Wally's tales

Right now there are some mighty upheavals and changes taking place in the world market places, all caused by currency movements. As always it the the big movers and shakers, that are making all the problems for the little minnows like us to contend with. This time the blame seems to be the American dollar, and everything connected to American Currency. Their various readjustments to put their house in order has caused the sudden rise in value of our currency, and as well the various other Countries that are linked to the $US dollar. We are a very small player in the International Scene, anything we do will not have the slightest effect, or correct the situation. Regardless our dollar is spiralling upwards for no special reason, it has now climbed to :- One $ US = *86.5 Kiwi. Not so very long ago it was worth only 45 cents, and at that rate it hurt. It also meant we purchased very little American, as we just couldn’t afford it. But it also meant that we hurt in other directions, as the value of many of our other International purchases are linked to the American dollar, such as gasoline, airline tickets. I was lucky once, when I saw our last devaluation coming. It wasn’t hard, as the blabber mouth politicians were signalling, what they were intending to do, loud and clear, to anyone who wanted to listen that they had decided to devalue our currency.

At the time we were intending to take an overseas holiday. I didn’t hesitate, I rushed out and bought up large, every American dollar I could lay my hands on. And as well, paid up front for every thing else. The result was a free holiday. Did I feel guilty? No even a little bit, I had already had my initial attempt at saving stolen from me by political manoeuvring. I stood by and watched my savings day by day being wiped out by inflation. This was immediately after the war when I had decided to do something constructive about my future. It was a very costly lesson and what happened made me a lot smarter. And from that point decided to make the most of any situation that presented itself, and exploit it if I could.

I should have been much more aware to what runaway inflation was all about. As a boy I saved postage stamps, and I remember looking at the German stamps overprinted with thousands of Deutsch Marks. This example was enough realise that this was a country where penny postage was no longer available, and their currency had run off the rails To post a letter, now cost an arm and a leg. This signal alone, had me making a trip to the library to read up on this inflation phenomena.

Many might not remember this, but in the late 60′, the American dollar was valued at only 80 cents, and this was most up setting to American tourists that their good American dollar was not on par with the Kiwi. But had they come some years earlier during the War, their dollar was four to the pound or only 50 cents. However back then it was marvellous just how far, a little money would go.

During this time I was a young serviceman travelling in America, with very little money as our meagre pay hadn’t caught up with us. The cheapest meal in town was, bacon and eggs only 25 cents. Needless to say, that’s what I ate for every meal, unless I could happen onto something like USO who looked after servicemen, then I could eat for free.

Do I want to forecast how this latest currency scenario is going to play out? I haven’t a clue as there are too many imponderables. I do think the US Dollar is wounded, and the Kiwi will settle and return to 80 cents. So we will wait and see.

There is nothing worse in this world, than a house full of elected politicians, all doing what they do best, dreaming of new ways of taxing the populace. Their latest effort, and the one that could prove to be the most expensive for us, and that’s the mooted ‘carbon tax’. Do I understand what’s it’ all about? My answer would have to be, a resounding no. Frankly I haven’t a clue what it’s all about . Half the time I don’t know what they are going on about, and the rest of the time they are talking down to me. They say it’s just because I ask stupid questions. There is too much talk about carbon tax, but as I see it you really need to believe in global warming. For me, you need more than that, it’s an act of faith. It all sounds very authoritarian, but it’s the money side of the equation, is what has me really worried.

For a start, not all the scientists are singing from the same song sheet either. If we assume that there is the need to impose the tax. But who get gets to play with all the money that’s going to be sloshing round once the tax becomes law. This is not peanuts, it’s going to be a sum equal to a King’s ransom. There will be a lot out there, who just can’t wait to get their snouts into the trough

The stupidity of it all, and you don’t have to be too bright to work it all out. For a start, we and Australia are both digging up coal and extracting oil as fast as we can. Which we then on sell to China and India, or for that matter anyone else who, has the money to buy it, Then of course, they burn it. However it must be different coal, because when they burn it, it’s suddenly quite acceptable. But over here we have holy than thou Green folk, all running around trying to stop us from burning any fossil fuel, we have dug up, which of course makes it different.

Yes coal maybe dirty, but it’ still the cheapest energy available, and the Green Movement who don’t want us to burn it here, but by their strange outlook, it’s OK for the folk we sell to, burn it. Suddenly then it’s acceptable. As well, they would like to restrict the little other carbon that we do burn, or use here. When our usage is compared it to the rest of the world, Our contribution is so small, you could say even insignificant, and you wonder all the fuss about . If all this makes sense to the Politicians, well it certainly doesn’t for me. In fact the whole concept is just barmy. As I see it, it’s all about one thing, and only one thing, and that’s money.

It’s even possibly to make a case for coal as an modern energy source. As today we now have the technology of how to burn coal cleanly. The Green movement would be against this also. They have high ideals, but unfortunately they carry in their membership, some fellow travellers whose ideas on how we should live and behave, are extreme. Had these folk been able to inflict their power, and control earlier in our evolution, we would have been lucky even to get out of our caves .

Something unusual happened today. While opening my mail I was surprised when from one envelope, out fell a cheque for $500. Unbelievable. It was from my Insurance Company, responding to a claim for the fee I had paid to an engineer relating to his inspection, and the report that he had put together regarding the condition of my home. We did this on our own bat, after getting impatient while waiting for officialdom to respond. More to the point, our question is, ‘Can I remain in my home safely?’ I didn’t think they would look at paying me out for this service at all. I said my last letter that I wrote to my sister. ‘Now, I truly believe that there is a tooth fairy, and Santa Claus’. I have other claims pending, and thank goodness I’m getting help putting them all together.

We, no I should say Hillary has been hunting to find prices to submit further claims, relative to the more expensive broken items. Easy you say, but not when many of the broken and damaged items have been collected over a lifetime. A lot too, have been given to my wife and self as gifts, some even as wedding presents dating back to more than some sixty years ago. How do you put a value on those items? The Grandfather Clock, most of the jewellers don’t even want to know about it. They say they have containers full, ‘around the back’ to look at.

I had considered moving, possibly to a Retirement Village over recent years, I had looked too at the home where Laura is receiving her Nursing care. But at the time I didn’t wish to sell the family home. But I would if I had to. With my present financial position, I need an income stream to keep Laura in care. This is costing us $3250 per month, I have also discovered that now I do need a little assistance to live alone, I can’t manage to do everything on my own.

We are lucky with Laura in that we pay a monthly rental for her unit. There are traps that have surfaced recently for some of our elderly, especially those who purchased a ‘licence to occupy’, for a lump sum in a retirement village. It would seem that the case of one large home which sadly, was amongst those destroyed. One woman purchased her unit, fourteen years ago. The principals have now indicated that they only wish to pay her out, on the valuation they made fourteen years ago, less of course the 20% or 30% claw back arrangement, These conditions would of course be in her contract. So she can look to receiving a very meagre payout. This sum will not enable her to buy anything at all when she moves on. This information is only what I’m able to glean from the media, and the people who are looking at assisting her, One article released in the press this week said, ‘We are endeavouring to get a peek, to see if the principals of the Home had increased their insurance cover, I will take a bet on that they did, and bringing the property up to today’s valuation’. This will have more than doubled or even more over that period. They would also like to know how much the Earthquake Commission are paying out for each unit. I’m certain it won’t be at the fourteen year old valuation either. So they will have no problem in rebuilding,

But unfortunately it will be a different story for some of the former residents. Most being pensioners will not have enough in investments, to buy into another unit. The homes operators won’t be mentioning this kind of treatment in their glossy advertisements, to seek prospective clients, when they rebuild. This situation will need to be looked at, so that the buyer is protected as well.

If there is one thing you must never do in this this country, and that’s to run foul of the media. Over the years I have watched them on the television screen night after night, and one by one, relentlessly hunt down their victims over the years,. In the chase they are absolutely merciless. Should you show any sign of weakness, or let them get the slightest smell of blood, look out, now you are as good as dead. They never take prisoners either.

This week I watched them drag down and devour Alisdair Thompson, and waited to see if anyone would bother to look for the facts. Why would you want to go out and do that? I have always known too, that our media have never ever let the facts get in the way of a good story. They kept up their merciless attack until the man was dismissed from his job. I would imagine too that he will soon be heading for the employment court, and demanding a very large severance payment. With good grounds too, because of the way that this scenario has been played out. And will the media be around to contribute? I think not. Regardless of what he said, he paid a very steep price, so they could make their news sensational. TV One ‘Close Up’ programme ran a poll, after his dismissal, to find out what their audience thought. Question, ‘Should he have been dismissed or not?’. Thinking that this will drive the final nail into his coffin. Well they were wrong, and the public weren’t it seems following their piper. Sixty percent thought dismissal was too harsh. Whoops! Well, we won’t dwell on that, will we. As far as the public are concerned, the Media this time, may have got it badly wrong.

Thompson is not the first to go down under attack, and he won’t be the last. They had a go at Paul Henry the host on a Morning TV Show, when he ridiculed an Indian Official’s name on air. After they finished with him. Sacked. Another scalp to the Political Correct brigade. He is not alone, there is a long trail of tall poppies that have been cut down.

I seem to remember that they had a feast with an ACT Politician. He in his distant past, when he was young and stupid, applied to be issued with a Pass Port in a dead child’s name. He actually obtained this, but he never used the document. He later confessed to this act of stupidity, and was convicted and discharged, by the Courts. It was with great glee the Media dredged up this bit of his past, chewed over it for days, as the lead story, until the poor fellow just gave up, and resigned from parliament.

If you ever had any ambition of being a politician, and you can see yourself swanning around in a chauffeur driven BMW. You had better examine your past in great detail. Because sure as sure, if you don’t, the opposition and the media are going to do it for you. I’m even sure that they have a department, to do just that, seeking out any flaws or misdemeanour’s, that fellow politicians may have committed in their past. So that it can be leaked to the Media. The object of the exercise is not only to discredit you, but to smear your party. Too often when these misdemeanour’s are found, they are kept under wraps to when they can do the greatest damage. The opposition must spend a lot a time searching for skeletons in their opponents past. This is a sick practice. The kind of people who do this, deserve to be exposed as well, for their perverted behaviour.

Occasionally the boot is on the other foot. There is a case pending in the United Kingdom where a News Paper has been exposed for hacking into cell phones belonging to families, who have experienced a personal trauma. They have been caught at it and exposed, the matter has been raised in the House of Commons. The owner Murdoch, who owns the Group that the News Paper belongs to, acted swiftly, and he has closed the paper down completely. This is a news paper with a circulation of over a million. It would seem that these folk can’t stand up to the heat either.

We are rapidly headed towards our next general election to elect a new government, or perhaps even roll over the existing government. As usual we will get a vote for the member of our choice that’s standing for their electorate. As well, we will get another vote for the party we would like to see Govern, and this is the core of our problem, as it’s also from where the list is born. This time, we have a say in whether we wish to retain the present system, further, what do we wish to do about the terrible list system. On paper it comes through as a fair and equitable system, but in practice it has been open to abuse, and not delivering what we were told it would.

Some people wish to keep the status quo, in spite of the abusive and stupid behaviour of some. and what some of us have just been putting up with. It even occasionally gives the power to elect a government by only a small minority, like what we had when New Zealand First were calling the tune. Next time it could easily be a maverick Maori Party, or perhaps even the Greens.

I have no time for the Greens either. Nothing to do with their environmental plans, but because of their extreme leftest leanings, that are held by some of their members. Political Parties are finding out because of the past behaviour of some, it was a mistake to form a Government with these minorities. From experience when they didn’t get their way, some tended to spit the dummy, and toss out all their toys from their bassinet.

What it did in the past too was allow was some people to take a seat in parliament, who in my opinion would never have made it had they approached the system in the normal way, and tried to get voted in. It also allowed a second chance to some politicians who we considered we had tossed out, and got rid of. Good lord, before you could say ‘Jack Robinson’, they were back in power again. Some were definitely quirky, carrying some very strange baggage. The list is the worst aspect of the system, and I know the average voter is not stupid, I’m sure because of the excesses it has allowed in the past, won’t wish to retain this system, unless some drastic changes are made.

As I see it, MMP gives a minority party sometimes too much power, especially when they hold the position of a ‘kingmakers’. They can demand ministerial positions, and what’s more annoying, they can slide in some of their more dubious agenda, and get it passed into law. This is the price you have to pay for power, and holding onto the Treasury Benches. As far as I’m concerned, I would like to revert back, to the ‘First past the Post’ again.

Some would like to change over to the Australian system of preferential voting. I don’t like their system either, it’s far too complicated.

In the morning News Goff has just announced with a big smirk that if elected, the Labour Party will do away with the GST on food, but he wouldn’t discuss the matter. I hope he has costed this move out, and they have some way of making up this loss of revenue. As well, he will introduce a capital gains tax. So the campaign is hotting up. Many people have bought a second home to supplement their pension, so this move will not be popular with them, not just the wealthy. I heard someone mention tonight that if they spend $50,000 on a kitchen and bathroom they won’t want to be taxed again on their own input when they come to sell the second home.

The Labour Party with the Greens, are dribbling out more of their Capital Gains policy which it seems to me the making of policy on the hoof, it now will include shares and any other personal property. This is going to be a very interesting election.

I have made a break through with my insurance company and it was by an accident. A truck shed some gravel while it was passing me, this damaged my windscreen while I was on my daily trek across town to visit Laura. I’m also due for a warrant. I know unless I can get the screen repaired or replaced, I might just fail it. I called in to the Glass repair shop as I was passing. The receptionist stuck sticky patch where a sizeable rock had struck my car, and told me, to call my insurer. I can understand them being careful, a replacement screen today, can run into hundred of dollars if it requires replacement.

They must have tightened up the system, because the last time I broke a screen, and it would have been at least fifteen years ago, this was when the roading contractors never bothered to sweep the road clear of loose stones after resealing. Back then making contact with the insurance company was all handled by the glass company. Broken windscreens were the most prevalent of accidents we endured then, all because of the Road workers slack attitude.

Today there are so many heavy trucks with trailers on our roads, all busy carting away truckloads from the centre of town, full of Building material which at one time was the fabric of buildings that have been destroyed by earthquakes, load after load.

After calling the insurance coy and getting the authorisation to repair the screen, the young lady inquired, ‘Was there any thing else?’ I replied yes, indeed there was. ‘I would like to return to my home’, and you have insured that as well. I never get an answer from the earthquake people when I call. Up until that point I haven’t been able to talk to anyone about my problems. Before I return to my home it requires some structural repair work to be carried out. ‘From that one call. It’s all go now’. ‘I’m in the white zone group Pod 7’, what ever that means, and she gave me a case number. Further more, they would send a builder around in weeks time to fix up the safety aspect, and would I get get quotes for the other items that require replacement to make the place liveable again. Like the stove top that is ceramic and got broken. All this assistance. Maybe because it was my birthday helped. Hillary and I are going to get our heads together tomorrow. Rod and Hillary have taken over the administration of my affairs, which has been a big help. But apart from having all the services that I commonly use, which unfortunately are all on the other side of the town. So to do anything, I now initially have to drive through to the other side, but apart for this small inconvenience I’m very comfortable.

Many in this City are having a very difficult time, and stoical about getting on with their lives. Just imagine being handed the keys to your new home, three days later, you see an official come around and condemn it, By slapping a ‘Red Sticker’ onto it, ‘Unfit for human habitation’.

Some in the bad hit areas people have suffered a sand and water volcanoes all coming up through the living room floor, and ruining everything in their home. Others are surrounded by a sea of dirty water, sewerage, and silt over the whole of their property, feet deep, and impossible to keep it out of their homes. Liquefaction is the fancy word they have given it, and this is the reason the Government is buying up suburbs, and pushing over the homes that are sitting among it all.

While waiting to have my car serviced and drinking their coffee, I got chatting with another patron. He said, that he came from Kaiapoi, and owned a three year old riverside home, which had now split in two. With every shake the split got bigger. At this stage he has no idea whether he will stay or move. To get to the garage I had to drive through the middle of the City, and I was astounded by the massive damage, parts of the Central City had suffered.

With the demolishing of the Eastern suburbs, we have the incongruous situation now of politicians representing only a muddy pond where their constituents once were . A few now will be scrambling for a new soft seat, eyeing the new areas that have been mooted for future growth and rebuilding.