OnPoint by Keith Ng

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OnPoint: Lies, damn lies, adjectives

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  • Matthew Poole,

    You know, it's not actually an inaccurate characterisation of what some of my younger non-property-owning friends have been saying this afternoon.

    As a member of that vague group, were I not rather attached to my family and newly in a relationship Australia would be looking really tempting right now. It's not like I've got a job to hold me here at present.

    Key has finally shown his true colours, and they're coward-yellow right the way through. No brains, no balls, just another election hovering on the horizon. Thanks for fucking nothing.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Hickey's columns are repetitive. But he's laid his case out again and again. I'm not sure what you mean by not doing the heavy lifting.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • webweaver,

    ...mining in national parks to go ahead with the establishment of a conservation fund from some of the proceeds as a sweetener.

    I feel sick.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 332 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Also, I'm very attached to NZ, but frankly he has a point. I don't believe Aussies en masse are any smarter than we are, but they seem to have made a much better fist of economic management in the last 25 years than we have.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole,

    [Australians] seem to have made a much better fist of economic management in the last 25 years than we have.

    More that, for whatever reason, they got lucky with electing leaders who didn't have stealth objectives, in either direction, who could then gut the country. We got Rogernomics by stealth, we got the last National government's hard-right positions on welfare, state enterprise and employment relations by stealth, and we currently have a spineless merchant banker who's blind in one eye and can't see out the other because he hid his true colours behind a façade of "Mr Middle New Zealand".
    For better or worse, Australia's leaders appear to have been quite up-front about their aspirations and positions, and the Australians have been able to go to elections on the basis of what's really going to happen to their country.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Gens X & Y should get off their chuffs & do what I did, she huffs: that is, physically build a garage & live in it for nearly 2 years while physically building my house & going off every so often to earn money so I could continue to do-

    o, wait a moment - they've changed the rules on that havent they? And I suspect $950 1/8th acre sections in Paradise-by-the-sea arnt all that common any more...

    Seriously though - there is a mistaken conception among some that baby boomers had it all handed to us on a plate. Not so: self & sibs worked hard and long to build our homes, and inheriting anything from our parents (at least in my social & cultural strata) didnt happen.

    Gens X & Y are my sibs' children & grandchildren: we hope they will return here after sojourning overseas - because that's what all my sibs did (except for the one who died in Oz.) They made $$$, they gained skills, and then came home (permanantly, or for a few years, with intentions to retire back to ANZ.)

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Hickey's columns are repetitive. But he's laid his case out again and again. I'm not sure what you mean by not doing the heavy lifting.

    Getting a little beyond "flounce for your lives!" ?

    This is not making a case:

    Today he did nothing. He did worse than nothing. He shut down the debate.

    It's useless hyperbole, unless the black helicopters are coming to break both of Bernard's typing fingers. Even then, he'd clutch a pencil between his teeth and get back to work. :)

    It's all very nice being "bold " in an air conditioned office on Albert Steet, but Key has to deal with the pretty unpleasant realities of getting the numbers to pass legislation. In a perverse way he's Helen Clark's twin -- neither of them take Don Quixote as a role model.

    And, yes, I'd have introduced a land tax, capital gains and dared Labour to position itself as the defender of the rentiers not the many, and I'm sure Bernard and Fran would be my BFFs for eva. (Or at least until I had a freak "accident' in the caucus room tomorrow morning.) But I'm a mad bastard who doesn't have to make it work in the real world..

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

  • George Darroch,

    Gens X & Y should get off their chuffs & do what I did, she huffs: that is, physically build a garage & live in it for nearly 2 years while physically building my house & going off every so often to earn money so I could continue to do-

    You're absolutely right about that much - I simply can't see the point in buying a house that cost great amounts more than the physical material required.

    Unfortunately the cost of unimproved land in New Zealand has huge amounts of property speculation built into the price. A tax on unimproved land could help, but as with rates I suspect that the speculators would just build this into the price too.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • Andre,

    For two seconds there after his media release last night I thought that maybe I'd got it all wrong. Maybe John Key really did think that it was WRONG for the wealthy not to pay tax at the expense of low and middle income New Zealanders. Rick Barker from Labour made it clear that they are just going to look after their old mates too. Maybe we need a political party aimed at non-baby-boomers with an intention to level the playing field. In the mean time student loan debt is at $10 billion and rising by $1 bn a year. That's indentured servitude. Not being able to buy a house increases that servitude.

    New Zealand • Since May 2009 • 371 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    As a member of that vague group, were I not rather attached to my family and newly in a relationship Australia would be looking really tempting right now. It's not like I've got a job to hold me here at present.

    As a member of that group, the only reasons I haven't is that we're waiting on other options, but it's looking more and more likely. And that stuff about CRIs could make it a very long term move, if it ends up being as bad as it sounds.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    As a member of that group, the only reasons I haven't is that we're waiting on other options, but it's looking more and more likely. And that stuff about CRIs could make it a very long term move, if it ends up being as bad as it sounds.

    I suppose, since my avatar and location are sufficiently vague, that I should declare that I post from Canberra, Australia. I'm looking for work on this side of the Tasman right now, and when and if I return will depend on a whole bunch of factors. I miss my family, I miss New Zealand's beauty and taonga, and a bunch of intangibles.

    Right now living abroad (ie. not Australia or NZ) seems like the most sensible thing to do. I'll wait a while more and see where things head.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    But I'm a mad bastard who doesn't have to make it work in the real world..

    Then again, I'm also the kind of crank who thinks that:

    1) A country has to live within its means, just like its citizens.

    2) If you want to increase government spending, putting it on the never-never and hoping you'll be dead before the bill comes due is downright prickish.

    3) You can't reduce taxes without either cutting spending or clawing it back somewhere else, and anyone who pretends otherwise is stupid or a liar. Possibly both.

    4) Eventually, you're going to have to tell a lot of someones one or two (dozen) home truths they don't want to hear. Life is, more often than not, a running buffet of unpalatable choices. Wishing won't make it go away.

    In the spirit of the depressing experience of listening to Parliament this afternoon, here's a jolly little tune:

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

  • Matthew Poole,

    And that stuff about CRIs could make it a very long term move, if it ends up being as bad as it sounds.

    hmm? What're your concerns there? Just skimmed through the speech, and totally underwhelmed by so much of the knowledge investment section, but don't know enough background to know why you think the CRIs thing could be bad news.

    We also see no mention of R&D credits, or indeed any other incentive for private enterprise to carry out R&D unless they happen to be in the sanctified agricultural sector.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    hmm? What're your concerns there? Just skimmed through the speech, and totally underwhelmed by so much of the knowledge investment section, but don't know enough background to know why you think the CRIs thing could be bad news.

    Largely that any time I hear that funding is going to be more closely tied to whether science has commercial value, I get extremely twitchy, because while that sort of research is hugely important, the government is one of the very few bodies which funds explicitly *non*-commerically oriented science. If they aren't interested in funding basic science (which can make very important commercial discoveries, but is not necessarily obviously commercially valuable) then who will be?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Just thinking,

    Canty Water sure is heating up.
    The Politicians for Personal Profit are going on the offensive, as if they needed to try. Making a virtue out of a clear and stated (by others) conflict of interest.

    Water Forum is on over the next month at New Brighton Markets till 6 March.

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    no mention of R&D credits, or indeed any other incentive for private enterprise to carry out R&D

    That's because the CRIs will hand it all over to them for free, isn't it? Just like we're freeloading on the US and others for agri-emissions research.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Canty Water sure is heating up.

    all those norwesters..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

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