Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Arrest the bastards at the border

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  • Juha Saarinen,

    Yeessssshhh... go out and do Rohypnol with Rodders and look what happens! These implants really hurt but I managed to poke out the battery in one of them and all I have to say is that you scum-sucking leftie property right expropriationists will be first up against the wall when The Free Market Revolution comes!

    Since Nov 2006 • 529 posts Report

  • InternationalObserver,

    when The Free Market Revolution comes!
    I thought it came around the same time as the start of the Lange government ... and ran right up until the sharemarket crash of 1987 ....

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report

  • Bryan Dods,

    Over half a century ago at an Insurance Institute picnic at Wenderholm I was very upset by a lanky snooty sounding boy who wanted total control of all the toys in the sandpit.
    When confronted by adults he wormed his way out of trouble by spouting half-truths.
    Nothing Michael Fay has done since has given me any cause to remove him from my Personal List Of Bastards.

    Northland • Since Nov 2006 • 46 posts Report

  • Don Christie,

    It is precisely these sorts of envy politics that force great entrepreneurs such as Fay and Richwhite to flee the country to more welcoming shores, and should they ever want to return, be compelled to purchase islands off New Zealand's shore.

    :-)

    It wouldn't be so bad if they'd done a half decent job in ensuring a free market existed and that these companies had a long term plan for survival that didn't involve an asset strip and monopoly. I'm lucky, I don't need to use the trains (though Infratil's crappy and rapidly degrading buses I do use are competing for a new low).

    I pay much more for transacting my Internet business than I should do, and we (nearly) all agree what a sucky internet infrastructure we have now been landed with. If these basics had been right in the first place the F&R guys would have been worth their 100s of millions and we could sit back and concentrate on catching the odd cheating beneficiary and make Craig a happy man in the process.

    PS I notice Infratil are proud owners of "aiports", whatever they are. http://www.stagecoach.co.nz/company/international.html

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report

  • Juha Saarinen,

    PLOB is a good acronym. Memorised.

    Since Nov 2006 • 529 posts Report

  • Angus Robertson,

    The $20 million payment to end the Securities Commission's case against them was less than a third of what they made selling off TranzRail shares in 2002

    They could have been fined $100 millions if they had been convicted of insider trading and done possible jail time. They were able to avoid prosecution for insider trading with a technicallity. NZ's insider trading law requires prosecution of trade within 2 years of trade even if the insider trading is not discovered until it is too late to prosecute.


    This failling of the law was corrected last year after the SC lost the case on this prosecution.

    Auckland • Since May 2007 • 984 posts Report

  • merc,

    Hhehehhe there's actually some good stuff here,
    http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2007/06/back_to_the_winebox.html#comments

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report

  • dc_red,

    How come Martha Stewart didn't think of this?

    Serious question.

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report

  • Paul Brislen,

    I've found the original Brian Gaynor column (well hidden on the Harold site)...

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=316&objectid=12689

    Even Brian's own list of columns on his company website doesn't include it. It should be required reading for all immigration officials I think!

    Cheers

    Paul

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 200 posts Report

  • Terence Wood,

    Yeah sure Juha et al. you're pretty funny and all, but when it comes to parody y'aint even close to the gang on the Kiwiblog thread that Merc linked to:

    Here's Sinner:

    This whole thing just goes to show how much Labour has destroyed NZ's respect for hard work and business savvy. Fay and Richwhite did nothing wrong - they simply did what every good businessman does: made money. They really helped restructure NZ after the disaster of the previous labour govenment --- and will soon be able to do the same again!


    We will need Fay and Richwhite and their colleagues - people who understand profit and how to make money - to fix all the schools, hospitals, trains, airlines, roading and everything else Labour has destroyed!

    Since Nov 2006 • 148 posts Report

  • Don Christie,

    Heh, nice quote Terence. Come back Craig, all is forgiven.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report

  • Grant McDougall,

    It is precisely these sorts of envy politics that force great entrepreneurs such as Fay and Richwhite...

    That's got nothing to do with why people hate Fay and Richwhite.

    They're hated because of the complete lack of integrity with which they pursued their ruthless greed. They shafted people and businesses left, right and centre forv thjeir own ends.

    I know loads of people that are successful businessmen. I don't begrudge them their success at all - all power to them, etc. But they've acted with integrity.

    Fay and Richwhite did not. That's why they're disliked.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report

  • James,

    Overall, isn't this a positive endorsement of New Zealand institutions? Our privatisations weren't that different from 1990's Russia - they even had some people in common. But they were restrained enough by our courts and democratic processes that very few succeeded on the scale of Fay & Richwhite.
    The current settlement is a nice reminder of how close to the abyss we actually were...

    New Zealand • Since Feb 2007 • 34 posts Report

  • Juha Saarinen,

    Yeah, I know, should've checked out Kiwiblog's comments first but... it's like dipping your head into a cesspit, except nastier.

    Since Nov 2006 • 529 posts Report

  • paulalambert,

    I wonder whether this proposed new Bill would have saved us from the likes of F&R. As I understand it, the onus of proof will be reversed, it means an end to 'innocent until proven guilty'

    http://www.nz-lawsoc.org.nz/lawtalk/685Crim%20Proceeds.htm
    The Serious Fraud Office would be able to seek a High Court order freezing a person's assets if it could show that there were reasonable grounds to believe that a person had benefited either directly or indirectly from serious criminal activity.
    http://www.justice.govt.nz/bribery-corruption/chapter-9.html
    The forfeiture will apply to those assets which the person cannot prove that they have acquired legitimately and regardless of the fact that the person has not been convicted of criminal

    chch • Since Dec 2006 • 107 posts Report

  • Shaz,

    Yeah, at least in a cesspit there's some agreement on the nature of the content. Still, pretty funny how similar the two comments were... or sad.

    Wgtn • Since Apr 2007 • 24 posts Report

  • InternationalObserver,

    That's a great link that Brilsen has provided above. And even tho' Gaynor is scathing about FR he only goes into the business dealings. He doesn't even touch on the ethics of FR acting on behalf of the Govt in preparing NZ Rail and Telecom for privatisation and then also being allowed to buy those same assets!
    Just how dumb were the Labour Govt at that time? And me, for voting for them at that time?

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Can someone who has Juha's contact details please let him know Craig appears to have gained access to his PublicAddress account?

    Sorry, could you please leave me all the way out of the random crossfire? While I don't carry any water for Fay and Richwhite, could I be forgiven for not having much time for Messers Peters and Jones either?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    BTW, Don, I should apologise for not making it perfectly clear that I don't really want to see WINZ automatically prosecuting every beneficiary who receives an overpayment because of a cock-up on their part. If nothing else, its a more effective (and just) allocation of resources to be throwing the book at hardcore fraudsters, than some boob who didn't tell the department they're earning $50 a week over an abatement threshold. If you want to be hard-arsed, they're both guilty of fraud but I know who I think is a higher priority for prosecution. It would be, however, much more constructive if the former was 'settled' on the correct rate, and a repayment schedule for the arrears.

    Does any of the above make me a nasty right-wing beneficiary basher?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie,

    Does any of the above make me a nasty right-wing beneficiary basher?

    Not at all. It was the tens-of-thousands making-shit-up from your earlier post. If one wanted to be hard-arsed, there are times when you come across as a real piece of work.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • paulalambert,

    Does any of the above make me a nasty right-wing beneficiary basher?
    No I guess not. Please bear in mind the maze of entitlements and regulations that is WINZ inevitably mean errors and omissions are made by both sides. And there definately are arrears repayment schedules, put yourself at ease about that one.

    chch • Since Dec 2006 • 107 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie,

    . . . the maze of entitlements and regulations that is WINZ . . .

    What does any of this have to do with Fay and Richwhite, anyway? Spuriously linking their situation with the old tory shibboleth of bludging beneficiaries reveals something of the patrician contempt and loathing that underlay their brazen plundering of what were once publicly owned resources.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Stephen Judd,

    'The Money River, where the wealth of the nation flows. We were born on the banks of it -- and so were most of the mediocre people we grew up with, went to private schools with, sailed and played tennis with. We can slurp from that mighty river to our hearts' content. And we can even take slurping lessons so that we can slurp more efficiently.'

    'Slurping lessons?'

    'From lawyers! From tax consultants! From customs men! We're born close enough to the river to drown ourselves and the next ten generations in wealth, simply using dippers, and buckets. But we still hire the experts to teach us the use of aqueducts, dams, reservoirs, siphons, bucket brigades, and the Archimedes' screw. And our teachers in turn become rich, and their children become buyers of lessons in slurping.'

    'I wasn't aware that I slurped.'

    Eliot was fleetingly heartless, for he was thinking angrily in the abstract. 'Born slurpers never are. And they can't imagine what the poor people are talking about when they say they hear somebody slurping. They don't even know what it means when somebody mentions the Money River.When one of us claims that there si no such thing as the Money River I think to myself, "My gosh, but that's a dishonest and tasteless thing to say."'

    -- God Bless You Mr Rosewater, Kurt Vonnegut

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    If one wanted to be hard-arsed, there are times when you come across as a real piece of work.

    Sheesh guys - Craig's daily shtick is to play the old game of 'who are you to criticise Don Brash/George Bush/the Son of Sam when you have failed to speak out about Barack Obama's parking tickets/David Lange's weight problem/Genghis Khans invasion of Khwarezmid?'. Admitedly todays is dumber than usual, but I'm still surprised by the blowback.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie,

    I'm still surprised by the blowback.

    As I said, if one wanted to be hard-arsed. It's not an option I'd be regularly inclined to take, but when it's done with blatant dishonesty in the guise of providing some kind of conservative balance, it should be called out for what it is.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

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