Attention to detail in toys

[McJim]

I recently bought a play house for my kids. Imagine how impressed I was with how closely they had matched the design of the toy house to genuine housing in New Zealand! I found the following details:

a/ Insufficient insulation
b/ Leaky roof
c/ Too many windows (Too cold in Winter/too hot in summer)
d/ Insufficient draught proofing.

Well done to those clever toy manyfacturers - we are now considering moving out of our house and into the play house due to some of the advantages offered by the superior build quality of the toy house.

[Grahameeboy]

Silvanian House??

[Motu]

You obviously didn't get the State House version where with tax payers money only the best materials were used and no corners cut....they don't want complaints from the tennants who live their lives on benifits.And,true story - Maori Affairs houses were the best built in the country,I knew a guy who built them and said they got the best of everything.

[Grahameeboy]

You obviously didn't get the State House version where with tax payers money only the best materials were used and no corners cut....they don't want complaints from the tennants who live their lives on benifits.And,true story - Maori Affairs houses were the best built in the country,I knew a guy who built them and said they got the best of everything.

Surely not.........................

[Motu]

Every Government knows you don't short change the benificaries.

[Finn]

Every Government knows you don't short change the benificaries.

And every beneficiary knows how to short change the Government.

[Motu]

No - they are taught how to,by the very people working for the government handing out the cash! The whole system works in perfect harmony,that's why it's gong to be so hard to stop.

[Ixion]

The reason that State houses were well built (and they were - the 1950s state house is probably the most solidly built house in the country) is simple. The design and building was contracted and overseen by the State Advances Corp. They intended to own the houses for a long time and made sure that they were top quality. They employed their own Clerks of Works to supervise the building full time - no chance of bunging in some extra dwangs and pulling them out after the Building Inspector had done his inspection - you had the CoW looking over your shoulder the whole time. They insisted on fully qualified experienced tradesmen being employed , they insisted on a proper apprenticeship program, and they specified the materials- and they knew exactly what to specifiy.

Above all, they were built to a standard. Not down to a price.And the price allowed for the tradesman getting a decent wage or profit. That's how things used to work. Nobody trying to screw over the other fellow, a standard set which allowed for a decent shake for everyone.

Pretty simple, really.

[Motu]

And just a few designs with the buildings rotated on the sections.You could walk into a school mates house and it was the same as yours,but the front door was the back door.There are a couple of houses the same as ours in our street,but they are made out of a different brick so look different.I've got no problem with my ex State house,it's better than a Hardie plank box.

[bugjuice]

do they do a 2 bedroom version..?
I'm looking to buy soon, and I'd lease out the other room..
I also need the optional garage with toy remote too..??

[Phurrball]

Oh, gentlemen, gentlemen!

Some of us on benefits aren't there by choice y'know. I have been on a sickness benefit for a few months now after my latest skirmish with cancer - everything is looking pretty good for me now, thankfully. :yes: My degree will be done and dusted this year [finally], so I'll no longer need any state assistance (sorry Finn, I'll still be alive at the next election to vote for Uncle Helen if I choose...but I wouldn't if there was a better alternative. Care to stand for el presidente?)

BUT - I must say that living on a benefit isn't the easy life some seem to think it is. It's demoralising lacking the money for any more than the bare essentials, with Big Brother holding an inquisition every time you see them, wanting to know what you had for breakfast, which cutlery you used to eat it, and how long it took to pass through your system.

Some of your concerns about the systems in place are valid - WINZ will punish you for being proactive - the are extremely rule-bound, and the only way to get extra assistance is to truly get yourself in the shit first, rather than to predict shit-hitting-the-fan and do something about it in advance.

But it's OK Finn - I'm not sponging off the taxes you didn't evade too much: I have no existing HPs that WINZ could take over, and the state do not directly provide my housing (my rent lines the pockets of a private sector landlord - surely that's good?). It does disturb me that WINZ will pay HPs on the likes of a TV (I don't have one), or a turbocharged car, yet will not help you if you're up shit creek without petrol.

All that said, I am thankful for the assistance I get - I fully intend to use my degrees in this country, and I'll be paying my taxes without grumbling since the state has been good enough to pay for all my surgeries, and provide a minimalist safety net to get me through this rough patch in my life.

Now, those that shamelessly exploit every tax loophole they can, while using our roads; our water; our hospitals and all our other state-provided infrastructure while bitching about how much tax they pay - they're the bludgers that truly worry me - they're right up there IMHO with those ripping off the benefit system.

I sincerely hope to be earning an independent income ASAP, to be free from the WINZ monster. Trust me, it's way easier to earn one's own cash, than to rely on a handout with every possible string attached IMHO - so please, be specific about who you're lumping in to the bludger basket. The concerns of those in the system are from quite a different POV to those that worry (legitimately) about where their taxes are going. I'm sure you wouldn't change places with me now, would you? :grouphug:

/rant - normal transmission resumes.

[Motu]

I don't think anyone here is complaing about those on benifits with a need,only those who use the system to their own ends.

One of the most traumatic experiances of my life was getting a Housing corp loan for our first house - it's almost like they are trying not to let you get a loan,we were turned down several times and only got through to the end because I had ''inside help'' who led me through all the booby traps and pit falls with sharpend stakes designed to stop the honest and needy.I think the people who live off benifits must be pretty bloody smart,because I don't know how to do it!

[Phurrball]

I don't think anyone here is complaing about those on benifits with a need,only those who use the system to their own ends.

(snip)

Fair enough Motu, no offense intended.

A bit of beneficiary bashing does go on around here, and I wanted to draw attention to the flip-side of that little chesnut (do I get points for muddled metaphors?).

It is unfortunate that when you're in my position, you have to learn to 'work' within the system - there's only one way to do things - the WINZ way. Unfortunately, that is the very reason the system is open to misuse - once you learn you're expected to behave in a certain way to get anywhere in the system, I could see how it would be easy to get into a vicious, repetitive, and unpleasant cycle of behaving in that way...no good for anyone...

[stanko]

Now, those that shamelessly exploit every tax loophole they can, while using our roads; our water; our hospitals and all our other state-provided infrastructure while bitching about how much tax they pay - they're the bludgers that truly worry me - they're right up there IMHO with those ripping off the benefit system.

Isnt it normal to pay the minimum amount of tax owing, anything above that is charity. I can decide how best to spend that without giving it to that idiot Cullen.

[onearmedbandit]

WTF?? This thread is waaaay off topic guys.

[Phurrball]

Isnt it normal to pay the minimum amount of tax owing, anything above that is charity. I can decide how best to spend that without giving it to that idiot Cullen.

I think you know what I mean.

What I'm doing is drawing a parallel between those that work the benefit system to their advantage and those that through their clever-dick accountants and/or lawyers reduce their tax liability to an extent counter to the spirit of the law, even if it may be within the letter of it. I am suggesting that they are a different kind of bludger, avoiding paying their 'fair'* share, rather than taking more that their 'fair' share. Is there a substantive moral difference??

*I use inverted commas, as what is 'fair' is not a settled matter as it depends on ideology, and I don't want to go there.

Of the demonised professions, I aplaud their ingenuity, and recognise that they are only acting in their role as fiduciaries with respect to their clients, it is the clients that have the ultimate responsibility for what is done on their behalf. [That, and I will belong to the latter profession in the not-too-distant future, so I wouldn't want you to think they are all bad, would I?:dodge: ]

[car]

we are now considering moving out of our house and into the play house due to some of the advantages offered by the superior build quality of the toy house.

Oh, McJim, at least the English aren't stealing your oil any more. They might tax your pole if you let them, though.

;)

[Laava]

I feel sorry for anyone who HAS to deal with WINZ. BUT back to the thread topic, as a builder I disagree with some of these statements. These days the building code is MUCH more stringent, methods of construction are different in some areas and the supply and choice of materials is very different. End result? New house are better built with, arguably, inferior materials. Older houses in particular state houses,railway houses and generally anything built post war up to 1960's were built with generally very good quality native timbers and usually didn't have water trap type building technology, in particular, expansive membrane finishes such as Insulclad or skim coats of painted plaster on hardi type products. Because they could "breathe" they didn't tend to rot. They did however use a LOT of asbestos sheathing on walls as well as roofs. So now we have better insulation and better plumbing and electrical. In my opinion, not much else has really been improved upon. The biggest difference is that things are much more affordable these days IMHO.:done:

[Finn]

WTF?? This thread is waaaay off topic guys.

My house leaks.

[onearmedbandit]

You could ask McJim if you could use his daughters house for a while.

[Edbear]

WTF?? This thread is waaaay off topic guys.


And the surprise is...?:yes:

[Motu]

WTF?? This thread is waaaay off topic guys.

There was a topic to start with?

[onearmedbandit]

Well it certainly wasn't about welfare and taxes.

[Motu]

So we made a silk purse out of a sow's ear....a good effort I reckon.

[onearmedbandit]

Can't deny that.

[McJim]

I have created a monster.

Ooops.

[Laava]

True!........Baldrick!!!!!!!!!!!