Stupid World

[avgas]

Interesting to note that the vast majority of NZ's debt is private, not Governmental. People are dumb enough to get themselves into debt without thinking about the consequences, regardless of the rules.

It is, as usual, a combination of fiscal irresponsibility by the powers in an attempt to remain in power and popular, plus consumer irresponsibility in a drive to have a lifestyle they can't afford.

This is true. But unfortunately its no longer a case of "keeping up with the Joneses" to a case of "Mr Joneses dad won't sell me his house for anything less than a million dollars"
To make matters worse, many people are moving to NZ not to have the great lifestyle - but to make a quick buck at the same time.
I don't see NZ's private debt decreasing without:
- Changes in Government Policies (i.e. get rid of all the 'easy' credit companies)
- RBNZ doubling is rates (don't believe me look at what happened in Japan when they kept the rates the same)
- Unemployment exceeding 10%

e.g. take away the credit, punching you in the face then breaking your legs.
If you take away the custom, the prices will drop.

Otherwise we are simply drip feeding more debt into the nation.

[007XX]

I do mourn the days gone by of good old pen and paper communications.

Those are still considered private by law to sime degree surely?

[blue rider]

Interesting to note that the vast majority of NZ's debt is private, not Governmental. People are dumb enough to get themselves into debt without thinking about the consequences, regardless of the rules.

It is, as usual, a combination of fiscal irresponsibility by the powers in an attempt to remain in power and popular, plus consumer irresponsibility in a drive to have a lifestyle they can't afford.

I really would like to see one table that shows accuratly how that private debt is composed of.

i.e. percentage of student loands
percentage of mortgage
percentage of loans for renovations on mortgage free houses
medical debt
credit card debt etc.


this I really would like to see. Or else i might believe that every kiwi is a person with a loose wallet that has an aversion to saving. Well considering the interest rate on savings, it might be better keeping in under the mattrace - at least there it is available when need kicks in.

But before we demonise again our fellow citizens as dumb etc, maybe just present one table that shows where debt is incurred.

As for fiscal irresponsability i only mention Payroll at the Ministry of Education. How much government largesse has been given away to a company that is not able to produce the service it is paid for. Maybe the Min. of. Ed should re-employ the old payroll system and staff, and get people paid on time all the time.

[Edbear]

I really would like to see one table that shows accuratly how that private debt is composed of.

i.e. percentage of student loands
percentage of mortgage
percentage of loans for renovations on mortgage free houses
medical debt
credit card debt etc.


this I really would like to see. Or else i might believe that every kiwi is a person with a loose wallet that has an aversion to saving. Well considering the interest rate on savings, it might be better keeping in under the mattrace - at least there it is available when need kicks in.

But before we demonise again our fellow citizens as dumb etc, maybe just present one table that shows where debt is incurred.

As for fiscal irresponsability i only mention Payroll at the Ministry of Education. How much government largesse has been given away to a company that is not able to produce the service it is paid for. Maybe the Min. of. Ed should re-employ the old payroll system and staff, and get people paid on time all the time.

I haven't seen the breakdown, and yes, some debt is as you say.

[mashman]

As for fiscal irresponsability i only mention Payroll at the Ministry of Education. How much government largesse has been given away to a company that is not able to produce the service it is paid for. Maybe the Min. of. Ed should re-employ the old payroll system and staff, and get people paid on time all the time.

I did an app or two for Min Ed a while ago and often got to chatting, over smoko, with a funny bugga from payroll. He was non too happy with what was in the pipeline or indeed the processes in place for dealing with "issues". His contract wasn't extended. Shame really, as we was a right smart cnut.

[James Deuce]

As for fiscal irresponsability i only mention Payroll at the Ministry of Education. How much government largesse has been given away to a company that is not able to produce the service it is paid for. Maybe the Min. of. Ed should re-employ the old payroll system and staff, and get people paid on time all the time.

Or the admin staff who are refusing to use the new payroll system properly could start entering data in the way they've been trained to instead of trying to phone and fax it in. There's always two sides to a story and most often the ignorati get most of the press.

Because they shout a lot. And wail. And gnash their teeth.

Mostly because things have "changed" and admin people won't be having none of that change.

[blue rider]

Or the admin staff who are refusing to use the new payroll system properly could start entering data in the way they've been trained to instead of trying to phone and fax it in. There's always two sides to a story and most often the ignorati get most of the press.

Because they shout a lot. And wail. And gnash their teeth.

Mostly because things have "changed" and admin people won't be having none of that change.

yes again another case of the stupid Kiwi's fucking up for business....because the can't get stuff right that they have been getting right for years.

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/2...payroll-fiasco

quote: "Clearly the $30 million pay system was not ready and properly tested before it was introduced and the Ministry of Education can no longer continue to downplay these problems."

Prime Minister John Key today said it was essential to bring in the Novopay system because the previous system was "effectively falling over".

"Novopay was late, so that made the situation even worse and then there are about three different layers that teachers can be paid at.

"So a lot of the basic stuff, as I understand it - I could be wrong - but as I understand it, is happening just fine," he said on TVNZ's Breakfast show

But he said it was not acceptable that there had been so many errors with the system.

"I think the vendor here, Talent 2, they are responsible for the system and we contract them like any other company and the pressure has to come on them."

Mr Key said if the problems were not fixed, it would probably face a financial penalty. "


why on earth are peeps so happy to blame their contemporary when really it is big buisness that has fucked up.

Personally i don't have to give a fuck, i am not a teacher, and i don't have children that are of school going age. But this blame thy neighbourgh thing eventually must stopp. Sometimes it is not Joe and Jane Sixpack that are to be blamed.
In fact, those that are not getting paid at the moment, are the ones racking up interest incurring debt to keep afloat.
But yeah it must be them dumb teachers/secretary/payroll staff that is not getting it right.

[James Deuce]

No it isn't actually "big business stuffing it up" and I do have a different perspective on the situation and probably understand it a bit better than some.

The previous company, whom I work for, who handled the payroll, including covering the extra 5 years that Novopay was late, was staffed to cope with a semi-manual data entry system. The new vendor is not and a great deal of the errors that have been reported have been caused by admin staff in schools refusing to utilise the new technology correctly, forcing Talent 2 to hire temporary staff to cope with the increased load.

There's no conspiracy and a competitor of the firm that I work for, is being unfairly hammered in the press and is taking it pretty much on the chin, and not bad mouthing their client. I'm quite impressed with Talent 2's CEO. No prevarication, just acceptance that they've screwed up and it will cost them money. Which ISN'T actually the case in terms of "screwing up".

[Bald Eagle]

I was employed in that sector a few years ago and the previous organisation had a rep of being lousy , my ex is still in the sector and I recall payrol was never that accurate under the old system, not surprised the new one is just as bad cos the decision to change was almost certainly made based on lowest cost regardless of what the smoke and mirrors sales people from the vendors promised....
how hard can it be to pay people their accurate wages on time, thousands of other large and small companie do it all the time with oof-the-shelf systems not some fancy bespoke bullshit.

[mashman]

"In short, if the government confiscated the entire adjusted gross income of these American taxpayers, plus all of the corporate taxable income in the year before the recession, it wouldn't be nearly enough to fund the over $8 trillion per year in the growth of U.S. liabilities. Some public officials and pundits claim we can dig our way out through tax increases on upper-income earners, or even all taxpayers. In reality, that would amount to bailing out the Pacific Ocean with a teaspoon. Only by addressing these unsustainable spending commitments can the nation's debt and deficit problems be solved."

Ahhhhhhh finally, a whiff of reality.

[blue rider]

http://www.theamericanconservative.c...sed-community/

BY Bruce Bartlett

Annoyingly, however, I found myself joined at the hip to Paul Krugman, whose analysis was identical to my own. I had previously viewed Krugman as an intellectual enemy and attacked him rather colorfully in an old column that he still remembers.

For the record, no one has been more correct in his analysis and prescriptions for the economy’s problems than Paul Krugman. The blind hatred for him on the right simply pushed me further away from my old allies and comrades.

The final line for me to cross in complete alienation from the right was my recognition that Obama is not a leftist. In fact, he’s barely a liberal—and only because the political spectrum has moved so far to the right that moderate Republicans from the past are now considered hardcore leftists by right-wing standards today. Viewed in historical context, I see Obama as actually being on the center-right.

about the writer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Bartlett

about Paul Krugman

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/
todays story, a tale about the twenties.....

[mashman]

Mayor's fears over new local govt laws... So it's the fault of the councils that we're borrowing an extra $40 billion from overseas. Good or bad, isn't it up to the people who live in those areas to remove the council if they aren't performing? Sounds like jobs for the boys to me.

[mashman]

Boehner Makes Fiscal Cliff Counter-Offer

"The GOP deal offers $800 billion in new revenue through tax reform, but Boehner insist that tax rates should not go up on the top 2 percent of taxpayers."

Why not? They've got the money.

"Going over the cliff will hurt our economy and hurt job creation in our country. It's one of the reasons why the day after the election, I offered a concession to try to speed this process up by putting revenue on the table," Boehner said.

"Unfortunately the White House responded with the La-la-land offer that couldn't pass the House, couldn't pass the Senate."

So the people voted in the president, quite possibly on the basis that he was going to raise the cash through taxes and not borrowing. Yet the opposition won't let him. So who's in charge again?

[puddytat]

Obama Co. is in the drivers seat ultimately......think he's wanting 1.6 trillion & the Republicans are offering 800 billion. All he has to do is wait until they fall off the cliff & automatically the Tax breaks for the rich will be overturned. So what if they default. Broke is broke innit? Things'll carry on as usual, maybe a slight dip on stock markets,a fall in the US$....then back to business .

[mashman]

Obama Co. is in the drivers seat ultimately......think he's wanting 1.6 trillion & the Republicans are offering 800 billion. All he has to do is wait until they fall off the cliff & automatically the Tax breaks for the rich will be overturned. So what if they default. Broke is broke innit? Things'll carry on as usual, maybe a slight dip on stock markets,a fall in the US$....then back to business .

Aye, but don't up tax for the top 2% (wonder what that equates to as a percentage of US GDP) ok, they "earn" too much and it would be disastrous for the economy if they have to pay more in tax, even though they're the ones with the lions share of the money. I can't wait to see what happens as the US is still my top tip for falling apart and I do so hate being disappointed.