Wednesday's Top 10 with NZ Mint: Gerry Brownlee 'sick and tired of the whingers and moaners' in ChCh; TC3 residents in ChCh at their wits end with insurers; Bundesbank revolt catches on in Germany; Dilbert

Here's my Top 10 links from around the Internet at 8 pm today in association with NZ Mint.

As always, we welcome your additions in the comments below or via email tobernard.hickey@interest.co.nz.

See all previous Top 10s here.

My must read today is #9 on what's happening on the ground in Christchurch from Rebecca Macfie.

1. Gerry's not happy  - The Press reports Gerry Brownlee is sick and tired of whinging Cantabrians.

This could easily get quite ugly for the government.

The grumpiness is welling up from the ground in Christchurch more than two years after the earthquakes started.

After you've read this, go and read #9.

It's a mess of disputes and confusion inside a multi-level matrix including EQC, the insurers, CERA, the City Council and the Government.

Here's Gerry:

"I'm a TC3 resident myself and I'm sick of these people carping and moaning,'' he said. ''The constant suggestion that somehow we've abandoned these people or forgotten about them is just the most insulting thing they could possibly say."

Brownlee said agencies had done "a great deal of work" to get clarity on the city's land condition and all the land-zoning decisions were driven by science. "They can be as grumpy as they like. I'm not making bad decisions for the future of Christchurch simply to meet the timelines some people are demanding,'' he said.

2, Mining tax hike - The state of Queensland has increased its coal royalties from 10% to 12.5%. SMH reports BHP is furious. It's not going to help Australia's faltering mining boom and may further close the 'escape valve' of Australian jobs for New Zealand workers.

3, Animated monetary policy failure GIFs - Courtesty of Mike (Rortybomb) Konzcal.

It made my head hurt a little. But it's well worth a click.

4. Keep an eye on this - China is talking very tough in its dispute with Japan over a couple of godforsaken rocks in the East China Sea. Here's the New York Times.

The bellicose bluster between China and Japan continues to grow more heated, with two armed Chinese surveillance vessels circling the disputed Diaoyu islands and the Foreign Ministry in Beijing saying that “long gone are the days when the Chinese nation was subject to bullying and humiliation from others.”

On Wednesday, an editorial in the Communist Party-controlled Global Times newspaper said “Chinese anger of more than a century toward Japan was awakened on Tuesday” with the Japanese government’s purchase of the islands from a private Japanese owner. Beijing insists the sale is invalid, of course, because the islands, while they are physically controlled by Japan, are Chinese territory.

The Global Times, with several references to lingering bitterness over Japanese depredations during World War II, said it “appears inevitable the two sides will be overwhelmed by hatred again now that more conflicts can be expected.”

5. It's not enough - Martin Wolf at the FT.com reckons the Big Bazooka is not big enough, or too big. Either way, it's not the fix to the Euro-zone crisis everyone thinks it is.

The ECB has done what it can, given the politics. The decision of the German constitutional court and the result of the Dutch election may help. But the risks of a breakup cannot be eliminated. If these are to disappear, citizens of debtor countries must see a credible path to growth, while citizens of creditor countries must believe they are not throwing money down a bottomless pit. What the ECB has done is win some time. It has not won the game.

6. Don't write off the Bundesbank yet - Wolfgang Munchau reckons the Bundesbank's Jens Weidemann is winning the debate over the Big Bazooka, even though he appears to have been sidelined by Super Mario. It's always eventually all about politics in Europe.

The day after the ECB’s decision, the German media eulogised Mr Weidmann for fighting against the infidels in the ECB. The consensus view among German commentators is that the ECB has lost its independence; that the German taxpayer will foot the bill; and that hyperinflation is around the corner. One commentator was appalled by the fact that Mario Draghi was ready to save the euro at any cost.

A poll published last week had 53 per cent of all Germans hoping that their Constitutional Court would block the European Stability Mechanism – and risk utter chaos. When he says that bond purchases border on an illegal act of debt monetising, he is expressing a consensus view among German economists, lawyers and politicians. When debates shift, one often observes that the losing side becomes pseudo-pragmatic. I am seeing more and more pro-European Germans effectively embracing the eurosceptic narrative.

7. Aussie house price plunge picked - Investec is forecasting Australian house prices will fall 20% by the end of 2014.

Investec Asset Management strategist Michael Power said while Australian property prices had fallen six per cent since 2010, he expected them to fall further in the next 18 months to two years.

"We're not seeing anything like the US, Irish or Spanish property bust here," the South African-based strategist told a business lunch in Sydney. "But I think over the next 18 months it could go down by double digits, 12 or even 15 (per cent). A 15 to 20 per cent (fall) would be my outside downside over the entire period."

8. Why QE III won't work - Here's PIMCO's Mohamed El Irian with his view:

9. Read this - Rebecca Macfie from the Listener has written a very important piece at The Listener about the delays in Christchurch.

“Insurance is a wonderful product,” says Dean Lester, who spent 25 years as an insurance underwriter and is now working to help hundreds of earthquake-hit Christchurch households make progress on their claims. “This should be the industry’s finest hour.” But it’s not. What ought to be a key tool of recovery is instead at risk of creating its own secondary disaster. Having come through the quakes, Cantabrians are being consumed by the bureaucratic liquefaction of our two-tier insurance system, and the prospect of years of fighting to get their homes back. For thousands of householders with wrecked and battered homes, trying to wrest any progress out of EQC and their private insurer involves a constant battle to piece together incomplete, fragmentary and often contradictory information.

10. Totally The Daily Show on political spin doctoring.