Posts by Paul Campbell
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I see no reason why any New Zealand political party should get any money from any business. Let's ban all money from them and cap individual contributions to 1% of the minimum wage. That would force parties to engage with their rank and file, and actually involve them in their policy making rather than just expecting a vote every 3 years
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riddle me this - why does anyone, especially a company, give $80,000 to a political party and not expect something in return?
To me that's the real story here, the Nats are for sale and no one seems to much care
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Speaker: The secret Christchurch…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Between emotion vampires like Paul “how’s-my-ratings’ Henry, and Susie ‘shout-over-the-top-of-people-trying-to-answer-the-previous-question’ Ferguson I’m giving up on the Media for any reasoned response No more Morning Report for me, what’s the point anymore – tossers!And I never watch Henry's show it is worse than Seven sharp (if that is possible)…
Yeah Morning Report seems to over do that, to be fair the previous inhabitants used to do the same thing. There is a time and a place when you do need to hold a politician's feet to the fire, but it's a tool that probably should be used pretty sparingly to stop yourself from seeming shrill and annoying. A good reporter should be able to get the information they need with careful questioning, keep the bullying for the politician who's obviously evading, not just talking too slowly for you.
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I was reading this MeFi thread yesterday which ended up covering many of these same topics - in it someone made this great suggestion:
I think it would be awesome if losing your virginity was redefined as when you first had great sex (consensual and mind-blowing-ly pleasurable for both [or err, all] parties). "You're not a man until you've lost your virginity" takes on a whole different tone. Still a virgin? Keep on practicing, you'll get there.
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Hard News: A Big Idea, in reply to BenWilson,
There is also a huge lag in effects from the OCR. Changes take years to settle in, because people have huge chunks of mortgage on fixed terms. I have most of mine that way.
I think that applies to raising the kiwisaver rate too, but for different reasons - just like a change in the tax rates changing the kiwisaver rules means that EVERY employer will need to change their payroll system - you just can't practically do this overnight - I'd give it 3 months at a minimum, and making it compulsory would likely take 6 months or more as HR people go and chase everyone down who just doesn't understand and and doesn't want to deal with it.
While this is not 'years' it will mean that the RB can announce "the OCR goes up today" and it has an immediate effect in some areas (like exchange rates), saying "kiwisaver will go up in 2 months" just wont have the same immediate effect as raising the OCR.
I kind of expect the RB to trade the two off - announce something like "we're raising the OCR for 3 months and kiwisaver in 2 months then reviewing the OCR" - long term the fixed portion of the OCR changes would get pushed into kiwisaver (to a point where it would hurt).
Remember they are likely going to twiddle the minimum kiwisaver contribution - people like me who already put 10% (8+2) in are likely not going to be effected - company HR IT systems are going to have to handle cases like the person who has opted say "6%" when the RB mandated minimum contribution goes from less than what they have opted for to more (and back again)
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(not the internet but the real world)
I've had an interesting journey in the past year going through a small injury to something more major, a couple of months on my back, crutches, stumbling around, and now a slow recovery to normality (I'm lucky, I'm someone for whom ACC has largely worked well).
What really interested me was how, without really trying, I somehow joined the disabled community as my mobility decreased, I started to exchange smiles with other people having trouble getting around, conversations in the physio pool, people helped me with the vagaries of parking permits so I could actually park close enough to do stuff (Dunedin's largely dismantled disabled parking system really sucks), etc I somehow slowly engaged with a community I hadn't really seen before, and I somehow seem to be slowly disengaging from some of that as I no longer look like I belong.
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I just spent a week in Shenzhen - the first thing you notice is all the electric bikes , they keep sneaking up on you- I don't think I saw a single petrol powered motor bike - compare this with Taipei or Saigon and their 2-stroke fumes. maybe 10% off the taxis were electric too - there's an extra 3RMB tax if you get into a petrol powered one.
For all its problems China seems to be doing stuff while we just argue
They have far more polite drivers too
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Yeah teenagers are trying, part of it I think is because there's a moment when that little kid you've been hugging for 12-13 years starts to push you away - you're just not ready for, but they are, it feels like they're tearing your heart out, they're starting to become independent.
Of course the whole point of kids is that you're trying to raise functional independent adults, you have to let them go, all that strife, really you're just negotiating about the timing.
Ours are gone, out flatting, that's hard too (that whole empty nest thing, it's real), but they come home (we do Sunday dinner together as a family) and now they're adults, and they relate like adults, it's great
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I'm kind of gob smacked by today's Key announcement that he's wangled NZ products (in particular mussels) to appear on Alibaba .... does he not understand that ANYONE can sell stuff there (it's sort of a B2B China focused trademe that has a bit of a reputation for, um, occasional shadiness) it's possibly the last place on the planet one might choose to purchase shellfish.
I can't decide who's being played here, Key or us
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I do the occasional amount of business in China - remember that dinner and socialising with business partners is a cultural must - visiting with her husband's business partners while in the country is likely something that would give offense if avoided
That doesn't mean she shouldn't have found some way to avoid the position she put herself in, just that it would have been difficult