Brash - ACT Party - needs to think more about implications

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This was always going to be the problem elevating Don Brash to the position of leader of the ACT Party...he was always destined to be another unthinking libertarian as opposed to the philosophical type. I agree with his sentiment when he wants to drop the minimum wage. The problem is not that there is a minimum wage, but that its too high. i.e. It exists as a form of welfare support. The positive aspect about a minimum wage is that it avoids abuse; whether of immigrants, the disabled, or even the long term unemployed, who are not worth $1/day, but maybe they are worth $6-8/day in terms of the economic surplus they can produce; as opposed to sitting on welfare. Of course there are other ways to regulate these issues, but being a 'unthinking' type libertarian, there is tendency to detach oneself from the interests of people who have been raised under this system. Just as you don't turn your back on a 'spoilt child', you don't turn your back on a 'spoilt' welfare recipient. i.e. Your system created their welfare dependence; it serves no one to cut them off without reasonable conditional education to get them back to being productive persons.

These are however the right type of statements that Brash ought to be making, and they will resonate with farmers. But unless he pulls his finger out and considers the impact of government on these welfare abusers, then he is setting himself up for a fringe group of farmers, and he will not have a big impact. Don't think because you have a unthinking libertarian and an unthinking conservative deciding the fake of NZ that you will end up with good policy - you won't. You will merely end up with a compromise between two bad policies. The implication is that the context will be dropped.

Brash is making the same mistake - or will be perceived as making the same mistake - as the Sir Roger Douglas. It would not be an unreasonable expectation given that they come from the same party. The danger is that they will engage in their economic rationalisation and dispense with context. Call it rationalism, compartmentalisation or dogmatism; NZ'ers will snub them if they keep this up. They will get 3% of the vote instead of 10-20% they could if they were deeper thinkers. Well, maybe they have run out of time.

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

New Zealanders taking permanent leave

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As expected New Zealanders are leaving the country in droves and immigrants and tourists are tending to stay away as well. Most of those leaving are probably salary-earners rather than small business owners, who will tend to profit from the reconstruction. The following article suggests that middle income earners have been particularly hard hit by higher taxes. i.e. the tax system in most countries is so skewed against the salaryman, that people are inclined to seek out any concession, rather than doing what they should do, and stop sanctioning a terrible form of government 'democracy' and the right of government - or that blessed 'majority' - if ever there was one. Stop sanctioning the right of the minority to extort from another minority. That is not the genius of democracy; that is what makes democracy just a legitimatised form of tyranny like the ones of old. This might strike you as strange but that legitimacy comes in the form of your right to vote. Yes, voting. The right to a meaningless sanctioning of a person you have never met, to execute policies you don't know, who purportedly competes against a party who is very much the same, engaged in the same form of extortion, to stay in power. Allies I'd say more than competitors. But by all means, go to Australia, and win the right to be screwed by a different democratic franchise. You will end up becoming a repressed materialist like all the other Australians. If depressed; go shopping; and give the government more points for stimulating economic activity...as opposed to productivity..which is what really counts. That's right, we do not even measure government by the right tools....anyway they control all the data.

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

Artists: Its not just about the money!

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The last thing we need is the government picking winners....even those people who profess or appear to be worth the effort. Successful recording artists are highly lucrative. Why does government need to finance them? If you want to sanction the support of artists et al, then I suggest you invest your own money in these artists. My suggestion is - request a share of the royalties - say $5 for every dollar invested in their first album, $3 from their 2nd album, $1 from every sale from their 3rd. That seems fair! Just in case they are a one-race horse.

Is it plausible that Pip would write better music if she struggled with the need to pay her own way? No one writes lyrics about how they lived off the government. Is it possible that she did not write the lyrics she professes to 'feel'. Feel it girl...feel it! Feel the pain of taxpayers paying your way. My guess is - living overseas is part of the process of forgetting that others paid for her 'success'. That goes for all those artists who look to government for support, or sanction governments who support them and others. Its not about giving. Its about the 'taking' that makes this giving possible.

Spare a thought for those struggling to survive on the money they actually earned during this recession who cannot afford Pip's album. Even if they attended one of her free concerts, if she offers them to investors, I wonder if the message of her lyrics is...how do I got money from the government. Nope....no one sings about that. You might wonder. I reckon I could string together a swanky tune. Are you the type of cynics to request a verse?

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

John Key's speech to Australia moving but fallacious

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John Key, PM of NZ believed a very moving speech to the Australian Parliament. It was this first such address by a NZ prime minister, and follows the speech by George Bush, as the visiting US President. With respect to its content however I must say:

1. Having lived in NZ that the values of NZ people are quite different. Not that its a problem; but it betrays the sentiments of the speech. Everyone likes to mention what we share. This of course betrays the facts, which also include differences. We actually have quite different histories. Shared aspirations? I don't think so. The only Australians going to NZ are those trying to escape a repressive government, and tourists wanting to check out what a real mountain and earthquake looks like. Most of the 560,000 NZ'ers in Australia came over for the money, even if they learned to live there.

2. The CER represents a 'global standard in free trade agreements'. Really? What about the apples Mr Key. NZ apples were restricted for trumped up scientific reasons...you know...the type used to justify climate/carbon taxes.

There are many positives about this speech. The sentiments are warm and welcoming; but sadly they are quite a stray from the facts and from principle. Most concerning is the sentiments expressed - that both countries are committed to freedom:

"That democracy, freedom and the rule of law should be cherished and fostered".

In the policies of both the Australian and NZ, trade aside, I see no evidence of freedom, and would argue that democracy is but a legitimatised form of fascism. Great speech lest we forget the facts.

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

Life in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes

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NZ will have to change the way it thinks about life. Most people tend to take life each day at a time. We can't afford to do that......at least not after one confronts the urgencies of the tragedy and trauma. The deaths and injuries in Christchurch to date were because we hold ideas in disdain for the 'practicalities' of the moment. People with ideas warned government officials that there were risks, and they were ignored. Never expect government officers to be champions for ideas. They are middlemen who deal in concrete matters because their lives are driven by perceptions, which tend to evolve around facts because that is all that most people consider.

We need to think conceptually, which means analytically, critically and long term. It is what distinguishes us from animals which function on the basis of mere correlation. Our capacity to appreciation or 'understand' causation is the capacity which allows us to see around corners. Japan only sparingly learned the lesson because of its far greater exposure to earthquakes. It shows that earthquakes are not particularly dangerous if we anticipate them, plan for them, and build for them. The buildings in Japan shake like trees and yet they preserve their structural integrity. Those buildings and the people who occupy them go about their lives knowing that they are safe in the knowledge of technological progress.

Japan suffered from the tsunami because of its compartmentalised thinking. It shows that people might live under the illusion that they are prepared, but its merely accepting the reassurances of 'short-range' government bureaucrats. Only one of the mayors in the NE of Honshu had made adequate provisions for tsunamis. His provisional construction efforts, which entailed building a number of concrete sea walls, spared the lives of his electorate. He is a rare thinker who challenged popular consensus. Such thinking is all too rare because it is not supported or affirmed by our political system. On the contrary, our political system advances perceptions or concrete facts as the basis for decision-making. I don't think you can fully comprehend the damage this has done to society, and what it will do to Western democracy in the future.

I will say more on this issue, but I will save it for forthcoming books.

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

NZ drinking habits a problem not being solved

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Excessive-drinking is not a criminal matter to be punitively persecuted, or a lifestyle issue to be coerced from; its a crisis of values. Its the implication of some pretty poor social values; which are a manifestation of most people's personal values. Don't expect the two major parties to do anything constructive. Their measures will however help stop off-licensed site boozing with this law, but they will not stop people tanking up before going out with it, or simply modifying their behaviour. They are just as likely to switch drugs, maybe even go for harder drugs. Its a start, but a half measure. Its values stupid. Address the mind, not the social implications. Stop behaving like 1970s behaviourists!

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

NZ - The way to boost "innovation nation"

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Niche industrial player sees the opportunities to provide high value technological services to foreign markets. Laznatech is merely one type of industrial innovation to be found in NZ, and there is room for many more. This is the type of innovation culture that NZ needs to promote. So you might ask how it can go about that:

1. Provide a more encouraging culture at home to attract creative foreigners; not least all those NZ expatriates who might have left for good.

2. Reform the education system to make it more 'externally focused' like Australia's, and more critical thinking.

3. Encourage external relationships in trade and personal interests.

4. Encourage local govts to set up region or national-based hubs in major trading nations to promote trade, familiarity and cultural exchange. I look at NZ efforts at this, and its poor in execution. i.e. Wanganui, my town, has a sister city relationship with Toowoomba in Qld, and some small town in Shizuoka, Japan. The problem with this strategy is that its 'boring' sameness, not interesting 'differentiation'. Why would they come here, and why would we go there. These relationships we defined by their proponents, who as individuals, happened to like living in Wanganui. This fails as a community stretegy. Its success was subsidised by its proponent, then unthinkingly supported by the state. I would suggest Hanno should drop its relationship with Toowoomba because its a competitor, not a prospective partner, and drop its relationship in Shizuoka, and adopt one with Hanno, Saitama. Why? Hanno is likewise a small town, but its on the edge of a big city (Tokyo). There are many factories there. Another good option is Mito, north of Tokyo, close to the airport. Do the same in India, and you just might turn Wanganui into a future IT hub, developing call centres, and VOIP technologies for pertinent industries. Expect technology costs for such centres to come down in future.

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com