Hard News: It's not funny because it's our money
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Sacha, in reply to
oh I'd say Labour are noticing, wouldn't you? :)
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Paul Williams, in reply to
oh I'd say Labour are noticing, wouldn't you? :)
FWIW, I'm Labour member and am very impressed by a number of the Greens. Very.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
Hopefully enjoying from a safe distance, whatever that might be. Hope to hell they know what they’re doing, because sometimes they don’t.
Which also reminds me of this gem:
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One of these days people will notice that the Greens are an exceptionally competent party.
In many respects that seems to be the government's concern. I'm trying to recall a response to the Greens from National this term that hasn't been dismissive contempt.
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I'm feeling pretty smug that I voted for Julie Genter as electorate MP right about now.
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DexterX, in reply to
Work is not steady -- gaps of a week or two at times. He is not paid for down times, supplies his own tools, works on contract, self-employed so he covers all taxes, ACC etc. He's not getting rich, sometimes he's not getting by.
That is par for the course as afar as any "construction" related enterprise is concerned
Withthe manner matters are set up in Chch Fletchers will do really well out of it - perhaps even at the expense of everybody esle.
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Hebe, in reply to
Withthe manner matters are set up in Chch Fletchers will do really well out of it – perhaps even at the expense of everybody esle.
EQR is ordering five million litres of paint. All Resene Quarter-Tea I guess. Let's paint the town beige.
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DexterX, in reply to
The problem with "governance" in NZ is that there are no degrees of separation - that an entity can own and control all aspects of a "chain".
The country is locked up in a series of monopolies and duopolies.
The only “free” market in NZ is the “wage market” and you could consider this to be in essence a slave market for most – when one sets the average wage against the cost of living.
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merc, in reply to
The only “free” market in NZ is the “wage market” and you could consider this to be in essence a slave market for most – when one sets the average wage against the cost of living.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/7342404/Airport-directors-fees-take-off
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/7342565/Sales-bonus-share-retreat-amid-speculation
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/7339554/Lets-get-on-with-mixed-ownership
The elephant in the corner of the room - share holding Ministers.
http://www.ask.com/web?l=dis&o=102866cr&qsrc=2869&gct=kwd&q=share%20holding%20Ministers,nz -
DexterX, in reply to
What is the Shareholding Minister Link meant to be taken "us" to.
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merc, in reply to
A collection of exactly what a share holding Minister does and who they report to and who reports to them and well, how that may affect the sharemarket - in the case of the Helen Clark bailout of Air New Zealand, a very tricky role to be in.
No journalist will touch it because it is obviously a role that encourages insider trading, by definition - except here in NZ, where that sort of thing is OK, because our sharemarket is not well legislated.
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/article/ed279114/air-nz-insider-trading-request-denied.html -
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Matthew Poole, in reply to
except here in NZ, where that sort of thing is OK, because our sharemarket is not well legislated.
The situation in 2002 was rather different WRT insider trading than it is now. Labour tightened up the rules somewhat. The bigger challenge is the resourcing of the watchdog, which National are, naturally, not keen on maintaining - as is the case with every other watchdog.
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merc, in reply to
Good point, however the NZ sharemarket is known internationally as being somewhat unusual. Telecom would be an interesting case study.
The Govt. that legislates profit for you, can legislate that profit away too. Key is running dangerously close to the wind, as Clark did with Air NZ shares (she recommended publicly that people buy them prior to announcing the bailout) with his promotional antics, in my view. -
DexterX, in reply to
Sorry meant to say "taking" us to - thanks for the reply.
NZ has not been well served by either Labour or the Nats - hence the emphasis on shades of green.
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merc, in reply to
NZ has not been well served by either Labour or the Nats...
You're welcome, it pays to keep me focussed. The really interesting thing concerning both parties and their actions verses their ideologies, is the sharemarket (the actual entity). Nothing proves to me more their real colours than the embodiment of their ideological market focus than the actual sharemarket and their physical involvement in it.
I could argue that the notion that the sharemarket exists in a bubble is patently invalid. Equally if you are a Govt. that consistently overspends and borrows and is in desperate need of capital, after property, the sharemarket is it.
The only question for Govt's is, how do we control it? The second question we should ask is, why are they not telling us of the risks involved?
The time has moved on, the electoral system has not kept pace. -
And while Key and pals are salivating over the sale of our Genertailiers…
NZ can’t afford a NZ$3.5bn broadband ’white elephant’When you’re forking out NZ$1.5 billion on ultra-fast broadband (UFB) you should want to ensure that enough people will buy it.
Earlier this week, Orcon admitted that so few were signing up to UFB and that the company is reduced to giving it away.
In recent months, the state-owned ISP has rolled out UFB to 45,000 homes, but fewer than 200 have signed up for it.
These guys couldn’t run a cake stall.
When the government plans to spend NZ$120 million to sell shares in state-owned energy companies, you might think that it would see the wisdom in using some taxpayer-funded campaigns to promote UFB as well. Instead, our ICT Minister Amy Adams said that she will leave the marketing of UFB to the ISPs and other retailers, themselves.
Can't they start by selling something that needs selling?.
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merc, in reply to
It's not their spending, it's the way they are spending.
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Whilst on the subject…
Chattanooga Claims America’s Fastest Broadband ServiceChattanooga now calls itself The Gig City — in reference to the fiber-to-the-home network built across 600 square miles of Chattanooga and surrounding Hamilton County. Up to 1 gigabit per second service now is available to all businesses, residences, and public and private institutions.
Yes, in the land of the “Free” Socialism rears its battered head and delivers Municipal Broadband.
The roots of Chattanooga’s superfast network begin at the downtown headquarters of the Electric Power Board (EPB). As its name implies, the municipally owned utility company delivers electricity to the community. In 2007, the EPB began planning for a fiber network, seeing it as a way to improve the electric grid’s reliability.
Now there's an idea. Reinstate the Power Boards.
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merc, in reply to
Now there's an idea. Reinstate the Power Boards.
And public libraries with computers hooked up to the innertoobz for free, with book loaning for free and no overdue fees or any fees at all, with digitized archives...oh wait, that's not only crazy talk it's anti-TPPT (or whateva the thing is named).
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Russell Brown, in reply to
And while Key and pals are salivating over the sale of our Genertailiers…
NZ can’t afford a NZ$3.5bn broadband ’white elephant’I think by definition it can't be a white elephant -- fibre in the ground is fibre in the ground -- but they certainly haven't done a great job of getting the public interested.
Of course, it might have helped had the government taken even remotely seriously the Commerce Commission's concerns about demand-side problem. But, of course, that would have meant upsetting Sky Television.
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
I think by definition it can’t be a white elephant –
Like Duh. t would have to be an Elephant… and white.
that would have meant upsetting Sky Television.
Well, they certainly pissed me off.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
But, of course, that would have meant upsetting Sky Television.
If they're not upset enough, here's how you can help.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
coming of adage...
fibre in the ground is fibre in the ground
Hmmm... Bet that looks great in Latin...
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OK, so I checked:
fibre in humus est fibre in humus
filling, tasty, but maybe not that stirring...
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