The totally off-topic thread

[MEL_Traveller]

Im assuming our office floor neighbour is conducting aggressive conflict resolution training or the SWAT team may be crashing our office soon.

Lots of yelling, swearing and "Please leave. The police have been called and will be arriving soon. Leave now".

oh... so *that's* where they conduct the Tiger 'you're late for check-in' course

 

[JohnK]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

my friend had a long term partner, but not married. The partner was denied entry on the third re-entry to Australia because they were using a tourist visa to essentially 'stay'. this was outside the conditions. You might have a different experience given the marriage rather than long term de facto.

Applying for immigration status does not require immigration lawyers. it's very simple and straight forward provided you meet the requirements and have the time to compete the paper work.

I don't think it's as straight forward as that but agree they may deny tourist visa if using that option to stay. We'll see what happens this week.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

I don't think it's as straight forward as that but agree they may deny tourist visa if using that option to stay. We'll see what happens this week.

it's not so much the initial granting of the tourist visa, to the subsequent multiple entries that *may* cause a problem. coming to stay with your husband and family doesn't necessarily fit within 'tourism'. it really depends on how long the previous stays have been, and how many times the visa is being used.

 

[JohnK]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

it's not so much the initial granting of the tourist visa, to the subsequent multiple entries that *may* cause a problem. coming to stay with your husband and family doesn't necessarily fit within 'tourism'. it really depends on how long the previous stays have been, and how many times the visa is being used.

My plan is for 2 x 12 month multiple entry visa applications. Don't know which way they'll decide or advise.

I really don't want to give them $7,000+ right now.

 

[suze2000]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

y don't want to give them $7,000+ right now.

And yet, travelling would be much less stressful for her to get that spousal visa sorted ASAP.

 

[Hvr]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

Don't forget that Daylight Saving Time starts tonight in the progressive states.

If you're flying tomorrow morning do ensure your timepiece moves forward at 0200 hours.

 

[Quickstatus]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

Don't forget that Daylight Saving Time starts tonight in the progressive states.

If you're flying tomorrow morning do ensure your timepiece moves forward at 0200 hours.

"Spring forward Fall Back"

 

[cove]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

We will be safe in WA.....our curtains won't fade......No clock change for us.....

 

[JessicaTam]

We will be safe in WA.....our curtains won't fade......No clock change for us.....

But won't the cows go off their milk?

 

[Quickstatus]

ADL could do with extra sunlight

 

[JohnK]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

And yet, travelling would be much less stressful for her to get that spousal visa sorted ASAP.

I know. Australian passport would be handy because we can then start travelling with worrying about visas first.

We'll see in the next few days.

 

[whatmeworry]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

Don't forget that Daylight Saving Time starts tonight in the progressive states.

If you're flying tomorrow morning do ensure your timepiece moves forward at 0200 hours.

Watch out, you might trigger a few on this forum...

 

[Flashback]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

Australia’s biggest underground mine halts production | MINING.com

Pushka, reading the comments on that article - is that true? In the realms of $350/month for electricity? If so, that's nuts! For a 2 person household in London Mrs Flashback and I are paying ~£25/month :shock:

 

[love_the_life]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

We had an all electric townhouse in Canberra and in winter our power bills were always about $1500 for three months, in summer less but not a lot under $1000. The house was not well designed as it was all open plan and over 4 levels. Cannot believe the difference at this place (double glazing etc), hardly ever need the heating and bills around $300 for three months.

 

[vetrade]

what are your thoughts on the next aussie interest rate move?

also, what about yellan and the next us move, when and how much vetrade?
cheers.

Well beefarmer I’m the wrong person to ask about interest rates because people who try to guess their moves, or worse still gamble on them, are kidding themselves. You only have to see how varied the predictions of the supposed leading economists are (even in the short term) to know that they all just guess most of the time and there is no set formula to follow. The ones that guess correctly get bragging rights – but only until they get it wrong the next time.

Given that moves over the past couple of years have been both infrequent and in small increments I can’t see any reason on the horizon that would see us deviate from that pattern. My personal guess is that circumstances which would see Aussie rates fall from where they are now are unlikely and any moves up will be both gradual and in small increments. Wouldn’t surprise me if there are no changes at all over the next 6 months or more. But IRs are way down on my list of priorities.

As far as the US is concerned you have to realise that Janet Yellen is essentially an economics academic who was made Chair of the Fed Reserve by Obama at the start of 2014 because she could be relied on to follow the Democrats’ agenda. IR’s were just one part of that.

To explain, it’s not widely known that QE (Quantitative Easing – i.e. printing money) in the US has been used by Obama and the Democrats to change the financial landscape in ways previously never contemplated. Even though QE has been reigned in somewhat now the changes that resulted since the start of the GFC certainly have not. Although QE more than doubled the amount of money but it wasn’t put into circulation, where it would have caused inflation. The agenda started under Ben Bernanke wasn’t to make money; it was to gain control.

When the GFC hit a big chunk of the money printed went to the top 4 banks over there. The banks then lent out a lot of that chunk to prop up the stock market. In return for the money the US Government acquired shares in those banks via the Fed Reserve. Now that the banks are back to profitability they have indicated they wanted to buy back the shares the Government owned but the Fed Reserve said “Not at any price”.

So the Fed Reserve today is a major shareholder (a top 20 shareholder in all 4 major banks) and dictator of policy on all the bank boards – and it wants to continue that influence i.e. it now controls the banking industry in the US. Yes, WOW! (The Fed Reserve is a private organisation, not a govt. organisation – the US govt. is a minority shareholder in the FR).

So now you have a sizeable degree of state ownership of public companies which is the opposite of what capitalism is about. In other words the mandate of the US Govt. has been used to print money and buy shares giving it around 20% ownership of the banks. Which means it’s no longer a free market. Of course the Fed Reserve should have already sold the shares and used the proceeds for infrastructure / health care etc. but it won’t because the lefties like the control they have. So the Yanks have got a degree of socialism by stealth.

So what does all this have to do with interest rates in the US? Well, as a liberal, Yellen is happy to do what the Democrats expect of her so there’s negligible chance she would do anything which could upset the stock market and work against the Democrats’ chances of re-election. At the least that means no changes before the November elections and if Hillary wins the policy is unlikely to change. She has also repeatedly reminded the market that the Fed's job is to suppress unemployment and inflation so you can bet any medium term changes to IRs are likely to be small and drawn out; not unlike what’s likely with our own. Of course it should go without saying that there’s only one way for US IRs from here, barring something unexpected, and that’s up.

 

[Foreigner]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

Don't forget that Daylight Saving Time starts tonight in the progressive states.

If you're flying tomorrow morning do ensure your timepiece moves forward at 0200 hours.

Thereafter, there will be 5 time zones (presently 3)

 

[whatmeworry]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

Australia’s biggest underground mine halts production | MINING.com

Pushka, reading the comments on that article - is that true? In the realms of $350/month for electricity? If so, that's nuts! For a 2 person household in London Mrs Flashback and I are paying ~£25/month :shock:

We probably average 100 a month on Electricity with Gas the main heating source in a 4 person (but plenty of visitors) home. Electricity doubles in winter because my sister heats her bedroom too much with an electric heater. I am not too happy with it but she pays for it but she doesn’t really need it if she dressed properly and didn't go on the balcony for ciggies.

 

[beefarmer]

Well beefarmer I’m the wrong person to ask about interest rates because people who try to guess their moves, or worse still gamble on them, are kidding themselves. You only have to see how varied the predictions of the supposed leading economists are (even in the short term) to know that they all just guess most of the time and there is no set formula to follow. The ones that guess correctly get bragging rights – but only until they get it wrong the next time.

Given that moves over the past couple of years have been both infrequent and in small increments I can’t see any reason on the horizon that would see us deviate from that pattern. My personal guess is that circumstances which would see Aussie rates fall from where they are now are unlikely and any moves up will be both gradual and in small increments. Wouldn’t surprise me if there are no changes at all over the next 6 months or more. But IRs are way down on my list of priorities.

As far as the US is concerned you have to realise that Janet Yellen is essentially an economics academic who was made Chair of the Fed Reserve by Obama at the start of 2014 because she could be relied on to follow the Democrats’ agenda. IR’s were just one part of that.

To explain, it’s not widely known that QE (Quantitative Easing – i.e. printing money) in the US has been used by Obama and the Democrats to change the financial landscape in ways previously never contemplated. Even though QE has been reigned in somewhat now the changes that resulted since the start of the GFC certainly have not. Although QE more than doubled the amount of money but it wasn’t put into circulation, where it would have caused inflation. The agenda started under Ben Bernanke wasn’t to make money; it was to gain control.

When the GFC hit a big chunk of the money printed went to the top 4 banks over there. The banks then lent out a lot of that chunk to prop up the stock market. In return for the money the US Government acquired shares in those banks via the Fed Reserve. Now that the banks are back to profitability they have indicated they wanted to buy back the shares the Government owned but the Fed Reserve said “Not at any price”.

So the Fed Reserve today is a major shareholder (a top 20 shareholder in all 4 major banks) and dictator of policy on all the bank boards – and it wants to continue that influence i.e. it now controls the banking industry in the US. Yes, WOW! (The Fed Reserve is a private organisation, not a govt. organisation – the US govt. is a minority shareholder in the FR).

So now you have a sizeable degree of state ownership of public companies which is the opposite of what capitalism is about. In other words the mandate of the US Govt. has been used to print money and buy shares giving it around 20% ownership of the banks. Which means it’s no longer a free market. Of course the Fed Reserve should have already sold the shares and used the proceeds for infrastructure / health care etc. but it won’t because the lefties like the control they have. So the Yanks have got a degree of socialism by stealth.

So what does all this have to do with interest rates in the US? Well, as a liberal, Yellen is happy to do what the Democrats expect of her so there’s negligible chance she would do anything which could upset the stock market and work against the Democrats’ chances of re-election. At the least that means no changes before the November elections and if Hillary wins the policy is unlikely to change. She has also repeatedly reminded the market that the Fed's job is to suppress unemployment and inflation so you can bet any medium term changes to IRs are likely to be small and drawn out; not unlike what’s likely with our own. Of course it should go without saying that there’s only one way for US IRs from here, barring something unexpected, and that’s up.

Very well put indeed and gives me a great insight.
Personally, I see our rates dropping 0.25% in November.
Apart from that, we are on our own.

 

[penegal]

I think we can all agree that the long term effects of QE are largely unknown.

It is a very interesting time to be alive.

 

[Pushka]

Australia’s biggest underground mine halts production | MINING.com

Pushka, reading the comments on that article - is that true? In the realms of $350/month for electricity? If so, that's nuts! For a 2 person household in London Mrs Flashback and I are paying ~£25/month :shock:

I suspect so. I know one mining company blew $30mill because of this power issue last week (not BHP). Then a couple of months ago for another power issue the Energy Minister (Turbo Tom) had to go cap in hand to a national provider to get some juice in the wires. A once off - yeah right.

Our last winter elec bill was $650 a quarter which totally surprised me. Think large 2 storey poorly designed Tudor. We also had a $350 gas bill.