tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19962237.post7553037677192871643..comments2024-03-04T16:39:30.609+13:00Comments on Lindsay Mitchell: Why I support WinstonLindsay Mitchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04437693272797130833noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19962237.post-41050369132846928822015-07-02T20:41:02.597+12:002015-07-02T20:41:02.597+12:00And just who inherits the wealth from all those gr...And just who inherits the wealth from all those groups. and wastes so much of it, spends it easy because they never earned it?<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19962237.post-3043497652681724392015-07-02T20:00:38.659+12:002015-07-02T20:00:38.659+12:00The most important fact that no politician will ad...The most important fact that no politician will admit is that anyone other 55 won't get ANY National super - no matter what Key says. There isn't any money; it's not sustainable; it's just not going to be there. <br /><br />David Seymour should just repeat that again and again from the rooftops --- and then force other parties to deal with the problem. <br /><br />I still think the only appropriate remedy is immediate, across the board, cancellation - accompanied by similar cancellations of welfare, health & education - but then I'm literate. Most Kiwis and most politicians are not. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19962237.post-24706352137437399182015-07-02T11:03:17.197+12:002015-07-02T11:03:17.197+12:00You do indeed need to be careful about how you des...You do indeed need to be careful about how you describe older people.<br /><br />For example the Baby Boomers are a group born 1946 to 1960 and given female fertility was about at it's highest by 1960 the majority of boomers will still be working and supporting retirees for another 5-10 years.<br /><br />Then too, there is another substantial cohort often confused with the boomers, the Silent Generation born mid 1920s to the mid 1940s. The older ones are now very old but many of us have either only just retired or are working into our 70s.<br /><br />You therefore have at least 3-4 generations of people with quite different attitudes. At the margins you have people with a colonial mindset to those early Gen X with attitudes much more like the BBs.<br /><br />It also stands to reason that most of the BBs could not possibly have voted for the perks they are accused of engineering. Most were born 1950-60 and it would be the 1972 election before they started voting (age 21 the voting age) and you can't seriously suggest a 20 something had old age perks on their minds. And of course, it would be the 1980s before many could get into Parliament and even then Lange and Douglas (and Winston) were pre BB era.<br /><br />Perks like ACC and superannuation were brought in by an older generation and even the Gold Card came in years before even the earliest BBs could take advantage of it.<br /><br />On the other hand it was very much the BBs who absorbed the shock of the 1980s reforms and they who most significantly paid down the national debt of 76% of GDP in the mid 80s .. to zero by 2008 and it was they who introduced the increase from 60 to 65 for NZ Super in the 90s.<br /><br />So I guess what I'm saying is that each generation is the recipient of the political goods and bad of previous generations and these generations merge and/or overlap in ways that make it difficult to ascribe praise or blame to any particular age cohort. Also, for better or worse we have allowed international bodies like the UN or OECD to determine the morality of our choices to a whole range of social things like health and safety, equality, old age, minimum wage etc. These outside standards help determine our competitiveness for things like reputation, migration and trade deals so blame or praise for our actions is nowhere near only our choice.<br /><br />JC<br /><br />JChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00875768024598278750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19962237.post-9550200597834512902015-07-02T08:29:30.496+12:002015-07-02T08:29:30.496+12:00A good statement but the trouble with Winston is t...A good statement but the trouble with Winston is that he is an excellent politician, knows that talk is cheap and says what is politically expedient at any particular time. What he really thinks or stands for, apart from feathering his own nest, is a mystery.<br /><br />3:16Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com