Posts by Matthew Poole
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: What Hekia Parata actually said, in reply to Andre,
The 15% difference isn’t because of overseas-based owners though
BNZ's head economist reckons 12% of Auckland's sales are to overseas buyers. I would say he's got a pretty reasonable handle on the situation. He also says the government should probably be measuring it properly, instead of relying on educated guesswork from the industry.
-
Hard News: What Hekia Parata actually said, in reply to Andre,
as long as 65% of kiwis own homes
Down below 50% for the first time in recorded history, actually. Non-owners are now the majority.
-
Hard News: What Hekia Parata actually said, in reply to Tom Semmens,
Reading the transcript, one can’t help but get the impression that this minister is completely out of her depth.
She'd be out of her depth as member for a local ward in Waikikamukau District Council. As a minister of one of the highest-spending portfolios in the country, she's a disaster. It was like reading a stream of consciousness.
I actually don't get the fully-fledged evil intent out of the interview that has been ascribed, but there are some shadows lurking in corners that the current National government's history make me want to examine very, very closely.
-
It's bloody confusing, I'll give you that. The decile review must happen with the census data having been released, that's a given. It actually surprised me that the Ministry's been stonewalling on answering that question, since it's a mandatory exercise. That they have suggests other mischief going on, to my suspicious mind.
Overall I'm inclined to agree with Dave, that Parata was demonstrating a great deal of foot-in-mouth by tossing under-developed concepts around in a forum where they're best kept locked in a bottom drawer. She showed recognition and acceptance of the difficulties of measuring educational achievement through assessment metrics alone, but didn't shut down suggestions of student-performance-related funding despite such funding pretty much having to tie to assessment achievement because anything else is too qualitative and woolly to try and quantify precisely and reliably.
-
Busytown: School bully, in reply to BenWilson,
Which is not to say that I’m not a “general socialist” or that I don’t believe in the rising tide idea. I do.
How is the “rising tide” idea markedly different from the “trickle down” idea, other than the volume of liquid (warm and yellow, or otherwise) with which those at the bottom find themselves surrounded?
NZ’s tide has risen quite dramatically in the last 30 years, but there’s bugger-all evidence that the rise has lifted those at the bottom anywhere near as much as it’s lifted those at the top. Indeed, there’s rather a lot of evidence that the rising tide has largely swept around those at the bottom, leaving them bobbing slightly higher in the water than their starting position but with their overall movement being measured more accurately in centimetres than the metres seen higher up the pond.
-
Hard News: Things worth knowing, in reply to Andrew C,
there could be cultural mores in place around who pays for what at a dinner.
Of course, and not causing offence to one's hosts is always good practice, but if that's the case, say so! And if it's going to cause offence to say who paid, perhaps it's best to just decline those invitations because in our country, it's mightily offensive to the voters to avoid answering questions about hanging out with foreign officials.
-
Busytown: School bully, in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,
The link to the scholarship site needs to have the http:// at the start, Lucy, otherwise it tries to direct it within PAS.
-
Busytown: School bully, in reply to Baxterabout,
how about a debating the issues
Yeah, how about that? I've thrown you some issues, where's the debate?
-
Busytown: School bully, in reply to Baxterabout,
Why should teachers be insulated from the competitive pressures that every other professional operates under?
What bullshit. Doctors don't operate under "competitive pressure".
Find me a top-performing school system where teachers are constantly having their performance measured and calculated and their pay adjusted accordingly. Especially one where teachers' pay scales top out at not a whole hell of a lot more than the median personal income. Top performing would be one of the countries that scores higher than NZ on at least two of the PISA metrics, just to avoid doubt. -
Busytown: School bully, in reply to Baxterabout,
Lets see how sypathetic you are to Cunliffe and his cronies when you’re paying tax at internationally uncompetitive rates if he gets elected.
Given that NZ has one of the flattest, least-progressive taxation structures in the OECD, I’m really, really curious as to just what Labour have planned that will suddenly reverse our status. Our top personal rate is far short of any kind of OECD record, and would need to go to well over 40% to have any shot at being “internationally uncompetitive.” I see that you’ve swallowed the “Kiwis are over-taxed” line all the way to the swivel, despite it being totally unsupported by the facts. We’ve got a fairly flat, low-top-rate personal income tax structure, and our taxation burden is nearly at the bottom of the OECD.