The week in review (or at least topics I had intended to rant on)

Here are some links I intended to post on during the past week but was unable to due to being really freaking busy.

New Zealand

• The Treasury papers advising the government on the AIAL bid: I had intended to do a major post on this, but the stupidness of the government in ignoring the advice has been covered elsewhere and I covered off the consequences of interfering with free investment in a previous post.

• This article on the Australian first home buyers grant should serve as a warning for NZ, particularly as housing affordability seems to be a hot button topic this year (I am picking at least one party will bring a policy like the Australian first home grant in). A nice quote:

"Any time you divert taxpayer funds to encourage people to buy, it is counter-productive to improving affordability. Essentially what was intended to improve affordability did the exact opposite. And now we're all paying the price."

Global economy

• This article discusses the new challenges facing the global economy. Particularly interesting is the comment that political consensus and a liberal and global economy may be challenged due to the fact that developing countries are starting to consume like developed countries.

Miscellaneous

• Time-lapse video of a man who was trapped in a lift for 41 hours. I almost went a little insane just watching it. No one knows what went wrong, but there was clearly someone working on the other 3 lifts during his ordeal. I really really hope this never ever happens to me (and I do have to traverse a few lifts each day from my apartment to my office and back).

• George W. Bush on Deal or No Deal: Some quotes from Dubya:
  • "I'm thrilled to be anywhere with high ratings these days";
  • "how would you like to host a three trillion dollar deal or no deal",

I guess it would be funny were he not the Leader of the Free World.

• It turns out executions are not "cruel and unusual punishment" in the US. Well we already knew that in the US executions were run of the mill. But I had hoped for a better response then just "the possibility that states may be obliged to adopt a more humane method" to lethal injection.