Interesting stuff

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Blowin started the topic in Friday, 21 Jun 2019 at 8:01am

Have it cunts

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Blowin Tuesday, 25 Feb 2020 at 10:53pm

And here it comes , folks.

The CCP flicking the blame switch . All the Chinese have to do is lie through their teeth and put out fake statistics saying “ Yeah , we beat it with our government which is literally Mandated by Heaven. And then you useless foreigners who can’t organise a root in a brothel gave it back to us ! “ And then they will consider themselves absolved. The worst bit is that the shituseless and utterly corrupt WHO will grant them absolution.

“7:30 pm: Chinese city announces 14-day quarantine in free hotels for travelers from Japan, South Korea

The eastern city of Weihai has announced that all travelers, both Chinese and foreign nationals, returning from Japan and South Korea will need to stay in hotels for a 14-day quarantine.

Accommodation will be free.

The move comes amid intensifying concerns on China’s social media platform Weibo over a growing number of coronavirus cases in South Korea.

The measures, effective Tuesday, are meant “to minimize the chance of cross-infection” according to a CNBC translation of the Chinese-language announcement.

Weihai, located in Shandong province, is about a two-hour flight from Seoul. — Wu“

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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 5:20am

Australia has effected a Pandemic response plan. Apparently it came into effect on January 21 . The precautionary principle is to be enforced at all times. Scomo is granted elevated powers of final responsibility.

This means that Scomo , the fella who is still trying to import hundreds of thousands of students from China ,and is in fact importing students from a China right now , will be allowed to have final , uncontested say in regards to the safety of our nation.

I’d trust a hungry white pointer with a baby seal before I trusted that tubby useless cunt with anything more demanding than feeding chips to seagulls.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/virus-emergency-blueprint-australia-pull...

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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 6:03am

Hoist on their own petard. More useless time wasters.

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/02/australian-labor-party-coal-alp-antho...

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Optimist Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 6:30am

Morrison's doing a good job so far. Id rather have him in charge of this plague than anyone else. The students have to go through quarantine as well but I still don't see why they cant do it online till its sorted. Iran's in deep poo as well. Looks like everyone including aggressors will be busy with their own problems for a while and have no time for invading other peoples personal space.

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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 6:50am

And exactly what is Scomo doing apart from actively promoting the chance of viral infection within Australia ? The strange fuck is so beholden to China that he’s demonstrably undermining the natural protection provided by our island nation.

Sorry , Optimist, but I’ve had too little sleep to be polite this morning....your opinions on Scomo generate the stench of you being a fucking moron.

Hope you can find the positive in that.

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2020/02/morrison-is-on-track-to-murder-...

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Optimist Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 8:11am

Blowin started the topic in Wax Off
Friday, 21 Jun 2019 at 8:01am

Talking points worthy of further discussion without devolving into insult.

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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 9:13am

Slater doing his best to halt climate change by ensuring surfers in the California desert don’t have to burn fossil fuels to get to the surf anymore.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/slater-s-grand-plan-to-build-the-world-s-la...

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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 9:34am
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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 9:38am

Who’s better , who’s best , WHOs fucking useless

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/here-are-425-billion-reasons-why-who-r...

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GuySmiley Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 9:48am

Blowin, wouldn’t be just easier for you to accept the world is generally a very stupid illogical place

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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 9:56am

Running on a few hours sleep ....I’m not accepting anything without first throwing my toys out of the cot.

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Craig Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 11:10am

Not sure if this was shared but a great take on it..

You’re Likely to Get the Coronavirus

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AndyM Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 11:47am

Was looking at that Jacobin article last night - excellent summation.
Fuckers are totally lost.
Or maybe just totally under the thumb just as likely.

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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 12:28pm

No Craig , that’s globalist shit peddled by globalist shitmongers. Containment works. It it the ONLY defence. The epicentre of the virus is the Hubei province and even if Chinese statistics are unbelievable shite it’s still undoubted that the epicentre has been hit exponentially harder than provinces adjacent to it which benefited from the containment.

If containment hadn’t been employed at Hubei then the entirety of China would have similar outcomes as Hubei ie absolutely rooted.

The Atlantic literally promotes trade and economics over human lives.

“Despite the apparent ineffectiveness of such measures—relative to their inordinate social and economic cost, at least—the crackdown continues to escalate. “

What social and economic cost is greater than human lives.....none !

What do you reckon Craig , are you willing to die so that GDP growth doesn’t go backwards ? Because that’s what it equates to ...someone dying. Dickheads like the person quoted always think it’s an acceptable price to pay because they assume it won’t be them or someone they love.

The whole article is basically...blah , blah , blah trade is more important than lives blah blah blah a vaccine will come soonish ( No vaccine for SARS yet and that was early 2000’s ) blah blah blah let’s just continue trade because full containment doesn’t work , it only buys time and potentially saves lives blah blah

Try this quote from today’s SMH on for those who wish to throw open the borders and let loose the virus :

“Considering the mortality rate of COVID-19 is 2 to 3 per cent, Professor MacIntyre said that if 50 per cent of Australians became infected, between 260,000 and 390,000 people would die, more than 1.8 million people would need a hospital bed and more than 650,000 people would need an ICU bed.“

And BTW ...the figures in the above quote have been downgraded from this morning when they said that 3 million people would need a hospital bed and 1 million would need ICU. But we’ve got to get thoseChinese tourists taking selfies again cause that’s more important.

The only reason that the economic side needs consideration in an emergency is because our nation has been left exposed and vulnerable to crisis by a thoughtless political class who have had no intention to build the nation’s independence- FFS , some of our politicians even deny that a nation is a legitimate concept. So now we must expose ourselves or struggle to maintain essential supplies.

Still , if my life or my loved one’s lives are at stake - which they are - I say seal the borders completely ASAP and at least try struggling through this before we commit hundreds of thousands to death in preference to jeopardising the wealth of vested interests.

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sypkan Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 2:23pm

I agree with blowin, there has been an active campaign to cut down, and discredit the good points of western civilization - or at least there appears to be - not sure about the conspiracy part, it's more a collusion from my point of view, as various useful idiots have found a shallow symbiosis in relationships, across the political spectrum

unchallenged for far too long I would say!

I don't think stan grant is saying aussies are racist for not eating chinese, he's pointing out people are currently scared, and behaving as such. but he is saying australia has a very racist past, both to the chinese and aboriginals, and that you still don't have to scratch the surface too much in oz, for the ugly side of that racism to rise again. which is a fair assessment I reckon. amongst a now minority of australians, that ugly racism is still there, itching...

tbh, when stan grant went a bit far, he had me totally cringing. as soon as anything sounds like 'white guilt' these days, I just switch off, I think this narrative has fair points, good points, essential points, but they are always explored in total isolation, no context, no big picture thinking. and it seems we've been there done that, ...been there overdone that ...totally

it now just seems from a different time, ...from a different generation, ...someone elses' 'issues'... (sorry)

I think the very simple, noble concept of identity politics has been so overdone, so so over thought, it has become totally counterproductive, not least because the billionaires have harnessed it, and corrupted it, for their political agendas. but more-so (trigger warning) because it has been fetishised and worshiped by sections of society who just aren't that bright ...arts students, media commentators, HR, and actors...

basically; media, hollywood, and it's wannabes; and a whole bunch of over-educated, under-employed, fashionable, gender studies groupies and the like (arts students), who possess too much time to be outraged on the internet, and not enough real work not to bother...

conversely, there's a bunch of half employed, too much time, not that bright, gamer/net nerd/wannabe startup/tech guru company/gig economy//alt. right types more than willing to accomodate and outrage them...

both of these groups are as bad as each other. both just as lost, angry, and outraged. both just as divisive and counterproductive (actually the alt. right dudes served a purpose for a while, as did the feminazis) but both are now noisy nobodies in the bigger political debate...

Identity politics, as it's developed, is a funny thing, where one of the unwritten rules that the general public are supposed to pick up on, through osmosis, is that only someone from the minority/minorities may talk for, or about, the minority, and watch out if you're not!

we see this in their literature, where it's always;

"as a gay person, I think...", or;
"as a person of colour...";
"as a lesbian...";
"as a feminist...";
"as a part of a minority...";
etc. etc.

hence blowin's little outrage moment above

....fair outrage I say, because the no platformers have only allowed certain gay voices to be heard - not all voices - same with black people, women, aboriginals, lesbians, etc. only the 'right' voices are listened to...

...whilst also allowing these assigned people, these certain minorities, the most vicious criticisms of anything white, male, western and straight...

all this while the good inclusive white guy, working his arse of for his family, must just remain silent, ...totally silent! ...always!

I go into all this because, this thinking is what allowed stan grant his unique position to criticise the CCP guy the other night. stan really layed into him, really let him have it, whilst managing to keep it jovial and polite. stan knew his shit, has experience in china, and history with CCP man, but it was actually his blackfella-ness that allowed him that voice to 'speak truth to power'

....and thank fuck for that!

a white guy in the same position? ...no chance...

Imagine if joe hildebrand, or even the abc's favourite token (remnant) white guy confronted CCP man like that... the outrage industry would have gone full bunta. outraged in overdrive, even if the exact same tone and words were used, the white guy just cant say that stuff...

It's a curious little corner the left of politics have backed themselves into, where even their brown, beige and feminine idols cannot maintain the levels of puritanical that is required. yet they expect average joe to know and understand the latest fetish and it's associated unwritten rules. aside from being a really ridiculous position to hold, this place has left the left without the tools required to critic and manage the modern problems of the world. as they obsess over their petty greviances that are getting flattened and obliterated by snowballs running away from us down a hill....

vj's wormcan is a factor, but I honestly think all the overlords have lost control of this rogue beast

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stunet Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 12:24pm

And if trade shuts down people will die also.

I take it you've heard of the already limited medicines, many of them life-saving, coming out of China? You talk about the intimacy of death, so what if it's your family member that relies on medicine to live?

Wise and considered thinking needs to apply weighing historical cases against forseeable danger.

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Pupkin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 12:45pm

What are some of the Chinese virus symptoms again?

High anxiety? General breathlessness? Hot sweats? Vision impairment? Sleeplessness? Fevered ranting and raving? Hypomania? Brain dysfunction?

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I focus Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 12:47pm

Blowin its obvious contain now is to the slow the spread not to eliminate the spread which clearly ain't gonna work.

If they can slow the contagion down then our health services will still be overwhelmed but should cope to some extent.

Time to start talking about how to care for the infection and make preparations.

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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 12:47pm

My family members do depend on medicines.

Thing is ....why is this only being discussed now ? Where were the checks and balances demanding national independence ?

The globalists have created this illusory dream state amongst their useful idiots that we now live in an interconnected world , united humanity...FFS.

The globalist’s utopian/dystopian ignores every single piece of evidence that humanity is eternally confronted with conflict and disruption amongst people and civilisations. But apparently the modern “ global world “ experiment is different to every other war torn , violent , conflict riddled day in human history because of .....the internet !

Yes , that cyber world which is host to vastly more inter human arguments , hatred and conflict than any real world location is supposed to demonstrate how close and friendly the globe has now become. So close and friendly that we don’t need borders , or communities made of people we recognise, or cultures to which we feel a part of ! No , now we’ve got internet shopping !

And that’s all globalism was ever about : Commerce .

Now that reality has kicked down the door to this little theatre played out by transnational corporations and a power hungry managerial class , we are left utterly exposed and in able to even fend for ourselves as a nation.

But we can at least try.

Thing is , Stu. The medicines aren’t coming anyway. You can open the borders but the supply lines are broken. No one is working in the Chinese factories making the shit . That’s the whole point .

I think that the discussion that modern man is removed from the provenance of his food is just the beginning of the discussion. Just like modern kids think milk comes from Coles , modern adults think that their products come from a port and aren’t actually the result of some slave sitting in a factory somewhere. There seems to be the erroneous sentiment that if we permitted imports then the products just magically appear. People forget that there’s cities full of Chinese being ordered against their will to return to work but the workers won’t go because they know they will get sick and possibly die.

No workers - whether they are not working from lock down or not working cause they’re infected = No products.

Opening borders won’t import much except the virus.

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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 12:56pm

Facto ....ever the stupid cunt with nothing but snideness to contribute no matter the argument. You want symptoms ? Here’s a quote from the Iranian Deputy Health Minister who was tasked with coordinating the response to the virus ....a fella who would have as complete a grasp on potential outcomes as anyone alive and who had just been diagnosed with the virus.

“ I believe my life will be soon over .”

Too breathless for you Facto ? Too much drama ? Literal pandemic threatening the world and the drama queen who can’t type enough about the micro injustices suffered by ethnics at the hands of evil modern Australians is suddenly Mr Nonplussed and Cool.

OK Facto .....you’ve nailed your colours to the mast. You’re the cock who says that it’s all a beat up . About time you had an opinion. It’s a shame that I don’t get to totally relish you being inexorably revealed as a stupid cunt who thinks he’s clever.

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stunet Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 1:01pm

*This post says nothing but gets the C-bomb from the preceding post off the homepage.*

As you were, gents.

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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 1:10pm

Nicely fielded.

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Pupkin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 1:16pm

As Optimist, who also copped some infected spray, said above, isn't this thread loftily subtitled "talking points worthy of further discussion without devolving into insult"? I guess it depends who's doing the insulting and how it manifests itself?

Anyway, another thought, latest expert opinion is that somewhere between 40% and 70% of the world's population are going to get the Chinese virus, and taking only the smaller amount of 40%, 3.3% of those people may die.

By my calculations, 40% of the current would population is 3,117,919,495 people, and 3.3% of that number is 102,891,343.

Now, I'm sure there are some of us on here that have been very, very concerned in the past about over-population.

Well...?

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sypkan Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 1:21pm

pretty funny interview on abc yrsterday as the announcer interviewed some french politician about the outbreak in europe

his answer to every question was about the death of globalisation; the death of it's supply chain model; death to dependece on on other countries; ...globalisation death; death; death; generally...

whilst the anouncer desperately tried to keep the globalisation agenda on track...

was quite hilarious actually

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stunet Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 2:00pm

So globalization is on the nose, so much so that I'm gonna revert to the Aussie way of spelling it - globalisation.

S not Z, mu'fa's.

We've caught a whiff of Rex Connor-style Economic Nationalism and it's great.

Give me men to match my mountains,
Give me men to match my plains,
Men with freedom in their visions
And creation in their veins.

But who in their right mind can say that unravelling thirty years of economic artifice, interconnections linking every element of society and that curently know no border, and creating a new political and economic environment can be done without any pain?

In fact, can be done without a LOT of pain.

If we want independence then we'll have to cop some heat, accept financial setbacks in the short term, higher prices, same with interest rates, less access to goods and to debt, less holidays to Bali, maybe a recession or two, lose your job, maybe your house.

Yet when I stop to smell the roses I don't see a society prepared to act more humbly, to self-sacrifice, settle for less for the greater good etc, but one rushing ever faster towards materialism, wanting more for less, and with a worrying bent towards individualism and its bastard spawn, Libertarianism.

Tell me I'm wrong.

Not you, Blowin, you always do. Someone else this time.

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eat-your-vegies Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 2:20pm

“If we want independence then we'll have to cop some heat, accept financial setbacks in the short term, higher prices, same with interest rates, less access to goods and to debt, less holidays to Bali, maybe a recession or two, lose your job, maybe your house.”

I think you forgot to mention the wars we will have to accept as well.

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I focus Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 2:22pm

Add to your list Stu Australia runs on foreign capital (you do sort of allude to this) cut that off and you would have unemployment armageddon........

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sypkan Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 2:49pm

I actually make a point of spelling color colour too, but hey read into that what you will...

a winding back?

'it won't happen overnight, but it will happen'

I agree totally though, people are too locked in. oz is too locked in, we all are too locked in, and we all fucking know it!, which just heavies the burden

radical change is way off

but where I disagree is people are ready for sacrafice. people have had enough of lies and deceit, the utter bullshit, the artificial suspension of everything it seems. they are ready for a change, ready for a reckoning, a correction. whatever that entails. more and more people by the day it seems

the degree, and what they are ready for, is wide and varied, but they are asking questions, which shows they are either ready, or know it's coming anyway...

caronavirus is just the tip if the iceberg, it's the steaming pile of shit under it that people want to talk about, and have wanted to for some time

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sypkan Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 2:52pm

...and if a situation like coronavirus doesn't make you want to ask questions, well, ...I've got nothing...

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Optimist Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 3:02pm

A "correction" is a great word. It must be time for us to look at being a self sufficient nation again like we once were. Happy trading and manufacturing again within our own borders. Hopefully the Politicians will see it as an opportunity and stop staring into the distance across the sea. Lifestyle beats money any day and we can build a good one if we try.

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AndyM Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 4:15pm

“Lifestyle beats money any day and we can build a good one if we try.”

I might be naive but this is something I’ve always believed in, and obviously this change in mindset is essential in the long term, from an environmental and also a social point of view.

“Yet when I stop to smell the roses I don't see a society prepared to act more humbly, to self-sacrifice, settle for less for the greater good etc, but one rushing ever faster towards materialism, wanting more for less, and with a worrying bent towards individualism and its bastard spawn, Libertarianism.

Tell me I'm wrong.“

I don’t think you’re wrong Stu, and so we go around again into conversations about basic leadership, politics, corporations, media etc etc, the conversations we’ve all been having for years if not decades.
To no real avail.

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zenagain Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 5:18pm

Typical.

Finally get into a position to become materialistic and then somebody wants to take it all away.

I've worked years to become this shallow.

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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 5:33pm

I think he’s totally wrong.

Australia just needs a leader. Someone to redirect the national consciousness through oratory and force of will.

Everyone knows that there’s gears grinding in the economy. Even the tradey on the street who is making good bank know that neoliberalism is like putting chip fat petrol in the engine of our V12 nation.

Crew have no viable path shown to them . They just need someone who’s not a complete muppet to stand up and say “ This is all wrong.”

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AndyM Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 5:35pm

Not on the agenda Blowin.

Though it’ll be interesting to see how Sanders goes.

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stunet Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 6:48pm

"Australia just needs a leader. Someone to redirect the national consciousness through oratory and force of will."

Nah, we're far more polarised than Hawke's era.

Sure, we haven't had a great leader for a long while, but c'mon, the people also have to suck some lemons when it comes to "no viable path". What about the Mining Tax? In no time in recent history has there been a policy more geared to furthering Australia's public wealth. A line in the sand, small though it was, that said 'these our our resources and all Australians should be properly recompensed for their removal'. It was a laydown misere.

And what happened? Abbott and Credlin, enabled by Murdoch and Sky and the RWNJs, vehemently tore it down, proud in the kill, bayed on by a constituency sold on the lies, they gave Rudd and Swan the same treatment they'd give to any leader now or in the future.

So let's not kid ourselves and think 'the people' will automatically obey. The people, remember, are why we're in this position. You know, democracy.

And remember too, the Mining Tax is but an inkling of what we're proposing - i.e a systematic political disruption.

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I focus Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 7:05pm

Seeing Gina on the back of a truck stressing she might have to pay some tax just broke my heart worrying about her.........

That's pretty funny Zen but true sums me up to some extent.

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Blowin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 7:39pm

A stronger leader would have got the mining tax through easily.

Kevin was a charisma free zone. Completely lacking in any connection with the Australian people whatsoever. Soft , snide and insincere ....that works for no man , let alone someone trying to pass themselves off as a leader.

And the world is a way different place to the Rudd era when the fat of the land was within easy reach and our familiar culture hadn’t been subjected to years of attempted subjugation.

Australia is ready for its a Trump moment. So ready. If the right person came along now they could easily set fire to the nation’s imagination and reinvigorate our cultural spirit.

Australia is a perfect fit for a true social democracy. The people want it . Express the vision , explain the process required to achieve it and Australians will gladly step forward . People want to be a part of something. That’s what’s missing from modern Australia. We’ve watched our social democracy be incrementally dismantled due to a collusive duopoly of political major parties committed to neoliberalism and everyone knows we’ve lost what’s important....a say in our direction as a nation , hope for the next generations and ownership of our future.

It’s no coincidence that the above picture could also pass as Scomo or Albo.

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Pupkin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 8:03pm

Australia, for the last 71 years, has voted federal Liberal governments into office, more often than not.

The two longest serving PMs in Australian history are Menzies and Howard.

Anyway, wasn't the Morrison election our 'Trump' moment? I'm sure I read or heard that somewhere.

Oh, and for all you revolting types, another vital and powerful force in Australian public and political life to consider has been the Murdoch family of course, now heading into a third generation.

And with Fairfax now owned by the Nine network, and the very real possibility of the ABC and SBS being privatised, I guess it'll be even harder for all your revolutionary prayers to be answered, yes?

Then again, Trump was a reality TV performer. Maybe there is a way?

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GuySmiley Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 9:21pm

The only way we will get a leader/brand of politics that everyone seems to be wanting is after a period of cleaning out the current crop corrupt and/or incompetent politicians and the only chance of that happening is with a fully armed and resourced Federal ICAC given all required powers to investigate the political corruption witnessed over the last decade. Let's face it, currently there is little chance of that happening anytime soon because the majority of the LNP front bench would be dragged before it. Common guys, relax in the knowledge we're fucked.

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zenagain Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 9:50pm

Draining the swamp you might say 'eh Guy?

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Pupkin Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 10:16pm

Wasn't a federal ICAC as a policy position taken to the last federal election, Guy, and roundly rejected? Australians don't want it or think it's that important??

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velocityjohnno Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 10:13pm

"Yet when I stop to smell the roses I don't see a society prepared to act more humbly, to self-sacrifice, settle for less for the greater good etc, but one rushing ever faster towards materialism, wanting more for less, and with a worrying bent towards individualism and its bastard spawn, Libertarianism.

Tell me I'm wrong.

Not you, Blowin, you always do. Someone else this time."

I don't get the hate for libertarianism, it's practically irrelevant; regarded by no-one powerful in government, its ideas just whispers in the background of the booming flow of keynesianism that powers today's world. (It does tend to act as a form of Swellnet Kryptonite however, so I guess it has its uses...) Name a single libertarian leader, PM, treasurer (maybe an ALP treasurer about 10 years ago in QLD??). Where do you find libertarians; their sites are more obscure than modelmaking sites? (Hint: the Von Mises Institute).

In retort, the materialism, the easy gains and imported Balinese garden companies, are finished. A lack of materialism is about to be enforced, not chosen, in a most disastrous way. My father, after growing up in wartime and postwar Scotland and England, nearly had tears in his eyes seeing his grandkids choosing lollies in Port Fairy's sweet shop. Why was he so emotional? The shelves had sweets all the way up, to the roof. They weren't bare. Perhaps his was the last generation in the West that didn't know plenty, and it made them frugal, modest, and humble people. "Never show your wealth."

Tides and cycles ebb and flow. 1900 points lost on the Dow in the last 2 days reveal that man's confidence in his creations just stuttered. (It's funny how puts may be best bought when one has little need for them and has little thought toward them having a day in the sun.) If anything is surprising, it's that the rally lasted so long and got so high. There is an unsettling promise with this turn of events however, a creeping suspicion is developing in the face of shock after shock in the newstreams. The last great phase of globalisation was washed away in the catastrophe of July and August, 1914, where a terrible chain of errors of statesmanship and obligations of alliance produced the end of an era. Will the shutdown of the web of trade be the event that knackers us? 20,000+ planes in the air each day is ridiculous, though, and that could stop.

So I kind of agree with you Stu, with the caveat that people may not have the choice of whether they get to be materialists as much in future.

"If we want independence then we'll have to cop some heat, accept financial setbacks in the short term, higher prices, same with interest rates, less access to goods and to debt, less holidays to Bali, maybe a recession or two, lose your job, maybe your house."

...sounds a lot like the old Queensland farming communities and their close knit - and communal - bonds, self sacrifice, that got them through stuff like the Depression. That too, might have been enforced by the circumstance.

Lastly, I am on the LSDP for a super-rare condition. (Not fun). I'm on the firing line for this one. All those supply chains I see on fire, that affects me. Levels of complexity taken from society, that affects me too. All I can say is thank you to you all, of all opinions, for your help. It's been a wonderful opportunity to live this long, there is much to learn in a lifetime and I think this particular lifetime has taught me much about fear. There have been events and close shaves where it's nearly all over; and recovery; and will-to-live. There have been terrifying moments when you realise this might be it, and yep, there's been faith and a spiritual understanding and amazement like when the upper chakras open. Somehow, I've managed to be able to keep surfing (one in a million stuff all of it) - for all of it I'm thankful. We were a long way out in the size that's been around here this week, taking bumpy onshore drops and I got to watch my young one drop in to some size. Everything was perfect; the light, the colour, the moment. Appreciate life, I wish you all well.

zenagain's picture
zenagain's picture
zenagain Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 10:40pm

Am I interpreting this right?

VJ, i sincerely hope you're around for a long time. I'm kinda shocked.

We've never met but i reckon i'd like you in person.

sypkan's picture
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sypkan Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 11:11pm

indeed

...best libertarian on the internet...)

...hoping all is not as bleak as it seems vj

I focus's picture
I focus's picture
I focus Wednesday, 26 Feb 2020 at 11:56pm

That was a good read VJ hope the pulse beats for a bit longer yet.

Island Bay's picture
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Island Bay Thursday, 27 Feb 2020 at 6:35am

Here's to many more perfect moments, VJ. Kia manawanui!

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Thursday, 27 Feb 2020 at 8:09am

Shit VJ, mate hope you're around for many more years to come. Thinking of you and your family.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Thursday, 27 Feb 2020 at 9:03am

What’s going on VJ ?

Are you ok ?

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Thursday, 27 Feb 2020 at 9:19am

Just now recalling an email you sent me a while ago, VJ, and rereading it sat me on my arse.

There're many different ways to respond to what's happening, but going on what you wrote five years ago and what's written above you're approaching it in the manner others can only aspire to. Bravery? Dignity? Fuck, I don't know if those qualities apply or if they're just platitudes, but you're clear-eyed about it and I imagine that helps where it matters most: at home.

Good luck.

PS: Now's probably not the right time to unleash my 10,000 word treatise on the scourge of Libertarianism. Some other time, eh?

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Thursday, 27 Feb 2020 at 10:33am

From Macrobusiness...

The old enemy is back and thank god for it, via Domain:

“They left it until the very last minute, and they may not have gone in nearly hard enough.

But the Democratic Party’s presidential contenders finally got around to targeting frontrunner Bernie Sanders for his big-spending policies, patchy record on gun control and praise for revolutionary far-left leaders.

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, trounced his rivals in last week’s Nevada caucuses and has been rising in the polls ahead of this weekend’s South Carolina primary, putting him in a strong position to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

…Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, landed many of the most effective blows on Sanders.

“If you think the last four years has been chaotic, divisive, toxic, exhausting – imagine spending the better part of 2020 with Bernie Sanders versus Donald Trump,” he said.”

That’s exactly what is required. A left populist to fight the right populist. I wouldn’t expect a smooth, social policy, chardonnay leftie like Buttigieg to get it. He’s the problem.

Why? Because Donald Trump is only in power thanks to such fake lefties selling out traditional bases such as the working classes. Trump stole them with a conservative cultural pitch that at least acknowledged their existence, while slashing taxes for the rich!

A populist leftie is the ideal candidate to tackle this. And populist leftie president will also begin the inevitable rebalancing of capitalism back towards workers.

Capitalists too should rejoice. The smart ones know that the current globalisation has swung the pendulum too far towards capital. That risks the liberal, capitalist system itself. Either if an oligarchic capitalism with Chinese charcteristics wins out. Or if workers revolt out of the wealth imbalance.

Either way, Sanders is a liberal democratic corrective not some new Lenin.

Would he succeed? He could. It depends upon his policy mix. If he does what Donald Trump has done, and goes big with fiscal, only this time directs the largesse towards households, then he will.

Such policies as forgiving student debt are dynamite for domestic demand, job creation and wages growth. US household balance sheets are already in rude health, with solid demographics driving household formation, to liberate so much income will drive immense demand growth.

Markets won’t like it initially because it will also bring inflation. But deflationary trends are still rock solid so there is plenty of room to stimulate without any kind disastrous inflation cycle. Equities will soon adjust and chase the new profit winners. It will also lift interest rates and give capitlaism back its most fundamental price.

Wages may rise more strongly to threaten profits. But this will be offset be better demand and the need for investment. I am not at all convinced that wages growth comes direct from rising productivity. Indeed, it may be the other way around.

Australia is a case in point with its flat wages delivering oodles of bullshit jobs, bugger all productivity, no income gains and falling living standards. If wages are rising, the incentive to automate for capital is much stronger and the efficiency gains drive both higher wages and profits.

That is, in some ways, higher wages drive productivity.

So, bring on Bernie Sanders. Get out the way smooth, globlist centrists. Go schmooze with Davos Man and toast the demise of the workers you abandoned.

It’s time for some good old fashioned class war to right the capitalist ship.“