Umamiblog

Matt, at TVHE:

Does the US have a marginally functional government?

We already know they don’t have a fully functional government, or a reasonably functional government. But we are waiting to see if the government really exists at all, and is able to muster itself together enough to avoid accidentally defaulting on debt and starting a new financial crisis.

I’m a little late to this nugget but what a great question. (Happy to see he’s writing again.)

Mercenary Trader on the AUD/USD pair:

It might be time to get short the Australian dollar if you haven’t already.

Go have a read, not a bad analysis. I’m hesitant to bet against AUD and I suspect the tipping point is still months away. But, I’m shorting regardless (I have time).

Gareth Morgan, opinion piece for Interest.co.nz:

We continue to live it up like we are right up there with the world’s richest. And of course you can only drink champagne on a beer budget by selling your assets or raising more debt.

We do both.

I really only see one way this is going to go for NZ. Yawn.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, on the promise of impending industrial action:

It will be the biggest since the general strike. It won’t be the miners’ strike. We are going to win.

Yeah, I’m filing that one away for the future.

Madeleine Bunting, for the Guardian:

Just over 200 “core” staff at Barclays took home £554m last year, while thousands of shareholders, who had lent £51bn of equity capital, were left with £653m in dividends. This is an ongoing institutionalised bank raid.

Outrage at the banks is everywhere, so why aren’t there riots on the streets?

I watched Inside Job last week. You won’t regret watching it if you do, you might even get angry.

For me, that moment came watching The Power of Yes at the National Theatre a couple of years ago. I hope it gets another run, or gets made for TV. It was brilliant. Until then, be sure to watch Inside Job.