If National wins ...

[elZorro]

Fonterra is starting on a job-cutting procedure already, and the overnight dairy auction prices dropped again.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farm...ay+2+July+2015

[craic]

But you haven't told us what a Labour led government would do to solve this? Most voters know already. They would pull the blanket over their head with muffled moans of "woe is me. It's all the fault of the National Party"

Fonterra is starting on a job-cutting procedure already, and the overnight dairy auction prices dropped again.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farm...ay+2+July+2015

[artemis]

..... The baby boomer generation often think the youth are born with a sense of entitlement. I would suggest this is an example of it being the other way around.

Last week's Listener editorial had quite a bit to say on intergenerationsl issues, including this:

Few debates are more pointless and depleting of nationhood and goodwill than those that involve the crude and sometimes cruel objectification of an entire generation. “Gen Y kids are too sheltered.” ”Baby boomers are greedy.” None of us has any say over when we are born. Most of us do our best with the set of socio-economic cards we’re dealt. How we get on, singly or en masse, is not even necessarily within our control.

Both parents now need to work & its very hard to survive on one income with a family & probably impossible on minimum wage.

That's an unjustified generalisation. Plenty of families are on a single income. Some even headed by a sole parent. Perhaps it is harder in Auckland but a lot of people live in cheaper areas. Families on one minimum wage (or even two) will be able to get taxpayer top ups via Working for Families, child care, accommodation supplement.

[winner69]

EZ, for quite a few tertiary education is heavily subsidised by the tax payer
http://www.interest.co.nz/personal-f...ten-one-yeyear

so $15 billion in outstanding student loans - shocking figure

is this the older generations supporting the younger generations?

[Daytr]

National recently were quoted (Simon Bridges I believe) as saying there is room for more dairy conversion. They are promoting more irrigation dams in the regions to 'support' such conversions. This is very like their poorly thought out support for the fossil fuel industry. National are stuck in the 20th century not the 21st.
They haven't woken up to the fact that the oil based era is winding down & that dairy has global over capacity. China is now dealing direct with Russia on mega factory farms. Probably using Fonterra's technology & know how courtesy of the dairy factories Fonterra set up in China. National have not encouraged diversification of NZ industry instead supporting the same old primary producers and not adding value to NZ. The honey industry is a prime example that is crying out for guidance to ensure NZ retains its advantage & it becomes a valuable commodity for generations. Solar energy is another that National has helped undermine.
What National do is sell stuff & build roads. Anyone would think they are kids playing shop keeper or with toy diggers in the backyard, so simplistic is their approach to NZs future.

[elZorro]

But you haven't told us what a Labour led government would do to solve this? Most voters know already. They would pull the blanket over their head with muffled moans of "woe is me. It's all the fault of the National Party"

Labour did have a likely solution to this sort of problem: R&D tax credits in place for SMEs by 2008 finacial year. The aim was an incentive to widen areas of product research and manufacturing for export in NZ, for the very players who are already involved and have done the hard yards. National scrapped it pronto, in 2008. This shortsightedness was probably egged on by their few big business backers, who wanted more of the funds for themselves. They've certainly achieved that.

National rejoiced in the massively high dairy payout a year or so ago, and still didn't manage to take in enough taxes to balance their own books. Now they are stumped, there is no major other sector that is doing well in the export area either, and many manufacturing businesses are ramping down, not up.

[craic]

Don'y you see elZorro? You are rejoicing in every trend or event that might affect the current government and lead to a Labour victory, even if the trend is outside the influence of any government here and regardless of its cost to this country and its people. This mantra is typical of the left. Try coming up with something other than minor Labour policies that failed through their own ineptitude. We need a government with bold new policies not a chanting mob.

[winner69]

EZ, latest request. This time from Sue

Government changes to ACC vehicle levies mean that you could be one of the million New Zealanders who, from yesterday, will have to pay more for their car registrations than they should.

The price of car registration may be dropping but National’s changes actually mean drivers of older cars will pay more than their fair share for the ACC part of their rego.

They say that they’re trying to encourage Kiwis into buying safer cars, but all it does is penalise people who drive older cars – people who are likely to be on lower incomes like retirees and young families. There’s no evidence to show that charging people more for older cars improves safety on the road, either.

It’s unfair, it’s a mess, and Labour will fix it. Labour’s committed to:
Scrap the government's unfair ACC vehicle charges

-Ensure New Zealanders are not overcharged for their registration
-Continue to push the government to stop overcharging hundreds of thousands of Kiwis
-Keep the focus on reducing injuries and accidents

[elZorro]

EZ, latest request. This time from Sue

Government changes to ACC vehicle levies mean that you could be one of the million New Zealanders who, from yesterday, will have to pay more for their car registrations than they should.

The price of car registration may be dropping but National’s changes actually mean drivers of older cars will pay more than their fair share for the ACC part of their rego.

They say that they’re trying to encourage Kiwis into buying safer cars, but all it does is penalise people who drive older cars – people who are likely to be on lower incomes like retirees and young families. There’s no evidence to show that charging people more for older cars improves safety on the road, either.

It’s unfair, it’s a mess, and Labour will fix it. Labour’s committed to:
Scrap the government's unfair ACC vehicle charges

-Ensure New Zealanders are not overcharged for their registration
-Continue to push the government to stop overcharging hundreds of thousands of Kiwis
-Keep the focus on reducing injuries and accidents

Yes, Sue Moroney is Labour's spokesperson on ACC. So her time to shine. There were massive queues in post office branches (partitions of video shops and pharmacies I mean) doing their registrations yesterday, to save a few dollars. I guess some didn't save much.

I hope you signed, W69. Your link pack up the page a bit, isn't working. Otherwise I would chip in with my 2c worth..

[winner69]

EZ, it was this

http://www.interest.co.nz/personal-f...itten-one-year