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1
The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Cricket thread
Last post by LP -
Quote from: crashlander – on
Things are looking ugly for Australian cricket at the moment. The sandpaper thing refuses to go away, even 8 years on. I wonder if ANY of the players from that team will survive.
We've been at the top of the tree for a long time, there is a big desire globally to give us a kicking, but it's fueled by hypocrisy.

I honestly do not know how the loudest critics of the qualified mob manage to keep a straight face when launching jibes.

Boiled lollies, bottlecaps, scotch bright, zinc cream, lip balm, brylcreem, none of them were Aussie inventions, most of them were brought back domestically after tours of county cricket. That's not to say we didn't have domestic equivalents, just that we were not alone.
2
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Shawny’s concerns about Victorian and Australian Governments
Last post by LP -
Quote from: PaulP – on
I generally agree DJC. If the Government doesn't have enough money, then those services are either reduced or cut altogether, or the Government borrows the money, and essentially kicks the can down the road. And when services are reduced, it's always the poor who are most affected.
If the government had some cohunes they would legislate to prevent selling the farm on resources, because that's what the likes of Rinehart want to do.

For example, you hear the old tune repeated that manufacturing is dead, but it's not a carte blanche argument for value adding being dead, and manufacturing is dead it's not even an accurate argument anymore especially when discussing labour costs. Advanced manufacturing is almost on equal ground globally, the labour cost differential ins miniscule. the main differences relate to legislation and governance, and all that is in control of the government. Government spending doesn't need to be a sink hole, and privatisation is not always the answer.

Call the bluff, if the likes of Hancock and Fortescue won't add value, auction off the capability internationally to those who will, of course enforced by legislation, and you'll be shocked how quickly the locals change their tune when they are no longer a monopoly!

In Victoria for example, the state signed over 100 year leases to Hancock on huge swathes of land, stretching from Leongatha to Warrnambool, without a single enforcement case that Hancock does anything with it. The resources sit there in the ground becoming more valuable with every passing day, making Rinehart richer and richer on the books, and she does nothing for that increased wealth and doesn't need to. The state can't even borrow against it! It's the same crapty deal Qld gave Palmer years ago making him billion$!

Billionaires increased holdings by orders of magnitude and then issued redundancies, that is what PHON offers!
3
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Shawny’s concerns about Victorian and Australian Governments
Last post by LP -
I'll never understand how people see what is offered by the alternatives as vastly better, when the options are basically the same, or even worse! It's why I think the liberals are the only viable alternative at the moment, at least they have some history of governance to trade on, 

Anyone who genuinely thinks billionaire funded political parties like PHON are going to be better for Joe Average and society in general is mind-numbingly naivé.

Whether the billionaire happens to be an individual, co-operative or a union makes no difference.
5
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Shawny’s concerns about Victorian and Australian Governments
Last post by DJC -
Quote from: kruddler – on
Quote from: shawny – on


yeah nah. If they are not doing the job they were elected to do they must be taken out of that position. Rewarding poor governing with extra terms is saying ok we accept the corruption, we accept the 200B debt, we accept the pot holes, the waiting lists, the crime etc etc etc. Unless you want the country to turn into the 3rd world you have to replace them and trust the new leadership will improve things. If they dont they are replaced as well.

To try and down play that by throwing in the alternative could be worse is simply showing your bias to a particular party.

Based on your thinking the yanks should re-elect Trump too cause the alternative could be worse ;)

Pick your poison.... ::)

You've got me wrong. I'm 'showing my bias' is proof of that.

I couldn't give a fat rats clacker about what happens. I've already stated they're all the same.
What i'm pushing back against is the fact that people say THIS will fix the problem. I disagree.
There are no good options.
There's a big pile of trash in the room, everyone keeps pointing at and blaming the current government for it.
Each alternative political party will highlight this big pile of trash and say they will fix it.
If/when they get into power, that big pile of trash may well be cleaned up. However, all they will do in reality is move it to another room. Or put it in the closet. Or put it in the garage. Hide it there, until its found, and the cycle repeats.
Eventually someone else will make promises that everyone falls for....the trash just gets hidden somewhere else.

That's a pretty fair assessment Kruddler.

One of the problems is that governments of all persuasions and levels are faced with ever-increasing demands for the provision of services as well as the expectation that they will lower taxes or, at least, won't increase them.  If society has to have appropriate infrastructure; housing, water, sewerage, health care, police, schools, courts, aged care, mental health care, disability services, environmental protection, sporting facilties, public transport, etc; someone has to pay.

I failed economics at university - one of several inappropriate choices - but I know enough to realise that the Reserve Bank's fixation with interest rate rises isn't the only way to combat inflation (a world-wide problem not helped by the disastrous wars in Ukraine and Iran).  Our Governments could tackle inflation by raising taxes but to do so would be political suicide unless there was a bi-partisan approach ... and that's not going to happen. 
6
The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Cricket thread
Last post by DJC -
I was listening to Boof Lehmann on the wireless and his comment about Khawaja's claims was along the lines; publishers usually write into the contract a requirement to create a controversy when the book is released.

That may be all there is to the latest version of the story but, in Khawaja's favour is the fact that elite bowlers would know the intricate details of the ball's entire surface and would detect any change between overs or balls.

I'd like to think that only three players were involved, and I accepted that at the time, but I'm finding it harder to accept that the bowlers weren't aware if not complicit.
7
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Shawny’s concerns about Victorian and Australian Governments
Last post by kruddler -
Quote from: shawny – on
Quote from: kruddler – on


The same 'scare tactics' were mentioned before Trump took over. I won't go further on that one....

Fraser is by far the exception, not the rule.

I think all politicians are corrupt and inept and only out for themselves and their bank balance.
Labor, Libs, ON....whoever.

Nobody gets anything for free.
You want to fix the current problems, go ahead, but it will be at the expense of something else instead. As i said, pick your poison.

yeah nah. If they are not doing the job they were elected to do they must be taken out of that position. Rewarding poor governing with extra terms is saying ok we accept the corruption, we accept the 200B debt, we accept the pot holes, the waiting lists, the crime etc etc etc. Unless you want the country to turn into the 3rd world you have to replace them and trust the new leadership will improve things. If they dont they are replaced as well.

To try and down play that by throwing in the alternative could be worse is simply showing your bias to a particular party.

Based on your thinking the yanks should re-elect Trump too cause the alternative could be worse ;)

Pick your poison.... ::)

You've got me wrong. I'm 'showing my bias' is proof of that.

I couldn't give a fat rats clacker about what happens. I've already stated they're all the same.
What i'm pushing back against is the fact that people say THIS will fix the problem. I disagree.
There are no good options.
There's a big pile of trash in the room, everyone keeps pointing at and blaming the current government for it.
Each alternative political party will highlight this big pile of trash and say they will fix it.
If/when they get into power, that big pile of trash may well be cleaned up. However, all they will do in reality is move it to another room. Or put it in the closet. Or put it in the garage. Hide it there, until its found, and the cycle repeats.
Eventually someone else will make promises that everyone falls for....the trash just gets hidden somewhere else.
8
The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Cricket thread
Last post by crashlander -
Things are looking ugly for Australian cricket at the moment. The sandpaper thing refuses to go away, even 8 years on. I wonder if ANY of the players from that team will survive.

What we did was wrong, pure and simple, but how many others have done something similar and escaped unscathed? If you look at cricket around the world, reverse swing seems to have disappeared. Balls haven't changed that much, nor have wickets. I wonder what has changed ...