MK forum

Mosquito Bite

I plan to buzzzzz and bite and irritate
Til this is resolved.
Maybe I should have picked a bulldog?

In ordinary circumstances
I am a very nice person.

Nothing to do with Child Abuse, but just curious.

I suspect being a little Island nation at the bottom of the globe,we get quite a different diet of International news than much larger nations, namely because when you only have 4 million people there isn't a lot that happens some days.

What I'm curious about is what is happening with the situation in North Korea? The story we are getting is that the sabre rattling has been stepped up, but with a young inexperienced leader now in charge, it is considerably more serious.
Kiwis of course served in Korea along with our much bigger allies.

Also interested in how the U.S. economy is going. We heard things were pretty bad, which had flow on effects for us. However the Australian economy is going strong and that has helped us. Our interest rates are around the 5% mark, which is very low (good for mortgages).

Anyway if anyone has the time . . .

I'm not sure I will be much help there either, we get our news on the internet and it ends up being somewhat limited as well...

I do wonder what's up with North Korea because the U.S. is certainly moving its military assets around to strategic places...hard to know if it's just a show of force or if they really do think something is going to happen. Apparently there is a reporter at the Washington Post who has written a lot about the situation, I haven't read all of his articles, but they do look interesting. His name is Max Fisher. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wor ... rth-korea/

Living in Australia does not make me think the economy is good but sometimes the news says it is and sometimes the news says it isn't. I personally think not but your knowledge of how it affects N.Z. might be a better gauge. To change the subject the Royal Commission into child abuse in churches and SCHOOLS started yesterday. Full stop.

I have a hard time believing the news sometimes...I tend to be quite cynical and think that they are out to spin things for political reasons. So I like to look at a lot of different news sources to try to get a better overall picture.

We hear a lot about the terrible economy and while it does seem to be getting bad or worse for some (many?), when we go back stateside, I am always pretty shocked by the amount of non-essential spending that is going on...for example, eating out at restaurants. I would think that if the economy was that bad, then the spending at restaurants would drop significantly as people cut out the extras...but what we've observed is that restaurants are still packed because people are still spending there. That is, of course, just one example...and it may not even be an accurate economic indicator.

But anyway, for me, I think it's hard to really tell what's going on with the economy...although I have heard that in the U.S. things are more difficult for small(er), privately owned businesses and that it might be getting worse. That is never a good sign, IMO. I would like to see it as easy as possible for people to have their own business if they want to try. I like the idea that hard-working people get a reward for it.

My son in law owns an accounting firm for small business in Atlanta and he deals with small business going "out of business" quite often. Full stop.

Many who have jobs are freely spending. It is the ones without jobs that have nothing. I see them in the food bank lines. I hear them talk about their health and can't go to the doctor. I know a retired lady that dropped her meds, because the meds cost half her SS check. She suffered a stroke. You can not always tell when you see them on the street, they still have the clothes from when they had a good job. They may eat at a fast food place from the $1 menu because it is cheaper than buying food to cook. I am seeing the divide between the haves and the have not getting wider. I am thankful for a childhood where we learned to get along on very little.

Childhood poverty did have the advantage of making one a survivor and it has served me well. I remember the lessons on the difference between "wants" and "needs".

Just keeping an eye on the situation in North Korea and hoping we don't end up with someone going to far. Sometimes living at the bottom of the world with the nearest neighbour 3 hours flight time away is not a bad thing.

Childhood poverty does have a way of instilling good lessons on needs and wants!

I agree, you are in a pretty good situation there! I am also concerned about the possibility of someone going too far...the consequences could be grave.