If National wins ...

[elZorro]

BB, the govt is making it harder for every service and retail business in the country, by dropping their staff payroll wherever they can. It's a roll-on effect that they must surely be aware of. It will reduce their tax income, so in turn they'll have to drop more taxpayer services off. If there was some fat there, it wasn't much. Otherwise, why would they be playing with hospital food for $10mill p.a? The tax take should be 6000 times that figure, and Labour showed that it could be increased from about 50Billion to over 60Billion in just a few years. They did it by first ensuring more people were employed, and contributing. I have already suggested ways of making NZ businesses more profitable, in line with the ideas that Labour already have. It's not my fault that you choose not to read those posts.

[BIRMANBOY]

EZ, I'm sure your'e a lovely man and your family love you...but its a futile and soul destroying operation and is beyond my patience. Brick wall. One way traffic and the windows are dirty and the wipers arent working.

BB, the govt is making it harder for every service and retail business in the country, by dropping their staff payroll wherever they can. It's a roll-on effect that they must surely be aware of. It will reduce their tax income, so in turn they'll have to drop more taxpayer services off. If there was some fat there, it wasn't much. Otherwise, why would they be playing with hospital food for $10mill p.a? The tax take should be 6000 times that figure, and Labour showed that it could be increased from about 50Billion to over 60Billion in just a few years. They did it by first ensuring more people were employed, and contributing. I have already suggested ways of making NZ businesses more profitable, in line with the ideas that Labour already have. It's not my fault that you choose not to read those posts.

[elZorro]

BB, check your typing, two mistakes at least. And another one in point of fact. The National Govt is just as tight-fisted when it comes to getting their own offices cleaned. They've set the budget for it so low, that half the number of Spotless contract cleaners are used to do the same job as previously, and they're all on the minimum wage. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10865001

[elZorro]

A Telecom insider now working for Forsyth Barr reckons 1750 jobs will have to go at Telecom, all before the next election.
http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/tele...dafone-5402782 (Not the govt's fault, but where will they go?)

87 FTE workers in Waikato Hospital's kitchens in fear of their jobs (total food budget just $6.5mill p.a), as overseas owned Compass inspects the facilities (the govt's fault).

A wave of enthusiasm hits SMEs in the Christchurch rebuild area. I just hope the business owners manage to make a profit out of it. But certainly, this will be a good employment area, and suitable for those who are more mobile and have a trade of some kind. (the govt will highlight this industry).

[iceman]

A Telecom insider now working for Forsyth Barr reckons 1750 jobs will have to go at Telecom, all before the next election.
http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/tele...dafone-5402782 (Not the govt's fault, but where will they go?)

87 FTE workers in Waikato Hospital's kitchens in fear of their jobs (total food budget just $6.5mill p.a), as overseas owned Compass inspects the facilities (the govt's fault).

A wave of enthusiasm hits SMEs in the Christchurch rebuild area. I just hope the business owners manage to make a profit out of it. But certainly, this will be a good employment area, and suitable for those who are more mobile and have a trade of some kind. (the govt will highlight this industry).

You're right these job losses at Telecom have nothing to do with the Government and are probably well overdue.
I read yesterday that Holden in Australia is laying off 500 people in addition to the 150 recently laid off. This is despite Governments under Howard/Rudd/Gillard having pumped A$ 2,000 million dollars, yes A$2 BILLION into the company over the last decade. EZ do you think this is tax payers money well spent or a disastrous waste ?

On our side of the Tasman Bill English confirms today that he is on target to balance the books for 2014/2015 and as long as voters stay sensible at the ballot box, he aims to cut net Government debt from 30% of GDP to 20% by 2020. A great achievement on the surplus and a great goal for debt reduction. My children and grandchildren will thank Key & English for this great work

[POSSUM THE CAT]

iceman Your grandchildren will not thank you when they are earning one yuan a day this is a race to the bottom.

[iceman]

iceman Your grandchildren will not thank you when they are earning one yuan a day this is a race to the bottom.

Yes PTC, nothing but doom and gloom eh ? I wonder where I should tell my children to move to, to get away from our awful situation. UK, Europe (Ireland/Spain/Cyprus etc), USA, South America ?

No, luckily my children and their friends don´t share your pessimism and look forward to a great and bright future in our lovely country.

Unlike the pessimistic view that we will be " earning one yuan a day", I believe NZ will grow significantly on the back of China´s increasing need for soft commodities and high tech industries and high paying jobs will be spawned here in NZ as a result.
In fact NZ is already doing this with tripling of exports to China since we signed the FTA.

I buy into the sentiment in this article/speech rather than your gloomy outlook:

[URL="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10877056"]

We don´t know how lucky we are

[elZorro]

You're right these job losses at Telecom have nothing to do with the Government and are probably well overdue.
I read yesterday that Holden in Australia is laying off 500 people in addition to the 150 recently laid off. This is despite Governments under Howard/Rudd/Gillard having pumped A$ 2,000 million dollars, yes A$2 BILLION into the company over the last decade. EZ do you think this is tax payers money well spent or a disastrous waste ?

On our side of the Tasman Bill English confirms today that he is on target to balance the books for 2014/2015 and as long as voters stay sensible at the ballot box, he aims to cut net Government debt from 30% of GDP to 20% by 2020. A great achievement on the surplus and a great goal for debt reduction. My children and grandchildren will thank Key & English for this great work

Where to start Iceman? This post of yours might be a bit OTT. The subsidies to Holden keep those huge training facilities in place, and cost $17 pp p.a. Surely a lot of the subsidies get spread around and at least half comes back as taxes.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/companies/kim-carr-defends-subsidies-to-holden/story-fndfr3g3-1226615441880

Key and English (don't forget Joyce) - what will their legacy be? That between them they put the frighteners on enough people to screw the economy of the entire country down, they never met their theoretical budget settings that were put up as the reason for this madness, and they succeeded in widening the gap between rich and poor, while exporting some of our best talent overseas, as they had no sensible employment options here.

[POSSUM THE CAT]

Iceman exports to China trebled but would they have also trebled without the free trade agreement? Also how much have imports from China increased, I would suggest a 1000% So are you anticipating becoming a Chinese Citizen.

[BIRMANBOY]

Could you change your Avatar name please...your'e giving felines a bad name. Having trouble with your maths as usual. Imports from China increased by 14% from last year (NBR). To China up 16.6 % on last year so its all growing gradually. Is there something wrong with trading with China? Whats your point? Are you implying we shouldnt have a Free Trade Agreement? If you are your thinking is stuck in the past. Free trade agreements are part and parcel of international trade and if we didnt have some proactive people pushing us along we would be sinking further and further into the category of (nice place to visit but not worth doing business with). The next step is the only jobs available will be Tourism and how likely is it that will support the economy.

Iceman exports to China trebled but would they have also trebled without the free trade agreement? Also how much have imports from China increased, I would suggest a 1000% So are you anticipating becoming a Chinese Citizen.