Why isn’t New Zealand richer and more productive?

Post by peatmoss » Fri, Apr 18, 2014, 4:53 PM UTC

gibrown wrote: post #57

Lewisham wrote: post #46

Having lived in NZ for a couple of years working at Victoria University of Wellington, the other piece of the puzzle is NZ suffers from crippling brain drain: their best and brightest students immediately head over to Australia where they can make more money and use the exchange rate to pay off their student loan quicker. My read is that kiwis tend to come back when they're ready to start a family, but during those v…

That was my experience as well. The few folks who managed to work remotely for an overseas company did really well, but pay rates within the country were a lot lower than I expected. Working at a distributed company, I really wish more Kiwis would apply to my company if only so I could have an excuse to go visit. :)

Post by gd1 » Fri, Apr 18, 2014, 4:57 PM UTC

crb wrote: post #52

Living 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…

Post by shadowfox » Fri, Apr 18, 2014, 5:08 PM UTC

Varcht wrote: post #48

cryoshon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also the related phenomenon that in the US, the rich are in the spotlight of society and the poor are decidedly disliked.

I would disagree that "poor are decidedly disliked" here as a rule. There are plenty of "poor" that are accepted, liked and even esteemed. Think of the starving artists, musicians, olympic athletes, working class poor, the startup set, etc. There is dislike for the poor that resort to crime, thuggery, drugs etc. At least this is how I see it from my middle class perspective.

Post by awda » Fri, Apr 18, 2014, 5:12 PM UTC

HarryHirsch wrote: post #45

grecy wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...and those who realize they have enough ignore the rich and are out living how they want to be (camping, hiking, taking photos, etc.)

and those who realize they have enough ignore the rich If you only could. The problem is that in the US a great portion of taxes are locally raised and spent, and the way of dealing with poverty is to price the poor out of areas where they aren't wanted. To get access to halfway decent schools you need to move to the suburbs, and what's available there in housing is hugely outsized. You cannot save on heating, coolin…

Post by thesimpsons1022 » Fri, Apr 18, 2014, 5:15 PM UTC

shadowfox wrote: post #66

Varcht wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would disagree that "poor are decidedly disliked" here as a rule. There are plenty of "poor" that are accepted, liked and even esteemed. Think of the starving artists, musicians, olympic athletes, working class poor, the startup set, etc. There is dislike for the poor that resort to crime, thuggery, drugs etc. At least this is how I see it from my middle class perspective.

> Think of the starving artists, musicians, olympic athletes, working class poor, the startup set, etc Maybe you are right and I am just cynical. But I have felt that some of these groups (with the exception of working class poor) are tolerated because of their success potential than for their status as individuals. And even with that a large number of people appear to disdainful of unsuccessful people in these field…