Cracker by Damian Christie

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Cracker: On the trail, pt 1.

138 Responses

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  • BenWilson, in reply to Islander,

    The two times I've had newborns have been the only two times in my life it's been good to suffer from insomnia.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Heh!
    I'm headed off to bed soon with "Local Hero melee' blasting away, knowing all the bubs in the family are OK-
    be it so - or equivalent- for us all - nighty ra-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe, in reply to Islander,

    and I’m bloody thankful that I only teach them fishing & cooking & the occaisional molotov cocktail…

    You sound like te perfect auntie, as long as you talk politics and books too.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe, in reply to BenWilson,

    The two times I’ve had newborns have been the only two times in my life it’s been good to suffer from insomnia.

    Very premature twins (means two-hourly feeds and changes and feeds and changes andandand) gave me a taste for all-night television.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • andin,

    Richie McCaw could pretty much win any electorate.

    Sez as lot about the mind of the electorate and the unfounded adoration given to those who are called leaders on the lounge room equivalent of what passes for a field of battle.
    Or to use a quote from here

    "The theory is that competion draws each individual along, bringing out of him or her the best he or she has to offer. Competition and the resulting fame are thought to be among the great achievements of our rational meritocracy. They promise both self-improvement and participation.

    “The reality is almost the opposite. In a world devoted to measuring the best, most of us aren’t even in the competition. Human dignity being what it is, we eliminate ourselves from the competition in order to avoid giving other people the power to eliminate us. Not only does a society obsessed by competition not draw people out, it actually encourages them to hide what talents they have by convincing them that they are insufficient. The common complaint that we have become spectator societies is the direct result of an overemphasis on competition."

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Or to use a quote from here

    Here?

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • bulbul,

    "But as someone noted somewhere over the past week, when the babyboomers die off, do you think we could have it lowered again please?"

    So the ugly truth come out -- it is simply the young people wanting not to pay now when it is their turn and but standing in line again when it is their time.

    Bashing a particular group for having been born at a particular period in time and done the best they can by living frugally, brought you all up, and saved up some money to supplement their sickly super payments.

    Selfish bastards:

    1. You want baby boomer parents to support you when you keep "boomeranging" back home until you are still "growing up"

    2. You want baby boomer parents to pay off your student loan.

    3. You want baby boomer parents to help you with a deposit to buy "your" first home.

    4. You want the baby boomers to bequeath you their house when they die (rather than get married to some ditzy blonde younger than you and squirt it all away )

    And you want them to do all this while living on "tea and milk biscuits" because you do not like paying for their measly superannuation ?

    And you want it re-instated back when they die ?

    Sod off the lot of you. You think young people going to Aussie is a big problem ! Wait the the boomers decide to take their money elsewhere to spend.

    I am going to a country where I get treated with more respect and ---- SKI baby SKI.

    Since Nov 2011 • 6 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    I am going to a country where I get treated with more respect and ---- SKI baby SKI.

    Okay. Bye!

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • andin, in reply to 3410,

    Here?

    Thanks, I kinda hoping people will stop by Dyan's writing on the way.

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • andin, in reply to bulbul,

    So the ugly truth come out – it is simply the young people wanting not to pay now when it is their turn and but standing in line again when it is their time.

    Bashing a particular group for having been born at a particular period in time and done the best they can by living frugally, brought you all up, and saved up some money to supplement their sickly super payments.

    Your reducing a contemporary difficult situation to a personal point of view and passing by a bit of recent history, like some current politicians. Not a good look.

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Prediction #2: Correct.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to bulbul,

    Bashing a particular group for having been born at a particular period in time and done the best they can by living frugally, brought you all up, and saved up some money to supplement their sickly super payments.

    Selfish bastards:

    1. You want baby boomer parents to support you when you keep “boomeranging” back home until you are still “growing up”

    I suspect young New Zealanders are thinking of it more in terms of record youth unemployment.

    2. You want baby boomer parents to pay off your student loan.

    I haven’t heard that one. But it might be useful for you to appreciate that their parents’ generation didn’t start their adult lives tens of thousands of dollars in debt. And that, indeed, they were mostly paid to attend university.

    3. You want baby boomer parents to help you with a deposit to buy “your” first home.

    Well, maybe. Again, it’s useful to appreciate that many of those parents were helped towards a deposit by the state. And that the price of their first house was not the nasty income multiple that faces young people these days, thanks to huge untaxed capital gains reaped by their parents..

    4. You want the baby boomers to bequeath you their house when they die (rather than get married to some ditzy blonde younger than you and squirt it all away )

    Everyone has the right to a mid-life crisis. It seems a bit odd to envisage it as a sort of warfare on one’s children, but each to his own.

    I am going to a country where I get treated with more respect and —- SKI baby SKI.

    Oh, damn. I get it now. You’re a parody!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • andin, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Oh, damn. I get it now. You’re a parody!

    Bugger! me and my seriousness

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • Greg Dawson, in reply to bulbul,

    So the ugly truth come out – ...rant rant rant foam flail wildly...

    To put this in terms alcoholic New Zealanders understand - you're proposing that you should be able to sit down in a pub and drink the top shelf dry, then swan off and leave the tab for whoever is unfortunate enough to sit at the table next (who might even have liked a sazerac if there'd been any rye left).

    Nice.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 294 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to bulbul,

    And you want them to do all this while living on “tea and milk biscuits” because you do not like paying for their measly superannuation ?

    Um… hi there, bulbul. I don’t think we’re acquainted but my partner of sixteen years is 66, still working and I’ve abso-fraking-loutely no problem with a portion of my taxes going to paying superannuation. We really like a nice round wine with our cup of tea of an evening.

    I do have problems with this policy that I’ve laid out at some length elsewhere. Is the only way to sustainably fund super screwing over the young, Maori and Pasifika (who statistically have lower life expectancies than Pakeha) and the working poor by moving the goal posts further away? (I’m also singularly unconvinced that Messers Brash, Key and Goff need to receive a pension at all but that’s a whole other kete of kai moana.)

    To put it mildly, I’m not in the mainstream of PAS opinion on this subject (and many others) but nobody else has accused me of being a gerontophobe. Bacause, really, I’m not aroused by the thought of old people eating cat food while hunched over a one-bar heater. Hell, I’m literally sleeping with the enemy.

    ETA: Oh, crap. Did I get punked again?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    Yeah Jesus, where did @bulbul sprout from?

    Pretty much what Russ said. My $50k student loan and house deposit have never had a sniff of my babyboomer parents' income. Nor would I expect it, and I hope and pray that they live long enough that any inheritance is of more benefit to my grandkids than me.

    I was being somewhat facetious with the request to drop super to 60 once the babyboomers have come and gone, but the point that seems to have flown over @bulbul's head is that when the superannuation age reaches 67 under Labour's plan, in 2033, it's not the babyboomers it affects, it's - you guessed it - my generation.

    So, with respect, having had your free education, your government support to get you into an under-inflated house, and your superannuation at 65 regardless of means... STFU.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    I'm... actually with Craig on this issue. (WTF? :) ) It would be nice to address life expectancy inequalities before we start faffing about with the retirement age.

    On the other hand:

    a nice round wine

    What sort of madness is that? Super Wine forever!

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Damian Christie,

    baby is DUE on Wednesday, but when s/he decides to turn up is anyone’s guess

    And oh yeah: first babies average eight days overdue, I read somewhere? (That was such a helpful statistic for those two Pixies shows in 2010...)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    I would like to see a means-tested superannuation, just like every other benefit. I don't think that's unreasonable, even if everyone else does.

    @Danielle - if first babies average eight days overdue, why don't they just make the due date eight days later. Never understood that!

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • merc, in reply to Damian Christie,

    This highlights the fact that we never get to make these types of call, babies or means testing ;-)

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report Reply

  • James Butler,

    I'm torn about this. The arguments against means testing which prompted my parents to protest 20-odd years ago - that it would hit those who had spent their lives paying for the welfare state - ring a bit hollow now. But I would still rather we had a state which could pay for pensions in the first place.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Damian Christie,

    Other questions: why does the pregnancy officially start before you even knocked boots?; why do people always say nine months when it's really closer to ten?; why do other parental people feel compelled to gather around you and direly warn you of things like a lot of horrible vultures?; etcetera.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • James Butler,

    Last post should have been a reply to Damian. And I can't edit it either. Cuse you, iOS.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report Reply

  • merc,

    Aren't student living allowances means tested? And who knew it's NOT about the economy?
    http://www.3news.co.nz/Natural-environment-number-one-election-issue-for-voters/tabid/419/articleID/231299/Default.aspx

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Danielle,

    why do other parental people feel compelled to gather around you and direly warn you of things like a lot of horrible vultures?; etcetera.

    Oy… I know too many women who would have found pregnancy a much more pleasant experience if they weren’t surrounded by people hanging out for a re-enactment of that scene from Alien.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

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