Posts by dc_red
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Re: Helen Clark, Champion of the World.
I knew she had ambition, and can be very stateswomanly, but even so.... :-)
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Good point Craig.
Another option for urgent passage, based on the current harping about "artificial restrictions on land supply" would be the Down with the RMA (even though it was passed under a National Government) Bill.
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I don't know about the lesbian haircut thing ... I assume he means very short and no frills, but haircuts such as that seem relatively rare in Auckland at least.
The cleavage thing is dead wrong too ... a 5 min walk down Queen St on a day such as this would leave one in no doubt about that.
Perhaps he visited in August?
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Oh, I don't know about that Craig, I enjoyed a helluva lot about King Kong, *all* it needed was an hour or so lopped out of it :)
I have to confess I stopped watching the dvd some point after the one hour mark, when they still hadn't made it to the bloody island. As for editing: I feel much the same way about the Harry Potter series. The first, well-edited book was such a success that the author obviously felt less constrained for subsequent installments, and routinely strung 200-odd pages of plot out to 600 pages plus.
As an 11 year old cousin of mine put it ... "I do enough home work without having to read about Harry and Hermione doing theirs."
Exactly how else the proposal differs from the present arrangements, and what degree of support National plans to offer young beneficiaries with children to care for will -- one would hope -- be made clear in today's speech.
So, will an obedient media lap up an "announcement" that is little more than a minor variation on current policy? Maybe it will represent something more substantial ... we'll see soon enough.
On a vaguely related note, an attempted hatchet job from Bill Ralston in the HoS (for those who care).
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Personally I do get aggrieved at the way we're made to all feel personally responsible for inflation
Although the big good news story - dairy - will probably come back a bit it still puts us in a good position for the next couple of years.
I thought all those dairy dollars (and resulting inflationary pressure) were one of the reasons we have such high interest rates?
If so, I'm aggrieved at having to pay more for our home loan because some cow cocky has a few extra bucks to buy a tractor or a new Holden Rodeo or whatever. :-)
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Gareth & Kyle - thanks for the thoughts on inflation, tax cuts, etc. Not something I'm accustomed to thinking about. I do wonder though: as long as the Reserve Bank believes personal tax cuts are inflationary, we can expect it to do its best to hoover the "extra money" out of the economy quick smart?
Rich said:
Regarding "Kiwi Experience", it's true that NZ employers *are* probably a bit racist. I work for a company that employs numerous people born overseas (including me) and is always happy to employ more. However most applicants we get, although they might have impeccable technical qualifications, don't have sufficently good English to handle client facing work.
Hmm - I would have thought much the same thing Rich: and English-language skills are often bona-fide job requirements, so it makes sense on the employer's part. But a mixture of first- and second-hand experience suggests plenty of migrants who speak English as a first language encounter significant discrimination too. e.g., highly-skilled, articulate Americans and Canadians who can write impeccable application letters.
I can almost envision Joe Q. Employer's HR person looking at these applicants' CVs - detecting "foreigner!" (by virtue of the location of previous work experience and/or qualifications) - and throwing it in the reject pile without another thought.
I do not detect any evidence of this in my own employment sector (which is very internationalized), but have good reason to believe it exists in plenty of others.
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One further comment on Mr Weldon's effort.
IMMIGRATION
Virtually all employment sectors are feeling the squeeze. The medium-term viability of all our companies depends on a ready supply of skilled people.
My sense of it, and that of some others, is that many employers, in many sectors, care a lot less about "skill" than they do about "kiwi experience". As if, say, the experience of being a scientist in Japan or the United States is irrelevant to being a scientist in New Zealand.
As one commentator on the discussion board linked to above put it:
I have been forced to conclude that the primary reason for the ongoing shortage of skilled labor is precisely the unwillingness of NZ employers to employ immigrants.
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And interestingly, while the US administration is throwing cash out like the Santa Parade, Mark Weldon (NZX boss) is telling all political parties to NOT offer any tax cut as election policy - given the inflationary pressures we are under and the interest rate differentials we have to the rest of the world, we can't possibly afford the extra pressure that a tax cut would provide.
Umm, he seems quite keen on tax cuts of various sorts actually:
TAXES
* Cut corporate rates to 25 per cent. This will increase our competitiveness and improve our ability to pay in line with Australia.
* Deal quickly with some of the competitive tax issues such as imputation credits and withholding tax.
* Tie some personal tax cuts to savings, potentially by putting the cash into KiwiSaver.
(This would be a good time, with markets relatively low, to put money in for the long term.)
* Make some modest changes in the personal tax rates, but only to non-inflationary levels.
There's a hefty tax cut in there (5%) for his corporate pals.
Also, as someone not generally economically minded, I'm unclear as to why personal tax cuts would be more inflationary than the alternative, which is (I assume?) greater government spending.
Presumably a decent proportion of tax cuts would be spent on things like debt repayment (credit cards, mortgages, student loans, etc.) and that's not inflationary?
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From the metservice link:
7Am: Feels like 21 °C
1 layer of clothing is recommended to remain comfortable in these conditions.So what happens when it gets to the promised 25 °C?
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Wouldn't wish it on a dog, and perhaps we should focus on the fact that Hillary and Tuwhare lived long and full lives, and they died quickly but knowing they were respected and loved for their achievements.
Indeed - food for thought. Well said, Craig.