Sponsor's Message

We have the lowest rate of unemployment in the developed world, we've had 20 percent growth over the past six years and, if you listen to some people, things have never been better.

However, being the old skeptic that I am, I have grave concerns that we're actually doing a whole lot worse than these figures would first indicate and I don't think that pretending otherwise is a clever move.

According to a report I heard on NatRad this week, poor old Kiwis are still way down the list when it comes to the wealth of its people. Despite the fact that we work longer and harder than almost anyone else on the list of OECD nations, we're taking home less money and thus enjoy a lower standard of living.

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Comparing us to other countries that were until recently considered somewhat "average" or even backwards is sobering. We're an awfully long way behind Ireland for instance -- despite the fact that the lack of smarts of the Irish has long been the subject of politically incorrect racist jokes.

Things get even worse when you look at some other figures.

Did you realise that, despite our gobsmackingly low levels of unemployment, over 70% of all families will be receiving some form of taxpayer-funded benefit payout by the end of next year?

That is absolutely incredible and surely indicates that if the government has to give money back to nearly three quarters of such taxpayers then we must be grossly overtaxed in the first place -- perhaps another reason why we have such a low after-tax income compared to our trading partners.

And what about our knowledge based economy (KBE)?

Whenever I suggest that NZ is still far too reliant on primary commodity exports I get people emailing me to say that we're actually doing very well in the KBE because we're developing and exporting a lot of technology related to this sector.

My response would have to be "and this is a good thing?"

What on earth is the point in continuing to try and sell our milk, meat, timber and other primary products into the international market when we're also selling the technology that should give us a competitive edge?

How did Chile get Kiwi Fruit? Yeah, they got it from NZ and now they're a major competitor for the markets we created -- in effect we shot ourselves in the foot and it looks as if we're doing it again in the misguided belief that we're building a KBE.

The same NatRad report also suggested that we're actually starting to lose market-share in some of our key export markets -- perhaps because we're exporting our competitive edge to our competitors. Now that's a worry!

The Reserve Bank has warned government that it needs to steer away from its socialist ideology and stop strangling further growth through high taxation -- but Cullen and Clark are not listening.

So, where will NZ be in another three years?

It's my bet that we'll still have relatively low rates of unemployment -- but only because government is so adept at reclassifying those people who would otherwise qualify for the dole. Growth will have fallen to dangerously low levels, interest rates will have gone even higher, the brain drain will restart with vigor, and we'll find ourselves slipping even further away from the goal of moving up the OECD list of nations.

Perhaps, only after it's too late, will we realise just how important it really is to get a *real* KBE going in this country so that, just like the Irish, we can transition from an economy based on primary produce to one based on the wealth of knowledge.

While on the subject of innovation and technology development, I was quite surprised to see this story running on the New Scientist website and containing new images of NASA's revolutionary blended body aircraft design. Apparently NASA has had a few stability problems but thinks it's got them solved now, after lots of expensive wind-tunnel testing - although they're still quite a way from actual flight tests.

Well gosh guys, doesn't your design looks stunningly similar to my UAV -- which has already clocked up quite a few hours in the air and now flies very well with no stability issues. I strongly suspect that I've spent significantly less on R&D than NASA has in refining this concept too :-) Higher-speed flight tests will be started in the next couple of months but the Kiwi-built version is already flying and exceeding its design goals.

I wonder how much money Cullen would have collected from tax paid on exports of *this* technology by now if the government weren't so penny-wise, pound foolish eh?

Lighten Up
Yes, back by popular demand, it's another dose of levity and laughter.

This week's featured bit of web-daftness is not for the prudish and initially I was not impressed -- but by the end of the clip I was cracking up something silly. Yuko the clown is rude, crude and *really* brave!

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