If National wins ...

[elZorro]

El Zorro just as I said that those theorys are brainwashed into them, They have no ability to think for themselves. They learn by Rote to pass exams, not to use their brains. At least a PHD student has to think a little bit to write a thesis. But if he wrote something not compatable with his mentors theory. I still think he would be failed. Like senior High School wrote papers querying Global Warming got fail marks.

You have to write a thesis for Masters level as well. As long as it's backed up by good research, a thesis will pass even if it's contrary to established thinking.

I have to agree with the High School that graded answers down if the students queried Global Warming though. It's virtually a fact of life now, but we might need another thread perhaps, if you have another opinion..

[Major von Tempsky]

Ha! Ha! Good joke!

Actually Lord Maynard Keynes (who in very simple terms espoused more government spending and artifical stimulation of demand in situations where demand was less than supply) has been responsible for the recovery from the Depression followed by the practically non stop growth of the world economy after WW2.

Only problem is governments embracing his prescription over enthusiastically in all situations gave rise to bouts of inflation which Friedmanism (Thatcher's adviser) has been required to cure.

[elZorro]

Ha! Ha! Good joke!

Actually Lord Maynard Keynes (who in very simple terms espoused more government spending and artifical stimulation of demand in situations where demand was less than supply) has been responsible for the recovery from the Depression followed by the practically non stop growth of the world economy after WW2.

Only problem is governments embracing his prescription over enthusiastically in all situations gave rise to bouts of inflation which Friedmanism (Thatcher's adviser) has been required to cure.

I've never looked into the background of this Keynes bloke, but he sounds like someone from the Left, so I must do some research. I found out by asking my daughter, who is in the process of sitting NCEA3, that the secondary schools steer clear of global warming as a Theory. They like students to know about warming and cooling periods, without an opinion on what might be causing them. You have to save something up for tertiary level courses.

Economics, that's something we should all be taught the basics of, at college.

[Major von Tempsky]

Well to save you some time - he was Jewish (at a time when being Jewish was quite a challenge), he was gay, and he made a personal fortune showing he really did understand economics :-) And he was knighted for his services in solving the depression and writing up his theories of how economies worked. In my time at varsity he was de rigueur, the mainstay, but I believe that courses have now slid away from that.

[POSSUM THE CAT]

Major von Tempsky Like another world war & was he one in later life espoused floating exchange rates. Others say it was the Bretton Woods conference that fixed the exchange rates that really brought the world right in the fifties & sixties.

[elZorro]

Well to save you some time - he was Jewish (at a time when being Jewish was quite a challenge), he was gay, and he made a personal fortune showing he really did understand economics :-) And he was knighted for his services in solving the depression and writing up his theories of how economies worked. In my time at varsity he was de rigueur, the mainstay, but I believe that courses have now slid away from that.

Thanks for that MVT, I have had a quick look on the net and found an article by one of our most objective and erudite journalists...

http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2...of-heresy.html

This comment after it was also interesting.

Nick said...As Galbraith said "Keynes was for a time and not for all times". Our times differ markedly from the last great Depression: resources were readily available then. By contrast the resource base we rely upon now is stretched and imminently going to fail to meet demand. Peak oil is a fact, peak everything else close.

Growth is the constant Keynes and every other economist of the past has followed; that prescription is not available longer term. The new heretics will prescribe for decline, they will be both correct and despised for their prescience. We are the spoiled teenagers whose party is about to be shut down.
June 16, 2012 9:00 AM

Nick is correct in saying that it's different this time, but E=mc2, so by the law of averages the world will find some way of harnessing unlimited energy, and if it's at the right price, we can mine, manufacture and repair the environment ad infinitum. In the meantime we should be doing more than sitting on our hands.

I hear on TV today that National has decided to use, not science, but the submissions to policy decisions from the public and interested parties (like bakers?), on the compulsion of folic acid in bread. Status quo, so if you don't take folic acid before you get pregnant, you take your chances. Depends on which bread you eat, you might get lucky and have no problems. All this to avoid being called a nanny state no doubt. Sometimes govt has to take the lead.

The seven big motorway projects are going ahead despite cost overruns so big, no-one is going to say how much. Billions are involved here. Compare this to R&D incentives of a few tens of million, which might have employed tens of thousands in sorely needed manufacturing and design areas.

I have heard though, that the few people selling big imported trucks are having a fielday, as those involved in the roading contracts get geared up for the work. So the taxpayer money is largely going into big transport equipment, damaging our balance of payments further. Madness..

[elZorro]

The MRP asset sale is on hold until next year.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/poli...r-sale-on-hold

I'm quite pleased about this, it gives the rest of us the chance to have a think about the whole deal. Like Lange's pause for a cuppa.

[elZorro]

Newsflash from MoBIE today: an all new scheme of R&D funding for 200 undergraduate students with businesses, funded at up to $6,400 each plus GST.

http://www.msi.govt.nz/get-funded/bu...e-internships/

Except that this is not new. It is a scaled down TIF scheme that has been running for many years, I've used it with varied success. I'm not sure how many students were funded before, but now the amount of this part of the fund is $1.2mill, a maximum of 200 students throughout NZ this year.

I wonder how many science undergraduate students there are in each 2nd or 3rd year at all of the universities. Several thousand or tens of thousands? And the allocation is 0.002% of the tax take, it will reach 110 businesses, 0.02% of the enterprises in NZ. Superb.

Most university science students will be picking fruit or working in retail stores over their end-of-year then, if they can find work there.

Here's a 2011 article on National's changes, and comments from various parties. Note that the example use of the new TTV scheme is automation. This is because the company operates with low margins. The R&D spend for this type of company is aimed at reducing the levels of employment for each tonne of produce. It is not necessarily aimed at developing a high-value export manufacture. This is another very good reason for spreading the spend (from about only 200 companies in TTV), and creating a culture shift.

http://unlimited.co.nz/unlimited.nsf...ng-our-rd-game

[elZorro]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business-e...ectid=10832121

[elZorro]

20,000 to 25,000 manufacturing jobs lost since National came to power..

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/indu...-to-Government

The paper-based media is fairly shot, Steven Joyce should know that one. But the overall track record of National is bad, jobs are so tough to find that many are relocating to Christchurch, just to get a position of some kind in the trades. But these are all internal churn jobs. We need profitable exports.

Two sides to every story. Here's one about paint contracts.