Posts by Rob S
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Polity: A hazy, intriguing crystal ball, in reply to Alfie,
iPredict is no more.
Didn't see that coming. -sorry, I'll get me hat
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Has copyright overreached in its extension?
All the time it seems to be easier to pirate art via the internet and with a younger generation believing it has a right to access material will the copyright holders be swamped with takedown actions and the like?
I would like to see a more effective method of bogus rights holders as seen with the song happy birthday being punished or having to prove their rights. They effectively moved a song from the public domain by lawyering up and making it cheaper to pay a ransom.
As for the whole TPP I've gone from anti to agnostic at best.
In hindsight it might have been better to keep the smaller countries setting the rules and if the big players want in to our sandpit they do it on our terms not theirs. -
The more flag options to vote for the more people there will be who's first option won't be chosen.
Probably they're more likely to say no on the final change/keep the flag option as their preference isn't on the ballot.
I can't see a flag change occurring. This has been a stuff up from the get go.
Key can talk the talk but as a capable "doer" I have my doubts.
His Government is sclerotic and Brezhnevian.
Not a single Gov surplus and a metric shit ton of extra debt, an indebted homeless generation coming through whilst he worries about our flag? Facile and aimless moves from a smartarse banker.
I don't think the history books when written will be full of praise. -
Envirologue: Too Big to Fail – Why…, in reply to Alfie,
I think you'll find that both Mr Key and Groser are relaxed about that global warming thing.
Anything that isn't a short term problem gets kicked down the road with this lot.
Traders don't look at the long view, just complete the deal and then move on. -
Perhaps some of the left wing success in Greece, Spain and the other countries "enjoying" austerity is resonating in the UK also?
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Polity: In defence of the centre, in reply to BenWilson,
I consider WFF to be more like an employer subsidy than anything else, shifting the cost of a fair wage on to other taxpayers.
Employers should be paying a living wage.
A lot of research points to higher wages at the lower end creating more growth in the economy through the greater likelihood of it not being saved but spent again creating more demand and subsequent jobs.
Far more preferable also for the worker to know he earns his own way and isn't relying on a Government top up.
A phenomenal increase in wage growth in real and percentage terms has gone to the top end in an endless cycle of pay parity. Yet restraint is always called for at the other end of the scale.
Why is this country importing farm workers [as one example] from third world countries other than to keep the cost of wages and production lower?
It's an industry that prides itself on being the lowest cost producer in the world and should therefore be able to pay better.
Instead the extra money just goes into a cycle of higher farm prices and debt for new entrants.
The whole greed is good ethos from the eighties is still lingering and Labour has to show that it no longer subscribes to this idea which it was mesmerised by in the Lange/Douglas years when the country did have to be opened up but some of the consequences are now being realised with the cost being borne by the less well off.
NZ went on a neolib bender from '84 and is still drinking from the same bottle.
I won't get on to the market failure in housing or I'll get no work done at all. -
Polity: New Zealand and the TPP: “Or…, in reply to ,
Run on a pull out of the treaty platform seems to be the best response.
I see very few opportunities for our country in this treaty, our political masters just say trust me.
This is not good enough.
I’m not anti free trade however I now feel that we should only have treated with the initial [5 ?] partners and let others join as they want.
The US and other big players have used it as a stalking horse for their own anti-competitive agendas.
The loss of national sovereignty via secretive closed courts is not the way forward for our country.
We as a country have been played a fool. -
Speaker: What I learned in Class: Should…, in reply to Russell Brown,
What happens if you tell a bogan they are a public intellectual?
Like an old school AB's try scorer walking stolidly back to half-way you'd know that people know what you've achieved without having to do anything more. Your mates would know you for what you are and leave it there with the quiet understanding that you "done well".
Bogans aren't generally reflex anti intellectual, but don't appreciate condescending knobbery.
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Overseas money from non-residents is driving up prices, all you need for a bidding war is 2 keen buyers i.e. one local and one from overseas with access to cheaper money and more of it and the local guy is stuffed. So the next auction he goes to, rinse and repeat.
The banks are loving it as more people commit themselves to increasingly higher mortgages where they cream the profit for a very long period.
Look at their profits which are at record levels.
The real estate industry love it as they are usually on a percentage basis for their profit. Note that as house prices have tracked at a vastly higher inflationary rate to that of the country as a whole their cut has gone up exponentially in dollar terms with little downward fall. If they charged a standard fee as a set sum it almost certainly not cost as much to sell a house. All it does is to encourage more people into an essentially non productive business.
To an extent the damage is already done. The fallout from this has the potential to stunt NZ’s growth for a generation as our nations youngest overpay for a house for the next 10-20 years, sending the money overseas to the banks.
Same deal for our farmers who are now finding that what goes up comes down.
The country is being bled white on a real estate ponzi scheme as our politicians, especially those in charge right now point the finger of blame whilst simultaneously sitting on their hands.
National were happy to jeer down any attempt at controlling the property speculation industry whilst seeking election it is now time for them to show some spine and sort it out. If we could afford to build state houses previously why not now? It had a successful outcome for Mr Key.
Encourage growth in the regions, improve public transport, admit that the Government can have a serious role to play in this mess. Something better than Nick Smith wandering around pointing at land he doesn’t own.
The money spent on the flag debate has a whiff of Nero fiddling while Rome burns. -
Oh to be a fly on the wall at TV3.
Hunter S Thompson comes to mind,
" a cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason".
Mark Weldon sitting in a plush chair muttering what the fuck to himself as Julie Christie stirs around out of her depth turning gold into shit. Usually the other way round for her.
Farce and tragedy with money being pissed up a wall.
They deserve all that they get. They went into this wide eyed with a ruthless attitude.
A pox on them and there ambitions whatever they in fact are.
As to the owners one wonders what is going through their minds at this moment, how much patience and money do they have?
Apologies for spleen vent.