Posts by TracyMac
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OnPoint: Don't put words in our mouths, Rob, in reply to Russell Brown,
I had no idea what his relationship to the party was till he implicitly, as you say, mentioned it in the article, and it was discussed in the ensuing comments.
Not only in relation to this, as someone non-resident in NZ, I really often don't know the personalities floating about in the media space. A byline outlining someone's affiliations and why they're commenting on Issue X would be great as a standard practice.
I was under the impression that Rob Salmond was an independent statistician engaged by the Labour party, not a member.
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Polity: A week on from the housing controversy, in reply to Rob Salmond,
Offshore property speculation causes a net loss to the NZ economy, for no productivity gain.
Nice exercise in goal-post moving. Are we worried about NZers getting fair access to housing, or are we worried about "productivity gains" to NZ's economy? They are far from synonymous.
And of course this "data" tackles neither point. Nor any analysis from Labour about the overheated housing market artificially driving up NZ's GDP, which makes NZ's economy look healthier than it is on that lazy measure.
As for concerns like mine - and the embarrassment we feel - being basically constructed as overly-PC hysteria, thanks for that. You haven't had my vote for twenty years - that ain't changing in a hurry.
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Speaker: Identification strategy: Now…, in reply to Kumara Republic,
There are many local speculators who are just as guilty if not more so
Exactly. Something that could be researched by Labour, if they bothered.
All this purported concern about kiwis having access to housing stock while ignoring the root issue - property speculators and rentierism - really doesn't sound convincing to me.
Sure, people are obviously concerned at the housing issue, but these cynical tactics are simply wrong. Present the real data - who buys up all the housing - and if people want to draw their own racist conclusions, that's their problem. At least the real problem will be out there for discussion.
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Wow, '81 was a pretty good year. Loved all those choons.
Are there many protest songs doing the rounds at present? Seems to be a dying art (at least the poppy ones that get radio play) and it's not as if there isn't plenty to protest about.
(I ask out of my relative detachedness from the NZ music scene these days, not as an old crustie moaning about indifferent yoof.)
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Speaker: Identification strategy: Now…, in reply to BenWilson,
Still massively skewed towards National, though. Mostly they cited strong parental influence there – which we know is a pretty big indicator for which way people will go.
I’ll be interested on any stats (ha! ha!) on the heritability of voting patterns. The fact we have more political parties than we did in the 70s and obviously different returns in various elections demonstrates it’s not the whole story. And my personal experience - it'll be a cold day in hell before I vote for the Leighton Smith party (whoever he's for).
And even if second-generation Ethnicity X tends to vote a certain way, why on earth would you go out of your way to alienate them even more? On such stupid grounds?
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Speaker: Identification strategy: Now…, in reply to BenWilson,
estimating Asian ethnicities [methodology] is sensitive IP for Labour.
I'm embarrassed to be a Pakeha right now. But relieved I haven't voted for this lot (nor any party that would have Brash, either).
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Regarding the govt not collecting the relevant stats, is that the fault of the bleeding heart lefties – or whatever Mr Semmens kindly classified me as by implication, can’t be bothered rereading the ad hom – or by our awesome capitalist overlords at present who would probably not want too much of a close examination into who this country is being sold off to? (At least they're going to start gathering the stats - although how helpful that will be given there's a visa class where you can just buy your way into the country, who knows?)
I can’t stand rentierism, and I don’t give a shit about the national origins or residential status of who’s doing it. Or is it fine when it’s “true blue kiwis” – whatever the hell that may be – who are the slum landlords?
As for the bleating about how the accusations of racism plays into Labour’s downfall, and how the media are playing it up – stop giving them the goddamn ammunition!
House ownership is a matter of public record. Get your researchers to analyse the top private landlords in this country, if you really care about the home ownership issue. From there, you may well find that some are overseas residents. Analyse THAT before running off with knee-jerk racist crap.
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OnPoint: My last name sounds Chinese, in reply to Alfie,
It doesn't matter a damn whether it's cashed-up Chinese buyers or Russian oligarchs.
What a shame, then, that Twyford doesn't give you any information about either.
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OnPoint: My last name sounds Chinese, in reply to Seriatim,
Uh, making “important points” by spouting a bunch of unsupported bollocks doesn’t strike me as the best way to bolster an argument.
If you had real numbers of non-resident property owners, you might have something to discuss. Personally, I’d be much more interested in the number of people who own more than 3 properties they rent out.
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Yup, it's embarrassing. Do they still use "clean and green" on tourism promotions?