Posts by sagenz

  • Hard News: Clover It,

    Credit to you Russell. That is an excellent article posting a great moral conundrum.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • OnPoint: Gotcha?,

    Fucking hell. I think this all rather demonstrates that the best interaction with these people is none at all.
    FWIW, I was amused by the adolescent sense of drama

    Irony alert Russell. I thought that was clear enough from the tone of CK posts and my own comment, obviously not.

    Adolescence is spending hours crafting posts, emails and comments pursuing pointless irrelevance. "Fuck Off" would have been a response but would simply have lead to the same pointless theorising.

    I have not the slightest interest in your or Gotcha's legal structure, so crack on with the bat shit crazy The Standard standard of finding conspiracy where there is none.

    Keith - Do you really have nothing better to do??? Really? How about putting your skills to use pursuing a submission on tax or posting on public intellectuals at KiwiPolitico [really interesting post and thread there on that subject] or something a little more substantive.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • OnPoint: Gotcha?,

    Soooo russell/Keith

    Are you going to answer the legitimate questions that CK raises about your obvious complicated big corporate structure or are you simply going to go the Winston Peters route of ignoring the questions at hand and fantasising at will.

    After all the questions Keith and Cactus raise are obviously of such momentous public interest.

    Disclose now! Is Keith in the pay of BIG media??? Does Russell really hide his affairs behind [gasp] a trust??? Did Cactus really not pay retail for an offshore company because she has a brain???

    The public has a right to know!!!!!

    or not, GTFOI

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: The Prime Minister Has Spoken,

    David - insightful post. You identify a thought gap. The NZ export as a % of GDP is a joke for a nation that considers itself a little nation of exporters.

    Tom S - I understand what you mean. Rarely have we agreed. New Zealand over the last 25 years has been like the naive English gentlemen who queues honourably and is crowded out by the Italians and French who jump the queue and dont play by the "rules". They get what they want and the gentleman misses out. America insists everyone else support "free trade" then subsidise their agriculture and exports to tilt the playing field. It is past time New Zealand woke up and played according to the reality and not the theory.

    The low cost of doing business mentioned in earlier thread is a good thing but it is far outweighed by the tilted international playing field

    The only way for New Zealand to get back into the higher wealth nations is through education and technology to raise the number of people in New Zealand who are capable of operating in a global technology market and by ensuring that tax, service costs and regulation are skewed towards those adding value rather than taking a cut like stephen tindall.

    It does not get much better in value adding terms than taking almost valueless clay and turning it into crockery

    The mindset requires a complete shift and I am not optimistic.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • OnPoint: Don’t let them eat cake,

    Keith - start the infrastructure spending now. That labour gets spread all over the country. planning, contracted out manufacture as well as on site assembly. And if the infrastructure spending is national then it will the auckland waterview tunnel will be matched by hydro or irrigation schemes in canterbury. That money flows in the economy as readily as WFF distributions. The difference is that you get something of value from it.

    On WFF & min wage increases I agree with your rationalisation of WFF being preferable. Nobody is starving in this country. People who want homes have them, whether rented to owned.

    Stimulus created through WFF is just as likely to be spent on imported tat as anything else. Given the number of people tightening their belts now why is it reasonable that WFF should get MORE money? And I speak as someone whose main source of income ceases in 3 weeks time.

    So justify why building something of value if preferable to buying more tat. I can make a better economic argument for community work schemes for unemployed. At least that adds some value to the community.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • OnPoint: Don’t let them eat cake,

    I have posted in the past about raising minimum wage to squeeze out low end jobs and encourage investment and training. That will raise average income and living standards overall and reduce the low end taxpayer subsidy of jobs through the tax system.

    But I agree with you that right now is not a good time to be asking for pay raises. There are any number of companies, supported by responsible unions who are agreeing pay cuts in return for avoiding redundancy in industries suffering a temporary downturn. despite the standardista Labour nashing of teeth and Goffs stupid suggestion to raise by 25%.

    I disagree about the desirability of more money for families also. The best thing that can be done is to bring forward infrastructure spending.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Trading Trade Me?,

    trademe? I see John Key is going to auction his cast on that site. Do you think he is going to sign it? :^)

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: From soundbite to policy,

    Urgency - Why? Maintaining the Momentum! Methinks the knowledge there is soon a Christmas break and summer holidays has focused minds. It would be too easy to go through select committee and drift through the first few months of next year without getting any legislation through. Key went to Apec a few days after getting elected. He means to take swift action, not simply enjoy the trappings of power.

    ETS and the EFA were both crappy legislation written and passed under urgency through incompetence.

    I can balance the less democratic use of urgency in the opening days of this administration with the desire to get some early runs on the board. The repeal of the EFA without having its substitute is a sign that National are obviously prepared to revisit these issues next year with more thoroughness.

    I would be gobsmacked if the advice of professional educators regarding clinically diagnosed children who cannot face school is not written into legislation or enforcement guidelines. The fines are aimed at those parents who just do not give a f&*k.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: From soundbite to policy,

    Herceptin. Only those of a redistributionist mindset believe that someone else has to miss out on medicine when National increases funding for one drug. Genuinely growing the economy means Herceptin and all the other new drugs can be funded more quickly rather than writing pre judged reports to justify the choice forced by limited funds. I am a strong supporter of what Pharmac does with limited resources. But there is no way National can tell them it comes out of someone elses drug spending. It must come out of general taxation. FWIW for most of the last 9 years spending on health as a % of GDP has been lower than under National.

    Drug companies make good profits. They do that by investing in expensive long term and high risk research. That means on average we all get to live longer. Their high prices are justified by that. Stop those high profits and less research will take place. To an extent New Zealand free rides on the rest of the world as a result of Pharmac policy, but we have better free trade policy so screw the rest of the world on that one.

    Give the clinicians & patients choice. If 9 weeks works for most women and that is what they want then that is what they will get. If the clinician feels that the circumstances warrant 12 months concurrent treatment they should be able to prescribe that.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: From soundbite to policy,

    From the previous link about No child left behind.

    Here in California, which in 2002 had only 13.6 percent of students proficient in reading, officials promised to raise that percentage on average by 2.2 points annually from 2002 to 2007, but starting this year greatly accelerate the progress, raising the percentage of proficient students by 11 points per year through 2014.

    On what planet would you have to be living to think that 13.6% proficiency was adequate and that the system was working.

    On what planet would you have to be living to be cynical about those officials who deferred their responsibility to reach proficiency targets by back end loading them in the expectation the law would change to accomodate their failures?

    On what planet would you have to be living to think that if you did not aim for 100% those same cynical officials would not simply use exclusion to reach a target like 80%, thereby defeating the entire purpose of the changes.

    How cynical do you have to be to excuse a system that has 13.6% proficiency simply because it is GW Bush policy. Does anyone really think that a no excuses and no exceptions policy like this is going to be easy. Maybe it is a FUCKING GOOD THING that teaching is focused on core things like Maths and English rather than feeling good about yourself. It is a FUCKING GOOD THING that the policy says NO child left behind.

    Jolisa - Do what is right for your child rather than what is politically correct for your political views and circle of friends. And just to screw with your head. I turned down private school and went to an academically shit but politically right on state school but turned into a libertarianish Bush supporting Nat, whilst my expensively privately educated sister has spent her career in Green politics.

    It is experiencing the system that makes you realise how shit it is. John Key grew up in a shitty area and went to state school. helen clark was a boarder at a posh auckland state grammar school.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

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