Posts by Belt

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  • Hard News: Things To Do,

    "Critically, such a policy would benefit relatively well-off people who spend more money on food -- that'll be me -- far more than the poor people RAM claims to represent."

    <sigh>

    Statements such as that disappoint me and drag you down Russ.

    Well off people don't CARE they get more, percentage wise. They have disposable income to burn - relatively speaking-.

    But it DOES actually help people who are wondering where there next 10 bucks will come from.

    I think the petition is a farce, and completely misguided.

    But for once, someone, stop thinking how any percentage measure would benefit rich people "more". It is such a tired argument. It's an argument made by people incapable of allowing the poor advancing at the "expense" of rich advancing more in dollar for dollar -or percentage- terms.

    Who cares, including the rich people, that you have $10 or $20 a week more to spend?

    Those who don't have any money left at the end of the week. They care.

    FFS....

    Envy even gets in the way of helping those who need relief.

    Trust me, by the time my mortgage, rates, petrol and food bill hits me, I'll know it. But, like you I suspect, I'll be OK. Cost and price increases over time are inevitable.

    But do no longer fall in the trap of calculating how ANY measure might benefit the "rich" MORE. Focus on those who need it, and see how it benefits THEM.

    The "rich" pay 80%(ish) of all taxes as it is, so if they have a little more, they'll be well rewarded for keeping the 20% from abject poverty altogether.

    (PS: The RAM initiative is misguided if not well intended. But I think you know where I am coming from, even if you can not allow yourself to agree :)

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Fibre Coming Soon! Ish ...,

    In Nelson's suburb of Stoke, there is a "two week to six month" waiting list for any new broadband connections. Basically, if someone cancels the next person on the waiting list gets the slot. (Moving from address A to B within Stoke may mean you lose broadband as Telecom insist the new one can not be commissioned before the old one is disconnected...) Against this backdrop the good citizens of Stoke are told they can have 6 months of broadband at their current dial-up price if they switch NOW.

    Valid questions: 1/ how any other suburbs in NZ are "full? 2/ why are Telecom not increasing capacity in those areas as there is a clear demand AND they are whipping up more demand themselves? 3/ is this an opportunity for the other providers to slap cabinets all over the place? 4/ if not, why not? Wasn't that the whole point?

    While most of us are lamenting slow broadband, and the visionaries are celebrating faster broadband in the future, right now, people are not able to get any broadband AT ALL.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Random Play: Even Better than the Real Thing?,

    "The sole piece of good news for you in this is that I only appear in 2D"

    Like U2's music, then.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Random Play: Flight into escapism,

    my grovelling will be bottomless...

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    word

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Speaker: The Audacity of Hype: John Key…,

    I wish we could have a Government that encourages and celebrates achievement at all levels, including financial achievement, without taking the majority of this achievement by force to give it to those who feel entitled by right of mere existence. I wish we could have a Government that would understand it is better to take 10% of 1000 than 50% of 100. I wish we could have a Government that could accept that the gap between rich and poor is widening when the real level of income of the poor is staying well ahead of inflation and improves in real terms. I am sick of the politics of envy and equality in squalor. I wish we could celebrate our successes by those willing to take financial risk and distribute a modest portion of it to those that need it so those people are still better off than the inflation adjusted slave wage that keeps them from rebelling now. I wish for a Government that realises one has to break an egg or two to make a cake, has the courage of its convictions, and delivers the result. I also wish that whatever happens, I can hold on to enough of my hard earned self-employed income to provide my employees a great income, give my kids a great start and my wife and I a decent retirement. I do not care who leads this Government. I do not care which party makes it a reality. I simply wish we could ALL have a more prosperous life, even if this means we have to let the risk takers get richer proportionally.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Southerly: Nine Months of Baby Hell,

    Now that he's out of his Rodney Hide phase, Bob has returned to his original good looks

    He's gone for the Paul Henry look I think?

    Our goes for extended bouts of temperatures, but in exchange when things are healthy-like, we get instant putdowns without a peep.

    I know. How did we get that lucky?

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: New on the Street,

    Worryingly, Telecom's executives still seem to believe that demand is low because most people find dial-up for email enough so don't demand or have a need for anything more. Paul Reynolds stated as much at the Local Govt Broadband Forum in Wellington last month. This is a bit of a mantra in the organisation and makes me question just how committed they are to pushing the boundaries of a high speed rollout as compared to just paying lip service

    Or...

    ...they darn well know the truth, but the dialup customer represents one of two markets: 1) the financially destitute, 2) the geographically remote.

    Neither are profitable for Telecom.

    So it suits them to tell non-Telecom people those customers are happy with dial-up.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Speaker: A few fun Facebook facts,

    us = it (why can't we edit while the cookie is till active eh Cactus Lab?)

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Speaker: A few fun Facebook facts,

    New Zealand has three hundred and seventy thousand members

    Maybe so. But if some of them are like me, they joined because they got invited and didn't want to hurt the inviter's feelings. After a brief flurry of activity, us has stopped.

    If I was a Facebook shareholder, I'd take the money NOW, before it is realised that even 35 million pairs of eyeballs on a social networking site only generates this much revenue long term.

    Not to mention the fickleness of the user base. Remember when Yahoo! was the "it" thing? And then Hotmail? And then MySpace? and then Facebook?

    The trick is to be there 10 years from now.

    As I said - SELL SELL SELL

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Leaving the bunker,

    "[Corporate blogging] Rule One: Don't be a doofus"

    Rule Two: A blog is not a string of press releases.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

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