did I hit too close to the mark for your liking?
The mighty Gisborne Herald is on to it:
Not at all, but I take it from your reply that you have none.
Defending the indefensible must be getting pretty lonely there David. I notice even your erstwhile chum GBH has dumped you over this one, and is now so fed up with National over their handling of this disaster he is advocating voting Green! But good on GBH - when the facts change, he changes his opinion - a lesson you might heed.
The Gisborne Herald - isn't that one of the very few independent dailies in NZ, not owned by Fairfax or APN?
Good on 'em.
But what does that article actually tell us? That one guy with credentials had one opinion about how best to respond to the disaster, and another guy with credentials had another opinion about it. It offers no proof - in fact it doesn't even claim - that the first guy was right and the second wrong.
Many sudden and self-appointed armchair maritime salvage experts seem confident that they are qualified to judge that, but I don't think it unreasonable to suggest that some of us might pause to reflect that maybe we are not in possession of all the facts and expertise that would enable us to reach an informed view.
maybe we are not in possession of all the facts and expertise that would enable us to reach an informed view
Sounds like you work for the government MdM - as that's a classic bureaucratic comment - right up alongside DB who hopes we can learn some lessons from this.
Well I'm sick of a Prime Minister who is good at reflection and lessons learned. Clearly there is something tired and inneffective in our officialdom today - and the buck starts at the top. I'll bet all the Maritime NZ folks have spent most of their time this year looking for a few thousand dollars in budget savings and writing reports about whether of not they met their KPIs.
It's all about where you place the emphasis of work - and this government places it on bureaucratic administration I'm guessing. From my armchair - they haven't got a clue.
How soon before the B of P peasants can run their heaps on the fumes? What value the tar? Must be so much a drum.
What have Pike River , the Chch earthquakes , and the Rena disasters got in common ?
.... one key thing : No Key ! ... no immediate action from our government . These fools are not leading . They are twiddling their thumbs , having a gum-fest with their advisors , and screwing everything up with red tape . The time to act in a crisis situation is immediately , you gotta " man-up " and get stuck in .
Kick Key & the National government out !
..... vote Greens : What other choice do you have to get the message through to the numbskulls in National & in Labour .
This recalls to mind that advert for fish where the young boy is asking his Mum at the dinner table how many stitches he had in an accident etc because he believes his Mum must have been abducted and replaced by aliens as she could not have produced such fine food.
So I will ask the question:
What have you done with our Gummy Bear Hero - this is not he!!!!
This Gummy Bear is getting grumpy that Kiwis are being seen as a laughing stock by people overseas ...... because of a stupid see nothing , do nothing government . Every crisis response has been a cock up .
..... and given that the NZ Labour party is equally as dopey .......
Only one choice is left to freak them both out : Vote Greens ( and you know how much the Gummster despairs of them ! )
GBH : accurate summation. says it all .. as I sit here miles away .. watching the TV news as the Rena lists to the side .. watching the containers tip over .. and over .. and wondering what the clowns are doing .. surely they could have had a barge with a crane out there within a day to start getting them off .. Tauranga is a major port for goodness sake .. with all the necessary equipment ..
..a barge with a crane??? .what ship are you looking at.? .cripes these containers are a mission to load in port. let alone get a barge with a high enough and strong enough crane, stable enough to get along side, fight off the swell, avoid continers toppling on to it and at the same time keeping itself off the rocks as well.......what a completely stupid suggestion
Pipedream stuff icon..the ship is now a hulk of crap steel full of oil...the time to act was long ago when the reef could have had a massive beacon anchored on it to wake up stupid ships officers who lack the skills to pilot rowing boats. Too many idiots allowing too many other fools to operate said ships along the NZ coast. The Harbour master ought to have had eyeballs on that ship long before it hit. There is this thing called radar!....somebody stuffed up big time.
I want Bernard to Put up the Clean Green John Key on Hardtalk BBC again...if not I will ......somehow it seems to need revisiting.....
Come on Big B........let's do a comparision of sound bites ......
By the way Gummy....if we are to throw the baby out with the bathwater...why not go the whole hog and vote Maori with a Green.....and confuse completey by ticking FFP.
ooooh .. That poor Nat boy down there is gonna lose his Mount Golf Club free membership fore shore.
Christoff: time to revisit your ideas on voting .. GBH has put up his solution .. what would you recommend as a wake-up-call as a pox-on-both-your parties
1st choice A zero Turnout...not gonna happen.....Ticking National Party with a Labor candidate...not likely to happen....
So good idea iconolast let us discuss the math of truly twarting a system untill we realize the options have us by the short n curlies....The options do not give the voter a geuine opportunity to express extreme dissatisfaction without changing party or party ideology.
Just as in the Corporate world we are shareholders and should have a right to veto the re-appointment of board officials to the CEO.
That is what we need...then some ass kets kicked quick time.
As that remains a lovely dream at this stage ...Vote Green...there will still be time for them to go clean that mess up I am sure.
I'll see you there scarfie incognito of course....you'll have an Otago scarf....I'll be wearing a cape....although it's still a bit cool for a cape....perhaphs a frilled puffy shirt....yes much better I think.
Don't forget to let Walter know...his will be wearable art with sharp points to catch the bankers as they leap in despair....
Good for you.
Haha yes,
Just wondering if Gummy can make it in time.
I have let Walter know.
Just found out where John boy's getting his advice from. Seems its only 5% of one tanker whereas deep water horizon was equivalent to 21 tankers <sarcasm off>
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2011/10/some-perspective-on-rena/
Some morons just don't want to know how much damage 5% of one tanker can cause...
God favours John Key. Whenever anything stands to derail the National Socialist party's political blitzkreig, an external disaster of some kind or other saves them by distracting the attention of the drooling masses. If God votes National, who are we to argue?
It is fabulous that so many believe so much spin from so few on the capacity of the banking and political sectors being able to solve the gargantuan debt crises created by themselves....are you also one of the many, willing to stick your head in the meat grinder...willing to bet your life savings on these idiots and crooks?
Expect the current 'happy happy' to be replaced by the sound of the brown stuff splattering the walls once again as the debt reality explodes. Take note that your deposits in a bank here in NZ are not secured in any way at all. Be ready to grab your loot at 24 hours notice because that may be all the time you have before a midnight Beehive legal flick of the pen freezes your capital.
The farce in europe is giving the filthy rich time to sidestep the storm. Somebody is going to lose trillions of dollars in this implosion. That is the only way it can go.
Speaking of Olly ! Here's a good link for him, re renovations..and the benefit,( or not!,) of doing them...
."... contestants ..suffered the indignity of walking away empty-handed after the finale of The Renovators."
Also one might ask. What would be less expensive, permanently marking the reef with a solar powered prominent buoy or the costs involved in what is now a massive cleanup.
From what I understand - the ship was taking a shortcut between Motiti Island and the shore - whereas they are actually meant to go round the other (seaward side) of Motiti Island. Locals on TVNZ news reported having seen ships taking this "shortcut" many times. But the Government said they'd not heard of that "the shortcut" being used before.
So, you're not wrong about a solar powered buoy - but from my impression of what the locals said, a container ship should never have been anywhere near where it was anyway.
Someone needs to ask the minister what they have done with the Oil pollution levy money that gets paid. It is Estimated there should be close to a Billion dollars paid to cover this exact case and to have equipment ready...? I wonder where this money has been spent....
It probably gets sucked into the general accounts, much like our road tax, to be spend on welfare, hip hop tours etc etc
I love how the "NZ$ rise on hopes Europe might solve crisis".. now that's downright funny.
It's a laugh in't it MattS..I mean do leave off, these guys are right up there with lame horse traders n used car dealers .......
A sudden commodity resurgence....Fonterra n the like rattle the hedge an hey presto it's in flower again.
The industriouness of the speculative market built on HOPES N FEARS...now that's a worthwhile endevour in this life.
Poor John Key. Is he to discover that smiling and waving isn't enough?
Will his watch forever be associated with
Pike River mining disaster,
Canterbury earthquakes disaster
Oil spill disaster
Credit rating downgrade
(Maybe losing the RWC)
I expect that the greens will be able to capitalise on the spill. There is certainly a fair degree of public impatience and disgust with the Govts performance and weak leadership in these issues. The oil spill could be the final straw. This may make the election interesting after all.
When is it going to sink in that the political elite are not prepared to allow the Euro and/or the EC to go under? The alternative of such a collapse is the rise of extremism as experienced in the 1930's and it took a hell of a lot more capital and human life to get that dealt with in the 1940's. So don't get too worked up about something in Europe that is, admittedly reluctantly, going to be addressed. Notice how quickly the Slovaks were made to realise what is to be done.
Muzza, I would tend to agree that the Europeans will find a "solution" - but it won't be a solution, it will be a band aid that also comes at some cost
The best case is a band aid and stagnant european performance, the worst case is something quite scary
2 Issues/counter points to dis that argument/opinion,
You assume they can stop it going under....the only way left is to in effect write public supported blank cheques to Greece (certainly), Portugal, Italy and Spain (probably) and probably for ever more. Then Ireland's popualce will kick up sh*te....so that will need a blank cheque as well or the ppl will say **** you and default (I wonder how far Iceland will be on that as well).....To do that back home in the "well off" core the present Pollies will have self-signed the death warrantes of their political careers. Then there are the eastern European block countries who have taken on generations of debt.....they are going to do the same.....its a political gun to the head...and once one country pulls the trigger I think it will be like an ak47 on rapid fire......
The only other possibility is private money, but the "wise" money has bailed out of Europe into US treasuries so heavily that the real rate of return is negative....
So from somewhere we need 2 trillion Euros today to forgive their debts and considerable amounts out into the future for ever more........it wont work medium term.
Oh and under-write it with something because there isnt the real energy to do so....
Conclusion for me is its going to blow.....the only Q is when.....the can kicking is continuing at present.....but its getting kicked a shorter and shorter distances.....and when you start looking at mere weeks which is about where we ar at and not years then its pretty close, this year or next.....
regards
P..opink, your list thankfully ends with a 'possible' scenario- by the way all the big-time bets for this Sunday's game are on the AB's, so the pros have made their analysis/decision
I don't often have much praise for USA governments, but good on then for putting laws in place to charge tarrifs on Chineese imports. It is long over due and they have been far to tolerant of China's controlled, artificially low currency. There could be some interesting fireworks however.
Apparently it's only through one house - spoke to an American in the US today and they think it's just window dressing to appease an angry local public - and it will fail (as planned) to get through the other house. All just 'noise'. A cynical view - but that's one citizen's opinion anyway.
Yet with QE the USA is doing the same thing....ie pushing down its currency...
Pot calling the Kettle black.
regards
How many years did they put up with the artificially low currency before they resorted to QE?
Can someone tell me, if one of the big four banks in NZ had its assets frozen overnight would another financial institution which uses that bank's account number be automatically frozen too?
e.g. PSIS uses the Bank of NZ and Rabobank uses National Bank.
Just wondering how it works.
Why would a Big 4 bank be frozen overnight, in any case? The OCR provides an unlimited amount of liquidity to the clearing banks ( those that are used by the likes of PSIS etc.) and would not be able to be' frozen' as they have access to the OCR mechanism ( which is merely a cash settlement account system with the RBNZ)
and our Govn uses Westpac......I wonder if the Govn's $s would be taking a haircut....that would be funny......not.
regards
From NZ Herald Brial Fallow in reference to current fiscal outcomes
"The accounts also revealed that last year's tax package was far from being revenue neutral, at least in its first nine months. The revenue forgone through tax cuts exceeded the increased tax take from the higher GST rate by $1.1 billion. "
I would have thought that this alone would give Labour strategists enough ammunition to wipe the smile off Smiley's face.
An opportunity not to be squandered RWC or no.
I am shocked. Who could have possibly guessed the tax cuts wouldn't be fiscally neutral!?
Following this disaster from aus - it is sad, farcical and surreal. It sounds suspiciously like drink driving. The incident is surreal as is the limp response. I voted the nats last time, i won't be this time
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