Oh buggggggggggggggggggar

[Scuba_Steve]

If you want the Nats to stop borrowing, which part of their budget should they take a knife to first to balance the books. Health , education , maybe they could slash the cost for law & order by introducing the death penalty. Fuck the dole bludgers let them eat cake, Lets up the pension age to 75. They did not create the GFC , they have simply had to manage their way through it.
If they had balanced the budget you would really have something to snivel about.

And yes I do blame Clark & Sullen for a lot of that. In the boom times they locked in costs that would always be unsustainable when the downturn came, as it inevitably would.

Maybee you missed the fact National's already cut funding to health, education, "law & order" all while borrowing more & taxing higher... But hey never let facts get in the way of a fanboy rant right.

[skippa1]

Maybee you missed the fact National's already cut funding to health, education, "law & order" all while borrowing more & taxing higher... But hey never let facts get in the way of a fanboy rant right.

And your alternative in a global financial crisis to borrowing to maintain all those services would be.........?
easy to throw stones but I don't see any alternatives being thrown in the mix

[husaberg]

And your alternative in a global financial crisis to borrowing to maintain all those services would be.........?
easy to throw stones but I don't see any alternatives being thrown in the mix

Let privately financial institutions fail, its the free market. That is what is meant to happen with right wing ideals..........
If you can afford to invest in either the stock market or with a building society you can afford to loose it.
If you can't you are either greedy or stupid.
why should average tax payers fund this?
How much has the Wall street bail out cost...... for what benefit.
All it did was make the rich richer at the cost of everyone else.

[skippa1]

Let privately financial institutions fail, its the free market. That is what is meant to happen with right wing ideals..........
If you can afford to invest in either the stock market or with a building society you can afford to loose it.
If you can't you are either greedy or stupid.
why should average tax payers fund this?
How much has the Wall street bail out cost...... for what benefit.
All it did was make the rich richer at the cost of everyone else.

And that would fix unemployment too........oh hold on.......no, but it will reduce social welfare pay outs right?........ah no......good call......politics is so easy

[Daffyd]

If you want the Nats to stop borrowing, which part of their budget should they take a knife to first to balance the books.

Halve the politicians' salaries. Simple!

[sidecar bob]

Halve the politicians' salaries. Simple!

Fantastic idea, they halved the frequency of W.O.F inspections which has fucked up the motor trade a tad without a second thought.

[skippa1]

Halve the politicians' salaries. Simple!

That will attract a better class of politician

[trustme]

Dumb question. Why has that caused the motor industry a problem ? Just asking

[husaberg]

And your alternative in a global financial crisis to borrowing to maintain all those services would be.........?
easy to throw stones but I don't see any alternatives being thrown in the mix

And that would fix unemployment too........oh hold on.......no, but it will reduce social welfare pay outs right?........ah no......good call......politics is so easy

As simple as your understanding of how the world works.
You were unable to counter the points I made, otherwise you would have, instead of the condescending rhetoric.
They didn't need to borrow to bail out private institution's.......... they wanted to... they did so to protect their friends.
Their free market ideals were for sale.........

[Oakie]

Halve the politicians' salaries. Simple!

Well that saves $10.9 million. Drop in the bucket.

Actually I don't begrudge them the salaries they're on for the hours they do and the fact that they have to re-apply for their job every three years. Take Andrew Little. Wonder what he's going to do now? Find another trade union to be secretary of I guess.

[sidecar bob]

Dumb question. Why has that caused the motor industry a problem ? Just asking

Because we now have about twice as many wof inspectors as we require & they are landing in the dole queue as I predicted they would.

[Ocean1]

Politicians of any colour who actually care FIRST about the welfare of the people they are supposed to represent ...

...are destined to disappoint everyone. The very first thing you need in order to help anyone is a strong "productive sector", and the left simply don't provide an environment in which that's possible.

Personally, I care rather a lot more about the utter waste of human potential represented by those typically needing support. But rather than automatically blame everyone else for their lack I'd ask why they haven't taken responsibility for their own success in a world where that's never been so easy.

[trustme]

One final question , has it materially affected the standard of safety of the vehicles on the road ?.

[oldrider]

Will arguing with each other for the next three years solve anything?

We have three years to identify the problems and form a "united front" to try and force the government to take the direction "we" want the country take!

A very big ask but not insurmountable ... take a firm grip on the testicles and the head and the heart will follow ... anyone up for grabs?

[Daffyd]

One final question , has it materially affected the standard of safety of the vehicles on the road ?.

They don't seem to have any sort of WOF system here and the general condition of vehicles is bloody appalling! A few examples:

1. The infamous Jeepney. This is the preferred mode of transport for most Filipinos. Of the ones I have travelled in, at least 80% have NO tread on their tyres.

2. The infamous Jeepney. 60% have at least a half turn of play in the steering.

3. The infamous Jeepney. At least 50% have wrong coloured lights, eg some have GREEN tail lights; a lot have white, some have orange stop lights, some white. Some have rows of lights across the bonnet below the windscreen, some RED, some blue. Some have a row of floodlights/spotlights across the roof, front and back, and many combinations of the above.

4. Buses. Some of these are a bloody disgrace! Almost every week there is news of one leaving the road, killing several passengers; often driver error, but also mechanical misadventure. One actually "fell off" the skyway in Manila and landed on a van, killing the sole occupant. (Bald tyres in wet conditions.)

5 Trucks. These "fall over" with regular monotony, often as a result of the container not being properly secured and they slide partway off, causing a rollover. Last week this happened, killing the driver of the SUV beside it.

6. Motorcycles. (Known as "Motor") here. I will include "Tricycles" m/c's with sidecars here. Many of these also have the same lighting issues as the Jeepneys.

What I'm trying to say here is that there is NO regular check of any of these, and the Traffic Police are too busy trying to keep traffic moving. A WOF is absolutely necessary for safety on the roads. In answer to your question, it may not have yet, but give it time.