Posts by bmk
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Hard News: Things worth knowing, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Ryall could have but he's gone,
I have to say this surprised me. I'm not a fan of National but I would say he's easily been the most effective minister throughout their two terms. Others get more publicity but that's been his success that he hasn't. I can't remember a previous six-year period where health has been out of the news and that's despite very constrained budgets.
In that sense though he's getting out at the best time. The health budget has been cut as far as it can and there's really nothing left there and unless it's funded better soon it will really start showing back up in the news.
And again I hate having to praise National but I know several people in the health sector and they said that while Labour had the best intentions they didn't do health properly and a lot of money was being wasted and National re-focused attention on priorities which is how they have got away with six years of restricting the growth of health spending without crises.
I'm hoping when Labour get in they increase health spending like they did last time but this time make better use of their spending.
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Hard News: Spring Timing, in reply to Matthew Poole,
But what's good for the business is not necessarily what's good for the owner in the short- to medium-term. Investing in staff is good for the business. A new boat for the owner is probably not good for the business in any term.
Exactly. I've noticed small businesses resent paying breaks and professional development while large companies support both. The reason is that large companies know it's in their best interest whereas the small business only sees the cost and not the return.
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Hard News: Spring Timing, in reply to Deborah,
If KiwiSaver was compulsory for all employees, then this problem would disappear.
True. I do think it needs an all or nothing approach. Compulsory Kiwisaver with a corresponding cut in income tax (and waive of future claims on Super) or else simply drop Kiwisaver all together and use the money currently going in government contributions to go into the Superannuation Fund to prepare for future payments of Super.
The current voluntary system is just a weird mess.
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Hard News: Spring Timing, in reply to Matthew Poole,
Their information is incorrect. You can always use your KS for a first-house deposit, up to a cap of not being allowed to take out the government's contributions.
That's good to know - they must have misunderstood.
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Hard News: Spring Timing, in reply to ,
If you ever get interested in CNC software flick me an email. We like to collaborate.
That's really amazing because you know what got me interested in IT was working at a factory operating a CNC machine. I had to learn how to program it and from there I got interested in programming and IT in general. Funny how circular things can be :)
And will definitely get in touch sometime.
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Hard News: Spring Timing, in reply to BenWilson,
That maths only works short term. It’s ignoring that the contributions are not lost, they’re invested.
That's true. But Kiwisaver was sold as you put in half, the employer puts in half and the government a bit extra. In reality it's you put in half, your employer puts in half (which he then takes back by paying you less than your co-workers who aren't enrolled) and the government a bit extra. It was misleadingly marketed to people. And it totally changes the dynamics of it. I mentioned the friend who was disillusioned by it resulting in him being paid less than a co-worker. Another couple I know are just as furious with it because they'd joined assuming they'd be able to use it as deposit on first-house (which again was how it was marketed) only to be told their income is too high.
Because you can still save yourself but then you get much greater freedom than when in Kiwisaver - so the question with Kiwisaver is really if the government top-ups are worth the corresponding loss of freedom. For many people (probably even most) this is the case. But I still think compulsory Kiwisaver in it's present form is a bad idea. I think they need to completely re-think what they were doing there. Ever do a proper reform or leave it as it is.
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Hard News: Spring Timing, in reply to Stephen Judd,
Thanks for that info. I work for a tertiary library and we certainly aren't committed to consortia for anything other than a couple of databases. However, exactly as you mentioned we are locked into a licensing term for our the proprietary system we use. By and large the system we use is good but since budgets are always tight when our licence period comes to a close I'll certainly remember Koha and something I might have a play with out of interest too.
It looks a very cool product.
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Hard News: Spring Timing, in reply to Stephen Judd,
Is that your work? I know I've briefly looked at it before but at the time was so snowed under that never really got back to it.
Just having another look at it now. Is it primarily used by schools, tertiary institutes or public libraries?
[Edited to say what I was meaning :) ]
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Hard News: Spring Timing, in reply to Stephen Judd,
That's great to hear that you are doing that and you are to be congratulated for it.
And I like to hear that about the experience and technical skills being the thing you can fix as I have good social and personal skills but lacked the technical experience. Having two solid years in a IT related-role will help (I ended up working as an IT librarian which has actually given me a far wider range of IT skills than my previous desktop support/helpdesk job ever did) will hopefully have helped but up here there are just so few opportunities. But it's nice to know there are places doing what you are doing in the bigger cities if my family ever does end up moving.
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Hard News: Spring Timing, in reply to Kumara Republic,
On that point, how many of these small businesses started out as large ones?
Very few, I imagine. NZ has long prided itself on its small business culture. But I actually see that as a negative. I think of countries like Germany where they have large companies; but those companies treat their employees far better than businesses do here.