Island Life: See Waiheke before you die.
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In 1975, my granny said she had decided to vote for the nice Mr Muldoon because he was offering her a very good pension. That worked out very well for her, but not so well for her six great grand-daughters.
Selfish OAPs, always thinking only of themselves.
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Fair point but why should I have to pay through my taxes and my savings for two systems
To be honest there does not seem to be any other way to improve the present system which is great for the present oldies but is crap for the future
Not sure if Cullies plan is going to be that great in 20 years time, the thing is these plans do not and cannot create extra wealth
Looking back at the old Labour plan I wonder what would have really happened to the money diverted to it from our pockets..........ideas please on plain piece of paper -
Random election speculation: has Winston sealed the grey vote with the SuperGold Card, or will his performance actually suffer as elderly people get out in the fresh air and realise that teh minoriteez aren't actually eating our body politic alive?
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Was going to pop over to Waiheke this morning using my Gold Card, but um hard to access from Blenheim.
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Was going to pop over to Waiheke this morning using my Gold Card, but um hard to access from Blenheim.
Well so long as you leave after 9 & get there before... ?? You should be OK.
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I want a HyperSuperGold Card, which will entitle me to free cake, wherever I go. If Winston can promise that, he gets my vote.
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But that nice Mr Key thinks it would be a good idea to dial back the amount people will have deducted from their wages.
National are opening up lower band option for KiwiSaver, makes it a affordable to a larger number of people. More people saving the better it is, longterm or shortterm.
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Well so long as you leave after 9 & get there before... ?? You should be OK.
Last ferry to the Island is 11.45pm. Great service. And cheap (not that some of the residents think so - but they can't seem to grasp that we don't pay for our tickets in US$...)
Personally I hate the Gold Card thing (my ferry is full of sodding Zimmer frames now, takes forever to get to the bar :p), but economically it makes great sense.
Public transport has to be regular and networked to be useful. I need to know I can get home at mid-day if I need to, not just during commuter hours.
But it's not busy during the day, so effectively there is "rent free" capacity. This is why public transport needs subsidies.
So why not "rent" that empty space during the day with the subsidies you are handing over anyway? That way we stimulate the economy, effectively for free.
So I think you'll find that the scheme has cost bugger all, but now we have gained more benefit... I know the small businesses on the Island have seen quite an uplift, and the bus drivers actually have someone to talk to...
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I want a HyperSuperGold Card, which will entitle me to free cake, wherever I go. If Winston can promise that, he gets my vote.
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Sorry, posted twice, by accident. I am getting doddery just thinking about pensioner benefits.
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And on pensions:
1. We're not paying twice. Our current payments pay for current retirees. Everything else is for the future (it's called savings...)
2. And thank god someone was saving. The only reason we're not in the same boat as Iceland is that Cullen realised we were stupid (like all humans) and did it for us.
For evidence: look at private sector offshore debt. About 40% of high-street bank borrowing is off shore, and the bulk of that on 90 day roll-over. It means cheap credit on the day, but means that (when the NZ$ drops) you are servicing a massive bill.
To put it in perspective, our Public sector debt is around 20% of GDP. As private citizens (mainly to feed house prices that have no productive value) we have borrowed about 30% of GDP off-shore. The RBNZ are trying to tackle this now by the look of it
Thankfully the USA & UK are in even worse positions, so it makes us look good.
If you want to drive productivity, paying interest to Japanese housewives is not the way to do it.
One of the major reasons Australia is in an outstanding fiscal position is that they have 9% mandatory contributions. Yes, 9%.
We have to bite the bullet one day.
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Slarty, I commute to Waiheke everyday and agree with the protesters that the ferry fares are becoming an issue. The problem is not the cost, which is what it is, but that Fullers refuses to access the ARC subsidy that will help bring down the cost of ferry fairs for regular commuters. We'd get the subsidy if we were on the bus.
As a relatively new arrival on the island I went there in full knowledge of the commuting costs, and factored it into my decision, but long term residents who commute haven't had that luxury. When costs are up 50% in the last 4-5 years that has an impact on their decision to stay on the island (which has a wonderful, diverse, community focused atmosphere, BTW).
Don't forget the free coffee at McDs for seniors as well. bloody cheek of it :)
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National are opening up lower band option for KiwiSaver, makes it a affordable to a larger number of people. More people saving the better it is, longterm or shortterm.
2+2 scheme already exists, has been in play for a while so they haven't opened up anything. At best they have extended a temporary scheme.
So that negates the "more people saving bit". As does the huge uptake already.
And even if it should lead to a "more people saving" bit, that doesn't necessarily make it better. There is value in the total size of savings, and that's not necessarily increased by having more people in it. Based on National's other reductions to the scheme it looks like it almost certainly wouldn't. -
One of the major reasons Australia is in an outstanding fiscal position is that they have 9% mandatory contributions. Yes, 9%.
All of which is directly from the employer - there is no delineation like here. And it is then taxed at 15%, making it extraordinarily tax positive.
National goes on and on about Australia. There success is largely down to two things:
1. Extraordinary mineral wealth that we can do nothing to match
2. The compulsory savings rate that not only means the Govt can reduce their own spend for supperannuation, but also gives an amazing warchest for investment, driving business growth outside of the mineral commodities.It ain't tax John.
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My Dad is slavering over it, being on the verge of retirement. He also offers some useful advice for those not lucky enough to be 65: Take the car ferry.
If you have more than 3 people it can prove a whole lot cheaper. It's also longer, but then you have a car of your own over there, which makes up for a lot, considering what a hilly place it is, and how spread out.
It may go against the whole green idea of hippy suffering which is so common there, but I have to say, so does the normal ferry, which is at least a 20-fold improvement on what it used to be. I'm glad I can just drink Baroona now, rather than be forced to ride on the horrible old thing. It's probably still got my puke down some of the cracks.
My dear old Grandma made the voyage exactly once by sea, and decided in favor of flying there every other time subsequently, a service that was defunct the last I heard. She could never believe us that the Quickcat was actually a pleasant form of transport. Kids these days will never know (or care) how much things have improved.
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A few points:
A lot of discussion on super gets confused because people get the three 'tiers' of savings muddled up.
Tier One is the state pension. It's what the NZ Super Fund is set up to help pre-fund.
Tier two is workplace savings. This is what Kiwisaver is part of: it is also what the Australian compulsory savings scheme is. So its quite wrong to attribute any strong Australian fiscal position to this. Those are private savings. It is also what the 1974-76 NZ Roger Douglas compulsory scheme was: there was still a state pension on top of that but it was small compared with what Muldoon offered.
Third tier is any other savings people might have.
To me the biggest nasty trick being played at present is the con that everyone will still be able to get a full state funded pension at 65. It is utter bullshit. The age was set at 65 in 1898 when the average mortality age was 59.
We're now, what, late 70s? And projections are by the time those of us now in our forties reach peg-drop-off time the average mortality age will be about 85. The idea the taxpayer can fund us for 20 years at current super rates is just nonsense.
It is simply mathematically impossible for the taxpayer to pay the number of retirees we will the equivalent of an average wage for 20 years each. Even if the NZ Superannuation Fund makes some very big returns the money just will not be there.
It is a con all the parties have conspired on and its an utter lie.
What should be happening, right now, is an agreement to slowly lift the pension age to say, 70. Promise those over, say,45 or 50, they will still get super at 65, but send a message to all those under that age to plan on the pension at 70.
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So its quite wrong to attribute any strong Australian fiscal position to this.
I certainly wasn't directly attributing fiscal strength to this. Just general economic strength - although there is a pretty strong argument that gets you (lagged, indirect) fiscal strength.
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Seconded Rob. All of us under 40 should be assuming there will not be a state-funded super scheme when we retire. If we don't, we're idiots.
Excellent summary of the system, BTW.
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What should be happening, right now, is an agreement to slowly lift the pension age to say, 70. Promise those over, say,45 or 50, they will still get super at 65, but send a message to all those under that age to plan on the pension at 70.
Oh,and absolutely to this - super is such a difficult political beast because you're dealing with impacts 20 years down the track. It really needs non-partisan agreement and continuity. Hardly vote getters at the moment unfortunately.
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That's an interesting point Paul - I'm not fully aware of the subsidy thing. Frankly I think I'd struggle to explain to my fellow Auckland ratepayers why they should subsidise me to live on an Island in the gulf :)
Mind you, I use the free buses at both ends, so maybe I get better value?
I guess I take a longer view - fares have gone up 50% in a shade over 10 years (it was $250 when I moved to the Island and had been there for a few years). In index linked terms that's a rise of about 8% - which is still too much.
In the same period the price of wholesale diesel has risen (index linked as at today- i.e. ignoring teh big peaks) about 35%. So I think we need to be fair to Fullers: they are trying to cope with extreme volatility, demand for more reliable boats, over capacity during the day and under-capacity during commuter hours... it's not easy.
I'd love to see some competition: would you pay, say $450 a month for a separate commuter boat with better seats, Wifi and no school kids? Because it's not like theres much space during the peak times!
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Thirded (!?) Rob.
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So its quite wrong to attribute any strong Australian fiscal position to this.
Should have been a bit more precise - compulsory saving bolsters the general economic position (thanks Gareth) which (admittedly arguably) assists with the balance sheets of major beneficiaries of that cash floating around - the banking and finance sector.
So I think quite wrong is a bit strong - probably more "indirect"
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sorry david, going to have to call you on this one. the free travel for senior citizens does not cost much at all. it's very simple: in off-peak hours, the buses and ferries were all doing these routes anyway, only with empty seats. now the seats will be full, but all the routes are the same. yes, there may have been some senior citizens who would have used those routes and paid for it, but i'd say not that many. what you're actually seeing is people who would not have otherwise travelled, filling seats that would otherwise be empty. so unless there a whole lot more runs than they were prior to the policy coming in or no change in the numbers of senior citizens using the free fares, we have paid very little for this policy.
the upside: it increases the mobility of our senior citizens, gets them out and about and feeling more positive. i'd say that what we save on health costs would be way, way more than what we pay for the loss of a small amount of paying fares.
hope that made sense, don't have time to check over it...
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You've hit the nail on the head Slarty. There's no competition so it's always a bad look when Fullers is perceived to be rorting a captive customer base.
With regard to the subsidy, I guess you're either down with it or your not. Subsidise one form of public transport, subsidise them all. Ferries are different? Perhaps, but the ferry from half Moon Bay or Whangaparoa to the CBD is taking cars off the roads too, so why not subsidise them? Plus, I'd point out that us Islanders pay rates too.
So I think we need to be fair to Fullers: they are trying to cope with extreme volatility, demand for more reliable boats, over capacity during the day and under-capacity during commuter hours... it's not easy.
No, but a subsidy on the commuter fare doesn't cost Fullers anything except perhaps some admin and a duty for transparency in their costs/revenues/profits (apparently they have to make this info public if they don't already). As for over-capacity - free travel to seniors is a good idea, like letting school kids to see provincial rugby for free. They'll still buy the odd cup of tea or glass of wine.
I'd love to see some competition: would you pay, say $450 a month for a separate commuter boat with better seats, Wifi and no school kids? Because it's not like theres much space during the peak times!
Not so much for me, but after seven years commuting on the tube & train in London, the ferry is paradise in comparison :)
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The age was set at 65 in 1898 when the average mortality age was 59.
I have a distant memory of the superannuation traditionally kicking in at age 60, and being incrementally raised to 65 in the 1990s? Precisely to address the increased cost associated with longer lifespans?
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