Given yesterday's detailed monetary policy analysis, I am using today to present an array of…
Crunched
Aah the joys of the ocean early in the morning when the surf is big. Huge wave faces to rip after a steep drop on takeoff. Big waves breaking onto a sharp reef not that far below the surface. The thrill of it all. A great way to start the day before work.
That is until you don’t actually make it across a wave section and you get crunched! Then you really know it. Up until that point I was having fun early this morning out at Nobby’s Reef in Newcastle.
Now … I am somewhat worse for wear.
Material damage:
Click for the full pictures! A tragedy.
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Human damage
The reef at Nobby’s is unforgiving. So I have lots of cuts and bruises.
Tonight I am going to a black-tie fundraiser for community use of public buildings. The governments here think it is sensible to sell off public buildings that they no longer want to use (like old lock-ups and post offices) to developers. In Newcastle, the old lock-up is trying to stay alive as community space. Hence the black tie dinner to raise funds to keep it going!
But it will be more like a black eye dinner for me given the state of my right cheek-bone!
Now I just have to ring the surf shop to order a new board! ASAP.
Real blog later!
What is the MMT take on this development? And can the Knights beat the Rabbits?
Dear APJ
First, as a household I am financially constrained and so even though there are plenty of surfboard materials available (real resources) I will have to fund the purchase of a new board. If I was the government, then I could buy as many boards as were available (good idea actually!) without any need to “raise revenue”. I might find, however, that I was adding too much nominal demand to the surfboard market and a specific asset price bubble might emerge as a consequence of resources becoming in short supply.
Second, when I pay the shaper (as soon as I can) the price of a new board, aggregate demand will rise a notch which will help underpin employment in the economy. Given there are plenty of resources available (and lots of shapers with less than a full-time load) inflation is not likely to be a problem.
As far as your next question about Knights and Rabbits I am originally from Melbourne and only follow AFL. Overseas readers please note this is a question about a crude game that they play over here called rugby league – which basically – as far as I can see – involves big boofs running into each other with a ball occassionally crossing a line – whereupon the crowd cheers. The players then go off the ground and get drunk which often ends in them attacking woman in hotel rooms. The game itself is about as interesting as soccer! Which means it is less interesting than watching paint dry! I just put on my flamesuit.
best wishes
bill
Great explanation. The dominant paradigm is endlessly reinforced in the media and this kind of explanation helps the lay-person come to grips with MMT. You should write a childrens book to help spread the word for the next generation – there isn’t much reason to hope for the current one.
Now now Bill, you’ve really crossed the line as far as good taste goes.
The AFL really resembles throwing hot chips amongst a flock og sea gulls, you get a point for missing and the primary skill is to fumble the ball in a straight line as fast as you can.
No penalty for poor ball control, and as a recent commercial TV competition showed, AFl ‘athletes’ (for lack of a better word) are substandard to their peers. Two consecutive years have shown two AFL representives to be less fit, have poorer hand-eye coordination, less strength and less running speed than the RL representation.
Most embarresingly is that this RL player kicks a sherrin more accurately than these two AFL players, by a convincing margin.
And finally, a sport that has Brendan Fevola shouldn’t be pointing fingers at any other sports treatment of women.
🙂
Anyone that wants to know why AFL is more than just a sport might like to track down a poem by Bruce Dawe named “Life-Cycle”.
Dawe perfectly captures just how much the game means to people.
Dear Bill,
Please be careful with the surfing. Also are there any sharks? We don’t want our host to be eaten. 🙂
Looks like a nasty spill there Bill!
Dear RVM
Thanks for your concern! There are lots of sharks but I have always assumed they are vegetarian.
best wishes
bill (with one very black eye and cracked cheek bone this morning)
Dear Lefty
I have surfed a lot and this was my worst crunch. But to have fun you have to take chances …
best wishes
bill
Dear Bill,
My wishes for fast recuperation! You are young in spirit and body and optimistic about mankind and what it can do mentally and physically!
Regards,
Panayotis
Dear Panayotis
Your regards are very kind.
It is true that I think optimistically about things. Otherwise you would just lie down and cry given the mess the world and the idea systems that drive its dynamics against nature are in.
best wishes
bill
Hi Bill,
you sound a bit high on the thrill of surviving. Lucky you were not knocked out! Surf is flatish in Queensland right now, hope the swell is headed our way. Did you hit the reef or did your board get you? Were you pulling in or going over the falls. Lets see a photo of the bruise when it developes! Your going to be out of the water for a while so we will note the agression in posts as the lack of surfing takes its toll!
I admire your blogging now, you must be a lot sore.
Cheers Punchy
Dear Punchy
Just a few weeks earlier I received a surfing helmet for my birthday and hadn’t yet worn it. You know all the stuff about – surfing in a helmet for god sakes! But now I am never going out without it on.
I am not sure – I think the board hit my face and the reef took care of the rest of me. I took the wrong side of a peak (Nobby’s has a peaky throwing take-off point and it is really easy to get caught out of position) and thought I could get across to the other side (not knowing it was the wrong side!). The throw demolished me before I made the section.
Sadist!
I ordered a new board yesterday and will be back early next week.
best wishes
bill
That’s a good shinner. Should get a bit of respect in the line up with that one! Sounds like a lip launch, too bad its not on film.
Charging the backdoor like a grom too. Its easy to forget we are getting older sometimes……………