Earlier quoted context omitted.
the other person is wrong, the poor are definitely hated in america. they are villianized as lazy welfare queens. remember the 47 percent thing with Romney? turn on fox news for 10 minutes, John Stossel even villianizes the homeless. they also try to get rid of school lunches/food assistance for the poor.
Be careful with the dissonance between the television narrative and reality.
Why isn’t New Zealand richer and more productive?
121–130 of 169 posts
Re: Why isn’t New Zealand richer and more productive?
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
If your family invested tremendous amount to raise you and send you to a good school, is it bad that they want you to be successful[0]? [0] I think part of the issue is that in U.S. success is judged by how much money you have.
> If your family invested tremendous amount to raise you and send you to a good school, is it bad that they want you to be successful? I have trouble here with the word "invested". There's nothing wrong with giving your children a good education, and there's nothing wrong with wanting them to be successful for themselves and on their own terms . But an "investment" is exactly the wrong way to look at it. An "investme…
Re: Why isn’t New Zealand richer and more productive?
#123Early-rising New Zealander here (it's 5am folks!). Bullet points for starters: 1. We are genuinely relaxed people, life is good, weather not too hot or too cold, food easy to get or grow, housing not horribly expensive, healthcare obtainable for all, education as close to free as we can make it and an overall low crime and corruption rate. So the majority of us go to sleep at night, overall, not worried about losing…
As someone who works in high-tech company, I can't see any reason to stay here once we've got a big enough base to support ourself. We'll probably shift to the US.
Re: Why isn’t New Zealand richer and more productive?
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Be careful with the dissonance between the television narrative and reality.
Be careful with the dissonance between your social circle and "everyone". (In this case for instance - living in the midwest puts me into contact with a very large number of people who's beliefs align nearly perfectly with the television narrative).
One thing you have to remember is that in general, Americans are culturally one of the most generous nations in the world. Broadly speaking, that includes foreign aid and domestic welfare as well as voluntary charity. But at that same time, the US is an industrious nation that prizes hard work. It's a fine line to walk and people fall through the cracks in the system.
Nevertheless, it's extremely uncharitable IMO to suggest that the poor are "hated" in America.
Re: Why isn’t New Zealand richer and more productive?
#125Given its comparative geographical isolation, it makes sense for NZ to invest in it's digital economy. NZ has its own competitive advantages: (1) An educated population; (2) An English-speaking population (yes, this is an advantage. Regardless of the rise of the East, English is still the international language of business.) But, clearly, it has certain disadvantages. Geographical isolation is one of those. It is dif…
Xero is a NZ startup success story but they have moved their main offices to Australia and the US. Tiny population and geographic and time-zone isolation are big obstacles for anyone trying to do things on a global scale.
Re: Why isn’t New Zealand richer and more productive?
#126The problem is, this behavior is down to the fact that it's true, you do have to leave NZ to get anywhere in life (for the most part, unless you're happy only hitting it small). The most desirable companies to work for in the technology sector of NZ are essentially Xero and Vend right now, with your other choices being large corporates (Fujitsu, Datacom) or very small early stage startups with small amounts capital.
Startups don't thrive particularly well in New Zealand either, because there's nobody with enough capital to invest in them, so they often don't survive long enough or seek capital from overseas (like Xero/Vend, again, the exception to the rule).
The only natural thing to do is to move to a country with (a) more money, (b) more incentives, (c) more interesting work/problems to solve. The government of New Zealand does little to improve the situation and does not care about the technology sector much, doesn't work hard on getting better internet (we only have one cable to the outside world, and it's expensive to get bandwidth on it!) and doesn't encourage new, young companies to found here.
We just don't have much going for us here, in general, in the technology sector, but it's starting to change with initiatives like this from local government at least: http://hightechcapital.co.nz
It's sad. I wish the government would focus directly on optimizing NZ for technology companies, improve the internet, foster and encourage them (maybe even invest in them), help them get started in the world and meet investors. Some initiatives exist, like the Kiwi Landing Pad, but it's just not good enough yet.
Re: Why isn’t New Zealand richer and more productive?
#127Living in NZ is, by and large, a lifestyle choice for smart, capable New Zealanders. It's trivial to work in Australia [1], reasonably easy [2] to work in the UK, and NZers have a good enough reputation to go to any other majority English-speaking country with little trouble. Because the country is so small - and generally without a class system - it's possible, on a relatively small income, to have everything you mi…
That sounds amazing. Are boats and beach houses that much cheaper in NZ? In the US, you have to be quite wealthy, or quite an avid sailor, to own anything more substantial than a dinghy. Houses anywhere near a semi-desirable beach community cost >$1M. Even successful people in their 30s don't often buy second homes in that price range.
Re: Why isn’t New Zealand richer and more productive?
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
the other person is wrong, the poor are definitely hated in america. they are villianized as lazy welfare queens. remember the 47 percent thing with Romney? turn on fox news for 10 minutes, John Stossel even villianizes the homeless. they also try to get rid of school lunches/food assistance for the poor.
Be careful with the dissonance between the television narrative and reality.
Re: Why isn’t New Zealand richer and more productive?
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
Be careful with the dissonance between your social circle and "everyone". (In this case for instance - living in the midwest puts me into contact with a very large number of people who's beliefs align nearly perfectly with the television narrative).
Meh, you lost me. Completely. One thing you have to remember is that in general, Americans are culturally one of the most generous nations in the world. Broadly speaking, that includes foreign aid and domestic welfare as well as voluntary charity. But at that same time, the US is an industrious nation that prizes hard work. It's a fine line to walk and people fall through the cracks in the system. Nevertheless, it's…
Broadly speaking, no, foreign aid given by the US is barely top 30 per capita.
[0] http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2002/AmericanAttitu...
Re: Why isn’t New Zealand richer and more productive?
#130I'm from the 'West Island' (Australia) but the culture is very similar. Money is made from physical things, technology is a semi necessary, semi dubious expense that should only exist as part of 'doing real things'. This is one reason a lot of Australians and Kiwis who have an interest in technology leave.