Posts by Matthew Poole
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to FletcherB,
The only stories on National Radio that I heard where the items being looted were mentioned (and thus, you could come to a conclusion on whether they were insignificant or not)… were for petrol-generators keeping cell towers and road-side exchanges going
I saw comments from one of the "eastern suburbs" residents that they'd liberated at least one of the cell tower generators from the west because they felt their needs were greater and weren't being met - powering a cell tower two or three days in vs people having power to their homes was the logic, I think.
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Hard News: The digital switch-off, in reply to Steve Barnes,
that’s plainly impractical and ultimately leads to a closed market with sky-rocketing prices courtesy of the legislatively-captive purchaser.
[citation needed] I think. I can’t see why. If the captive purchaser is legislative, ie. Government then they have the power to control this. They could, in fact, control inflation, to an extent, by controlling their own contract pricing.
It's pretty self-evident, I'd have thought. If the State is legally required to purchase from local suppliers, the locals can jack prices up because they have to be used.
If the option to go offshore exists, that presents a cap on the cost of local purchasing. Take that away and there's nothing to stop the locals bumping their costs, especially if there are only a couple of local purchasing options - or just one, in the case of trains. Welcome back to the bad old days pre-Roger. -
Hard News: The digital switch-off, in reply to Andre,
Maybe they should define their policy a bit more
Maybe they should. Or maybe they didn't think people would take it to mean 100% of government purchasing must be from local suppliers, when that's plainly impractical and ultimately leads to a closed market with sky-rocketing prices courtesy of the legislatively-captive purchaser. You may dismiss many of their policies, but they do have some members who are capable of taking a longer-term view.
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Hard News: The digital switch-off, in reply to BenWilson,
It also seems to me that making up a new word to describe “the economy is really fucked” isn’t really so helpful.
Except that stagflation isn't a made-up word. In fact, it's sufficiently not-made-up that Firefox's dictionary (which doesn't recognise Firefox, as a matter of amusement) considers it valid.
It may not be in common English usage, but it's definitely a "proper" word and it definitely describes our current economic situation more accurately than "depression". In addition to not having the same panic-inducing connotations. -
Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Che Tibby,
doesn’t do too much to foster empathy though, apparently.
Empathy is for softies who need counselling. One had best just toughen up and get over it.
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Hard News: The digital switch-off, in reply to Andre,
I still think making buying locally compulsory will end up costing a lot more.
Compulsory under any circumstances is begging to be shafted. But where the difference in price is less than some arbitrary limit (say 10%), or a higher limit if the purchase relates to some prescribed list such as heavy manufacturing (eg: new trains), then the benefits to the country will make up for the extra cost.
Also, requiring that contracts to construct overseas include involvement of local industry - the new trains for Auckland could've had the bodywork built in NZ, for example - would keep money in NZ even if the entire contract cannot be fulfilled domestically. -
Hard News: The digital switch-off, in reply to Andre,
in the middle of a depression
I don't think we can be in a depression when we also have rampant price inflation. We've also had stagnant growth more than economic contraction. This might not matter to the average punter, but it's fairly important when officials are deciding that we should or should not use a term that'll cause fairly serious panic.
What we do need to hear is the term "stagflation", which is absolutely applicable to our current situation - the economy's stagnant, but inflation is well and truly on display.
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Rich Lock,
Mining today’s letters page produced an outstanding gem from an old lady complaining about giving ’quake traumatised 3-year old children councilling. All this mollycoddling can only lead to mental softness and namby-pambyism, apparently. They’ll grow up spineless and molly-coddled. She lived through The Blitz, you see, so she knows what she’s talking about. Suffering is good for them. Toughens them up.
Yes, I saw that one over lunch. I'd never waste good money on it (except possibly to re-line the laundry floor before we put the lino back down), but Granny is provided in the lunch room so I read it while eating. It's good for catching crumbs and drips.
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Steve Barnes,
I thought you knew everything.
A suggestion oft-levelled, but never self-proclaimed ;)
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Classic Poe’s Law.
Oh dear. I had to go and look that one up.