Posts by Gareth Ward
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Rich - brilliant. LOL
Geoff - I believe that AgResearch was quarantining exactly those animals for the people in Clevedon. Could be wrong
Mark - will be for sale at the Clevedon Farmers Market in a month or so. It certainly had that fibrousity (??) to it - I had some better in Italy but not many...
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New Zealand and Australian mozzarella is made from cow's milk and is not the same thing at all.
Except for one crowd out of Clevedon who have got a herd of buffalo and producing our first ever mozzarella di bufala. And it's taaaaaaaasty...
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the one they really want to keep an eye on is nutmeg.
Ahhhh nutmeg - the one that needs absolute-shit-loads to get you high and absolute-shit-loads-plus-just-a-tiny-bit-more to kill you. Perhaps it's the danger adrenaline that does it?
As for le economie - my personal feeling is that we are going to be "taking off the froth", i.e. all that pretty-much-false wealth that was being created through finance companies and property will be hit hard but the strong underlying position of the economy means we will still have homes (rented or owned), food and the odd night at the pub. That new TV that would have been bought with (or at least justified by) that false-wealth might go on hold but the heart of the economy will hold up... -
Whatever you get, you'll have to fiddlewith the picture setting and turn down the garish colours. These sets are all tweaked to look good in the showroom, which isn't the same as looking good in your lounge.
I firmly recommend getting your hands on one of the calibration DVDs used to do this - makes an extraordinary difference...
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Because your average punter looking for an EFTPOS card and somewhere to bank their wages is fully able to understand bank disclosure statements and judge the relative level of risk. I mean, we all know what Tier I capital requirements are, don't we?
Well there is a point in between - generally the RB here is aiming for a highly transparent banking system rather than messing with the risk profiles that come when depositor insurance is introduced. And I can understand that to a certain degree, but yes if a bank were to fail then we would be instantly looking to a Reserve Bank bailout - note that this is all depositor insurance is in the end, so perhaps they simply internally agree that they would ensure partial liquidity in a bank collapse but don't want to state it to avoid moral hazard.
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All but two OECD nations have deposit insurance for ordinary retail customers. NZ and Australia don't.
Yes, I was meaning more that I hope the NZ Govt wouldn't act differently in the event of bank runs etc based on whether or not they own the bank.
But on your point, the arguments around deposit insurance are interesting ones - all that moral hazard stuff really...
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it is almost unimaginable that the NZ government would let a bank it owns fail. (Yes, I know it's not explicitly backed by full faith and credit, but in effect it is).
While it's *likely* that if ANZ/National for instance were to get into trouble, the Australian government (possibly with NZ help) would bail them out, it's vaguely possible that they wouldn't.
I fear you are correct but good lord I wish the security of our financial systems was a little less nepotistic than that!
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How about Kiwibank promote itself on the basis that it offers better services and lower fees?
Indeed, surely we'd prefer a NZ owned back that was actually better at what it does...
But I should note I actually don't have any problem with Kiwisaver promoting it's NZ ownership - it's as valid a marketing exercise as any other and ceteris paribus is something that would influence my decision. But it can be done without overstepping the "thieving foreigners" line - like it originally was. Someone clever in the marketing department was clearly watching the AIA takeovers and decided to play that angle though...
And Craig, perhaps The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies is being held in Kiwibank's vaults? -
This kind of mindless nationalism -- and offensively trite allusions to people who, in some cases, risked their lives to protect Kiwi servicemen -- is not the kind of message I like SOEs putting out there.
I agree that the campaign has gone too far now - there was always a tinge but it seemed to be in a cheeky, Trans-Tasman humour kind of way.
But also, I do NOT want SOEs used as political messengers in anyway and they should be left to market devices (with that market appropriately controlled) - the campaign is risible regardless of ownership.
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New Zealand companies are already involved in sending their knowledge offshore.
That's a bold statement.
NZ companies (Fonterra, Wrightsons - being NZ Farming Uruguay) etc are setting up companies offshore to use the knowledge they have generated here in companies offshore but aren't "sending" it offshore. They are very strict on keeping the ownership of the IP and see that as their only ongoing profit generator. And it's a long overdue, excellent idea...