Posts by ScottY
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We're already one of the most deregulated countries in the world. There are lots of reasons why we fail to perform, but excessive regulation is certainly not one of them.
It could be argued that one of the reasons why we fail is we're too damn deregulated. But even that's too simplistic.
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I don't think Shearer says we should hand over a whole pile of cash to churches so that pastors can buy nicer cars. There will have to be accountability, and Shearer mentions that. He's not putting up concrete proposals, so some of the venom in this thread towards Shearer is unjustified.
Church plays an important role in the Samoan and Tongan communities. If you're trying to distribute aid it makes sense to involve church groups. Isn't it worth at least considering?
In Lebanon after the Israeli bombings Hizbollah was about the only group left in the country with any kind of ability to get aid to people quickly. If your goal is to distribute aid quickly you work with the people you have to.
Groups like Hizbollah do an awful lot of charity and aid work among local communities. They're not saints, but nor are they simply terror organisations.
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Trotter's attacks on splitters and class enemies are tedious.
And the "Left" that he is fighting for exists only in his head.
IMHO Trotter's turgid posts are best left unread.
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Which reminds me, Democracy deserves a nomination for Semantic Quick Change of 2009. Who would have throught 'democracy' would end the year meaning poll-driven demagoguery?
Angry mob?
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Has anyone mentioned Recession?
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Entitlement
As in a sense of.
Prevalent among politicians (English, Hide, Harawira etc), the directors of failed finance companies who continue to build enormous mansions and drive flash cars, and failed former politicians who would like to slash government spending and tax so they can keep more of their loot.
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Pantywaist
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I think that a good number of poor people actually resent being told to celebrate rich people. I know I do.
But if someone has achieved wealth through creating a successful business, then chances are they're probably also creating jobs and income for the country.
If they just inherited a bundle, or got rich playing the markets, then screw them :)
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OK, a) I don't think there is a widespread disdain for businesspeople, just asshole ones;
I read and hear a lot of unflattering stuff spoken about people with money. Some of it is deserved, but not all of it.
Michael Cullen's "rich prick" comment about John Key is one of the more obvious examples.
BTW, I'm not suggesting we get the hankies out and start weeping for the poor dears. But the widespread disdain goes some way to explaining why many business people "satisfice".
To be fair, the idiotic 2025 report probably doesn't help, and probably convinces a few people there is some evil big-business agenda to eat our babies.
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I don't think this is true; we're hostile towards a lot of our top business people, but that's because most of them are evil thieves.
In saying that didn't you just prove my point?
Aren't we one of the easiest countries, regulations-wise, to do business in in the whole wide wacky world?
We are, but the regulatory framework is only one factor in the success of a business. There are plenty of countries with more regulation than our own and that do better than us. Like Australia.
Business investment in smarter systems and better management skills is essential. I'm unconvinced our widespread failure to do so is down to lack of praise for businesspeople. Pride in being good at it is another thing, however.
Capital depth is a problem that seems hard to separate from both our poorly governed and enforced investment markets and our distorted penchant for unproductive real estate that comes with untaxed gains and writeoffs. The Aussie super fund has to be a major difference too.
Nobody is claiming we can magically transform our economy by suddenly treating our business leaders as heroes. But there's no question a widespread disdain for businesspeople (as evidenced by some of the comments in this thread) creates a disincentive for some people to try harder.
No question the tax incentives to invest in real estate aren't helping.
You said 'part of this is because..'. I'd speculate that larger parts of the problem are the geographic isolation of NZ, and the small population, which directly effects both your workforce/pool of talent, and your market size.
Geographical isolation and distance to market are not the problems they used to be. Australia is also distant to most of its markets, but does better than us. And with the development of new communication technologies, we should be doing better. We aren't. And I'm not sure how relevant small population size is. Other countries with small populations do better than us. It may be a factor, but I'm not sure it is a large one.