Loose Cannons

February 15, 2008
Issue 

Who's the other one?

"You know, women are now very active in the Kuwaiti parliament." — Emperor George Bush II, speaking in US ally Kuwait, January 12. Associated Press reported on January 22: "Kuwait's only female politician survived an attempt to oust her Tuesday by conservative lawmakers who accused her of mismanagement and endangering traditional religious values."

Anticipation

"We anticipate in the next year that another wave of adjustable rate mortgages will reset and with that we anticipate that the mortgage corporate fraud potential cases will increase." — Sharon Ormsby, head of the FBI's financial crimes section, announcing on January 30 that the FBI has 1200 active cases investigating fraud by real-estate developers, home-loan lenders and Wall Street investment bankers involved in the 2002-07 sub-prime mortgage swindle. This swindle has left some of the biggest US commercial banks holding in excess of US$130 billion in bad debt.

Workable and constructive (for bosses)

"The workplace relations amendments introduced into federal parliament today [by the Rudd Labor government] appear to be balanced and workable and were shaped by a very constructive consultation process ... Importantly, the bill enables all existing AWAs to continue for their full term (up to five years) and employers who have been using AWAs will be able to enter into statutory individual employment agreements (to be called Individual Transitional Employment Agreements — ITEAs) for the next two years, subject to a no disadvantage test." — Statement issued by Australian Industry Group CEO Heather Ridout, February 13. The AIG represents 10,000 employers in manufacturing, construction, telecommunications, IT and call centres, transport, labour hire and other industries.

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