SHEIKHS AND THE GREEK

Well apparently there is a general belief that Terry Serepisos is in Europe . However we understand that he may well be lurking in Dubai or there abouts..

Why? you work it out..

NO BAILOUT

We think that bailing out South Canterbury Finance is a crock. Then again we thing the whole deposit guarantee scheme is a crock. No-one has yet adequately explained why we as a taxpayer are forced to subsidise a bunch of people who took risk with their money for higher returns.

Its like the government paying out everyone this week who doesn't get a lotto payout.

We realise that if South Canterbury Finance and Hubbards associated interests go belly up, and its looking increasingly like that, that the impact on the South Island economy will be substantive.

But that is no reason for a bail out.

BLACK HUMOUR

The Credit Crunch: explained in a few quotes


A trader: 'This is worse than a divorce. I've lost half my net
worth and I still have a wife.'

President Bush said clients shouldn't be concerned by all these
bank closings. If the bank is closed, you just use the ATM, he said.

George Bush said that he is saddened to hear about the demise of
Lehman brothers His thoughts at this time go out to their mother as
losing one son is hard but losing two is a tragedy.

The problem with investment bank balance sheets is that on the
left side nothing is right and on the right side nothing is left.

There are 30 billion prime numbers below 700 billion. The rest
are all subprime.

How do you define optimism? A banker who irons 5 shirts on a
Sunday.

What do you call 12 investment bankers at the bottom of the
ocean? A good start.
Why are all MBAs going back to school? To ask for their money
back.

For Geography students: What's the capital of Iceland? Answer:
About Three Dollars Fifty Cents...

If you want to gamble, go to Las Vegas. If you want to trade in
derivatives, God bless you.

Whats the difference between a guy who just lost everything in
Vegas and an investment banker? A Tie

Whats the difference between a bond and a bond trader? A bond
matures.

Lehmann have changed their recommendation on Lehmann from hold
to sell.

Forty years ago I sold fifty shares of my company stock and had
enough money to purchase a brand-new 1967 Ford pickup. Last week, I
checked it out, and if I sold another fifty shares, Id have enough money
to buy a 1967 Ford pickup. So, the market has stabilized.

My broker suggested that I invest for my old
age. He was right. Within a week of investing, I was an old man.

MORE CYNICAL POLITICS FROM LABOUR

The Dom Post reports on Labour's shrill call for an investigation into power prices.

Commerce and energy ministers Lianne Dalziel and David Parker hit out at "alarming" rises of up to 12 per cent in Wellington and parts of the South Island, and said they would seek Cabinet approval for an inquiry.

But National's energy spokesman, Gerry Brownlee, said the promise of an inquiry was too little, too late, after a 48 per cent rise in domestic power prices in the past five years.

"Suddenly, on the eve of an election, they announce a review ... After nine long years and regular complaints about the state of transmission and generation, they are trying to pretend they will do something about it."

Mr Brownlee questioned whether a review would carry any more clout than the recent inquiry into petrol prices, which found no evidence of anti-competitive behaviour among petrol companies

But the stuffy, prudish but elegant Queen Bee at Wellington Hive points to a cracker of an idea from Fran O'sullivan to open the government books this week to allow for better planning in the face of the global financial crisis.

Neither leader has any excuse for failing to inject a reality check at this juncture. Clark has had nearly a decade of golden economic weather under her belt during her prime ministership.
This may have lulled her into a sense of false security. But she was Deputy Prime Minister after the 1987 international sharemarket crash and should be well aware how long it took for the New Zealand economy to climb back as our companies found themselves well down the pecking order in the hunt for international equity.
Key - who also ought to know better given his financial trading background - still appears to be clinging to the notion that his party's "well-structured economic plan" will ensure the New Zealand economy is hermetically sealed from the global shocks.
But the upcoming hunt for international credit will impose constraints on New Zealand irrespective of the underlying health of our companies in much the same ways they were impacted in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
Neither prospective Prime Minister seems to have grasped the nettle - at least publicly - that their plans to buy our votes at this year's election also need to be urgently recast.
Continuing on their respective "default" modes (Clark promising more cash to Labour's people and Key promising another round of tax cuts without compensating expenditure cuts) is questionable as will be obvious on Monday.
On that day, the parlous state of the Crown's coffers will be confirmed as Treasury releases the pre-election economic and fiscal update.

Bloody good thinking from Fran ... Top chick and smart with it.

MA AND PA PRAWN FOLLOWERS - READ THIS

Trolling round the websites trying to make sense of this financial crisis I fell over this at Business Day written by Bruce Sheppard.

Its seems like common sense talk to me. Click here

Print it and read it in bed tonite.

FINANCIAL CRISIS

If you are looking for the good oil on whats happening

try Business Day and NBR - both have excellent coverage

and the Herald has a good local take as well especially the comment from Gareth Morgan who says we will be impacted..