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Thread ID: 39416	2003-11-06 01:57:00	OT: The rising Dollar...	csinclair83 (200)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
189563	2003-11-07 00:55:00	> 7th form economics, that means that the price level > will increase, which will help to curb spending. Okay, I'm wrong. Decreasing government spending leads to a decrease in the price level :)	segfault (655)
189564	2003-11-07 01:23:00	From my quick skim over what everyone has said here, it seems nobody has mentioned tourism? Tourism is a major income earner for the NZ economy. If our dollar goes up, it means it is both more expensive for people to come here, and more expensive for them to do stuff while they're here (in there own currency terms). When people in US change their dollars to NZ dollars they'll get less now what what they would have gotten a year ago - quite a bit less I think. If that is the case, then a lot of people will go somewhere where its better value (according to their own everyday currency). If people stop coming here as tourists, that'll be a huge loss in NZ income. Mike.	Mike (15)
189565	2003-11-07 02:42:00	So are you saying that the NZ economy is doing well and therefore the value of the NZ dollar goes up, but this is bad. So should we all do less and the dollar value will go down and that will be be good. I have heard that Economics is called the ' dismal science ', but if the dollars rises in value and this actually is a bad thing, maybe the name is justified. Regards Rob.	zqwerty (97)
189566	2003-11-07 09:10:00	Sigh.... If our dollar goes up the the country as a whole is doing better. The dollar going up hurts just three sectors of the economy..... Exporters, Tourism and Education providers. Once upon a time we used to export primary produce like farm products to Britain but then Britain went into the common market and we had to find new buyers like Japan and America. Funnily enough we used to ( and still do ) produce wool. We also had clothing mills like Kaiapoi Petone or Alliance Textiles who would buy the wool and make fabric. They are now gone. We export logs now too. If I got to be Prime Minister tomorrow I would immediately impose import restrictions on any products we do make here currently, like Pies for example. I would then offer company tax breaks for any company moving here to manufacture products we currently import like vehicles, computer components etc. In my Govt. I would also give tax breaks to anyone who can add value to a product we currently have then export that. Making a canoe out of a log for example. We don't export the log.... We make something like maybe 250 coffee tables and export the tables. Oh yes... Reinstitute apprenticeship schemes so that knowledge is handed down. This will of course help unemployment and lower the crime rate. Regarding the crime rate I think we need to start with the idea that everyone is responsible for their own actions unless they are mentally ill. We need to bring back the Family unit. We need to make parents responsible for the acts of the children. Look! We all make mistakes but I have always found it better at work to say to the boss "Oooooooops, I just backed into a tree" rather than saying, " I was backing up and the tree moved into my path." The above is serious. Going to vote for me? (NOT SERIOUS) Oh! I got off the subject didn't I?	Elephant (599)
189567	2003-11-08 00:53:00	Economics might be dismal, but it is not a science. It's more like astrology. Give two economists the same situation and ask for predictions for a year ahead. They won't agree. Give 50 economists the opportunity to make a prediction. You'll get 50 wrong predictions. All they do is describe what has happened in the past. Given enough simplifying assumptions they can produce a computer simulation which can "predict" what happened last year. The simplifications just happen to remove the awkward factors which complicate matters --- like the real world.	Graham L (2)
189568	2003-11-08 07:21:00	Good post Elephant. Unfortunately subsidising overseas companys to come here is a bit of a gamble. It means asking, say, Fisher and Paykel to pay taxes so Samsung can set up a factory and undercut them. To achieve fairness you've got to offer the same subsidy to local businesses. And Graham. I know it is tempting to trash economists but this discipline has only existed since the 19th century. A bit like psychology - both have much to offer us but are still in the early stages of development. Do not mistake disagreement for lack of academic rigor. Tourism is portrayed as major, Mike, but in fact constitutes about 20% of our foreign currency earnings. Important but full of flash Harrys. If having our currency fall was the magic answer for tourism and exporters, then countries like Russia, India, and Mongolia would be the wealthiest in the world. Their money is super-cheap. Our $ rising indicates NZ is doing well. Look at the wealthy countries in the world - none of them have a low currency. It is a tough lesson but true.	Winston001 (3612)
189569	2003-11-08 20:26:00	Almost right , Winston. Because I believe that one of the reasons that our $ has risen against the US is because their economy is not in such great shape, so really we are doing well, relatively speaking. Also, we have seen a decline in the price paid for quite a range of our exports; dairy in particular, which is the biggie for overseas earnings and I am a bit concerned as to what happens when the rural downturn hits the property market, as it always does about 18mths 2 yrs after it starts in the provinces. I think that years ago when we were $ for $ and even better with the US and the economy was steaming along, there was a demand for what we produced, wool was king! and mother England was desparate for our butter and cheese. The post war boom. Nowadays we have to get out there and really work to sell our stuff. I guess that in economics everything is a fine balance and I find it quite heartening that people on this forum are taking an interest in how our economy works.	jcr1 (893)
189570	2003-11-09 01:05:00	I find it quite heartening that people on > this forum are taking an interest in how our economy > works. Hear hear. :-)	Winston001 (3612)
189571	2003-11-09 01:37:00	It's not "disagreement" ... it's pure fantasy, like a lot of psychology, sociology, (modern) history), modern "education"... Freudian psychology is based on Freud's pathological imagination. Academic rigour. :O Astrology has more scientific rigour. Have a look at the history of Nobel Prizes. The Physics prizes have been awarded for work which may have been added to in later years, but not discredited. Economics is a tin of worms. Think about that magical economic NP winning theory which led to the setting up of "Long Term Capital Markets". The economic "theory" which links unemployment with inflation rate fits the data pretty closely. For the 10 year period selected on the basis that the fit was good in that period. Plot a few years either side, and it's a nonsense. Real sciences don't select the data. In real science, such behaviour is considered fraud.	Graham L (2)
189572	2003-11-11 07:02:00	What an amazing thread :O Lots of commonsense and rational thought, and not an ego in sight. Congratulations to all contributors. Cheers Billy 8-{) hhh () () () () ()	Billy T (70)
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