Nat/act/nzf 2023

[Panda-NZ-]

Sure 70 may well be new 50 for some occupations and socio-economic groups. However some at 65 may also be struggling to maintain the old 65 and it may be worse for maintaining quality of life. Also what is the effect of reducing home ownership rates on some from both a physical and psychological effect?

So How do you know the exception rate is more than I think? Indeed any age restriction, whether upper or lower, is subject to generalisations. Just because people are living longer does not necessarily mean they live better. Illnesses and diseases have more treatment and management options. So a period of managed ill-health can be longer too.

Also with funding restrictions for public health and medications coupled with private health insurance tiers for those with various levels of wealth, there is considerable variation in longevity and quality of life options. So is a one-size fits all retirement age even still fit for purpose?

Yeah it will be pocket money for some, a lifestyle cushion for others and still desperately needed for many, too.

More research needs to be done with some urgency on this given the importance of the issue. The departing treasury secretary was totally correct that we are squabbling about peanuts when we have long-term issues that are not being discussed (IMF, oecd are more aware of this though).

[moka]

Apologies to all boomers, although I wonder if what Stanley Druckenmiller discusses here also applies to NZ as well as the USA. Although the video is 10 years old he was surprised at how little has changed since then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXAEw8psMuQ

Druckenmiller is standing there with a plate full of cookies. He is pointing to the seniors who have plate with one cookie, and saying to the seniors you need to share your cookie with the children who only have a few crumbs.

3:43 - back in 1960 15 cents out of what every American worker earned was spent supporting the elderly. Today that number is up to 57 cents. So 57 cents out of every dollar an American worker makes is spent to support seniors but look at what we're doing with children nothing like that 1 cent to 9 Cent over the same time period, so a greater and greater share of the economic pie is being allotted away from children and toward the elderly now.

So spending on children has gone up 8x, on seniors 3x.
I wonder what they have cut since 1965 when 16c went to children and elderly, and then 66c out of every dollar in 2013 when the video was recorded.

[moka]

Apologies to all boomers, although I wonder if what Stanley Druckenmiller discusses here also applies to NZ as well as the USA. Although the video is 10 years old he was surprised at how little has changed since then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXAEw8psMuQ

2:45 the poverty rate for seniors has gone down the last 30 or 40 years. Look at what's happened for children it's actually gone north from 20 to 23.5%. Almost one in every four children in the United States of America lives in a state of poverty.

Why has the poverty rate for children gone up? The poor have got poorer and the rich richer. Growing inequality.

Since 1965, U.S. wages have experienced significant changes, characterized by periods of growth and stagnation, as well as increasing inequality.
Starting in the late 1970s, wage growth began to decelerate significantly. From 1979 onwards, wages for most workers grew slowly, and the gap between the highest earners and the rest of the workforce widened considerably.

• Wages for middle-wage workers were largely stagnant, increasing only 6% from 1979 to 2013, with most of this growth occurring in the late 1990s.
• Low-Wage Workers: Wages for low-wage workers declined by 5% over the same period.
• High-Wage Workers: In contrast, high-wage workers saw their wages increase by 41%.

[Balance]

Killed because he tried to help remove tenants who had already been ordered to evict property. An example of how entitled tenants feel these days after 6 years of the Labour government under Useless Ardern and Hapless Hipkins launching attacks after attacks on landlords.

Meanwhile, tenants could not be evicted even after extreme anti-social and criminal behaviour against others in the community.

The social, economic and racial divisions deliberately created by Labour under that *itch Ardern are going to take a long time to heal, if ever.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/family...CUQYL5PCXTSKM/

[dobby41]

Killed because he tried to help remove tenants who had already been ordered to evict property. An example of how entitled tenants feel these days after 6 years of the Labour government under Useless Ardern and Hapless Hipkins launching attacks after attacks on landlords.

Then there is the property manager who was killed by the tenant in Whangerei.
Hang on - that was 2017 under National.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/whanga...432VUGWGXWFP4/

[dobby41]

I feel sorry for Luxon having to swallow dead rats for Jone.
Jones calls a Judge 'communist'.
When this comes out he calls it 'political rhetoric'.
Now a Minister isn't supposed to criticize judges (according to the cabinet manual).
Later Luxon says that it was 'descriptive not critical' - she belonged to the Socialist Action League 50+ years ago.
Who believes that he was not trying to cast a judge as communist in a critical way? He wasn't being endearing one little bit!
By Luxon can't do anything about it because Jones is Winstons pet.

Jones won't change and Winston doesn't want him to change.
Luxon just has to suck it up.
Attachment 15237

Poor Luxon left standing on his own.
Jones says what he says then says it was descriptive.
Luxon backs him.
Collins reads Jones the riot act and Peters agrees.
Jones says he shouldn't have said what he said and accepts that he needs to be more careful.

So Luxon is left looking silly having supported Jones.
Poor judgement there but he didn't have a choice really since he has limited power.

[Balance]

Then there is the property manager who was killed by the tenant in Whangerei.
Hang on - that was 2017 under National.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/whanga...432VUGWGXWFP4/

Nut case who wasn’t being evicted. Apples and bananas just in case you cannot tell the difference.

[moka]

Killed because he tried to help remove tenants who had already been ordered to evict property. An example of how entitled tenants feel these days after 6 years of the Labour government under Useless Ardern and Hapless Hipkins launching attacks after attacks on landlords.

Meanwhile, tenants could not be evicted even after extreme anti-social and criminal behaviour against others in the community.

The social, economic and racial divisions deliberately created by Labour under that *itch Ardern are going to take a long time to heal, if ever.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/family...CUQYL5PCXTSKM/

We can also look at National’s policing policy changes. National plans to scrap what they call Labour's "policing by consent philosophy" and instead encourage a "back-to-basics policing model".
Luxon has stressed the need for police to focus on fundamental law enforcement tasks.

From the article - The victim was trying to resolve a property dispute dismissed by authorities as a civil matter. The property manager had been told by police it was a civil matter.

"I have been open about the fact I do not agree with the direction policing has taken under the previous government and I expect the police commissioner to focus on core policing with a back-to-basics approach," Mark Mitchell said.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political...f-commissioner 6 December 2023
The new police minister, Mark Mitchell, has set his expectations of the police commissioner, laying out the government's direction and priorities in a letter.

Mitchell has repeatedly refused to declare his confidence in Andrew Coster, whose term ends in 2025.
"Our New Zealand Police organisation and frontline staff are working in a far more complex, demanding and dangerous environment that requires focused, strong and supportive leadership. My expectation is for that leadership to be evident," Mitchell said in a statement.
The letter was released by the public service commissioner, who helped draft it. Mitchell and Coster met on Wednesday, and agreed to the terms.

[Balance]

Poor Luxon left standing on his own.
Jones says what he says then says it was descriptive.
Luxon backs him.
Collins reads Jones the riot act and Peters agrees.
Jones says he shouldn't have said what he said and accepts that he needs to be more careful.

So Luxon is left looking silly having supported Jones.
Poor judgement there but he didn't have a choice really since he has limited power.

So what?

Nothing is ever going to beat Ardern’s assertion of the most transparent government ever. Now that is class A hypocrisy combined with colossal bad judgement! To be expected though from Clueless Cindy!

Next.

[moka]

Police are seeking relief from growing pressures to tackle non-crime social problems.
The briefing says police have been forced, by the lack of other social services, to step in when it comes to family harm, mental health, and child protection calls.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/...briefing-paper 1 February 2024

A "refocus" of police work is the leading "key opportunity" in a briefing to the incoming Police Minister Mark Mitchell, released on Thursday.
"For example, reducing police's role in mental health crisis response is a clear opportunity, as is right sizing our response to family harm," the document says
At the same time, demands were growing to respond to cybercrime and, especially, non-crime social problems that had vaulted into the top spot in demand on police time.