Savings

**The Stranger:Me** · 25th May 2011, 14:31

Not so long ago we (as in the general populace of NZ) were told that we were carrying too much debt. We were told that we're not saving enough. Savings are/were needed to fund companies to produce shit to sell overseas etc.
Action (leglislation) has been considered many times to try and curtail this and assist us with what's best for us.

As a spin off, surely Kiwisaver was going to help that position.
Apparently not.

Now we're saving too much. We've reduced household debt, banks have money to loan apparently, but no one's interested. This is apparently going to stifle any recovery.

Economists - they're as useless as geologists!

**Usarka** · 25th May 2011, 14:58

A very prominent economist once told me (I'm paraphrasing) that they don't know shit. Trouble is governments take their word as gospel.

Geologists rock.

**Swoop** · 25th May 2011, 15:11

Economists - they're as useless as geologists!

Yup. Don't forget weather forecasters either.

Three "professions" where you can get it wrong all day every day and still not be fired.

**oneofsix** · 25th May 2011, 15:14

Originally Posted by Swoop

Economists - they're as useless as geologists!

Yup. Don't forget weather forecasters either.

Three "professions" where you can get it wrong all day every day and still not be fired.

Economists are artists and the other two are 'scientists'?

Anyhow I thought the prostitutes were the only true pros

**avgas** · 25th May 2011, 15:17

Interesting.
I was under the impression economists don't like government meddling.......
So really they could just blame the government for meddling and wash their hands from it.

Fact of the matter is saving is still a good thing - kiwi"saver" however wasn't. It was a blank cheque to investment firms.
They didn't have to offer any returns as customers would simply have to dump money with them.

Imagine a customer having to buy whatever you sell. Would be fantastic wouldn't it.

**Usarka** · 25th May 2011, 15:19

Originally Posted by oneofsix

Anyhow I thought the prostitutes were the only true pros

Yep because at least when you're getting fucked you know what it's going to cost.

**Mully** · 25th May 2011, 18:21

But then isn't paying down debt (mortgage) effectively saving anyway?

But then we like property too much, apparently....

**Smifffy** · 25th May 2011, 20:45

It was only a few years ago that a few rather prominent economists/financial advisers were advocating the joys of divesting property, investing in shares and renting.

The property bubble was going to burst they claimed and shares could only keep increasing.

The big burst was those who were continually gearing themselves up in property. Strange how these same people are still glibly dispensing advice...

Be interested in some RL examples of people doing exceptionally well, after selling their homes and investing in some so called 'blue chip' shares.

At least rent in Auckland is really cheap now eh?

**pete376403** · 25th May 2011, 22:35

Originally Posted by Smifffy

It was only a few years ago that a few rather prominent economists/financial advisers were advocating the joys of divesting property, investing in shares and renting.

And I do recall the current leader of the ACT party was one of those advising that "renting good, owning bad"

**Milts** · 25th May 2011, 23:05

Originally Posted by Swoop

Economists - they're as useless as geologists!

Don't Geologists do the odd thing like, I dunno:

Pinpoint oil for drilling
Pinpoint metals etc for mining
Teach us about past climates based on chemical compositions of ice and rock drilled from thousands of years ago
Improve our understanding of how different materials will behave under stress by examing their physical structure
Advise in the construction of buildings which don't fall down in an earthquake (imagine if Christchurch had been built entirely by builders and engineers who'd never learned anything from geological studies....)
Etc etc ad infinitum.

**The Stranger:Me** · 26th May 2011, 00:05

Originally Posted by Milts

(imagine if Christchurch had been built entirely by builders and engineers who'd never learned anything from geological studies....)

Imagine if Christchurch was built on a fault line.
Oh wait, it was, who knew? The economists perhaps?

**SPman** · 26th May 2011, 01:29

Get ten economists in a room and you get 11 opinions......they're worse than KB posters....

**Gremlin** · 26th May 2011, 01:57

Since when did you start believing what the government told you anyway?

It's like a traffic light. They interfere and shit gets worse.

**p.dath** · 26th May 2011, 08:16

Originally Posted by The Stranger

Not so long ago we (as in the general populace of NZ) were told that we were carrying too much debt. We were told that we're not saving enough. Savings are/were needed to fund companies to produce shit to sell overseas etc.
Action (leglislation) has been considered many times to try and curtail this and assist us with what's best for us.

As a spin off, surely Kiwisaver was going to help that position.
Apparently not.

Now we're saving too much. We've reduced household debt, banks have money to loan apparently, but no one's interested. This is apparently going to stifle any recovery.

Economists - they're as useless as geologists!

Are you saying this because of depressed domestic spend? If so, there are a lot of reasons why domestic spending might be depressed - earthquake, unemployment up, global recession ...

So people may simply not have as much to spend, or may be worried about spending it - as opposed to choosing to save it.