ACT's David Seymour - i like his style.

[davflaws]

Keep your loser profile to yourself.

Any argument with Balance very quickly degenerates into a competition to see who can be nastiest and most abusive.

Don't feed the troll.

[Panda-NZ-]

Maybe he's retired and on super welfare.

Or is a maori.

Those who tend to hate things the most are usually the same things they loathe about themselves.

[Bjauck]

Hundreds of thousands of migrants cd to NZ over the years and the majority of them have nothing but their education, qualifications and skills - and they end up doing very very well. In fact, many of them sacrificed everything and paid to get educated in NZ and then, stayed on and prosper.

Guess why?

Why do so many Kiwis end up living overseas? As a nationality, we have one of the biggest percentages in the OECD who live away from their home country. It would be interesting to compared the qualifications of Kiwis who leave NZ with those of immigrants.

[Aaron]

Brooke van Velden opines in the herald this morning on the brain drain.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politi...DJAKQBK223CUI/

I think she hits the nail on the head when she says "anyone who works hard, saves, and budgets is just punished here."

Yet she is not smart enough to know it is monetary policy and an out of control central bank largely responsible for this situation. She must know that loose monetary policy and low interest rates are a big driver of the housing market. Interest rate repression and inflation are killing savers etc. How else would house prices have gone up 30% in a pandemic without the RBNZ.

Her earlier proposal to fix the housing crisis was less govt and building more houses. Her solution to the brain drain is ACTs budget which is less govt. And in some cases I am sure there is waste which could be cut.

I find it hard to believe ACT has libertarian leanings when they never address the role central planning by the RBNZ has on just about everything happening in society at the moment.

I guess they are concerned where central planning takes from the rich to give to the poor or build society but where it takes from the poor to give to the rich they turn a blind eye. (much like Labour and National)

Also note they will raise the retirement age but not until all boomers are suckling on the taxpayer teat, that is smart politics. I notice also they don't suggest to stop paying national super welfare payments to those that don't need it. Maybe they can recommend this once the younger generations have enough in their kiwisaver accounts.

Maybe young people are leaving because the older generation keep sh*tting on them. Reckless monetary policy to shut them out of the housing market, kiwisaver deductions to save for their retirement while paying tax to cover retired boomers who never put money aside for their own retirement but want the comfort of high house prices and guaranteed super, student loan deductions as the free education boomers were given was denied to following generations.

I imagine despite all this NZ is still pretty good relative to most other countries but maybe boomers could think a bit about the future generations rather than themselves when voting next time.

[Getty]

Any comments/reactions to Act's recent proposal to make policy scrapping a few government ministries?

Have those ministries delivered any justifiable cost or social benefits to NZ?

[Panda-NZ-]

Axe the treasury?

Behind such ideas as borrowing to invest in the NZ super fund is a bad idea among other incorrect thinking.

[fungus pudding]

Brooke van Velden opines in the herald this morning on the brain drain.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politi...DJAKQBK223CUI/

I think she hits the nail on the head when she says "anyone who works hard, saves, and budgets is just punished here."

Yet she is not smart enough to know it is monetary policy and an out of control central bank largely responsible for this situation. She must know that loose monetary policy and low interest rates are a big driver of the housing market. Interest rate repression and inflation are killing savers etc. How else would house prices have gone up 30% in a pandemic without the RBNZ.

Her earlier proposal to fix the housing crisis was less govt and building more houses. Her solution to the brain drain is ACTs budget which is less govt. And in some cases I am sure there is waste which could be cut.

I find it hard to believe ACT has libertarian leanings when they never address the role central planning by the RBNZ has on just about everything happening in society at the moment.

I guess they are concerned where central planning takes from the rich to give to the poor or build society but where it takes from the poor to give to the rich they turn a blind eye. (much like Labour and National)

What do they take from the poor and give to the rich?

[Aaron]

What do they take from the poor and give to the rich?

Maybe they don't anymore but they favoured a flat tax over a progressive income tax back in 2019.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/113...-tax-ever-work

I think I pointed out how a flat tax would work in reality in earlier posts. David Seymour has said the progressive tax system is too difficult much like a capital gains tax.

[fungus pudding]

Maybe they don't anymore but they favoured a flat tax over a progressive income tax back in 2019.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/113...-tax-ever-work

I think I pointed out how a flat tax would work in reality in earlier posts. David Seymour has said the progressive tax system is too difficult much like a capital gains tax.

A flat tax is a bit of a misnomer. It does not mean everyone pays the same amount. It means the same percentage applies to every dollar. i.e. not progressive. The high earners still pay more. Obviously you realise that, but a hell of a lot don't.

[Aaron]

A flat tax is a bit of a misnomer. It does not mean everyone pays the same amount. It means the same percentage applies to every dollar. i.e. not progressive. The high earners still pay more. Obviously you realise that, but a hell of a lot don't.

Don't worry FP David has said he is there to fight for a minority and if he wins at the next election that minority should get even smaller as wealth concentrates amongst fewer and fewer people.

David thinks it is unfair that 3% of the population pay 24% of the income tax. With his policies everyone else can chip in more so they can pay less and not be so oppressed.

https://www.treasury.govt.nz/informa...ays-income-tax

Much like GST being a regressive tax. Wealthy people would pay a lot more GST but as a percentage of their income poor people would be paying a lot closer to 15% of their income in GST than someone better off who can save and invest some income.

I am not going to suggest anything is fair or not but society as a whole might be happier without David in charge. I would look to the happiest countries on the planet and see what they are doing if I were a politician.