The Dom Post has a story this morning in which commentators marvel over the size of yesterday's OCR cut — and predict another of the same size next year in response to the crazy business unfolding on foreign shores.

Still, nice to see the media finally getting their heads around?

Still, nice to see the media finally getting their heads around the notion that not all of us have mortgages — and for some (like my late grandmother) low interest rates are actually a damn bad thing.

Quite. My mum depends on investment income. And she and others like her?

Getting a Flymo for the win!

OTOH, as a homeowner who will actually have to borrow money to extend the house soon, I'm starting to feel guilty about the windfall ...

Me too. And I'm now wondering why I bothered growing tomatoes this year.

And I'm now wondering why I bothered growing tomatoes this year.

You too? And all the bamboo stakes are breaking so I'll have to cut more before I transplant them into the big planter... sigh. The horrors of sustainable living.

And you really cannot miss this.

Still not as scary as Richie Benaud in HD. Nothing may ever be.

I think a video game where the participants run amok in a shopping mall stealing household implements and using them to kill rivals would be lots of fun.

Every year, I?

Unemployment claims have fallen for 2 weeks and retail shopping is strong, not indicative of a headlong plunge into a deep recession.

http://www.ftportfolios.com/Commentary/EconomicResearch/2008/12/4/velocity_watch

All they need to do now is stop the bailout and stimulus circus.

My mother is in the same boat – and, come our retirement, all our Kiwisaver income that we'll all be living off will behave the same way whenever there's a downturn – it's the way of?

You too? And all the bamboo stakes are breaking so I'll have to cut more before I transplant them into the big planter... sigh. The horrors of sustainable living.

Wow, you grow your own bamboo stakes! I'm impressed. And thinking some one-upmanship might be in order... ideas welcome.

Maybe I'll?

And I'm now wondering why I bothered growing tomatoes this year.

The flavour of freshly picked tomatoes tends to be better than that of those bought from shops plus you get your choice of a much wider range. This year I'm growing beefsteaks roma, sweet 100s, and another I can't?

The flavour of freshly picked tomatoes tends to be better than that of those bought from shops plus you get your choice of a much wider range.

Yeah, you're right. I've got them growing in black 25 litre PVC bags against a fence in full sun – some of them?

That's what some might say will be the saviour, but fortunately not all. There is currently cash sitting in bank?

Talk about bad timing, Trev...

One hopes that the claimants are charged, and sued, for their part in the unlawful death. After all, they're making statutory declarations that they took part?

Side Show Bob has thrown his toys down in Christchurch. CCC is the second largest assisted housing provider after Housing NZ.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4780227a6009.html

Just to recap?

we need to tax long term capital gains less than short term ones (like flipping a house for the profit)

The provision for taxing capital gains on property that has increased in value due to a zoning change has a 10%-per-year abatement (sDB28 Income Tax Act 2007), allowing that after?

They're calling it Shopocaplypse

Russell, I don't mean to be picky (yes I do!). I looked at that word Shopocaplypse for a long time and couldn't get my plypse around it.

Also I can get HD after following your instructions – but all I get is one HD picture and?

About 10 years ago I worked at the casino in Auckland while I was studying (I worked grave – midnight til 8 – and went to uni after I'd finished).?

As a saver (I'll ignore my student loan. Everyone else ignores theirs!), this cut is yet more shitty news for me.

Seconded. I was really enjoying my 8.2% interest rate, thank you very much. At least on the gardening front I won on broccoli (harvested and eaten while it was?

At least on the gardening front I won on broccoli (harvested and eaten while it was still $3+/head in shops. Score.)

Very good score Lucy, I find growing broccoli does wonders for feeding the local aphids and white butterflies.

Dude, there's this thing called 'the ground' y'know?

Potatoes like something?

what you want to do is encourage long term investment – in particular?

¿When the OCR gets cut by 1.5%, how come the banks only drop their rates by 0.5% or 0.75% ? (Yes, I'm economically under-literate.)

suddenly 7.95% doesn't look like a decent rate.

That rate included the expectation that rates were going to fall. That's one reason why it was cheaper than a floating mortgage.

Your house isn't costing you any more than it did on Wednesday. You just aren't getting it as cheaply as?

In my experience they crash very soon after the sun comes out.

Which irritatingly coincides with growing season. It's just. not. fair.

¿When the OCR gets cut by 1.5%, how come the banks only drop their rates by 0.5% or 0.75% ?

The banks will claim they had already lowered their rate in anticipation of the coming drop...

Whether there's any truth in it, I couldn't say?

When the OCR gets cut by 1.5%, how come the banks only drop their rates by 0.5% or 0.75% ? (Yes, I'm economically under-literate.)

At least in part it's because they mostly have to get their funds from offshore, since there's far too little cash sloshing around within NZ bank?

what you want to do is encourage long term investment – in particular investment in things that create real real wealth

Completely agree. It's this that makes me so stridently against people being able to own 10, 20, 30 rental properties. That's not growing the economy. It's not contributing to?

What they don't do is have the multiplying effect that benefits everyone – I invent?

Completely agree. It's this that makes me so stridently against people being able to own 10, 20, 30 rental properties. That's not growing the economy. It's not contributing to the means of production. It's just depriving real wealth-makers of possible funds by tying the money up in unproductive assets.

Second?

David Kirk resigns! 68% loss of stock value in a year.

That Trade Me guy must be ROFL

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/27/macys-parade-rickrolled-r_n_146896.html

The flavour of freshly picked tomatoes tends to be better than that of those bought from shops

And that goes double for strawberries.

It wouldn't be far fetched to see credit cards going subprime, the main difference is we'd be seeing repo men instead of foreclosure signs...

Totally unsolicited, the National Bank sent us a pre-approved form for a shiny new pair of Visa Platinum cards (motto: "the world is your concierge"). The?

And that goes double for strawberries.

The birds feasting on my strawberry patch just as they turn ripe are evidence of this.

this amounts to a SPECTACULAR lowering of the standards for platinum status

Brilliant. For too long my household has been hamstrung by its lowly gold status (which they practically give free to infants, dogs and serial bankrupts, right?) – finally we can aspire to doors being opened for us at?

...that this amounts to a SPECTACULAR lowering of the standards for platinum status.

Gold cards were once the 'status' cards. Now Gold cards are perceived to have little to no prestige value anymore, and Platinum cards are the new Gold cards. So you're Golden, Giovanni.

pre-approved form for a shiny?

I should add, given you're probably not familiar with the financial situation of my household, that this amounts to a SPECTACULAR lowering of the standards for platinum status.

Hey, I got an ANZ Qantas Platinum card a couple of years ago. While a full-time student. With no job. The delicious?

which they practically give free to infants, dogs and serial bankrupts, right?

Don't be silly!

They would not give them away free.

Still not as scary as Richie Benaud in HD. Nothing may ever be.

Back in September I was having a beer at the Admiral Nelson pub (I highly recommend their inhouse beers), in The Rocks, Sydney, when, lo, and indeed, behold, the mighty man himself walked.
The greatness of the?

So you're Golden, Giovanni.

I've been waiting so long to hear you say that...

Hey, I got an ANZ Qantas Platinum card a couple of years ago. While a full-time student. With no job. The delicious irony was that I'd applied for the predecessor Gold card when I did have a job, and got declined. Twice.

Ah, but with a job, you'd probably be?

The birds feasting on my strawberry patch just as they turn ripe are evidence of this.

A bit over a year ago during drought time I was ranting to all who would listen and some who wouldn't about bloody rabbits eating my tomatoes. I kept finding them half chewed out.?

Every few months westpac offers us a gold visa, I check out the fees and discover that we would have to pay double the fees for gold and I really can't work out what we'd get in return.

For us it's the free travel insurance. I go back to Italy?

The Macys parade in NYC got Rick Rolled by the real Rick Astley

!!! That's brilliant...

Re prioritising long-term investment, there are some real downsides there in terms of flexibility of the investment economy etc. What we need to do is remove existing unecessary distortions in tax around property etc.?

Ah, but with a job, you'd probably be paying off the balance in full every month or something devious like that, which the card companies won't stand for. As a student, you're much more likely to accrue lots of lovely interest.

I got offered it because, although a student, I?

The flavour of freshly picked tomatoes tends to be better than that of those bought from shops

And that goes double for strawberries.

And for blueberries – though I can't vouch for them personally. They grew in beautifully last year and the local tuis and blackbirds seemed to enjoy them?

* Admitedly a small house in Cockerell street

And thus, Google Street View becomes an indispensable storytelling tool ...

Lowering interest rates will have the same effect as a dose of smack would have to someone who's already overdosing on the stuff.

Isn't it more like getting the overdosing smack addict to do multiple lines of coke to wake him up — and then finding yourself with a dude?

always go MasterCard

Do explain..

Hilariously, I was at the post office that day because I was there to open a Kiwibank account,?

The birds feasting on my strawberry patch just as they turn ripe are evidence of this.

Clearly, you need some cats to keep the birds under control (and as a bonus, they don't like strawberries).

Using credit we could not afford, the world engaged in levels of consumption it now can't sustain......and the answer is MORE credit we (still) can't afford?

Meanwhile, savers are seeing their returns evarporate as the debt addicts driving the central?

Isn't it more like getting the overdosing smack addict to do multiple lines of coke to wake him up — and then finding yourself with a dude with cocaine psychosis?

Will certainly end up homeless.

And for blueberries – though I can't vouch for them personally. They grew in beautifully last year and the local tuis and blackbirds seemed to enjoy them a lot.

As did my Jack Russell Alice, who used to (may she rest in peace) delicately prize each ripe berry off with?

OTOH, as a homeowner who will actually have to borrow money to extend the house soon, I'm starting to feel guilty about the windfall ...

Nah... get over it, because I don't grudge you and Fi whatever break you get. But one meta-bitch I've had about reporting of the economy?

Sure you can, Matthew. Just tell your brother it's a learning experience, and he should be thankful you don't wound or mutilate defaulters. :)

But where's the fun in that?

Niall Ferguson's Vanity Fair story on the history of the credit explosion is a top read.

Russ, he has a series called The History of Money on Channel 4 here in the UK at the moment. It is very good and he is good. He makes the bond market look?

Grab it if you find it um, lying around in cyberspace or DVD.

If TVNZ runs true to form, they've already acquired the rights — will sit on it for a couple of years, and then drop-kick it to air at 11pm on Sundays or Saturday afternoon with zero publicity.?

I got my first CSA share of the winter yesterday.

What a lovely concept, good for you. I love the German name for it – Landwirtschaftsgemeinschaftshof. Rolls off the tongue and onto the floor.

Niall Ferguson's Vanity Fair story on the history of the credit explosion is a top read.

Russ, he has a series called The History of Money on Channel 4 here in the UK at the moment. It is very good and he is good. He makes the bond market look?

Side Show Bob has thrown his toys down in Christchurch.

Shep.
That was enough for me to contact your council .A landlord knows their responsibilities. All happy to .have their flower show, stuff the residents eh. Sounds like bully tactics to me.

nice to see the media finally getting their heads around the notion that not all of us have mortgages — and for some (like my late grandmother) low interest rates are actually a damn bad thing.

Because it reduces the annual rate of return on her grave plot? I am?

Ben: True enough, as far as it goes. But it's rather cold comfort when you've seen the margin that pays for some modest comforts vanish.

It would be colder comfort if you'd actually lost capital too, like everyone else. It's not savers I'm worried about at the moment, they are?

It's the people who have lost their shirts that are the problem.

I agree. If you're retired and rely on high return on fixed interest, it means you own your house and have a reasonable nest egg, plus there's always the bedrock of NZ super. And while the headline interests?

Because it reduces the annual rate of return on her grave plot? I am confused. :)

:(

add to that that the NZ$ is diving (by about 30$ wrt the US$) so imported stuff is going to go up by about that much real soon now

True, but look at where petrol is and where food prices are compared to a few months ago, in spite of?

And while the headline interests are plummeting, inflation is retreating too, and that should moderate the loss of real income.

If China slows more than expected and Governments then had to keep slashing interest rates and inflation continued to retreat you would end up with this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidity_trap

I might?

always go MasterCard

Do explain..

In regards to disputes between a cardholder and a merchant, the card issuer can sometimes assist. This assistance is governed by the credit card scheme rules. (It's a very useful aspect of credit cards especially when buying online and even more so when buying?

So you're Golden, Giovanni.

I've been waiting so long to hear you say that...

Maybe I'm channelling the Shins:

Totally unsolicited, the National Bank sent us a pre-approved form for a shiny new pair of Visa Platinum cards (motto: "the world is your concierge"). The copy, the font screaming "prestige!"?

:(

Sorry, Craig. That was a bit obnoxious.

Caleb, now is exactly the time for a revision of all the things you lament were not done. I don't see anything about the 'political cycle' that makes it impossible, quite the opposite, it would receive bipartisan support.

I really hope so,?

This week's best thing ever ...

Mr Campbell, I came into the office well over an hour ago to complete a 15 minute task, had a look at PA before I got started. I still haven't got stared.

There goes productivity next week

I know a good builder.... one who cares :)

Heh. I'll vouch / second that nomination. Now, where's the homebrew...?

And that goes double for strawberries.

Oh yes – ours are much smaller than commercially grown ones. But tastier.

And to have a happy little boast – we picked more than 5kg of the sweetest raspberries this weekend. They seem to be growing about a kilo a day.

As did my Jack Russell Alice, who used to (may she rest in peace) delicately prize each ripe berry off with her lips without damaging the plant in any way. The birds didn't get a look in.....

Our labrador will strip the plum & pear trees is we're not looking -?

Our labrador will strip the plum & pear trees is we're not looking – as far as she can reach up on her hind legs (that can't be comfortable, but looks hilarious).

Ah yes, this sounds familiar... it's getting to that time of year when Mum and Dad will need to?

And to have a happy little boast – we picked more than 5kg of the sweetest raspberries this weekend.

I'm off to figure out the access to the Llewellyn mansion on Street View.

I'm off to figure out the access to the Llewellyn mansion on Street View.

SOme previous owner was kind enough to build a birdproof berry house. A tree fell on it earlier this year during a storm, but I patched it up sufficiently (if very unattractively), but I think I'm?

It is pretty telling about our value system that these things happen.

Shopocaplypse is a bit of a moutful isn't it? Shocalypse or shopalypse are a lot easier to say.

What I was trying to say, if ineffectively was that, too. If you're trying to compare it to an apocalypse then shouldn't it be shopocalypse?

What I was trying to say, if ineffectively was that, too.

Effective enough to be memorable – not every day you come across a word like plypse.
BTW verbwrangle was a great nick.

Shocalypse or shopalypse are a lot easier to say.

And that silly Shakespeare – books in running brooks, sermons in stones – shouldn't it be the other way around?

Sorry, Craig. That was a bit obnoxious.

No need to apologise — it was more my "confused" furrowed brow than a high dudgeon frown. :)

Effective enough to be memorable – not every day you come across a word like plypse.
BTW verbwrangle was a great nick.

Why thank you Joe (blush).