Posts by BenWilson
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Hard News: A Capital Idea?, in reply to Jeremy Eade,
Yes, so far as I know, the residential property market dwarfs the stockmarket. This is the case in many countries. That's why the GFC is so serious compared to, say, the 1987 stockmarket crash, or the dotcom correction. It's the biggest cost in most people's lives. It's one of the key differentiators between classes. Controlling the prices is vitally important for every aspect of a functional and fair economy.
As you say, this has also always been the case. We had housing concerns in the stone age, probably a home and the defense of it was the main survival advantage humans could attain - control and ownership of land is the key battle around which tribes and nations have fought forever.
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Hard News: A Capital Idea?, in reply to DexterX,
I disagree "NZers are weirdly stingy" and gravitate to chosing the lesser rather than the optimal or correct solution.
I'm not sure you are disagreeing, although "cognitive misers" is inspired.
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Hard News: A Capital Idea?, in reply to Matthew Poole,
Maybe not in manufacturer, but in term of price and luxury there's definitely a choice. I did pick those marques for a reason.
If you say so. I've got a Lexus 400, and my mate has a Toyota Celsior. Apart from the badge, it's the same car. Well OK, mine's better, because I scored it for half the price he did.
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Hard News: A Capital Idea?, in reply to Matthew Poole,
The choices ought to be quality or high quality, with pricing more like a choice between Toyota or Lexus.
Which is no choice at all, you realize?
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Hard News: #NetHui: it's all about you, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Double ditto. Reminds me that most of the fun I had with D&D was reading the books.
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Hard News: A Capital Idea?, in reply to Matthew Poole,
If there was a widespread understanding of how much nicer it is to live in quality housing, the demand for crap would be significantly reduced.
Not so sure about that. I think Kiwis are weirdly stingy. I can't explain it, really.
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Hard News: A Capital Idea?, in reply to Richard Grevers,
CPI indexing was abandoned after 5 years
Interesting. I wonder if it was less about complexity and more about increasing the tax take.
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Hard News: A Capital Idea?, in reply to DexterX,
So here you are dishing Kiwisaver and investment in managed funds etc??.
Not at all. They're both good things, but they certainly shouldn't be majorly profitable in themselves. If they are, they're sucking it out of the marrow of the economy that actually produces things.
Just to make it clear that money - the means of exchange - flowing around and around keeps people in work and business in business - we have a problem because this has stopped circulating
It's like engine oil. You need it to keep the car going, but it doesn't power the car. There can be too much of it, and too little.
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Hard News: A Capital Idea?, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Hmmm, yes, I misunderstood you. You're suggesting that a minimum profitability should be expected? What happens when there is actually a downturn? Should the government take every unprofitable business to the wall?
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Hard News: A Capital Idea?, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Like Myspace, you mean?
Yup. I'm describing very much the conditions that led to the dot-com bubble, but I don't have the answer about how to prevent that - that could very well be one for the famous discipline of the market. That was pretty much what ended up happening.
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