Why do New Zealand authorities tolerate gangs?

Euphemistically known as ‘motorcycle clubs’, there is nothing euphemistic about the fact, gang members are criminals.

Police know it, politicians know it, every law-abiding citizen in New Zealand knows it yet, oddly, there is an aura of inactivity regarding the desire to get these shitheads off the street.

Could there be a lack of incriminating evidence against the gangs holding up proceedings?

The Mongrel Mob has (again) been implicated in the production and dealing of methamphetamine; long time leader of the Waikato chapter, Sonny Fatupaito, is reportedly ‘offended’ by these allegations, reiterating the Mongrel Mob’s staunch ‘ban on drug use’…

In the first instalment of Warfare, written a little while ago, I documented the Mongrel Mob’s troubles with rival criminal gang, Black Power; also, how they had been before TV Three’s Samantha Hayes, pledging their ‘ban on drug use’. Since then, the Mongrel Mob have, countless times, been implicated in the production/distribution of illicit substances. Just saying.

…Clearly the Mongrel Mob’s ‘ban on drug use’ related not to the manufacture or distribution of Meth, just the personal consumption of such products.

These cretinous, most loathsome of characters are criminals; all of them.

Do not misunderstand me, motorcycle clubs, run by genuine motorcycle enthusiasts, do exist; they just do not have names like ‘Mongrel Mob’, ‘Black Power’, ‘Headhunters’, ‘King Cobras’, or the like – generally their members to not wear facial tattoos, either (then, upon leaving the gang, complain to the New Zealand Government because, on account of his outwardly threatening appearance, ‘he is being discriminated against and no one will give him a job’).

The National party was promising to ‘harden up’ on drug manufacture in New Zealand; then you voted in Labour and fairy-dust is just no match for Crusher Collins.

Of course, I’m not foolish enough to accuse the New Zealand authorities of weakness, or anything related to corruption but, it seems to me, the authorities know gang members are not productive members of society, they know gangs have money, they know the gangs don’t pay tax, they know nothing good comes from their existence; all it would take to greatly reduce drug production/distribution in New Zealand is to make gang membership a criminal offense then arrest every patch-wearing, drug-dealing shithead across the country.

Our Government throws around terms like ‘families’, ‘welfare’, ‘poverty’, ‘drug use’, ‘hardship’, ‘domestic violence’, ‘cultural appropriation’ – get rid of the gangs and suddenly all these terms could all come with a positive context.

There are already cities in the North where gang members/affiliates outnumber regular folk, cities that are basically ruled by gangs; why have we allowed this to happen?

How could New Zealand, as a First-World nation, have allowed parts of our country to become essentially under gang rule?

These truths should come as a disgusting transpiration; a deplorable act perpetuated through the negligence of our authorities.

Gangs are parasitic entities, leeching off the law-abiding.

Again, why are we tolerating it?

 

 

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by A R Swipe

Photography by Muhn Grylls

 

 

In the post-COVID world, New Zealand’s economy is very much at risk of being destroyed by inflation.

Like the rest of the world, although we are seeing reduced productivity across many sectors, many people/businesses are expecting/demanding an unchanged revenue stream; lower overall production yet maintaining high returns – this is inflation.

Rising house prices are one aspect of this phenomenon while dwindling interest rates are another; anyone with financial acumen will deduce how the aforementioned factors are connected and how, of course, providing the conduit is our beloved ‘inflation’.

Borrowing money from a bank with debit interest rates below 4% is a dream for house-buyers, therefore the demand for, thus the prices of, houses have gone up; Kiwis are now in debt by over $150 billion while this year New Zealand’s GDP was only around $300 billion – we now owe our country around 50% of what it makes in a year. Compare that to a few years’ ago; national debt was closer to $90 billion, around 30% of GDP, and interest rates were steady at around 6%.

In the previous instalment I mentioned ‘youthful entitlement’, and the above is essentially to what I was referring; too much hire-purchase (or whatever flash name companies are giving it), done by everyone but in higher frequency by younger people having just entered the workforce thus with some element of financial security but, ironically, perpetually without money yet, typically, those who believe they should be able to own all the latest toys, invariably, now.

Many of these youth, largely because all their floatable income goes towards less important things, cannot afford to buy a house thus often find themselves at the unscrupulous mercy of a New Zealand Landlord.

This act of ‘charging people as much as they can afford to pay’, as most Kiwi landlords do to their tenants – if the Government allows a rent increase, irrespective of their own financial requirements, increasing the rent is what most Kiwi landlords will do – is a harmful mentality to support; this desire to make as much money as possible from other people is not only damaging to ‘other people’, it’s damaging to the economy of the nation in which you live, alongside these ‘other people’.

Our unrestrained avarice, the compulsion among people to get, and to stay, ahead of the rest financially, is fuelling New Zealand’s economic collapse.

Bear with me.

On the political far left you have Communism and just right of that sits Socialism, further right is Capitalism and hard right is Republicanism; Communism is not the horror that many are conditioned to believe it is, Socialism is New Zealand’s Labour Party, Capitalism is the National Party and Republicanism is Trump(‘s political viewpoint; most are unsure at this point where Biden places himself on the scale).

Neither one of the above is inherently wrong – North Korea’s Kim Jong Un makes Communism seem horrendous yet, between 1945 and ’55, General Ho Chi Minh created a peaceful communistic existence throughout much of Vietnam – all a nation needs to make each of those political standpoints economically viable is cooperation among the populous; New Zealand currently has a socialist system of governance (which most people seem to think they love because on the face of it the Government just gives away money) while in fact New Zealand is largely a population of capitalists – the only reason Labour can afford to so freely give away money is because our previous (capitalist) National Government did such a good job of building up financial stability.

The point is that Jacinda will not be able to continue sprinkling her Socialist fairy-dust forever; New Zealand is at heart a nation of capitalists and we will again need to start earning, not just spending, our money.

New Zealand needs to stop gouging its own people, stop screwing money out of those who are also trying to make a living, and importantly, stop comparing our incomes to countries with five times the population, thus five times the commerce, of our own, and be satisfied that we live in a country where we take care of our own.

Be satisfied with less and you will have more.

 

 

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Taek Hare

Photography by Noah Gudgen

In this era of aging populations and youthful entitlement, something within the global populous seems to have gone awry.

Basically, at the bottom we have the producers doing the work and creating the goods; at the top we have the distributors sourcing goods from the producers and selling them to the consumers.

Sounds simple, and it is, rather, it was. It used to be.

Back in the day, for the generation we now know as ‘boomers’ and back beyond them, there was no issue with this arrangement, because it was simple and straightforward; one group produced while another group distributed.

It was with the advent of the ‘middle-man’ that things became less straightforward but the worst thing, now, with this wretched ‘middle-man’ taking a cut of the revenue, now everybody’s being paid less…

Now, what do capitalists do to cover profit shortfalls? They raise prices, that’s what.

…So, the distributor raises the price of the goods, thereby maintaining the existing profit-margin; of course, the producer also wants their profit-margin reinstated but, well, producers rarely get what they want and despite doing the real work thus arguably deserving the most, with the middle-man and distributors taking such a large portion of the revenue, the producers usually have to settle for the lowest profit-margin.

Now the distributor’s prices are higher, though, consumers are finding they need more money so demand wage increases.

A socialist government demands that, yes, wages do need to be increased, so the businesses start paying higher wages to all their staff (because to believe that a ‘minimum wage increase’ stops at the minimum wagers is naïve; what happens when the minimum wagers are being paid as much as the next wage echelon?), which is very expensive for the businesses…

Now, what do capitalists do to cover profit shortfalls? They raise prices, that’s what.

In New Zealand at least, generally, there are no regulations on what a distributor can charge for its goods; thus providing they remain competitive – which is where ‘price collusion’ comes into it (yes, technically illegal but, come on, how else are fuel companies supposed to properly screw their customers?) – they can charge consumers, while paying their producers, whatever they want.

The problem as I see it, in New Zealand at least, while most of us like to believe we live a wonderfully harmonic existence where our beloved socialist Government will protect us from any harm, comprising our population there are many of us who are in fact rabid capitalists and who will charge people, basically, as much as they can afford to pay.

The issue I take with ‘charging people as much as they can afford to pay’, is that, often, this is a lot more than the person doing the charging needs; the act of ‘charging people as much as they can afford to pay’ in order to reap ‘a lot more than that person needs’ is ultimately an attempt to get ahead of the rest.

The desire to ‘get ahead of the rest’, in New Zealand at least, (because it’s not just a small portion of us, many people do it) creates higher prices to the consumer which necessitates Government-imposed wage-increases to businesses which result in higher prices to consumers which is, inflation.

That’s my issue. I like money; I dislike inflation. Inflation is literally the killer of the value of money.

If everybody learned to be satisfied with a less financially competitive existence, in New Zealand at least, the dreaded ‘inflation’ that is making wages worthless while ultimately pushing up house prices, would cease to be such a scourge on our economy.

If everybody just learned how to live within their means and be content with a little less, there would be no reason to pay more.

Learn to be satisfied with less and you will have more.

 

 

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Suttice Fied

Photography by Minnie Madders