If National wins ...

[Daytr]

Yeah its interesting hearing that from someone in the investment community such as Devon.
He hits quite a few nails on the head, but misses quite a few others.
Like the massive increase in our government debt that there is no plan to start paying down & as he mentioned dairy & the implication is that huge boost to the economy is about to dry up & so is government tax receipts. Electricity prices are another issue for NZ & act as a tax on lower income whilst shareholders benefit at their expense. Allowing solar surplus to be bought at much more reasonable rates & giving support to the industry to make it more affordable would actually same money on infrastructure required to transmit power the length of the country which is so inefficient.
The Government's unwillingness to reign in immigration & the Auckland property market also means its difficult for the RBNZ to drop rates, again costing the rest of the country not only in interest costs but also export revenues as the Kiwi remains stubbornly high due to the yield in the NZD.
Economic managers my arse.
I'm off to the bank to borrow some money on an on-going basis with no plan of ever paying it back, in the mean time I'm going to sell the assets that underpin the cashflow to service that debt. Lets see how far I get.

[elZorro]

Yeah its interesting hearing that from someone in the investment community such as Devon.
He hits quite a few nails on the head, but misses quite a few others.
Like the massive increase in our government debt that there is no plan to start paying down & as he mentioned dairy & the implication is that huge boost to the economy is about to dry up & so is government tax receipts. Electricity prices are another issue for NZ & act as a tax on lower income whilst shareholders benefit at their expense. Allowing solar surplus to be bought at much more reasonable rates & giving support to the industry to make it more affordable would actually same money on infrastructure required to transmit power the length of the country which is so inefficient.
The Government's unwillingness to reign in immigration & the Auckland property market also means its difficult for the RBNZ to drop rates, again costing the rest of the country not only in interest costs but also export revenues as the Kiwi remains stubbornly high due to the yield in the NZD.
Economic managers my arse.
I'm off to the bank to borrow some money on an on-going basis with no plan of ever paying it back, in the mean time I'm going to sell the assets that underpin the cashflow to service that debt. Lets see how far I get.

Daytr, you could always say to the bank that you have the option of increasing your prices to your more well-off clients, but of course the bank might argue that you'd lose hold of the company, and suffer bad press to boot. So I guess in the meantime your business policy will be to rip a whole lot of people off a bit, especially the less vocal and focussed ones. As to how you will address the needs of those clients while at the same time trying to levy income from your most asset-rich clients, you can probably put that in the too-hard basket. Love those cheap interest rates, and it's not your money paying the interest - bonus.

[Major von Tempsky]

I see that Grant Robertson (sic) called John Key "weird and creepy" in the House.

Most people's reaction - Grant Robertson? HE of all people.

If Labour are to have any show of making it stick they need an MP who is straight and normal and well adjusted (do they have any?) to make such a charge.

Grant Robertson calls John Key weird and creepy - I'm still laughing. Talk about those in glasshouses not throwing stones!

[winner69]

EZ, this is the sort of passion that Labour needs to generate somehow

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...lection-labour

Next Friday will be compelling TV viewing

[BlackPeter]

"The disappearing Mr Little" on NBR ...

http://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/disappearing-mr-little

food for thought?

[elZorro]

EZ, this is the sort of passion that Labour needs to generate somehow

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...lection-labour

Next Friday will be compelling TV viewing

I'm not following the UK elections very much, but I take it SNP and Labour could do some kind of a deal after the elections.

Over here, Bill English is getting the bad news out early before the budget.

Carefully massaged messages about how everything is going according to plan. I can't see how that is going to be the case, there will be lots of businesses out here in the provinces who won't be paying any income taxes, just about every farmer (not much new there), but every supplier to dairy farmers, and the service industries reliant on that income being spread about. There will be more unemployed, bigger costs on that side. A smaller PAYE return, these will add up to make it very hard to balance the budget, even next year. Note how they are still talking about tax cuts by 2017. This is the bribe they'll hope to use to stay in power, after making a mess of the country's finances for nine years. The govt controls a good third of the entire NZ economy. They're it, the big honcho. They haven't been able to make it work, because they are fundamentally clots, looking after themselves and their mates.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/ne...day+2+May+2015

[BlackPeter]

I'm not following the UK elections very much, but I take it SNP and Labour could do some kind of a deal after the elections.

...

They're it, the big honcho. They haven't been able to make it work, because they are fundamentally clots, looking after themselves and their mates.

Hi EZ, maybe this is Labours big problem? If National is really looking out only for the (give or take) 50% of the population voting for them, and Labour is only looking out for the (give or take) 20% of the population voting for Labour, than how do you ever plan to get into government?

Not trying to be facetious here ... while I personally feel that a National government is still the smaller evil for NZ, I agree that their performance is deteriorating. I definitely would want to see a strong and credible opposition keeping the government honest. Unfortunately Labour is denying this crucial service to our country - and I am not sure, why? I guess if things keep going as they are, than Winston Peters might soon be the leader of the opposition (and hey, he well might go next time with National assuming that the baubles of power might look prettier on the right than on the left).

[elZorro]

Hi EZ, maybe this is Labours big problem? If National is really looking out only for the (give or take) 50% of the population voting for them, and Labour is only looking out for the (give or take) 20% of the population voting for Labour, than how do you ever plan to get into government?

Not trying to be facetious here ... while I personally feel that a National government is still the smaller evil for NZ, I agree that their performance is deteriorating. I definitely would want to see a strong and credible opposition keeping the government honest. Unfortunately Labour is denying this crucial service to our country - and I am not sure, why? I guess if things keep going as they are, than Winston Peters might soon be the leader of the opposition (and hey, he well might go next time with National assuming that the baubles of power might look prettier on the right than on the left).

BP, I couldn't get at the article from NBR you posted. But from my point of view, Andrew Little is tracking along OK. He's got time on his side.

You said that National is looking out for the 50% of voters who voted for them. A more correct view is that they obtained 50% of the party vote at the last election. They also lost the Northland by-election by a landslide. Every main election for the last 2-3 decades, 80% of the party vote has gone to National/Labour/NZFirst/Greens combined. How that proportion splits up, is decided by effective marketing and advertising spend from each of the main parties during the last three months before the election. Over the last three, even four elections, National has out-spent Labour, more recently by quite a lot. They also had the bonus of already being in power.

I'm pleased you're less happy with National now than you were. Think about that across the whole country, and by 2017 the old 'three terms in, three terms out' rule for the main party should apply. It'll show up first in more campaign funds being available for Labour, less for National. Then this will feed into aggressive but well-founded arguments from Labour's team, and I'm confident they'll take it out in 2017. They certainly have plenty of ammo for the next election.

[Daytr]

With a post like that MVT its your true colors that are being exposed & just how out of date your views are.
Grant Robertson's sexual persuasion has no relevance & if John Key liked pulling ponytails in the bedroom with a consenting adult than neither would that. The difference is Key continued his behavior with someone who not only didn't consent but objected to it.

I see that Grant Robertson (sic) called John Key "weird and creepy" in the House.

Most people's reaction - Grant Robertson? HE of all people.

If Labour are to have any show of making it stick they need an MP who is straight and normal and well adjusted (do they have any?) to make such a charge.

Grant Robertson calls John Key weird and creepy - I'm still laughing. Talk about those in glasshouses not throwing stones!

[Sgt Pepper]

I see that Grant Robertson (sic) called John Key "weird and creepy" in the House.

Most people's reaction - Grant Robertson? HE of all people.

If Labour are to have any show of making it stick they need an MP who is straight and normal and well adjusted (do they have any?) to make such a charge.

Grant Robertson calls John Key weird and creepy - I'm still laughing. Talk about those in glasshouses not throwing stones!

Major

What on earth are you going on about. You write like some Neanderthal who makes Archie Bunker seem liberal. Oh well, I guess that's what happens if you watch Fox News all day.