CamB

You must have benefited from ACC, medical, police, roads, and education, and presumably you're hoping to benefit from at very least NZ super. I've got to reiterate an earlier point I made - some time spent in a country with poor or non-existent social services is a bit of an eye opener. I'd rather pay high taxes and have a society on a more even footing.

Shelley - This would be easier if you had a clue. Sorry - rude but true. Assume a couple, each earning $30k, taxed at about 20% so $24k each, or $48k total. Cheap house in AKL - $300k. Deposit (these days) $60k. Number of years to save a deposit based on spending half the $48k on housing/living/eating/medical expenses is 2.5 years. Approx number of year until an 8% mortgage on the balance is paid off with the same $24k pa plus an assessment of rent and trying to at least think about inflation = ~7.5-8 years. So ... 10 years to pay off the house assuming: - no wedding and associated costs - no holidays of note - no material expenditure on basically anything - some pretty tight living expenses - finding a house that cheap (not really doable in AKL) - no BimmerSport (lol) - etc So ... I'd maintain that is not especially realistic for the average couple, and 10 years is a long time.

You do need to at least acknowledge that this is not a realistic alternative for about 95% of the population. Good on you though. (edit) In case I am not being clear - 50% of people earn less than the median household income, which is $30-odd thousand pa. It is not possible in a major city to save a deposit and buy a house in a short period of time on this basis.

That's a big call... I reckon its about half way. Sale on now - buy Iceland half price. Tax cuts are a potential expansionary policy. Both parties are doing it. It's expensive, and the effectiveness of it as a driver of growth depends on a number of factors including the degree to which it is consumed rather than saved, and where it is consumed. If it all ultimately ends up offshore (eg imports, paying the interest bill to Australia, etc), then it may not create much long term growth. If it gives a leg up to the housing market, it's completely wasted (I would argue there is essentially no economic productivity in housing investment). (edit) You could argue that tax cuts which lead to Govt deficits are effectively the Govt borrowing to release spending power into the economy. That borrowing will need to be paid back, with interest, so you have to be satisfied that the overall impact to tax cuts will be to create higher overall tax revenues (through growth). The economic proof of this is the subject of much debate. (Double-edit) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply-side_economics

Shelley - National supporters are supposed to be supportive of the family unit. Labour gets criticised (unfairly) as family hating ---> you need to make up your mind. Penry's wife chooses to stay at home. She chooses not to have an extra job. She isn't subsidised by the government (although, ironically, she would be if she took her children to childcare), so I am not sure why you are so angry about her choices. Penry - great post, and an interesting comment about people's ages. I'm early 30s for what its worth - I remember the last recession (mini recession post tech bubble), and the one before that (post 87). I think I have a lot more perspective now than I did when I was younger (although when I was young I thought I knew more than I think I know now). By the way, this isn't meant to deride younger people - your vote is worth as much as mine. This isn't right - your PHO should be well funded for school age children. It shouldn't be anywhere near $50.

www.nzhondas.com

Noltec seems to have been bought by Whiteline. In the catalogue it is W81924 for the offset caster bushing (no point in getting the non-caster bushing). Old Noltec number is probably N81924.

Kiwisaver isn't something you can sell. The money in Kiwisaver is the individual holders - it is managed for each holder by professional fund managers. The government provides an initial contribution and matching contributions, etc, and while it might stop doing this there is no asset ----> its a liability.

So don't blame "immigrants", blame criminals. The vast majority of immigrants come here to work hard and build a new life. And its a good thing they do - we ship far too many people off to Australia as it is. Without reasonably strong inbound immigration we would have no economic growth (no workers).

While I don't disagree that greed is the problem, I do believe that better regulation can provide some boundaries on the swings in "markets" (defined broadly). For instance, it really didn't help that no-one - including the people who invented them - truly understood the risk picture behind collaterized debt in the way it evolved over the course of this decade. Can regulation stop this happening again? We will have to see... (edit) and ED1RTY --- "ban immigration" isn't going to get us far

$110k house - even better (although reading comprehension owns me). To be honest I'm losing interest in this conversation. The problems in world credit markets and the implications for New Zealand - through credit and through own own growth and that of our trading partners - dwarfs any actions either party is going to make. The chances are the next 3 years are going to be so crap that whomever wins the election gets voted out next time.

Actually no, it doesn't. If it's suddenly a 180-200k house, and she bought it with a $60k deposit at a time when you could fix mortgage rates at under 7% for 3 years (which it probably was), then her mortgage payment would have been similar to rent. So, the house doesn't feature in your argument. If anything, you should admire the woman for having the discipline to make the decisions she did. Maybe you need a trip to a country without a social security system. It sucks.

The subprime crisis was effectively caused by a credit bubble created by the lack of regulation of wall street banks and an increasing tolerance for risk across all financial institutions. I personally don't blame the borrowers - most aren't equipped to understand (in detail) the decisions they make.

No, prices are very high at the moment. It is possible that the person doesn't live in Botany Downs.

Well Labour didn't cock the period of economic growth up - you have to give them some credit for that. George Bush can't say the same in the US... I'm not sure I have a lot to add to this, other than commenting that "NZ needs a change" is about the worst reason I can think of for voting for someone else. We aren't a nappy - assess the parties on what they offer society/you (depending on how altruistic you are). Shelley - most areas have seen house prices at least double in the last 7 years, so you might want to redo your maths. You should have a look at how much the DPB/dole/sickness benefit actually is, in $$$ per week. It is not a cushy life.

To get it back on, do what Ven says. If you buggered the thread getting it off then it might not work... but it should. I had a reasonably hard time getting them off JiB's car on the w/end (and they've been off recently). The way I do it (and maybe this is what you are doing) is to: - apply pressure to lever the arm away from the strut (carefully but forcefully) with an appropriate tool (I use a breaker bar - LOL) - hammer the strut where the ball joint shaft goes through perpendicular to the ball joint. You hit the strut, not the arm, not the threaded part of the ball joint, not the nut. The goal is to shock it loose. Sometimes you have to hit it quite a lot. Like this: http://www.minitruckinweb.com/tech/suspens...l/photo_28.html

I've seen a before and after, no other mods - they do what they advertise (12hp peak, gains everywhere). Hard to believe but true.

Awesome, keep up the good work! And, ahem, a dyno visit

I am sure you will find one fairly easily, but I am curious as to why... has Australia run out of them?

Heard about the new Viagra eye drops? They don't give you an erection but they make you look hard.

An who could forget, "what engine" for the rocker cover...

He did but much higher km and - I would infer - not as mint. I'm personally giving the car being discussed the benefit of the doubt as being truely mint, as you would expect of a 100k km car which was garaged and cared for all its life. It would still be an auto and a 318i though

Yeah, but isn't that implying a 20 year car is collectible despite being a base model automatic? I would disagree (today). Maybe when it's 30yo and scarce (which is unlikely) ... so it might take until its 40yo. I would struggle to bring myself to pay $10k for a completely mint automatic 2002, and from memory one sat on TM for ages in that price range with very low km (an auto).

Be worth heaps to a collector of 318i autos. LOL, sorry. Seriously I would have thought the highest price buyer would be a rich daddy looking for a nice and solid by not especially fast BMW for his young son/daughter. Someone with a "don't make them like they used to" attitude.

If they're that keen, they can have it. I am insured. Besides, it just looks like a 318i with an M badge anyway.