14 Comments

'Rents are going up at more than twice the rate of the minimum wage in the Consumer Price Index.'

I'm so confused! How can this be, when we were PROMISED there would be downward pressure on rents as a consequence of tax cuts to land lords?

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Ummmm, surely, you didn't believe that, did you? I suspect you're being sarcastic, huh?

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Yup. 😎

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New Zealand is approaching tipping points on many fronts. At what point does the nation’s labour force become irrevocably damaged? Human capital is everything, right? Whilst growth for growth’s sake in a world with finite resources is ridiculous, let’s just peer into the fantasy ‘growth’ world of Luxon and Willis for a moment. How do they achieve this world leading growth, growth, growth they are spin, spin, spinning without an engaged, world-class work force? What, you mean saying yes with gusto won’t cut it, damn. And up goes unemployment and one way airfares.

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Hi James. I really agree with this: “How do they achieve this world leading growth, growth, growth they are spin, spin, spinning without an engaged, world-class work force?”

As an engineer I would say that endless growth of value is not in contradiction with finite resources, when what is increasingly of value is human capital and moving electrons around atoms.

Helping the development of the human capital of our community is of benefit to all of us, and helping people understand how they can get to have human capital, matters.

The growth of education resources, health resources, interesting job resources, support for the disadvantaged among us resources, cultural resources … these all require a growth in resources (or value) and I think this is a worthy goal.

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Between this and the various government announcements designed to stimulate the economy in the short-term, "Go for Growth" has the vibe and depth of a get rich quick scheme. They never work out well in the end.

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I watched the TV1 news item with our PM delivering his message about ‘growth growth growth’ to a roomful of hopeful investors. Mmmm, it’s beginning to sound a bit desperate….. & I wasn’t particularly thrilled by the enthusiasm of the USA investor who had millions & was just waiting for the opportunity. I bet he’s hoping he can invest his money somewhere in the world, as far away from Trumpland as he can manage?!

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And US investor will probably invest in something like property or land that doesn't help in advancing NZ it will just make the inequity stats look even worse.

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🤔⁉️Hasn't Peters still held the line about not selling property to overseas investors, or have they managed a work-around ⁉️🤷 Mind you, does being a "resident" for 6 days qualify for an exemption 😱

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He's wavering, it won't be long before the super wealthy start clamouring to buy up parts of NZ.

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Welcome Craig to Substack

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👍💯 Couldn't click on "Subscribe" fast enough 😁

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Unemployed - and unemployable - archivist here.

I doubt I will ever work again in my field because I'm too old, too specialised and too far away (we have had to move out of Wellington because it's too darned expensive now on one below-average income).

I'm not recorded in the unemployment statistics because my partner earns a couple of hundred dollars "too much" for me to qualify for the benefit. We're struggling to get by.

What a waste of a working life, eh?

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I’m in a similar position. Moved to New Plymouth from Wellington, lost my IT job here in December thanks to our workload dropping off a cliff about six months after the election. I’m 50 years old and I feel that’s working against me. I’m also not eligible for unemployment. 73 applications so far, no interviews yet.

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