Posts by Kumara Republic
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Polity: Geography and housing options, in reply to Brent Jackson,
Thanks a lot for that David. A very interesting graph. I would be keen to see a comparison with Australian cities and Vancouver, since there is talk that they are suffering similar bubbles to Auckland based on wealth flowing out of China since 2003.
In Sydney:
Australia's ghost suburbs a 'national scandal'Vancouver:
China’s economic turmoil likely to affect Vancouver real estate market — but how?And London's right up there too:
China and Qatar buying London properties -
Up Front: Cui bono?, in reply to mark taslov,
I understand that most posters here are white collar workers and independent contractors and have little grasp of life for blue collar workers in New Zealand.
I have white collar potential but all my pay rises to date have been government-mandated - in other words, I've only ever been on the minimum wage due to various complicating factors. And it doesn't help that I'm in the kind of work that's being left in the dust by technology.
I found out the hard way that traditional tertiary study isn't the right path for me - especially when I could be nearing my lifetime EFTS limit - and that I'm overwhelmingly suited to a vocational on-the-job approach to training. The catch is that on-the-job training needs the sort of investment in time and money that's commonly dismissed as an old-fashioned expense in a deregulated labour market like New Zealand's. I've tried "networking" my way into a career change, and all I've gotten so far is the same old inspiration porn.
Why bother training the untrained when it's supposedly easier and cheaper just to hire migrants who already have skills? Left unchecked, you get the kind of fomenting resentment that's driving support for Donald Trump and Nigel Farage on the right and Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn on the left.
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Polity: Geography and housing options, in reply to Andre,
I reckon that if a market correction occurs, the clamour for financial government assistance will be greater even than that from drought-stricken farmers every few years and the government will cough up faster than you can say South Canterbury Finance. May be John Key will decide at that point that under the China FTA. all foreign home owners should also get a handout so they're not treated unfairly differently than kiwi home owners?
Were that to happen, it would probably expose the hypocrisy of the whole house of cards. All going according to plan, the 'hoi polloi' who've been shut out of the housing market will be asking why Generation Rentier are more deserving of a taxpayer bailout than the rest of us. I suspect not even the most convincing 'hard-working wealth creator' spin will be bought by anyone - what we've seen isn't so much wealth creation as it is wealth-cornering.
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What next? How long will it be before we start seeing wheelchair users getting pushed out of their wheelchairs by ableists who think they're 'faking it', as has happened in Britain?
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Polity: Geography and housing options, in reply to Sacha,
Yet tens of thousands in the Auckland region accept that as a standard part of living here. Sad, really. We need to move jobs and homes closer together. Evidence shows that aint by laying more lanes of asphalt.
It's a no-brainer. The big stumbling block is that Generation Rentier is used to having its way whenever supply attempts to respond to demand.
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Polity: Geography and housing options, in reply to Paul Campbell,
Moz:: just the other day we were talking about faking a Rangitoto eruption to do something about the housing bubble - building a large city on top of a geologically recent volcano seems to be asking for trouble .... that's a pretty bubble you have there, it would be a pity if somewone broke it ....
An easier way might be to get the Hells Angels and Bandidos to move into the leafy suburbs.
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Polity: Geography and housing options, in reply to william blake,
The other issue with decentralised employment is that, from experience of somewhere like the Thames valley where employment *is* very decentralised, it makes it impossible to get to work by public transport. As a lad, I worked in Aldershot and lived in Haslemere, which are about 16km or 20/30 minutes drive apart. By public transport, it was several buses and trains taking well over an hour.
As it stands, down-shifting to the provinces is mostly a luxury for company directors like Rod Drury, Sam Morgan and Michael Cullen who can afford regular airborne commutes to the big smoke, or for highly-skilled telecommuters who aren't required to show up to a physical office. The rest of us still have to clip the punch clock, and it won't change much even with further advances in technology.
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Polity: Geography and housing options, in reply to Sacha,
That's why we are unlikely to see a thriving design, software or niche engineering hub based in Twizel rather than Christchurch or Auckland or at a pinch, Wellington.
What do you mean, at a pinch? Canberra with wharves or something like that?
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Polity: Geography and housing options, in reply to Mikaere Curtis,
Sadly it's not so simple when Generation Rentier acts like a House of (Land)Lords and has the nation by the balls. Just wait till the bubble burst sorts them out.
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Trigger warning: Spokesman for Generation Rentier blames the victim.