Meanwhile thousands of Kiwi expats are returning home from aussie because our economy is doing better.

 

Personally I reckon NZ is the best country in the world and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

http://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/catch-of-the-day_topic104508_page48.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/catch-of-the-day_topic104508_page48.html

 

...and cheer the hell up

Ironic is it not that before all the so called good and necessary things were introduced we had near full employment, you could buy a house and bring up a family on one income, every worker earned a liveable wage, we had more hospitals and schools, our Uni students were actively head hunted from overseas before they had completed their studies, our children left school being able to read and write properly, we had loads of manufacturing and assembly industries and a small spread out population. Sure we did not have thirty different models of car/cell pone/TV's/computers et al to choose from. However what we did have was of reasonable quality and modern technology would still have come.

We then had Rogernomics, the Mother of all budgets, the ECA and now the TPPA. All were/are supposed to make the country wealthy and along with it all of its citizens.

We now have a much larger centrally condensed population, virtually non existent manufacturing and assembly industries, less hospitals, less schools, many kids are leaving school with no reading/writing or arithmetic skills, Uni students are having to find work now, house prices in Auckland are over priced for the poor quality being built. The general person can no longer buy a house and bring up a family on one income, we have cheap shoddy and sometimes dangerous goods flood our $2 economy and with the increase in population one would expect prices for services to come down. Economy of scale and all that. Yet it has gone the other way. The "real" cost of living, not the touchy feely feel good one is really high. On the plus side, we have a huge choice and variety of what we can buy. Even if it only lasts a year and is imported.

Frankly I feel privileged to have grown up in the pre Douglas era. The youth of today have no idea what a paradise or Godzone NZ really was until the free market deregulated global economy ideologues got their hands on the reigns of power.

Some will throw the old Telecom example around about waiting days for a phone connection. From my experience, not much has changed, especially when Chorus is involved. Back then, who cared. They will also throw the old we would have been bankrupt without those changes, Mmmmm. We are a hundred odd billion in debt and rising daily today.

I still remember our old party line. The young can look that up and have a laugh.

Rose tinted glasses I suppose. However I despair at what I see happening today and what is in store for my grandchildren.

Apologize for the grump. My RC car has just blown a driveshaft and I needed a place to vent.

Thanks.

https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/videos/10153498433046939/?pnref=story

I think its part of an on-going takeover by big corporate business. And the objective of big business is to improve the lot of a few.

 

A lot of valid comments there V8 but you forgot the following that were supposed to bring economies as a result of competition ....... Yeah right ! :-

 

Opening up power supply to all comers.

Ditto with telecommunications yet takes 6 hrs. to get a reply call from Spark ( ex telecom )

Combining the Auckland councils into a super city & we all know what a mess that caused.

GST applied to rates, fines, RUC, car & dog registration etc. which are virtually a tax on taxes.

Removing road tax refunds with the exception of farmers on non road use eg boats, mowers etc.

Food after purchasing may not have lasted as long, but it was chemical & chickens hormone free

 

Must be a heap of other things re the downsides of so called progress but let's not forget the positives

such as cars being more affordable, along with fuel ( yes surprisingly enough compared to income ) & definitely far more reliable ( or maybe in your case drive shafts excepted ) testimony being the almost total demise of motor re conditioners.

 

Electronic or electronic goods are definitely more affordable, can remember when an electric jug was considered to be a generous wedding gift & who bothers to have a tv repaired anymore.

 

These supposed positives bring their own problems of course such as the disposal of all the now throwaway goods that have been created along with all the plastics & packaging.

 

At the ever increasing rate the changes are happening, can but wonder where we will be in 30 yrs ? 

Rang spark and the answer??? well thats the price thats it no deals to be done,so we are swapping with that attitude