I have a personal belief on the matter of global warming that some of the more regular readers will be aware of. Hence I will try not to go over old history here. My main area of interest at the moment is that know one from either side of the fence can tell us exactly what impact this Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will have on this country.
Listening to the media over the past few weeks the ETS is something they just do not want to go into detail about. They either do not understand what the implementation of the scheme will mean or they do not think it is worth talking about. I personally think they just don’t know what it will mean to all of us.
A couple of things I understand are
This scheme will not directly stop global warming.
Carbon usage of every man, woman and child in this country will not reduce as a result of this scheme.
A defined plan to reduce global warming is at implementation stage and the ETS is the precursor of this action is not an accurate statement.
They can tell us that there will be extra costs slugged for all.
If the ETS can’t really be defined or at least effectively explained then why the hell is it being voted for. It is a form of taxation without representation!
This schoolies thing is a bunch of crap. When I went schoolies we were not separated from the rest of society like they are today. You had to walk the mean streets with other schoolies and other members of society.
Now as I recall, there were a number of dust ups with schoolies usually learning the simple order of things, open your yap and be prepared to have it shut by some bigger badder looking dude. I recall specifically going to a Pearl Jam (yes they come up in conversation again) tribute show and constantly being concerned about the other gorillas who were obviously in there mid 20’s enjoying the show. In the end the simple lesson was that if you don’t annoy other people they in turn will typically leave you alone.
This BS where the schoolies are locked away and separated from the rest of society is just ridiculous. 1. it gives them a sense of having the Gold Coast to themselves which creates a false sense of power. 2. It makes them feel like that they are so important that the government and police will do almost anything to please them and 3. it teaches them nothing of the real world, which is what I thought schoolies is actually all about.
I don’t blame the schoolies unlike certain sections of the media…. I mean ALL sections. I blame the poor unfortunate morons who thought that separating them would be a good idea (probably at the request of some concerned parent who did not want their child exposed to the ugliness of this world). Reality is that schoolies is meant to be a young persons first experience of freedom. Freedom is not defined as separated via chain link fences and having more police attendance than last years AFL and NRL grand finals combined.
Good gear. He talented this dude. Couldn’t pick up the name of the lady on stage with him but she was excellent also.
Support Band – Ben Harper and the Relentless 7
Had some trouble working out the gremlins at the start, 3rd time was a charm. Some songs I knew, some I didn’t. Bens voice was hard to distinguish at times but good set. Ed came out at one point and joined the band for a version of ‘Under Pressure’.
Ladies and Gentlemen, PEARL JAM!
‘Why Go’ – started with a bang! Mike is loving it (was on Mike’s side of stage)
‘Animal’ – crowd was loving it!
‘Got Some’ – well liked by the crowd considering it was new
‘Small Town’ – I always think either Ed gets the words wrong. It is probably me.
‘In Hiding’ – nice surprise for me as it is hard to sing and Ed was recovering from a cold.
‘In My Tree’ – No more crow bars to my head.
‘Save You’ – Lots of phlegm
‘Even Flow’ – The ever reliable
‘Amongst The Waves’ – Love this song
‘Off He Goes’ – For some of the people in the 10 club who have followed the band across the country.
‘Not For You’ – was a bit all over the shop and some cover in the middle, the forums say it was Modern Girl but don’t know it.
‘Daughter & Another Brick In the Wall’ – I think it was a tribute to great teachers somehow… not sure.
‘Rats’ – Love Rats, nailed it
‘Unthought Known’ – New song which I didn’t think the crowd got into as much. I loved it though, specially the extra vocal treatment with the reverb / echo.
‘Insignificance’ – A few people in the crowd started jockeying around during this song, obviously getting toey for a piddle.
‘If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It) into Blood’ – An AC/DC cover into BLOOD. Not a big AC/DC dude myself so the only thing that tipped me to it was Ed’s voice… was pretty good. Blood is awesome!!
First encore:
‘The End’ – Was good, as follows.
‘Just Breathe’ – Either during ‘the End’ or ‘Just Breathe’ (cant remember) some niff nuff moron jumped the barrier right near where I was and jumped up on stage. Had it not been for an unsturdy wheely bin he would have made it. Unfortunately for him he was put into a choke hold by security and dragged out by the scruff of his neck.
‘Red Mosquito’ – Was hoping this would make the set list and was happy to hear it again. Ben Harper was asked out on stage and played with the boys on the slide. Sounded real good.
‘Indifference’ – Sorry, I can’t get into this song with Ben Harper singing with Ed.
‘Gonna See My Friend’ – I was a bit annoyed at this point with Ben Harpers butchery of Indifference so can’t remember much of this.
‘The Fixer’ – A peppy little diddy off their latest album. Had them all jumping again.
‘Rearviewmirror’ – No version has come close to surpassing the Brisbane version of this song from 2nd August 2003. Might have been because I was right in front of the speaker at the time. This version was pretty good… but not quite.
Second encore:
‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’ – Liam Finn came out and joined Ed for this version. Good to see him get a run and good to see this song live.
‘Jeremy’ – Arms raised in a V has never been so appropriate.
‘Alive’ – Ed went running all over the place during this and came over to our side for a quick g’day which was good to see.
‘Baba O’Riley’ – Means there is only Yellow Leadbetter to come.
‘Yellow Ledbetter’ – Not always last but was this show. Mike milks the end beautifully and is a good closer.
Things that happened during the show but I can’t exactly remember when.
Ben Harper used his guitar to belt a beach ball that had somehow gottem up on stage into the crowd.
Mike threw guitar picks into the crowd numerous times. Probably 4% actually made it into the crowd, the rest just fell into the security zone.
Ed poured some wine into a water bottle to give to some of the fans who had followed them all tour.
Security went nutso over people getting on other peoples shoulders which I found amusing.
Ed spat more phlegm up than anyone in the history of rock!!
At one point Ed requested a member of the audience of “male gender; because he is in a relationship now” to grab and squeeze his testicles at certain points during the song to help him reach those high notes.
Great show but feet are sore as a bastard! Hearing a lot of sooks about the sound quality in the stadium which I can understand, perhaps more speakers next time or my preference would be back to Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Pearl Jam are in town and ready to rock the living snot out of QSAC Stadium (formerly ANZ Stadium) [formerly QEII stadium]! I read that Mr Vedder is suffering from a bit of a cold but as a former lead singer of a band myself I can assure you that will only make him sound better….
I look forward to tomorrows show. Hope to see you there. Here is an example of what you can look forward to.
Michael J. Panzner – Author of When Giants Fall and Financial Armageddon
As if they didn’t cause enough damage by espousing theories that failed to account for the inefficiencies and irrationalities of the real world, many economists are advocating aggressive spend-and-borrow policies to revive the financial crisis-hit U.S. economy that reflect an astonishing degree of naïveté and ivory tower hubris.
In a word, the Keynesian Kool-Aid drinkers are saying that debt doesn’t matter.
As I see it, there are plenty of reasons to challenge the apparent indifference of Paul Krugman, Dean Baker, James Kwak, and others to the parabolic rise in public debt, including the fact that the latest crisis, like many of those before it, stemmed from a similar complacency about the risks of unrestrained borrowing.
But as someone whose long experience in financial markets helped him to anticipate the kinds of earth-shattering developments most economists didn’t see coming, I find the popular argument that current low yields on government bonds are a vote of confidence on current policies to be utterly ridiculous.
For one thing, long-term rates are being influenced to an extraordinary degree by the Federal Reserve, which has been supplying copious amounts of liquidity to the financial sector. With banks unwilling to channel those funds into loans for Main Street, this cheap financing is effectively underwriting their massive purchases of Treasury and other securities, distorting prices (and yields).
In addition, the Fed itself has been the biggest buyer of government bills, notes, and bonds during the past seven months as a result of the quantitative easing program it launched in March. In the second quarter of this year, for example, the Fed absorbed nearly half of all net Treasury issuance.
Overall, the Fed’s balance sheet has more than doubled since the financial crisis began, which has undoubtedly kept a lid on yields across the credit spectrum. Meanwhile, the Fed’s zero interest rate policy and the historical term structure of interest rates have likely anchored long-term yields at lower levels than they might otherwise be.
Treasury markets, in particular, have benefitted from safe haven buying in the wake of the crisis. But there are significant differences between the current episode and those that occurred before, including the fact that the latest upheaval has taken place against a backdrop of widespread global imbalances and extraordinary levels of public and private debt. Many assume that what worked before makes sense now, without really thinking things through.
Government bond prices have also been been pressured lower by a structural shift in asset allocation preferences. A step-change jump in financial market volatility, greater economic uncertainty, and growing pressure among insurers and financial institutions to better hedge long-term liabilities have stirred an impulsive burst of buying of long-term bonds that likely won’t be sustained at the same pace for long.
Yet even in the absence of such influences, the view among economists that financial markets reflect the wisdom of crowds, especially in regard to current policies and the economic outlook, is a supposition that is dubious at best in light of what we’ve seen in recent years.
I wonder, for example, what credit markets were signalling in the spring of 2007, when risk spreads were at all-time lows, while risk — as evidenced by extremes in leverage and speculation and a bursting housing bubble — was at an all-time high? And when global equity markets were hitting record highs in October of that year, what exactly were they telling us about the state of the world economy?
In my view, whatever predictive ability markets once had has been steadily eroded by years of monetary recklessness, a cultural shift away from long-term investing towards short-term trading and speculation, and the shrinking share of market participants — read professionals — who actually understand the fundamentals that matter.
So, to those economists who keep insisting that the large and growing obligations our government is committing us to in the name of saving or increasing jobs — a theory that hasn’t quite panned out yet, as it happens — don’t matter because markets are signalling otherwise, I say one thing.
I can assure you that will only make him sound better…. 