It is very worrying seeing thousands of Kiwis being made redundant. Manufacturing plants and service sectors closing down, sizing down or relocating to China. There are plans to sell New Zealand assets to China which is said to bring in billions of dollars. How long is this billions of dollars going to last after the assets have been sold? What is going to be left of New Zealand?
It is baffling that despite all these so called "smart and experienced minds" in our government, no one can engineer a growth programme in New Zealand without having to sell any asset to China or any other foreign nation.
With the high rate of unemployment and sickness benefit in the country, there is no positive indicator that things are going to get better. There are no positive plans or programmes to give Kiwis the confidence that more jobs would be created and kept in New Zealand. The only prospect of having more jobs is the oil exploration programme despite lots of protest by environmentalists.
The government has to find a way to create more jobs and keep the jobs in New Zealand for the Kiwis. We cannot keep comparing ourselves with Australia and try to emulate what they are doing. Whether it works for Australia in the long run or not, Australia is very different to New Zealand in geographical sense. Besides, what works for Australia now may not work in the next five years. We have to start thinking independently. Just because, the rest of the world is opening their doors to China, it does not mean that New Zealand should as well. The world is not able to impose any sanctions against China for its currency manipulation which has caused major disruption in the world economy. China is investing in almost every country for natural resources. We are all depending on China because it has become a feeding hand. This is a bad habit that we need to get rid off. The more we are reliant on China the more detrimental it is for our economy. Lets look at the US for a moment......China has invested trillions of dollars in the US Treasury Bonds. China has got the US by its throat (as a figure of speech). As a result, the US cannot take any actions against China no matter what it does. Most of the countries where China has invested in would be crippled economically because they have been reliant on the feeding hand. New Zealand has to wake up and engineer a growth programme internally without having to sell any assets.
Kiwis are very clever and are respected for their ingenuity. It is time that we capitalise on that. We have to structure similar programmes which Fonterra has with the Federated Farmers. We have to create manufacturing programmes in New Zealand in a similar way to created more jobs and KEEP them in New Zealand.
Saturday, 11 June 2011
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Who can lead New Zealand ?
John Key has not proved to be successful in improving the economic and social climate in NZ. In fact, he has made it worst with his introduction of GST INCREASE which is the major cause of HIGH INFLATION rate which brings about a chain of other negative impact on the country. HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN the effects of GST increase. It is surprising that some for someone who is viewed as a successful and rich businessman, he has omitted to look at the negative impacts of his actions on the country. Perhaps, he should not see things from the angle of a businessman but rather as a PRIME MINISTER. The duty of a Prime Minister is very onerous and heavy. He has to look at things at different angles and assess the risk to the country as a whole and not to certain sectors of people.
But the problem is, there are not any politicians who seem to have the vigor, the foresight, experience and capability to manage the country. Or, it might be that he/she has not made himself/herself visible to the public eye?
But the problem is, there are not any politicians who seem to have the vigor, the foresight, experience and capability to manage the country. Or, it might be that he/she has not made himself/herself visible to the public eye?
Monday, 18 April 2011
The Chinese market
The World Trade Organization (WTO) successfully negotiated the ascension of China to the WTO in 1991. The WTO is an international trade and rule organization that regulates trade between nations. The function of the WTO is to lower trade barriers, usually in the form tariffs or import duties, to lower the cost of importing goods in the interest of trade facilitation.
China signed a separate trade agreement with the United States in 1999. This agreement lowered the average tariff on U.S. agricultural goods going to China to around 14.5 percent while setting the average tariff for Chinese agricultural goods moving to the U.S. at 17 percent.
New Zealand jumped onto the bandwagon of signing Free Trade Agreements with foreign governments in the mid 2000s during the prime ministerialship of Helen Clarke. Was this a mistake..probably not. But what was the terms of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA)...elimination of duties on most items traded between the two countries, free movement of people between the two countries to encourage trade and etc (without going into the details). Unfortunately, I must say that like most leaders, Helen Clarke was too quick to sign the FTA. Like most New Zealand politicians (former and current included), Helen Clarke and Phill Goff was too quick to finalise this agreement without actually looking at the repecussions of it. New Zealand became the first western country to clinch a free trade agreement with China. Pursuant to the FTA, New Zealand will remove all tariffs on Chinese imports by 2016.
The United Sates of America and many other bigcountries are now paying for the trade agreements they have entered into with China. These countries are flooded with dirt cheap Chinese made products and it is crippling the economy of these countries. It is the same now in New Zealand too. What made things worse is that these products from China do not meet the standards and to a certain extent hazourdous to health. In 2007, a number of hazardous products shipped to the United States from China were recalled and banned. Investigations found chemicals in pet food and toothpaste, lead paint in children's toys and banned antibiotics in farmed seafood.
What I do not understand is that leaders of these countries(including NZ) never took time to progress the trade issues with China on a periodic basis. The WTO was responsible to opening the Chinese market but it has not taken the right steps to ensure that China was safe to trade with in all angles. Before signing the agreement, the international community should have ensured that China complied with all international trade ethics and requirements. As soon as the US jumped into the bandwagaon, all other countries wanted to tap into the Chinese market and hence all sorts of bilateral trade agreements were established, including the FTA.
New Zealand has to be very cautious dealing with China. New Zealand politicians seem to favour engaging in various trade agreements with China. John Key is one them. However before embarking on such actions, instead of thinking what you could get of China, have they thought what China can get from NZ ? Have they thought what the long term repercussions will be for New Zealand?
It is all good to sign all sorts of trade agreements with China and open the market to both countries. It looks very nice on the outset, politically and economically. However, we have to understand the culture of those countries we are dealing with, because, at the end of the day we are actually dealing with the people. Chinese have shown to trade anything in the sun to make money at any expense. This is not the kind of business partners we want to deal with. As I see it, by engaging in business with China, we are actually being an accomplice to the many corrupt practices of China. China and Rusia are one of the major suppliers of weapons to the underdeveloped countries which are engaged in civil wars, in exchange for those countries' mineral reserves.
The chance of one's product being copied and sold in the world market is extremely high if one was to relocate his/her/their factory to China. This is daylight robbery!!! China is also manipulating their currency to maintain its dirt cheap price, to continue to monopolise the world market. Very unethical indeed, no fair play at all.
The NZ-China FTA reaffirms New Zealand and China's commitment on intellectual rights under the TRIPS (Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) agreement and other multilateral agreements.
The parties have agreed to cooperate on eliminating trade in products infringing intellectual property rights, subject to the laws of each party. A consultation mechanism is in place which allows New Zealand to request consultations to seek a timely and mutually satisfactory solution on any intellectual property issue within the scope of the FTA. But having this in place is not going to be of any good to NZ or any other government which has this protection in place if they do not invoke this clause.
In my opinion, politicians generally are so eager to put their name on the history book as the person who has increased the gross domestic product of the country and (to a certain extent, but not all) to increase their bank accounts for their retirement. Once a person is in politics all sorts of personal business deals are open for their picking. These business deals can sometimes cloud their beliefs and judgement. So, politicians whether right-wing or left-wing should be cautious in promoting any sort of trade or business deals with a country. I believe that we need a strong independent trade commission to evaluate trade deals with foreign governments.
China signed a separate trade agreement with the United States in 1999. This agreement lowered the average tariff on U.S. agricultural goods going to China to around 14.5 percent while setting the average tariff for Chinese agricultural goods moving to the U.S. at 17 percent.
New Zealand jumped onto the bandwagon of signing Free Trade Agreements with foreign governments in the mid 2000s during the prime ministerialship of Helen Clarke. Was this a mistake..probably not. But what was the terms of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA)...elimination of duties on most items traded between the two countries, free movement of people between the two countries to encourage trade and etc (without going into the details). Unfortunately, I must say that like most leaders, Helen Clarke was too quick to sign the FTA. Like most New Zealand politicians (former and current included), Helen Clarke and Phill Goff was too quick to finalise this agreement without actually looking at the repecussions of it. New Zealand became the first western country to clinch a free trade agreement with China. Pursuant to the FTA, New Zealand will remove all tariffs on Chinese imports by 2016.
The United Sates of America and many other bigcountries are now paying for the trade agreements they have entered into with China. These countries are flooded with dirt cheap Chinese made products and it is crippling the economy of these countries. It is the same now in New Zealand too. What made things worse is that these products from China do not meet the standards and to a certain extent hazourdous to health. In 2007, a number of hazardous products shipped to the United States from China were recalled and banned. Investigations found chemicals in pet food and toothpaste, lead paint in children's toys and banned antibiotics in farmed seafood.
What I do not understand is that leaders of these countries(including NZ) never took time to progress the trade issues with China on a periodic basis. The WTO was responsible to opening the Chinese market but it has not taken the right steps to ensure that China was safe to trade with in all angles. Before signing the agreement, the international community should have ensured that China complied with all international trade ethics and requirements. As soon as the US jumped into the bandwagaon, all other countries wanted to tap into the Chinese market and hence all sorts of bilateral trade agreements were established, including the FTA.
New Zealand has to be very cautious dealing with China. New Zealand politicians seem to favour engaging in various trade agreements with China. John Key is one them. However before embarking on such actions, instead of thinking what you could get of China, have they thought what China can get from NZ ? Have they thought what the long term repercussions will be for New Zealand?
It is all good to sign all sorts of trade agreements with China and open the market to both countries. It looks very nice on the outset, politically and economically. However, we have to understand the culture of those countries we are dealing with, because, at the end of the day we are actually dealing with the people. Chinese have shown to trade anything in the sun to make money at any expense. This is not the kind of business partners we want to deal with. As I see it, by engaging in business with China, we are actually being an accomplice to the many corrupt practices of China. China and Rusia are one of the major suppliers of weapons to the underdeveloped countries which are engaged in civil wars, in exchange for those countries' mineral reserves.
The chance of one's product being copied and sold in the world market is extremely high if one was to relocate his/her/their factory to China. This is daylight robbery!!! China is also manipulating their currency to maintain its dirt cheap price, to continue to monopolise the world market. Very unethical indeed, no fair play at all.
The NZ-China FTA reaffirms New Zealand and China's commitment on intellectual rights under the TRIPS (Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) agreement and other multilateral agreements.
The parties have agreed to cooperate on eliminating trade in products infringing intellectual property rights, subject to the laws of each party. A consultation mechanism is in place which allows New Zealand to request consultations to seek a timely and mutually satisfactory solution on any intellectual property issue within the scope of the FTA. But having this in place is not going to be of any good to NZ or any other government which has this protection in place if they do not invoke this clause.
In my opinion, politicians generally are so eager to put their name on the history book as the person who has increased the gross domestic product of the country and (to a certain extent, but not all) to increase their bank accounts for their retirement. Once a person is in politics all sorts of personal business deals are open for their picking. These business deals can sometimes cloud their beliefs and judgement. So, politicians whether right-wing or left-wing should be cautious in promoting any sort of trade or business deals with a country. I believe that we need a strong independent trade commission to evaluate trade deals with foreign governments.
Sunday, 17 April 2011
Social Welfare System in New Zealand
New Zealand is a great place to live in. Beautiful sceneries, nice weather and people, and social welfare system that takes care of its people who are in need of support. I strongly believe that every country needs to have a good social welfare system. Most western countries do. Unfortunately, this is lacking very much in the Asian countries. We in New Zealand should be grateful for what we have in this country. The social welfare system in New Zealand may not be the best in the world, nevertheless it is still good. Many families and individual have benefited from this. Sadly, there are quarters who are abusing the welfare system. Many who are in the welfare system should not be in the system. These people believe that if the government is giving out financial assistance then they will stand in the queue to get it regardless of whether they need it or not. These people are shameless, they are opportunist in the lowest level. It is disgusting how some people can own $250,000 worth of cars and other assets, yet live in a state house and collect monthly benefits. This is daylight robbery !!
It is time that Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ) conducts proper checks before approving a person's entitlement for welfare. I think we need a stringent Means Test in place. Every individual who applies for welfare will have to pass the Means Test. The means Test should take into account :-
- the individual's income,
- the joint family's income,
- if the applicant has adult children, their children's income needs to be taken into account regardless of whether they are living seperately. This is because, I believe that children should be responsible for their parents first, not the state. The state's money is the public's money.
- WINZ should also conduct assets search to ensure that the applicant has no hidden assets. WINZ should not take their word for it.
- WINZ should also ensure that they obtain consent from the applicants for the banks to share their financial details with WINZ. WINZ should write to every bank to ensure that the applicant has no undisclosed bank accounts.
It is time that Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ) conducts proper checks before approving a person's entitlement for welfare. I think we need a stringent Means Test in place. Every individual who applies for welfare will have to pass the Means Test. The means Test should take into account :-
- the individual's income,
- the joint family's income,
- if the applicant has adult children, their children's income needs to be taken into account regardless of whether they are living seperately. This is because, I believe that children should be responsible for their parents first, not the state. The state's money is the public's money.
- WINZ should also conduct assets search to ensure that the applicant has no hidden assets. WINZ should not take their word for it.
- WINZ should also ensure that they obtain consent from the applicants for the banks to share their financial details with WINZ. WINZ should write to every bank to ensure that the applicant has no undisclosed bank accounts.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Between a"gaggle of gays" and John Key
New Zealand politics is certainly getting very amusing. We have had various controversies within the Labour Party as well as the National Party. Is Phil Goff capable of running a country? John Key, in my view, has failed and is now trying hard to increase the GDP by any means. But, is that what prime ministerialship is all about...increasing GDP of the country during one's term of premiership? But at what expense? What if the actual repercussions of the decision of a premier's economic/trade policy is only evident later after his or her end of premiership..who then pays for the mistake? This is exactly what happened in Ireland...the people of Ireland are now paying for the mistakes of its premiers earlier mistakes.
Phil Goff, in my view, has not shown any substance in respect of his credibility to steer his party caucus towards long lasting leadership.Should Helen Clark return to the Labour Party ?
Phil Goff, in my view, has not shown any substance in respect of his credibility to steer his party caucus towards long lasting leadership.Should Helen Clark return to the Labour Party ?
Oil exploration in New in Zealand
Brazil's state oil company Petrobras has been awarded a five-year permit for much of the Raukumara Basin. The exploration permit covers 12,333 sq km where seismic data and modelling work showed the basin had geology capable of trapping hydrocarbons in commercial quantities.Water depths range from coastal to 3000m at its northern reaches. British Petroleum's ruined well in the Gulf of Mexico is in 1500m deep waters. Greenpeace verhemently protests the oil exploration in New Zealand waters. The fears are that New Zealand may not be capable of handling any disasters that may possible happen like in the Gulf of Mexico. It was also stated that there was no guarantees provided by Petrobras that it would be totally responsible should a mishap were to happen. Is New Zealand able to handle such a catostrophic disaster?
Secondly, does New Zealand really needs to expand its oil production revenue? New Zealand has always been seen by the world as a beautiful serene country. Someone once told me that "God must certainly have created New Zealand and Switzerland last". It is so picturesque. Don't we really have any other options to increase Gross Domestic Product? Are we just competing with Australia to increase our mineral output ? Australia's geography is totally different to New Zealand...why do we need to compete with Australia anyway?
We have started selling New Zealand assets to foreigners..if John Key is still around in 15 years time, would he sell New Zealand's oil reserves to foreigners?
I think the leaders of New Zealand are just out of ideas on how to increase its Gross Domestic Product ?
Secondly, does New Zealand really needs to expand its oil production revenue? New Zealand has always been seen by the world as a beautiful serene country. Someone once told me that "God must certainly have created New Zealand and Switzerland last". It is so picturesque. Don't we really have any other options to increase Gross Domestic Product? Are we just competing with Australia to increase our mineral output ? Australia's geography is totally different to New Zealand...why do we need to compete with Australia anyway?
We have started selling New Zealand assets to foreigners..if John Key is still around in 15 years time, would he sell New Zealand's oil reserves to foreigners?
I think the leaders of New Zealand are just out of ideas on how to increase its Gross Domestic Product ?
Thursday, 7 April 2011
My beautiful birth country
I have just returned from a short visit to Malaysia, my birth place. Though it was nice to visit my family and friends, I have always longed to returned to New Zealand each time I was visiting Malaysia. One of the reasons is that I can't tolerate the heat and humidity.
However, it is racism and hypocrisy there that most appals me and drives me to leave the country as soon as I could. To eloborate on this, I will briefly tell you my experience on the airport train while I was on my way to Kuala Lumpur International Airport to catch my flight back to New Zealand.
The train had two rows of seats. On my right row, was seated a Malay gentleman in his 50s, who looked rather educated. A few minutes later, a young European gentleman came and sat opposite the Malay gentleman. The Malay gentleman immediately started to chat with the European gentleman. As they were seated close to me, on my right, I could not help listening to their conversation. They would have known that I could listen to their conversation.
The Malay gentleman asked the European gentleman where he was from to which the man replied that he was from Belgium. The Malay gentleman told him that he completed his tertiary education in England and asked the Belgian gentleman how his visit to Malaysia was. The man replied that he enjoyed it and that he was taken by the peacefulness he noticed in this multiracial country. Just for your information, Malaysia's major races are the Malays (the majority), the Chinese and the Indians. The Malay gentleman then replied that the three races indeed live peacefully with each other but if there was ever any problems with the Indians and Chinese, the Malays would not hesitate killing them.
The Malay gentleman then talked about the Germans and the World War 2. He said that Hitler was wrong to kill the Jews because their religion is similar to Christianity and Islam. He said that he was sure that Hitler was not against Jews for their religion but rather their race. He then said that if there was a war, he (the Malay gentleman) would first kill the Hindus and the Chinese. He supported his stance to kill the Hindus because apparently, "the Hindus have many Gods" (which is not correct as Hindus believe that there is only one God). I was shocked to listen to what he was saying to this young Belgian gentleman. The Belgian gentleman did not respond to this. He politely listened to this Malay gentleman and went on his separate ways when the train arrived at the airport.
In a nutshell, this is Malaysia, it seems like its people are friendly and live peacefully with eachother, but deep within themselve, there is plenty of hatred. I must say that the government's is responsible for this as the government practises "divide and rule" policy. I rather be treated as a 2nd class citizen (if at all) in a foreign country then being treated that way in my own country of birth.
It is sad that there are people who are so racist in this 21st century.
However, it is racism and hypocrisy there that most appals me and drives me to leave the country as soon as I could. To eloborate on this, I will briefly tell you my experience on the airport train while I was on my way to Kuala Lumpur International Airport to catch my flight back to New Zealand.
The train had two rows of seats. On my right row, was seated a Malay gentleman in his 50s, who looked rather educated. A few minutes later, a young European gentleman came and sat opposite the Malay gentleman. The Malay gentleman immediately started to chat with the European gentleman. As they were seated close to me, on my right, I could not help listening to their conversation. They would have known that I could listen to their conversation.
The Malay gentleman asked the European gentleman where he was from to which the man replied that he was from Belgium. The Malay gentleman told him that he completed his tertiary education in England and asked the Belgian gentleman how his visit to Malaysia was. The man replied that he enjoyed it and that he was taken by the peacefulness he noticed in this multiracial country. Just for your information, Malaysia's major races are the Malays (the majority), the Chinese and the Indians. The Malay gentleman then replied that the three races indeed live peacefully with each other but if there was ever any problems with the Indians and Chinese, the Malays would not hesitate killing them.
The Malay gentleman then talked about the Germans and the World War 2. He said that Hitler was wrong to kill the Jews because their religion is similar to Christianity and Islam. He said that he was sure that Hitler was not against Jews for their religion but rather their race. He then said that if there was a war, he (the Malay gentleman) would first kill the Hindus and the Chinese. He supported his stance to kill the Hindus because apparently, "the Hindus have many Gods" (which is not correct as Hindus believe that there is only one God). I was shocked to listen to what he was saying to this young Belgian gentleman. The Belgian gentleman did not respond to this. He politely listened to this Malay gentleman and went on his separate ways when the train arrived at the airport.
In a nutshell, this is Malaysia, it seems like its people are friendly and live peacefully with eachother, but deep within themselve, there is plenty of hatred. I must say that the government's is responsible for this as the government practises "divide and rule" policy. I rather be treated as a 2nd class citizen (if at all) in a foreign country then being treated that way in my own country of birth.
It is sad that there are people who are so racist in this 21st century.
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