NZ - a nation of rorters?

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There are few countries in the world where one feels like one is in a free society. I have lived in a number of countries, and among them I would have to say that in terms of 'freedom from some form of extortion', I probably most felt extorted in New Zealand and the Philippines. NZ is probably worse, but then I feel richer in the Philippines because things are generally cheaper. In Australia or Japan, I did not feel so much of a problem, at least not at a commercial level.

I have been living in a short term rental lease in Queenstown, NZ, and I must say that the property managers in this place are abysmal for the following reasons:

1. Their contract was wrong from day one - they could not even calculate the right some. I can't remember if it was in our favour or theirs.

2. The property condition report was very adverse to us - in as much as they had not picked up a lot of the property damage. This is a potential rort. I complained about this. The problem is that when the agent 'misses' so many items, you are destined to miss some as well.

3. The property manager did not provide me with a copy of the property report. This is strange. I have never leased in NZ before, but it strikes me as strange that the tenant does not get a copy of the report. I asked for acknowledgement that they have received my copy. It was a struggle to get even that.

4. I was required to clean the apartment when I left the property. This might have been appropriate if I had in fact been in there more than 3 months, and the carpet needed cleaning. This strikes me as another rort. What I will do is that when I leave, I will require that they produce evidence that the carpets had been cleaned prior to my entering the premises, because I remember otherwise.

Australia has a rather good regulatory system for managing the relationship between tenants and landlords. In fairness to landlords, they are probably not making much money. At least not the owners of apartments like these. You are buying a depreciating asset, you have high property management fees. The property manager can be viewed standing around talking to people. Property managers are making easy money probably, when the asset owners get a raw deal. It is of course the owners of land who get the sweet deal.

I don't like living in a police state. Neither do I like living in a country where you are inclined to feel everyone is our to squeeze you for a buck. Nor do I like living in a society where you accept the requirement to pay tax, you live in fear of the system, but you deceive everyone around you by rorting the system. i.e. You set up a business, you rort the system with all these false or dubious business expenses, in order to keep your taxes down. People with a respect for reality, or honest people are penalised. Pretty soon there are no honest people left.

Welcome to the real world. Its not so pleasant. Everyone is a con, but only because they have to be in order to survive. No one questions the system because no one can change the system. You suck it up, then one day there is riots. We are witnessing them today in the Middle East. Its like a domino effect. Repressed individuals seemingly become incensed overnight and protest. We saw the same in the 1990s with the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles.

One day consumers, taxpayers, maybe everyone is going to say they have had enough. I just hope that they don't turn to government for solutions, because they are middlemen; they are the problem.

If you are thinking my contempt for the practice of a Queenstown property manager is enough. I am accustomed to being rorted. I have dealt with the building trades. Same in Australia mind you. The building trade in Japan I believe is pretty clean...at least in the cities. I think when you are dealing with businesses reliant on their reputation, you get better service. There will come a time when people will go online looking for services, and for people with a good reputation. We are not there yet, but it will come. Accreditation. People will start to care about their reputation, just as they did in the old days. I love the internet. It will give me the freedom I ultimately deserve.

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

Hone Harawira being smeared - NZ politics

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This is going to be a protracted election year in NZ. Already we are witnessing the smear from elected representatives....is that what they are?

According to the NZ Herald, there is evidence suggesting that the rogue Maori Party MP Hone Harawira sought a ministerial position when it was negotiating a coalition with National Party. The implication is that Hone Harawira is disingenuous because he is now against the coalition. The implication is that because Hone Harawira did not get a ministerial position, he is now doing a dummy spit.

Of course this is the implication the Maori Party want you to draw, and its the one the National Party also want you to draw because they do not want you to vote for him in the next election, and to diminish the position of the Maori Party, or upset their cozy coalition.

The reality is that this is just one possibility. Maybe Hone Harawira did do a 'dummy spit', and resented not being given a ministerial position. The other possibility however not countenanced by this MPs all too willing to discount him, is that the Maori Party MPs have alienated themselves from their electorate by forming a coalition with a party which represents values remote from its own. The second plausible reason that Hone Harawira has changed his mind about the coalition is because:

1. He expected the coalition to achieve real concessions from the National Party

2. He actions of the party since the coalition was formed

3. The practical consequences of forming the coalition

I don't like the politics of the Maori Party any more than I like Hone Harawira. I think they are all corrupted by our system of government. Democracy, if you read my political blog is merely a process for legitimatising collectivism or tyranny. It is not a system of justice, as no system which does not respect objectivity can be. The political discourse I am highlighting here is just a swob from the wound caused by democracy. It is truly a flawed system, and these political power plays and extortive tactics are democracy, and are not merely a side-show.

So I say, don't vote for any of them. Vote for the most unlikely of candidates - an unaffiliated libertarian. Not because you embrace their politics or philosophy, but because they embrace small government, which means they want to diminish the side-show. That is the least you could do. The most that you could do is to get off your butt and protest the fact that democracy is a repudiation of economic rights, which means you have no rights at all. Political rights without economic rights is a myth. It is not 'No taxation without representation', its 'Representation is a myth, taxation is slavery'.

Don't be lured into these false dichotomies, as if it was one or the other. You don't have to mortgage your personal liberty to attain freedom. You just have to recognise your sovereign right to be free from the coercion of others. i.e. The problem today is that coercion is practical. It is practical because the majority sanction it. You would not allow others to abuse your children; acknowledge that you are allowing your government to abuse you, but failing to acknowledging the abuse - unconditional taxation/expropriation. That is tyranny - you have no recourse. Don't pretend for a moment that a vote every 3-4 years makes a difference when the vote offers no political point of differentiation, when the two parties are the same, and there are only two parties. Its an illusion; all smoke and mirrors. You have been had.

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

Australian PM delivers a cliche

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Julia Gilliard has turned a commonplace activity like generosity and turned it into a cliche. It was always an Australian beat-up, this notion of 'mateship', but she wants to labour the point because we have to be close for economic reasons. Sadly these people waste our time, and they are only obstacles to the real 'business' of creating wealth. Consider for instance the fact that the Australian Liberal and Labor governments alike have for the last 20 years obstructed NZ apple exports to Australia, and concocted a scientific reason to lock out NZ apples which taste far better than the Australian apple....by miles.

The trade relationship with NZ is more important to NZ than it is to Australia...if only because NZ'ers have no money, no jobs, and a competitive advantage because their currency is so low.

NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Japan Foreclosed Guide

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

Selling off NZ farm assets

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There are so many gross generalisations in this article supportive of privatising NZ assets and asset sales to foreigners.

Even if privatisation and asset sales are desirable, it does not mean NZ ought to be blaze about the process or results, and nor does it mean that market regulation cannot achieve a better outcome if properly implemented. NZ is not asset poor, it is income poor. The state of the Crafar balance sheet does not reflect the net or potential value of NZ generally. If the country can achieve population growth or global growth, there is really no problem if the govt does not artificially stimulate a housing bubble. Just because Telecom management has improved does not mean the process could not have been managed better.

There is the generalisation that foreigners bring expertise. That is not a given. Often its silly ‘bubble entrepreneurs’ buying in, who only bring money. They overpay for assets, they often have no farming expertise, and they often go broke because they are speculators. Is that a good thing? In the short term, it can mean high prices, but it might result in those farms being sold off to property developers.

In the 1980s, Telecom was government-owned, not privately owned, so that is striking at a straw man. It would make more sense to compare an Australian privatised concern with one which is now Singaporean. An example fails me.

Foreigners are buying commodity based assets because there is a commodities boom. You are suggesting they sell these assets before the boom spreads to food. How good is your investment sense? You would have them retain paper money during inflation, or pay off loans? Tangible physical assets should be held in this period as money is debased.

It is not a lack of capital investment which is the cause of capital investment in NZ, its the small size of the market. This means that Vodafone and Telecom need not worry about competition because they know that no other player is going to compete with their extensive networks, so why do they need to ‘over-capitalise’ their networks. Its a strategic decision that has nothing to do with public or private, but collusion, whether public or private.

NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Japan Foreclosed Guide

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

Australia and NZ - their economic relationship

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The visit of Australian PM Julia Gillard to NZ has sparked a media discussion about the relationship between the two countries. I would offer the following:

The differences between Australian and NZ are real for several reasons:
1. Australia has benefited from high business investment and strong demand for its mineral & energy exports. It can confidently integrate with the global market.
2. NZ remains isolated and suffering a ‘brain drain’, mostly to Australia. Its food exports are only just about to recover, but it otherwise is on the back foot.
NZ is in some respects like South Australia, a small isolated population of Australia detached from the rest. Until NZ discovers oil, or its currency depreciates to a value-proposition, it will remain isolated, just as South Australia did before it discovered minerals (i.e. Olympic Dam). Interestingly, this discovery was made because of a $25mil govt-sponsored geophysics program. Might I suggest the NZ govt sponsor geophysical surveys over the offshore regions of NZ, in order to ignite oil & gas exploration. Oil for NZ would make it the richest country in the world, like the United Arab Emirates. John Key could be a god if the investment pays off. It’s a justifiable investment.

The economic stagnation that has placed NZ on the back foot is not a new phenomenon; it has been the reality ever since commodity prices dropped in the 1960s, and the UK joined the EC in 1973. Ever since NZ terms of trade and currency have under-performed. People no longer wanted NZ wool or milk. The ascension of China and India will change that. Asian girls will want milk so they can be as voluptuous as their Western cousins. Yes, guys! That means more 'big tit-tees'. We have seen poorly implemented privatisation, and others just 'back peddling' which has created welfare rather than income generating opportunity. Worst still is that the country seems to be moving towards Australia. Australia is successful not because of its regulatory framework, but despite it. Australian leaders can take all the credit for the turn around in its terms of trade and investment, but the reality is that it has more to do with India's isolationism in the past, and China's repressive Cultural Revolution in the 1960-70s. Those policies have unleashed an avalanche of wage disparity needing a market.

NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Japan Foreclosed Guide

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

Foreclosures in NZ

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Foreclosed properties are being offered in NZ. For more information on these properties in Ruepehu, North Island, see the following article.

NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Japan Foreclosed Guide

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

Racial prejudice in NZ

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NZ does have a problem with racial prejudice. This must rank as a significant problem for a country which is countenancing the benefits of foreign immigration and tourism. There are several problems:

1. Superficial contact by NZ citizens with foreigners

2. A significant disempowerment by New Zealanders

3. National stagnation and the associated poor government policy

NZ people don't really understand foreigners because they don't engage with them. They snub their noses at them, all the while preserving some public precept of 'political correctness'.

New Zealanders might well celebrate the democracy which gives them a pretense of empowerment or 'participation'. The reality is that democracy gives them no effective opportunity to engage on public policy, and if given the opportunity, a great many of them would lack the self-assuredness to do so anyway. Does that mean it should be denied them? No. Does it mean their opinions should carry some weight? No. It means democracy is a flawed concept. Nothing is right by 'virtue' of the majority believing it to be right. Facts are more important than perceptions, and it is merely protection of the facts by other members of society which protects people from realising so. It might be self-evident to people of science, or people held 'ultimately' accountable like doctors, engineers, and the like, but the reality is that our political system gives primacy to perceptions. So NZ's racists can preserve their values along with their anonymity.

NZ is the farm. It might have a high number of foreigners living here, but that is just the 'appearance' because most of them are born in 'compatible' countries like the UK, America, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.

Perhaps the best opportunity for dispelling racist beliefs is to allow people to comprehend the value of others. One of the problems getting work for foreigners is the prejudice in the community. It is very hard. A foreigner needs the validation of a Westerner in order to get recognition. It is easier where a NZ'er has lived overseas. It is easier in the cities and those areas with significant tourism or Asian communities. I was out for dinner last night, and the waitress did not even acknowledge my Asian guests. They are fluent English speakers...and yet there was perhaps an unwillingness to deal with them. They might not have noticed unless I pointed it out.

Racism is a form of ignorance to be sure...but we can say that about anything. More significantly it is a failure to think...a failure to judiciously gather evidence, make differentiations when necessary, and to recognise that whilst generalisation is part of the knowledge formation, so it understanding the context (i.e. Pertinent factors). The problem is these people are not thinking because they have been protected. NZ is a protected socialist state, and so long as it lives behind the coveted protection of farm exports and regulated property prices, it is not going to succeed.

It is always my way to blame government because in most cases the folly extends back to government policy, or the culture which is embedded in the same values which preserves our democratic tradition. Mindless democracy. Until people are challenged intellectually, this country is no going to prosper, and if we step outside moral relativism, the entire world will be held back in absolute terms.

The historical legacy needs to change or NZ will be left behind. You might think 'all well and good', but the reality is that NZ needs foreign population because of the brain drain of the 'more astute' New Zealanders to Australia...if not further afield. Australia steals NZ minds right out of university. NZ needs to change its model or its just going to drift backwards until the day it makes a huge oil discovery. You live in hope!

NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Japan Foreclosed Guide

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