mfd101

1 hour ago, car720 said:

Just goes to show about fake news.

Yes, even in South Korea! Heavens! It'll be in Thailand before you can turn around!

5 hours ago, stevenl said:

With the Conservatives in turmoil, EU election drubbing and leaderless, no chance of that happening.

I assume a vote of No Confidence in the government is out of the question?

8 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

easy to do when you have millions of slaves labourers working on a pittance, half starved and with no freedom.    

Well that's not what I observed. (I can't speak about the VN of the past.) What I saw was a hard-working people steadily enriching themselves, and the road traffic that goes with it!

Just back a month ago from my first ever visit to VN (2 weeks north to south). I was impressed by the general cleanliness & ordered state of things - relative to our own Land of the Free.

In the north our guides gave us some quiet pro-régime propaganda, particularly in regard to the War of Liberation [we travelled on the Reunification express from Ha Noi to Hué] but also the obviously booming economy. In the south however we got loud complaints about how hard their childhoods were & how everyone in the south was discriminated against by the northern government.

Time will tell. Let's continue this learned discussion in 3 months.

21 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

I disagree with your comments, i.e. having worked in the property industry for 25 years, in every facet of it and I can tell you this, it's a dead duck and those that think it's going to kick off again, just go back to the cyclical times as far back as 1980 and you will see that she fires up roughly every 7 years and goes for anywhere between 12-24 months maximum, the last run lasted 5 years, totally out of wack and totally overheated, outpricing a generation from the market.

 

She has fallen 20% as a minimum in Sydney, where I practised and am talking about, Sydney and Melbourne are generally the two that increase the most, the rest follow, and without wanting to "burst one's bubble" it ain't going nowhere except flatlining or declining for the next 2-3 years with moderest increases thereafter, otherwise I wouldn't have sold out in 2016.

 

All the hype is media driven by high profile developers, so beware, you have been warned. If you have property, sit on it, can't go wrong, if you need to get out, don't be waiting because it will be at least 5 years before anything starts happening IMO.

"The Chinese realise Australia’s outlook has changed and have created a surge of buying that has skyrocketed Sydney apartment prices by 10 per cent in just two weeks.

"As I talk with east coast home builders and land developers, they all say the same thing----there is a rush of buyer interest which is being converted to orders.

"All the banks are seeing a big rise in loan inquiries —at the Commonwealth Bank it’s spectacular---and banks, as I pointed out this week, have eased the credit squeeze so loan approvals are set to rise sharply. Auction clearance rates are rising and the demand for cruises has suddenly recovered.

"These fundamental changes will soon spread throughout the economy (retail will take longer) and the Reserve Bank should delay next week’s planned interest rate reduction. Its pre-May 18 economic data is about the past and does not reflect this dramatic turnaround."

Authoritarianism & irony tend not to make great companions ...

Many people (including me) have or have had strange, weird or supernatural experiences. The experiences are real. The question is: What is their source?

When you look at the history of physics & cosmology over the last 100+ years, you would have to say that the more we learn about the cosmos, the weirder it gets. There is also evidence that 'consciousness' (difficult to define) survives brain death by at least a few minutes, possibly longer. Which it's not supposed to do.

Conclusion: It is rational to maintain an open mind on these matters. Our ignorance still vastly exceeds what we think of as 'knowledge'.

Here's Mahatir as quoted in today's 'Australian':

“Yes, there may be some spying. But what is there to spy (on) exactly in Malaysia? We are an open book,” the 93-year-old said at the Future of Asia forum.

Mahathir said Huawei had access to research “far bigger than the whole of Malaysia’s research equivalent.

“So we try to make use of their technology as much as possible.

“Everybody knows, if any country wants to invade Malaysia, they can walk through, and we will not resist because it’s a waste of time,” he added.

Not a particularly nice man, Mahatir, but very intelligent.

Housing prices in Oz look like they're on the turn - given change in sentiment Oz-wide following the election result 10 days ago. Estate market starting to burst with activity.

Some possibility that the RBA will NOT reduce the already close-to-zero interest rates next Tuesday, or at any rate not as much or as often as some have hitherto predicted. So probably now is the best time to buy in Oz. Unlikely to get cheaper offer or better interest rates, perhaps for a generation.

Yes, never boil the water if you want to drink coffee.

On the other hand, if you drink Nescafe ...

I wonder whether a vote for Brexiters as (very short-term) MEPs is quite the same thing as a vote for Brexit? Could be more like a protest vote at a by-election than an indication of a future vote at, say, a 2nd referendum ...

8 minutes ago, Nemises said:

•Am currently paying over $AU7.00 a schooner in the “lucky country”.
•Copped a $AU 112.00 fine for failing to display a parking permit in an EMPTY beach side council carpark.
•Overnight temperatures 7 degrees here in Sydney....and winter hasn’t started yet.
Can’t wait to get out of this sh**hole and get back to warm, more affordable Thailand.

Oh dear! Things are really grim Down Under!

For those who drink real coffee (ie expressos or what, in Oz, is called a 'short black' [Memo to all Australians: Remember not to ask for that in Usofa!]), Starbucks - for me, here in Surin & at Terminal 21 in BKK - does a good one. More importantly, Starbucks also has - at Oz prices - the best beans I have been able to find for my expresso machine here at home.

3 or 4 double shots a day. Bliss.

I used to think Bowen looked like a reasonable guy - at least he looked like an intelligent member of the human species rather than a cloth-capped unionist. But he's dropped somewhat in my estimation. Can't be Treasurer unless you can get your figures at least internally consistent, whatever their relationship to the real world.

Next thing, he'll be appointed to the Thai EC!

Let me explain the franking bit with an example, at least as I understand it (sigh): Every year I receive income from my Telstra shares, usually about AUD200. Every year I declare them as income on my tax return. And every year I don't have to pay any tax on them because TELSTRA HAS ALREADY PAID THE TAX. It's called a 'franking credit' - that is, I receive credit for the tax because the tax has already been certified paid by Telstra.

It's not a 'gift' and it's not a tax reduction or a tax refund. It's just a recognition that the tax has already been paid & doesn't need to be paid twice!