The cost of everything, the price of nothing
Living in Wānaka, a mere 100km from the Clyde Dam, the information that we have the most expensive electricity in the Western world demands comment.
With the introduction of pivot sprinklers throughout New Zealand, and the necessity to use massive amounts of power to irrigate hundreds of thousands of acres of land which geographically were arid, every household electricity user is subsidising farmers.
Firstly because they use such massive amounts if power, they will, through various farmer organisations be buying power at a fraction of the price householders pay. Secondly, because farmers are running a business, the money they do pay for electricity will be a tax deduction.
We are constantly being informed, our economy depends on farming and in particular the dairy industry which brings in billions of overseas dollars, which are, apparently, necessary for our so called prosperity. I suspect the majority would ask "what prosperity?".
Farmers may argue my comments are unfair, but are they prepared to inform the public of the price they are paying per unit of electricity compared to what each household pays?
[Abridged — length. Editor]
Fresh air needed
How quick we are to condemn and throw stones from the smug glasshouses of our complacency and hypocrisy. Sure Jennifer Scott (ODT 14.8.24) has made a couple of bad choices — who hasn't?
Perhaps this is the price for her otherwise admirable qualities. Key amongst these is she doesn't run with the mob, has strident opinions, and is prepared to walk the talk in their regard.
Not everyone wants to be a doctor or a lawyer or exceedingly popular — surely mediocrity writ large.
This woman needs a second chance. Her talents, fresh opinions, single mindedness, thinking outside the square and sheer guts are breaths of fresh air in the new age fog of rectitude.
No legitimacy
Gerrard Eckhoff's conjectures about reactions to the Manuherikia "win" over the Seine (Opinion ODT 15.8.24) is an inflammatory piece of nonsense. One waterway travels through agricultural land, the other through one of Europe's largest cities. They are akin only in that they are abused by those who argue that dirty water is a necessary byproduct of economic wins.
Mr Eckhoff's clumsy segue into Minister Chhour's boot camps illustrates another piece of Act New Zealand’s nonsense. Ms Chhour's problems stem from her own party's mind set. Boot camps flounder on all fronts including scientifically based evidence . Ms Chhour aligns herself with the victimisers.
Both responses to water and abuse have no legitimacy anywhere.
Irony missed
Richard Seager (Letters ODT 10.8.24) thought I might have said Amazon runs like a dream on the old Soviet command economy. Maybe I was unclear, I thought it was ironic that the West used to cite the Soviet economy as a total failure yet Amazon repurposed it using powerful algorithms and it swallowed its competition.
The lousy way in which it did that is not in question but the system itself worked and it could be a good tool for governments if they wanted to cut down on waste and poverty — unlike international capital’s system of greed and violence where waste and human degradation are just part of the service.
Oddly, Russia managed to carry on when its government fell to bits so robust was the system, until they tried to run it by our rules.
Under charge, over charge, nothing for free
Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden claims that the major supermarkets may have overcharged customers tens of millions through pricing errors. He proposes that they should refund the full price of the item concerned.
As someone who was involved in the supermarket industry for over 25 years I can assure him that undercharging is just as common as overcharging and while I can recall customers whining about the latter, not once in that time did one come back and offer to pay the amount of the undercharge.
Using his argument therefore he must also insist, in fairness, that the undercharged customer be required to pay double the amount of their original purchase. But I don’t think hell has frozen over.
A surprise
Isn’t it amazing that Christopher Luxon didn’t change the name of Air New Zealand’s magazine Kia ora.
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