If National wins ...

[westerly]

Sgt, would agree that many of the companies on your list have a similar or even higher standard of living than NZ does. Obviously - standard of living is sort of subjective.

However - here is an interesting observation: None of the countries you listed has a higher minimum wage than NZ - and some of them have no minimum wage at all.

Do we need more evidence that minimum wage and standard of living are either uncorrelated (or perhaps even negatively correlated)?

Unions and Labour trying to push the minimum wage into the stratosphere are not concerned about the living standard of anybody (well, maybe their own), they are just concerned about being in power (cheap election bribes) and they want to increase unemployment (unemployed people are more likely to be Labour voters - i.e. lets get more people onto the doll).

Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark do indeed have no minimum wage. However they all have strong unions and are required by law to have collective bargaining.
Something with your obvious antagonism to unions, you neglect to mention.

westerly

Your contin

[fungus pudding]

Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark do indeed have no minimum wage. However they all have strong unions and are required by law to have collective bargaining.
Something with your obvious antagonism to unions, you neglect to mention.

westerly

Your contin

There is nothing wrong with unions. There is everything wrong with compulsory unionism.

[elZorro]

Thank-you. My mistake. As far as whether lunch money, rent, booze, travel costs etc. are included, it's a completely stupid question.

FP, you're making mistakes too often, I'll have to get my red hi-lighter out soon.

To be clear, my implication about the minimum wage tables was that in many areas of NZ, especially Auckland, there are higher living costs than might be present relative to minimum wages in other countries. As accommodation is a necessary cost for most waged people, (and this just gets worse when a family is involved), then the metric called a 'living wage' surely has some credence. Some of our food costs are also noticeably higher than in Australia, for example, even though they generally pay better wages.

The Living Wage report for NZ in 2014: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.ne...pdf?1434872224

The rate of$18.80 is therefore recommended, which involves a 2.1 percent increase of the 2013 r

ate of $18.40. Sitting at 73.7percent of median household income, it is closer to the poverty threshold of 60
percent of median than the median itself. A living wage would be expected to provide a household
income considerably above the poverty threshold and at the same time well below the New
Zealand household median income. It also sits at 62.4 percent of mean household income.
As noted in the previous Report, the use of national average data to set the living wage will
underestimate costs in expensive housing regions like Auckland. Regional differences like this are difficult to resolve through a wage mechanism.
They highlight the issue though, that the calculation of a living wage is strongly affected by existing
tax rates and income support entitlements such as Working for Families tax credits, Childcare
support and in this example, the Accommodation Supplement. If any of these changes, the
necessary hourly rate would change as well – either up or down.

Action Station's TPPA fact website.

http://www.tppafacts.co.nz/explore-i...-cons-of-tppa/

[Daytr]

Iceman, I said that is how he will be remembered. Its my view on the future. All leaders other than Jenny Shipley and the like are democratically elected and dumped.

I agree with this Craig. A few posters go on and on about Key wanting knighthood, Key not finishing terms (claims made both last and current term) Judith Collins taking over soon, Key wanting to be High Commissioner or Ambassador. All of it just desperate people opposed to Key.
EZ saying the PM has no spine by deciding not going to the chaos that is at Waitangi , is simply showing no respect to the office of PM nor the police and Maori Wardens that have to protect him and other dignitaries. I did not like Helen Clark as PM but to see our PM reduced to tears at Waitangi infuriated me. Ngapuhi are a useless organisation beset with infighting and chaos. Would do better by signing a settlement with the Government and get money/assets they could put to use to help their people. But they don't care, are too silly and would just waste it. Pathetic.
Don't see the MP for Northland bothering himself with this too much though !!

And daytr saying Key is outstaying his welcome in the job. Excuse me but how is that possible for a democratically elected Leader who also has the backing of his own party, the Governing party ? I assume daytr will repeat that after Key easily wins the next election as well !

[Daytr]

If the current flag is retained than the whole process is a waste of 10s of millions of taxpayer money. I realize that's not a failure in National's book, that's a pass mark as their bar is set so low. However any reasonable person would see it as an abject failure.

Whether it is a vanity project or an attempt at raising our profile as distinct to the confusion with Australia - widely held in all parts of the planet, is subjective. I think Key has done more to raise NZs profile than any previous minister or prime minister.
It is a binding referendum so can't fail. It must produce a result. The process was not and is not being rushed.

[BlackPeter]

Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark do indeed have no minimum wage. However they all have strong unions and are required by law to have collective bargaining.
Something with your obvious antagonism to unions, you neglect to mention.

westerly

Your contin

westerly, just because you are politically one eyed does not mean everybody else is as well.

Unions in itself are just an instrument to allow individuals with limited bargaining power to increase this power as a collective. This is good if they correct this way an obvious and unfair imbalance of power (like during the industrialisation). It is bad, if they abuse this power to further blackmail, corruption and crime (quite the standard in some industries in Australia and the US) or if they abuse this power to ruin corporations (British rail springs to mind - forcing the company to have a fireman twiggling his thumbs on the diesel locomotive) or just look at the ugly power games in even our harbours ... unions just love to play god with the fate of corporations and don't care how many workplaces they destroy to further their own selfish course.

I don't support or oppose the idea of unions more or less than I oppose or support the idea of corporations / church groups /religions or governments ... they all started probably with a good cause, but as soon as they have too much power many of them turn ugly. They all need a tight control ... and that's all I ask for.

[RGR367]

#WaitangiDay is to agitate and protest while #BobMarleyBirthday is to smoke pot and somehow levitate. Same day but take your pick

[Major von Tempsky]

Good article by Martin von Beynen re TPPA in today's paper (Press/Dom).

[fungus pudding]

Good article by Martin von Beynen re TPPA in today's paper (Press/Dom).

Could you post the url or at least give us the heading please.

[Sgt Pepper]

Good article by Martin von Beynen re TPPA in today's paper (Press/Dom).

Listening to some of the protestors one has the feeling that many would not be able to explain what the letters TPPA actually stand for, or am I being unkind? personally I , and many others are rather tired of the annual tedious bitching session that Waitangi Day has evolved into. Just my opinion.