Posts by BenWilson
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OnPoint: It's real, in reply to DexterX,
What “technology” did the people at the Labour Party conference and those blogging in Public Address forums in support of CGT want “developed” and what risks were they going to take on to do “it” – whatever “it” was that they considered needed doing?
Ooo, ooo, I can answer that, being one of those people on PAS arguing for it. The kind of technology could be exemplified what I was doing at the same time as arguing with you - writing a software product to sell in a mass export market. It was a very, very hard grind, because it takes years to do it right, and how the hell do you pay yourself in the meantime? If, however, I could leverage the way you can with property, I could quite possibly have got it to market in a tenth of the time, by hiring some staff using money borrowed from the bank. However, no bank would ever lend me hundreds of thousands of dollars on a speculative venture like that. They were, however, happy to lend me hundreds of thousands just to buy a house, which actually lost value during that period.
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Cracker: Another Capital Idea..., in reply to Danielle,
You seem to be mildly complaining because we aren't sympathetic enough that you can't wipe your arse with fifty dollar notes every time you take a shit.
That's a harsh take on what Rik's been saying. It seems to me more like he's complaining about being equated with considerable wealth on account of income, without actually having a lifestyle that looks or feels like considerable wealth at all. I'm in the same boat, although I'm not "complaining" about it, but rather simply saying how incongruous it feels. You would not look at my lifestyle, and the one of the Samoan truck driver next door, who lives in an identical house, plays with a nicer boat, drinks just as much of the same kind of beer, sends his kids to the same school, has plenty of luxury electronics, has done numerous extensions to his property, etc. I expect he is able to do this from being wiser with his money, or having inherited a big piece of his house, or something, but the simple fact of the matter is that he lives the same life as I do, on the strength of something it takes about 3 months to learn how to do (driving a large truck), which I doubt earns him half what I earn. He did not spend 5 years training carefully towards a career that is highly paid, nor follow the life that involves the hard hours, working through the night, dealing intensely with a wide range of people that you often don't like, innovating, thinking about it after hours, etc, etc. So it can feel pretty fucking weird to be considered way wealthier than him. I have other friends in the same position, various tradies who never spent did any tertiary training, do easy work that they're reasonably well paid for, but have 10 times as much assets as me, none of which they've paid a fucking cent of tax on, and they pay considerably less income tax. I don't grudge them it, but when they suggest I'm a rich prick when they hear how much I earn, it's...just....odd.
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OnPoint: Why Rightwingers Should Support…, in reply to FletcherB,
Mine lost money before it ever even made it to the water.
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OnPoint: It's real, in reply to Andy Milne,
Well, to be fair, nobody in this town does.
I do. Labour did it with Muldoon.
Can someone please explain how CGT will suddenly encourage people to move out of property investments and invest in more "productive" areas of the economy?
I think this question is fair. My own preference to that end is to introduce a compulsory super savings scheme, a proportion of which can be invested in the stockmarket. This is part of the reason share ownership is so widespread in Australia, super funds are massively invested in it. It's highly stimulatory to the stockmarket, and it also makes people look forward to their retirement more, rather than dreading it.
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Cracker: Another Capital Idea..., in reply to Rik,
Maybe it will be safe for me to attend the Great Blend after all?
Do it! They're fun.
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Cracker: Another Capital Idea..., in reply to Stephen Judd,
either not acquired the money management skills of previous generations, or have inflated ideas of what a normal standard of living is.
The former, in my case, I think. For the latter, I don't think owning a slightly-too-small property in a low income suburb is "inflated". It was well within the means of even poor people of my parents generation. Some of it is also the obsession with property that I fell for too. If I'd just rented and saved money, I'm pretty sure I'd be better off, certainly I'd feel that I had more options.
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My wondering how to make ends meet is most likely in quite a different ball park to the concerns of people on less income. Yes, I seldom have to worry about whether we'll be able to eat, but several times I've been in the position of waiting a very long time to get paid, and facing huge tax bills at the same time. I'm quite looking forward to being PAYE again...if that's how my current job hunt pans out. That's actually worth quite a substantial pay cut, not to go through that shit again.
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Field Theory: It's not yours, but you…, in reply to 3410,
That looks like a beer boycott to me, unless I brew my own.
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Cracker: Another Capital Idea..., in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Which part seems unfair to you? I'm presuming the tradespeople exemption will apply to their business, rather than their real estate. Family home we knew about. I'm not sure of the reasoning on that, other than to avoid scaring people off (but by the same token halving the effectiveness of the tax). Inherited assets are something I don't know the tax rules around, but understood that they're taxed directly in some other way. Anyone know the current laws around inheritance?
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The Half-Manatee of O. Evil drunken gold prospector sifting the Avon is paid by emissaries of the Other Half to kidnap young, dreamy girl through and push her through a liquified sinkhole to the "Green Zone", a parallel universe in which Christchurch is 1 metre below sea level, and inhabited by people and fish, at war with each other, due to a horrendous cataclysm that tore their original mermaidesqe existence apart. Unbeknownst to the evil humans, a young socially awkward engineer with a strong crush follows her through the ooze....
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