Hard News: Meaning well with the money of others
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What's really starting to piss me off are as the Hubbard supporters who say he can't have done anything wrong because of his "long history of philanthropy". As I tweeted yesterday -- bone up on the Medicis sometime. They may have been (debatably) the greatest art patrons in European history but they were also cold-blooded mercenary bastards.
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The pressure on all concerned is enormous, and I think Bill English did a good and appropriate job of saying nothing until he has something concrete to say.
I know this is going to cause PAS-rage, but I've heard Matthew Hooten say something absolutely right on Nat Radio. Politically, this is a "damned if you do, damned if you don't, damned no matter what do you" deal for the Government.
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I know this is going to cause PAS-rage, but I've heard Matthew Hooten say something absolutely right on Nat Radio. Politically, this is a "damned if you do, damned if you don't, damned no matter what do you" deal for the Government.
No rage here. I'd hate to be making that decision.
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Can we sell Timaru to the Chinese to get our billion dollars back?
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3410,
What's really starting to piss me off are as the Hubbard supporters who say he can't have done anything wrong because of his "long history of philanthropy".
For me, it's them all saying that he's "done nothing deliberately wrong", as though any negligence would be entirely acceptable.
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Can we sell Timaru to the Chinese to get our billion dollars back?
I was really trying to avoid the Timaru jokes -- but the current Air NZ inflight mag has a story by Paul Little about the unknown delights of the city that is ... underwhelming.
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I've heard Matthew Hooten say something absolutely right on Nat Radio.
... and indulged in a bit of teacher-bashing along the way.
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Can we sell Timaru to the Chinese to get our billion dollars back?
Not even close. That's like trying to pay off your mortgage with a lettuce.
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The regulation surrounding capital markets is so lax that this “thing” happens again and again and again ad infinitum.
The NZ domestic economy is suffering as a result – all the savings that disappear represent the loss of present and future spending in the domestic economy and an increased burden on welfare/the taxpayers.
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How many MP's have something at stake here financially through the huge investments in SCF from Pyne Gould Corporation, George Kerr etc?
Paying $1,500,000,000 to a load of South Island farmers and retirees really doesn't seem fair. The average farm price is $3.8 million. The average house price is five times what most younger kiwis can afford etc. Let them swing. The government guarantee scheme is ripping off an indebted younger generation for $6.9 billion on behalf of a wealthy one. That's while they borrow a billion a month from overseas to prop up the property-value driven economy anyway.
In Italy commentators say that 42% of the population are tax evaders and they keep voting berlusconi in because he turns a blind eye to it and legislates so tax evaders get off free. Here the government that is most able to prop up house values and reduce mortgage rates is voted in by most kiwis. The baby boomers are ripping us off. And now they are taking "reverse mortgages" as well to ensure that there is nothing left when they die. ban overseas land sales before we become a tenant nation. -
Ahh the old 'lettuce for a mortgage' ploy ...
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My Spidey senses tell me that something stinks. When I hear the term "Dairy Farming" and "Canterbury" in the same sentence coming out of the mouth of our MP for Cuthullul-Southland my mind turns to Water, well, not literally but...
The debacle , Enviro-Canterbury, which includes Gerry Brownlee's electorate, Illam, sorry that should be Illam seems to be the something that this do nothing Government is doing. Well apart from what Paula (Work will set you free) Bennet is doing to beneficiaries, which, I might add, is similar to what Jenny Shipley did to bail out the BNZ back in '95.
So, when Blinglish decides what he is going to do about SCF I wonder how much of our "Hard Earned Money"™ will disappear with those failed Dairy Farmers?. -
In Italy commentators say that 42% of the population are tax evaders
So everybody is not either unemployed or a wage and salary earner? Thank you for the vote of confidence there, commentators.
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So, when Blinglish decides what he is going to do about SCF I wonder how much of our "Hard Earned Money"™ will disappear with those failed Dairy Farmers?
How frightfully right-wing of you, Steven. Unacceptable degree of moral hazzard and let the market red in tooth and claw take its course? Would you include folks like our host's mother in that general anathema?
And one could be ever so slightly waspish and counter that Mainlanders paid a hell of a price for the pirates of Dorkland and Wellywood, but I'm not sure how useful that is.
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Would you include folks like our host's mother in that general anathema?
I am unaware of Russell's Mum being a speculative Diary Farmer, that label is, deservedly, hanging around the necks of the Crafers and their ilk.
I am still shuddering at the shock of being described as "Frightfully Right Wing" by your good self -
This isn't simply, as the Air New Zealand bailout was, a matter of rescuing a trading airline business
There was also something about preserving national landing rights, as I recall.
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In Italy commentators say that 42% of the population are tax evaders
So everybody is not either unemployed or a wage and salary earner? Thank you for the vote of confidence there, commentators.
It is possible - I'd go so far as to suggest the norm - for tax evaders to pay tax. They tend to get in trouble with the 'how much?'.
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I insist: if you subtract wage and salary earners - who can't cheat - and the unemployed - who don't earn - I doubt it would amount to 42% and they'd all have to be evaders, which seems a little harsh.
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...and someone will head south,
till this whole thing cools off......sorry that should be Illam ...
Brownlee's motto - Iran for Ilam...
...and its mine, mine, mine!in Canterbury before deforestation
and dairying took over
it used to be I lamb...
...therefore I amand I can see why Blinglish would be grateful
his electorate became Clutha-Sthland, otherwise
he and it would have been known as
Wallace and Grommet -
I insist: if you subtract wage and salary earners - who can't cheat...
And there's your problem. I won't claim an intimate knowledge of the Italian tax code, but most allow for deductions and write-offs and things like that.
In New Zealand, charitable donations are tax deductible. A wage-earner who claims a tax deduction for making a charitable donation which was not actually made is cheating, this is possible even though they only earn a wage.
In a country with a more complex tax code, the possibilities are vastly greater.
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The painful thing about all this is that the hardcore believers will always cling to the "There wouldn't have been a problem if the government hadn't gotten involved and spooked everybody" argument. It's impossible to disprove that statement to their satisfaction because they're so convinced money just appears out of nowhere if government regulation isn't involved.
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in Canterbury before deforestation
and dairying took over
it used to be I lamb...
...therefore I amPerhaps the view from Timaru is of Hubbard as a maligned saviour, carting our sins away in the unassuming managerial VW Beetle while delivering us from the cursed blood of the lamb with the gift of intensive dairying:
What's the greatest enemy of Christianity to-day? Frozen meat. In the past only members of the upper classes were thoroughly sceptical, despairing, negative. Why? Among other reasons, because they were the only people who could afford to eat too much meat. Now there's cheap Canterbury lamb and Argentine chilled beef. Even the poor can afford to poison themselves into complete scepticism and despair.
Aldous Huxley, Eyeless in Gaza, 1936. -
...and someone will head south,
till this whole thing cools off...$600 million isn't exactly Small Change.
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A wage-earner who claims a tax deduction for making a charitable donation which was not actually made
And just how would that be done Graeme? I mean NZ is not exactly flooded with FakeReceipt 1.0 software, is it?
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Hang on a minute:
MP for Cthulhu-Southland
That's just awesome.
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