Congratulations 48%

[Mental Trousers]

You don't get to define the intentions or motivations of the actions of others, what you have expressed is an opinion.

Whatever their intentions are, nobody else knows because they haven't expressed it. I'm not voting for any of those fuckwits is indistinguishable from meh. Besides, the outcome affects everyone whether they vote or not. Taking no part in determining the outcome states that you don't care what the outcome is and because everyone is affected by it, that outcome is ok. If it's not ok there's only one way to show it and that's by voting, or turning in a blank voting paper.

[avgas]

Everyone is affected by the outcome of the election. By not voting people are saying they have no interest in deciding what that outcome is and whatever happens is ok by them.

Oh no my dear chap doesn't mean that at all.
Unfortunately we may not find out if people are "ok" or not until they do actually do something.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_postal

Could be situations where people though "people are saying they have no interest in deciding what that outcome is and whatever happens is ok by them."

nek minit murders

[shrub]

You mean to say that they were in cahoots with labour during their last term in office when they gave away 11 billion dollars the country didn't have?

so that we...

and so that they...

And that Nationals efforts to reduce expenditure since that time has been a....


Wait, none of this even pretends to make sense.

next.

No, it wouldn't, but that's because you are trying to understand things without reference to the facts. From the RBNZ statistics:

Official government debt June 2000: $17.38 bn or 15.4% of GDP
Official government debt June 2005: $16,24 bn or 10.5% of GDP
Official government debt June 2008: $17.85 bn or 9.7% of GDP
Official government debt June 2011: $40.80 bn or 20.4% of GDP

If you look closely you will see that during Labours final term the amount of government debt did rise by around $1.6bn, not quite $11bn. Then if you look at the last 3 years it rose around $23bn!

Of course you may want different data, so I suggest you start with looking at the a summary of the 2008 Treasury Financial Statements of the Government., then look at a snapshot of the 2011 data.

You'll see that education expenses rose slightly in 09, then basically stayed the same, while health and social welfare spending crept up. You'll also see that selling shit like electricity and airfares generated $15.1 bn, more than twice as much as the tax paid by the corporate sector, who paid less than 1/3 as much tax as private individuals. Interesting, huh?

Or would you prefer a National Party press release, or a right wing blog somewhere? They may not be factually correct, but they support your argument, and that's a good thing.

[Mental Trousers]

Oh no my dear chap doesn't mean that at all.
Unfortunately we may not find out if people are "ok" or not until they do actually do something.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_postal

Could be situations where people though "people are saying they have no interest in deciding what that outcome is and whatever happens is ok by them."

nek minit murders

Not voting is taken as meaning those people agree with whatever the outcome is because they didn't try to change it. What their actual intentions were is unknown and because they didn't make the effort many people ignore them.

[steve_t]

No, it wouldn't, but that's because you are trying to understand things without reference to the facts. From the RBNZ statistics:

Official government debt June 2000: $17.38 bn or 15.4% of GDP
Official government debt June 2005: $16,24 bn or 10.5% of GDP
Official government debt June 2008: $17.85 bn or 9.7% of GDP
Official government debt June 2011: $40.80 bn or 20.4% of GDP

If you look closely you will see that during Labours final term the amount of government debt did rise by around $1.6bn, not quite $11bn. Then if you look at the last 3 years it rose around $23bn!

Of course you may want different data, so I suggest you start with looking at the a summary of the 2008 Treasury Financial Statements of the Government., then look at a snapshot of the 2011 data.

You'll see that education expenses rose slightly in 09, then basically stayed the same, while health and social welfare spending crept up. You'll also see that selling shit like electricity and airfares generated $15.1 bn, more than twice as much as the tax paid by the corporate sector, who paid less than 1/3 as much tax as private individuals. Interesting, huh?

Or would you prefer a National Party press release, or a right wing blog somewhere? They may not be factually correct, but they support your argument, and that's a good thing.

Wasn't Labour's plan, if they got in, to borrow another $17 billion?

[shrub]

Wasn't Labour's plan, if they got in, to borrow another $17 billion?

Yep, but borrowing money isn't always a bad thing if there is a strategy to repay that debt and if the money is used productively. Having said that, while overall I think Labour's economic policies were better than Nationals, they still had massive flaws.

I'd be interested to see how much further in debt we are in 2014, and to compare our net worth then. I suspect it won't be a pretty picture.

[Swoop]

Looking at the percentage of blue in the house, voters certainly turned out to support one party.

Perhaps its time to change it. Or wait until we suffer the same fate as the rest of Europe.

It sadly appears that the sheeple want to keep our Micky Mouse Politics system.
Oh well, back to seeing more one-man parties appearing when another person departs a larger one.

[mashman]

Not voting is taken as meaning those people agree with whatever the outcome is because they didn't try to change it. What their actual intentions were is unknown and because they didn't make the effort many people ignore them.

So when they fess up as to why they didn't vote, it is acceptable to invalidate that reason because they are to be ignored by default. Bit silly really (he said politely)

[Mental Trousers]

So when they fess up as to why they didn't vote, it is acceptable to invalidate that reason because they are to be ignored by default. Bit silly really (he said politely)

Nope. Means nothing because they don't have the conviction to back it by voting.

[steve_t]

Yep, but borrowing money isn't always a bad thing if there is a strategy to repay that debt and if the money is used productively. Having said that, while overall I think Labour's economic policies were better than Nationals, they still had massive flaws.

I'd be interested to see how much further in debt we are in 2014, and to compare our net worth then. I suspect it won't be a pretty picture.

A girl said to me before the elections "I'm not going to vote because I don't like the thought of asset sales but I also don't like the thought of increased borrowing." A friend of her's then said "Why can't we just print more money?"

[Murray]

The funniest thing I heard all election was a guy at the pub proclaiming all the virtues of Labour! When asked how he felt as a working tax payer paying for increasing benefits and beneficeries his reply was "todays beneficeries are raising the next generation of New Zealand taxpayers"

Most people fell off there stools laughing

[Scuba_Steve]

A girl said to me before the elections "I'm not going to vote because I don't like the thought of asset sales but I also don't like the thought of increased borrowing."

Well that's still the biggest problem we have in NZ. There are more than 2 parties in NZ running for Govt!!!, We are not America! ...and lets hope we never are.

[mashman]

Nope. Means nothing because they don't have the conviction to back it by voting.

ha ha ha haaaaaaaa... but I did vote, just not in the way you decide counts as a valid vote.

[Mental Trousers]

The funniest thing I heard all election was a guy at the pub proclaiming all the virtues of Labour! When asked how he felt as a tax paying paying for increasing benefits and beneficeries his reply was "todays beneficeries are raising the next generation of New Zealand taxpayers"

Most people fell off there stools laughing

I would've cried. While everyone should vote you sometimes get to see the inherent flaws in the Democratic system

[Mental Trousers]

ha ha ha haaaaaaaa... but I did vote, just not in the way you decide counts as a valid vote.

So why didn't you just turn in an empty voting paper?? Means a hell of a lot more and actually has an affect. Not voting at all states nothing.

If it's a private statement then ok. But then don't expect others to take you seriously. Who is going to listen to someone who doesn't back their own beliefs by putting it on paper??