Posts by Rob Stowell
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Keith- some good points, but "dirty secrets" is inflamatory and misleading: no wonder you've got sagenz giving you a high-five. The #1 "dirty secret"
It will certainly push wages down.
Employers are going to take KiwiSaver contributions into account when setting wages and in considering wage increases.is not exactly "dirty" and in no way "secret" (I've heard Cullen discuss it at least 5 times since the budget!). What the effect will be is certainly open to interpretation; at the moment Cullen's spin sounds more realistic than yours. You could argue that "Drive wages down" and "slow wages growth" (by as pointed out, somewhere between 0 and 1% for up to 4 years) are the same thing. I don't think they are. There IS a big "tax-cut"/injection of govt revenue into the scheme. And a remarkably wide section of NZ (including business) can see clear benefits.
I'll make a prediction: National will go into the next election promising NOT to scrap "kiwisaver" (but odds-on to "fix" or "improve" it.)
And in 20 years it'll be considered a watershed. Along with the "Cullen fund" we'll look back on this govt as the one's who finally "fixed" retirement income- as well as running a dynamic economy and paying off govt debt. -
I earn $500,000. I agree with my employer that I will take a 20% pay cut and we will put the $100,000 into kiwisaver tax free at some split between employer and employee contribution
My understanding is that the total is capped at 8%. So the max in this case would be $20k from you, $20k from yr employer. (Is this right? I need to know!) OTOH, what line of work are you in? And can I join!
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Canty is a consrvative establishment and as such the study risks this bias.
This is rolled out ad naseum as if it were beyond questioning. But what, other than it being endlessly repeated, do you base this assertion on?
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Shot by both sides. Which explains most of C's prickly tone. He's valued here for a balance of opinion and prose that can sing and put-downs that zing.
But under attack he tends to get cryptic and use multi-levels of irony that are very hard to read. -
The only hope with Iran is a significant revolt against the president by the US military
Ouch. Watch out what you hope for!
While Bushco may have a go at engineering a "Maine" or "Tonkin" (or Pearl Harbour, pick your conspiracy) type incident, Congress (and Senate) get to "declare war". It was a specific vote to give Bush war powers that allowed him to invade Iraq- a vote Hilary clinton and John Kerry have and will spend some time regretting. -
And while "alliance" is moot, "united" is close to deceptive advertising.
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And follow Aus in gettting rid of them "radient" lightbulbs. Quite a big saving for everyone concerned... Or- have I just busted the budget embargo?
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The PM & co could easily have just issued a nothing press release, quietly forwarded on any info to the relevant parties, then sat back and left Wishart to choke himself on his own shoddy work.
...if it hadn't also led the news on both networks* and graced the front pages of all the major papers*.
(*Not that I've checked this- I'll get my team of crack researchers onto it, as soon as I get to run a major media outlet.) -
His personal opposition was so strong that he was not happy being a member of a political party that did not oppose the bill.
Or he saw the chance to launch a new one based on a single issue where the polls looked good? On Morning Report, that's how it sounded: he wants to campaign on rolling the Bill back (despite having only Act voting with him- they'll campaign on it too, for sure).
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Welcome pastetaster. Sorry to be a bore, but more news:
In an exclusive interview Iraq war architect Paul Wolfowitz tells us why he's resigning as head of the World Bank to take the role of Milo Minderbinder in MerkProduktionz remake of Catch-22 (working title: Calibre .44)
MP: Was it a hard decision?
W: not at all, it was outrageous to ask a free-wheeling demigod to work with surrender-monkeys and tin-pot third world countries I wouldn't take a piss in. Resigning was the easiest thing I've ever done, particularly for this role in Calibre 44.
MP: You have a fascination with Corporal Minderbinder?
W: Oh yes, one of my personal heroes.
MP: Wasn't he operating- well, just a little outside the law?
W: (Laughs) don't we all? No, Milo was a decent capitalist giving people choices. The communist Roosevelt flew in the face of natural law, that's to say the law of supply and demand. Milo was a hero and a saint, yes, but forced to do his good works illegally by the corrupt of the incompetent socialists then in power.
MP: How do you think it will translate to modern-day iraq?
W; Well, clearly we've created much better business conditions in Iraq, and Milo's heroism can be openly celebrated and rewarded with mind-boggling govt contracts. I see this as a very exciting development.
MP: Thank you Paul. Look forward to seeing you on-set in Sumara.
W: Sumara? Wait a minute- which set is that? I'm not going-
MP: Re-read the contract, Paul. Au revoir.