Yesterday morning a friend and I decided to visit the farmer's market for breakfast and to pick up a few 'essential' items for a picnic we had planned. Although the weather was a bit dismal, the cheerful atmosphere inside the market quickly perked us up (as did the coffee). We did some browsing (there was so much to look at), flipped through the pages of organic cookbooks, listened to the musicians playing in the background, sampled the organic food items, then picked up a few different cheeses, a baguette, salad, and of course, dessert - small raspberry-rhubarb gallette tartlets. After our picnic, we made our way to the park to take in the smooth sounds of some local folk bands - they were fabulous. Afterwards, we met up with a few friends who are moving out of the city for one last dinner together.
THanks for letting me know what you are u ptoo..haha..I was wondering, How is it coming..are you having fun decorating?
THanks for letting me know what you are u ptoo..haha..I was wondering, How is it coming..are you having fun decorating? Do you have a Facebook page?
WOW! I like Carolyn's attitude "The perfect day...with great food and company" love it. I see Douggie is there with ALL his toys and goodies to keep him occupied. So cute! I'm sure he WAS a HUGE help, LOL! I love kitty cats, LOL! I need to go and get me one.
As expected, The House of Representatives passed legislation for a company tax cut at the end of last week, from 30 percent to 25 percent by 2026.
It still needs to get through the Senate, and there is a great deal of lobbying being carried out to get support, by both sides on this issue.
Derryn Hinch has said that he may support the cut, if it comes together with a pay rise for workers. The three Nick Xenophon Team Senators remain opposed to parts of the package.
Pauline Hanson has turned on the company tax cut and this may well drag the three One Nation Senators against the legislation in its present form. Hanson says big companies should not get the cut, which should only be given to those with a turnover of less than $50 million a year.
What is going to happen in the end is unclear. Much of the cross-bench is once again showing its potential for infinite flexibility, so long as the government offers them a few crumbs. It is on the cards that the self-styled crusaders for justice can be persuaded, if the price is right.
This piece of legislation is once again bringing out of the worst of the parliamentary political process in Australia. Not for the first time, the courage of principle, may be giving way to political opportunism.
For us mere mortals, either the lowering of company tax is right or wrong. It should not be something to be bargained with.
Australia should expect politicians to decide on this basis. But regretfully, it does not, because the manipulation of important issues, to bargain for concessions in other places, has become the rule rather than the exception. Politicians are expected to be opportunists, free of moral compass. No wonder that as a group, they stand in such low esteem.
But a shot should not only be fired at the cross bench. Coalition government members are engaged in their usual kneejerk reaction to anything in favour of their benefactors, the big end of town. For them, the company tax cut is mantra. But there is also the stench of a corrupt political system, that rewards what favours the richest and most powerful.
After all, there is no moral dilemma, when they reward themselves with lavish pensions and other perks, as they screw age pensioners the sick and disabled, single parents and the out of work. The treatment of Indigenous Australians is a disgrace.
There is no prick of the conscience, when these same men and women allow privatised companies to charge households exorbitantly and helping mining companies to get over the hurdles, while they eye lucrative positions as lobbyists and positions on the boards of directors of the companies they help. It has come to the point where this is expected of Australian politicians.
Company tax cuts are sold as necessary to encourage investment. If the case was that giving more to major shareholders results in more investment where it is needed, the decades of reducing the wage share and lifting the income flow into big business would have resulted in a lot more positive investment in Australia. It hasn’t.
Instead, there has been a process of concentration of the ownership of the Australian economy. Anyone doubting this just needs to look over the share ownership of the to corporations, to see that many of them are largely owned by the same shareholders. One cannot pass the banks in this context. The big four are essentially a cartel and a channel for cross company ownership and they are substantially under the control of the same even bigger international banks.
In addition to consumers, the losers in this have been small businesses, finding themselves locked out by the cartels and not having the advantages and political support that that the major corporations enjoy.
The cash bonanza has been used to gamble on speculation and over indulgence in the paper shuffling economy, rather than real beneficial investment.
The biggest single cash reward for big end shareholders has come from the private debt economy. Australia suffers one of the highest personal debt burdens in the world.
Is throwing more cash at the same source through company tax cuts going to do any better? It is not. To start with, there is a massive money laundering industry that sends a large part of the gains overseas. A tax cut will not stop this. And it will not work towards putting and end to the speculative and over blown paper shuffling economy. It will not tackle the problem of an economy that has become dependent on excess personal debt. Nor will it meet the challenge of shifting to an environmentally sustainable economy.
A company tax cut will not do anything to tackle the most basic underlying problem in the economy. All other problems originate from the fall in the creation of aggregate value, caused by a shift in the proportions of use labour and capital. A major shift to capital intensity, has caused an increase in per unit costs and a fall in per unit profit. Statistics on return on investment show this decline. Any competent business plan will factor in the trend in the labour/capital ratio.
Investment decisions are made based on this knowledge, and is the reason why, for instance, major investors have turned away from manufacturing. It is what has driven the distortions that have grown in the Australian economy and fueled dependency on debt.
The rise in personal debt has come about, to artificially build the Australian market, because the easiest way to make up the loss of per unit profit is to increase the volume of sales and raise the total profit.
What impact will a cut in the business tax rate have on the basic problem? None. But it will put short-term money into the pockets of the major investors. In the longer-run it will add to the distortions. Just like stagnant wages and insecure work, it will work to shrink the market by redistributing income from the many to the few.
This is on the assumption that the corporations will pay anywhere near the rate. They don’t at present, and if this continues, the five percent cut may not make a great deal of difference.
Even if this is the way it goes, Australia deserves much better from these politicians and has good reason to deliver a strong message to the cross bench, and to hold the members of the Coalition to account.
If this is true, it makes Leno one of the sleaziest men in Hollywood and that is say something. He pulled almost the same trick on Letterman to get the Tonight show.
I'm not a big Leno fan, but I'm not sure this is his fault. The blame lies squarely at the feet of NBC, who made the decision to 'retire' Leno three years ago when Jay clearly wasn't ready to give up his hosting gig. It would be ironic if Conan was the one squeezed out since it was NBC's desire to keep Conan on board back in 2007 (by promising to 'promote' him to the Tonight Show) that caused this whole mess in the first place. Not that I'm blaming Conan, since if I was in his negotiating spot, I would've asked for the same thing. (Or at least a healthy raise to keep him happy at 12:35 until Leno was ready to call it quits.)
Conan would be a fine candidate for a FX or HBO talk show, something that would give him the leeway to do all his characters.
Seriously, I don't know why they don't try a more traditional variety show with Jay. One show a week, heck, give him a couple hours on Saturday or Sunday. He gets good acts, his comedy is stale, but with less shows to fill, it ought to get better. I'm no Conan fan, but he deserves his shot.
What do you think would happen to Conan if the "jay goes back to 11:30 and Conan is out" scenario plays out? Does he go to a comedy central and follow Colbert, or does Fox bust out a nightly show at 11, after their news? I suspect some cable station. Maybe FX? How about USA at 11? I doubt that NBC Universal would put him on up against Jay. FX or comedy central seems the most likely to me.
Wasn't ABC going after Leno, which led to the 10:00 show to begin with? I think Kimmel has the most to lose if Conan gets the boot.
This is a HUGE fail for everyone involved. Leno looks like a tool with the ego the size of California, Conan gets treated like a nobody and obviously no one can blame him if he never believes in anything NBC tells him, and Fallon (until we find out otherwise) gets shot down before he can hit his stride. I was just starting to enjoy some of his bits as well (such as Slow Jam the News).
They had a shot, they did. But they just haaaaaaad to keep Leno at NBC. If they let him walk they could have developed Conan and Fallen and be set for the next several years.
Oh, and we should probably post a piece from Leno's monologue that has him making a really bad joke about this whole thing.
So on top of nearly tanking a number of NBC shows, completely killing their 10 o'clock slot for a long time to come, and getting Conan to play second fiddle to him again, Leno decides to make a joke disguised as a veiled threat.
That's one way to look at it. A reasonable way, I might add. But it might also just be him making fun of the rumors as Fox has been rumored as an obvious destination for him if he leaves NBC. I think these rumors were around even back when he was doing the Tonight Show.
Foxnews may not be a bad place for him. O'Reilly and Hannity have strong ratings. Might also be the reason why nobody is really watching his(Leno's) show.
If they were to take another stab at a comedy show -- trying again a conservative version of Daily Show/Colbert -- getting an actual comedian might work. That Half-Hour Comedy Hour was awful. CNN branched out to give Beck airtime; why not give whoever is let go by NBC a shot on FOXNews?
In my perfect world, Leno gets 11:30 back and Conan walks. Conan goes to FX or Cable and produes HIS show and is a success. Letterman trounces Leno every night and Ferguson demolishes Fallon. NBC late night is a waste land which forces Leno to "retire" again. But no one wants the job, so Leno "stays", continues to fail and goes down as the man who sunk The Tonight Show.
If I was Conan, I'd walk. His fanbase would follow him to Fox, Fox would give him the creative freedom that NBC has clearly been denying him, and NBC would be in for a rude awakening when they find out that Leno will be drawing barely over half the ratings he got before he left.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for that. We got a great show for you tonight. Uh, I have no idea what time it will air, but it's gonna be a great show. Let me promise you that. (laughs) We're gonna screw up a lot of DVRs with this. I'm sure you've all heard the rumors, ladies and gentleman. NBC has finally come up with an exciting new idea: they want me to follow Jay Leno.
Classic. He actually spent most of the first 10 minutes of the show telling various Conan-Leno-NBC jokes. It's too bad CRZ's "if it's on TV then it must be a work" rule doesn't apply here.
(paraphrasing)"Jay and I will be put in a cage with sharpened knives to fight to the death and the winner gets to leave NBC."
"Learn to love yourself... for it is the greatest love of all" - Jeremy Borash 11:24 AM May 13th,2009
Could be the case, the thought did cross my mind. Although this would likely cause more damage in the long run.
She didn't look pregnant, but it was shot so you couldn't really tell. My wife and I both thought she looked un-pregnant.