great depression on the cards, page-26

morning all,

a few interesting points for me came up in this thread.

The serious and the comical.

The serious

terrylei brings up a point that I feel may definitely come back to bite australia in the future.

food security - now I think Bob Katter is a bit of a nutter, but I do think he has some good points on food security.

terrylei says about letting businesses go bust if they are parasitic and can't stand alone (more or less) - and in principle - i agree with this.

But do we allow that to happen in all businesses - do we allow that to happen with farms and food?

Should they be treated differently because of national security?

If we let our farming skill and assets go because we can import stuff cheaper - what happens when the fan is hit and we are unable to trade?

How do we eat then?

I don't have an answer that isn't philosophically unpalatable to me - but I do know this - this is a very big potential problem.

Also I notice something that I think is a real risk lately - some australian banks funding is moving very strongly towards deposits as opposed to wholesale funding - and in many ways that might be a good thing - but, doesn't that leave you far more vulnerable to a run on your bank?
If a big slice of you funding is from deposits and people panic - and people do panic - how would that go?
This is a fundamental shift as far as I can see - and I am not sure that the risks of this are appreciated fully - it is ok if things and people are feeling secure, but it just might be devastating if things get wobbly.

Ok, for me the comical - it used to be sickening, but now it is comical.

david25 brings up opening lines from yahoo finance - well I have been noticing the headlines from yahoo finance for quite a while - they just have to justify every move on an index etc. by saying 'such and such caused the index to sell off strongly' - or their favorite word 'as'

eg. "gold falls as investors worry about greece" - leading you to believe that the price of gold fell because all the yanks got out of bed and saw a greek riot and sold all their gold.

This sort of crud was usually preceded the week before by a complete reverse of headline
"gold rises strongly because of greek worries"

It's like they can't make up their minds - and they certainly change their minds on a day to day basis (even hour to hour).

At first I found it vomit making - but then I figured out they were just being american - pure comedians.

Reading the comments is even worse - this is the greatest power on the planet?? You have to be kidding - any wonder we had a gfc - in fact I am very surprised that we are here at all really.

So now I laugh at it - perhaps whilst rome is burning - but then that's because I don't know how to fiddle.

It really is all a big joke - just play the cards as you see them.

have a great day

Pinto