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Thread ID: 79788	2007-06-01 07:27:00	A countries Slide from Rich to Poor	pctek (84)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
555002	2007-06-02 10:27:00	Na.... I'm siding with Mets here... We have all our basic needs met. In fact going by our growing obesity problem, it seems that there is more than enough food to go round. I'm sitting in a cave, with food stocked up in the pantry, light at night, communication that lets me freely chat internationally, music, and for the hell of it i'm building a home on wheels which will have all this and more.... If i take the "relative" point of view I'm one of the poorest people i know. If i actually appreciate what i have, i'm one of the richest. :) I am in fact stinking rich. It's just my bank balance that isn't :p But if you feel like "being hard done by in this stinking wee hole of a country", then so be it.	personthingy (1670)
555003	2007-06-02 21:05:00	implementing a privatization program. state companies and services were privatized. The total opening up of the market to foreign goods, which up until then were produced locally, resulted in the collapse of local industry. You know personthingy, they were the same. They imported shiny things from China. They had nice houses, well paid jobs, spent lots of money on toys, ate out. Just like here. Then all the factories closed or moved away. Things went downhill very, very fast. That was my point, not that we in NZ are 3rd world. Yet. What do we make here now? Sheep, cows and logs.	pctek (84)
555004	2007-06-02 21:29:00	implementing a privatization program . state companies and services were privatized . The total opening up of the market to foreign goods, which up until then were produced locally, resulted in the collapse of local industry . You know personthingy, they were the same . They imported shiny things from China . They had nice houses, well paid jobs, spent lots of money on toys, ate out . Just like here . Then all the factories closed or moved away . Things went downhill very, very fast . That was my point, not that we in NZ are 3rd world . Yet . What do we make here now? Sheep, cows and logs . I think tourism is one of our biggest industries now . . Fickle as that is, its well overdue . However i agree that the radical change of the economy wasn't a good thing, nor was it a good thing for us, however i believe that what has made it a bad thing wasn't so much the direction, but the speed of change . If Bobs washer factory making $10 handmade washers for the minimal local market goes under because we can now get washers made from an efficient mass producing Chinese factory, then is that actually a bad thing? Bob may think so, but Bob will now have to get a real job that is actually productive . However if 10 local factory's go under, each employing several hundred workers, and each go under in the space of a few weeks, then the chances of our enterprising Bob falling back on his feet in a new improved and actually useful role are somewhat less . It's all IMHO opinion not so much about opening the doors being wrong, but more opening the floodgates overnight . Anyway, the Chinese cheap import thing has limited time . Sooner or later us useless non-chinese are going to have to produce something the Chinese can buy with all the money we send them for "shiny things" . We'll probably have desperate racist groups popping up soon saying that it's all their fault when in fact it's ours for not being as productive as the Chinese, and not even trying to spend locally . It's ironic . . . All those years of the Americans talking about the "communist threat", and in the end it's a "communist" country embracing capitalist trade and production concepts and beating the western world at it's own game hands-downthat threatens the demise of western civilization . :2cents:	personthingy (1670)
555005	2007-06-02 21:53:00	Has no one else noticed we all live like kings? Im sure we all have more food then we can eat, lighting, heating, comfy beds, devices thats sole purpose is to provide us with entertainment in the numerous hours of free time we have, education, health, the ability to travel...near or far. People in general tend to forget these things in their search for more. They want more of this, and more of that and what they do have is overlooked. I consider myself to be in the rich list, not because I have a healthy bank account (this is a single income family here, dual if you count the support IRD gives us), but because of what I have (yet don't own - family). But yeah, in regards to pcteks original post, I do believe some sort of safeguard should have (or should still be as its not too late) implemented. Foreign ownership may be wonderful in the beginning, but at what cost? ...	Myth (110)
555006	2007-06-02 23:13:00	pctek is spot on, New Zealands future is already mapped out by the actions of the Economic Zealots in the last 20 years or so. New Zealand has fallen into the trap set by the crazies in the "right wing American think tanks" and will pay the price for its stupidity. www.american.com By the way you forgot to mention Wine & Cheese making, our major growth industries since we abdicated our right to plan for NZ's future independent of outside advice.	zqwerty (97)
555007	2007-06-02 23:39:00	Not germane to this topic but well worth the read, a wonderfully written piece by Martin Amis: www.guardian.co.uk	zqwerty (97)
555008	2007-06-03 10:31:00	That American.com article has a quote "Dictatorships now understand that they have to provide a good economy to keep citizens happy, and they understand that free-market econ*omies work best." Since when do dictatorships worry about keeping people happy, all they need is a sufficiently large police force/army. Martynz	martynz (5445)
555009	2007-06-03 11:07:00	You might recognize some of this as well: www.nybooks.com	zqwerty (97)
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