Posts by BenWilson
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Re: Testing in schools. Any teacher worth a damn tests the appropriate kids regularly to spot weaknesses in their teaching. It's a basic part of education. But it's just one part, probably the least important part, of the teaching process. The good teachers already know how the tests are going to go anyway.
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Bart
Um guys this is actually one of the few pieces of legislation in this batch that actually has been through "the system". It's stupid because any competent business could hire on probation anyway and providing they wrote a letter at month one and month two they could fire any new employee at month three. So the new law does nothing really that wasn't already available. So this isn't the worst law, just unnecessary given what we already had.
I was thinking just the same thing, because I personally began my own full time employment that way. I wanted to work for a particular company but they could not afford to hire me (so they claimed). So I agreed to work 3 months without pay on probation, just to get an in. I worked pretty damned hard, and was hired at the end of it, and subsequently did quite well out of them.
So the argument that current employment laws make it harder on employers to actually hire people is total bs. It's always possible to negotiate such a deal, if the worker is willing to sign up for it. Most people simply aren't. I don't know anyone else personally who ever did what I did.
I'm definitely not saying the way I started is a model for anyone else - I was simply fortunate in being a good employee for their type of work, and able to wear 3 months without pay. It was bloody hard. But I really wanted to work for this particular firm.
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No, Ben. Just no.
I think I'll wait to see what the wife says. Maybe they think it will just be this once...
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Ozstralian cheese! I 'spose I could support the packers but I'd rather buy some good NZ stuff.
Yeah I wonder how 'Coon' cheese would go down here. It's not like Coonawarra is that hard to say.
Re the Nats playing hardball: If they have been on honeymoon, then is this analogous to the first time they hit their wife? It could just be a little slap, but it sets the tone. Will the wife take it?
Polls could answer the question. They'll certainly hint at exactly how clearly it was conveyed to the electorate that this kind of thing was what they were going to get. Could make for surprising results. Wouldn't want to pick it to be honest, since I couldn't find much to agree with in all the arguments folks put to me about why I should vote National - my intuitions must be sharply awry with a large chunk of NZers. Maybe middle NZ does want tougher workplaces, and more difficult bail conditions. I guess we'll have to see when the first among them gets laid off by the recession and has to undergo a stand-down and a long job probation.
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Kyle, what was actually planned for this ridiculous yacht is an entirely different matter. My only point is that you can feasibly invest in luxury boats as a money making venture. Personally, I wouldn't. It is conceivable that billionaires would find more convenience or cost effectiveness in hiring such a boat for whatever it is billionaires do in their boats. Saves the hassle and wasted time in getting their own luxury liner down here. Pretty risky venture, IMHO, one shareholders definitely should know about.
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Kyle, I can't see any problem at all calling Hertz cars investments. So long as they are taking more money out of the fleet than they are putting in (or at least have a plan to do so) then it's an investment of capital. You'd say the same about any machine that did work in a factory - it's exactly the same thing really. Of course the capital cost of the plant will never be recovered by selling the plant for parts - that is not the idea. The idea is to use the plant to make a return on your investment. Almost every share you buy in the stockmarket is driven by this kind of economics and you call them investments, right? If you buy shares in Hertz, you are buying into a fleet of cars, and the rest of the infrastructure to deliver them to paying customers.
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Joe I think it was Paul that said that. But from my time in Oz I'd say the phrase would probably be 'dead meat'. Which we also use.
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Kyle, that's not true at all. You can make money renting out yachts. Just as Hertz makes plenty of money buying brand new sedan cars as investments.
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Rich, it's really a matter of semantics, but I'd say that losing money can never be done competently. But as we both accept, you can't know beforehand, and that's what risk is all about.
I tend to agree that people who get scammed are never themselves blameless. But financial literacy appears to be something we can never expect from large proportions of the population, and sometimes measures have to be taken to protect those people.
I think of the mother of my (very wealthy) business partner who consulted him early in the year about whether she should take a large position in UDC Finance. He said no way, absolutely not. This was based on:
1. She did not understand the investment at all
2. The subprime problem was biting badly in the US, and every indication in NZ was that property was overvalued.
3. She couldn't afford to lose the moneyShe did it anyway. Not one of those reasons was enough to convince her, even coming from a self-made millionaire who she had every reason to trust the advice of. She simply preferred the story being told by the company.
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James, it really depends how much music you have and what format it's currently in.
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