By the end of the year, New Zealand Government intends to have 90% of the population vaccinated against COVID-19.

At the beginning of this mass-vaccination effort, one may recall, many people were vociferous in their denigration of the New Zealand Government, claiming ‘the vaccination rollout is shambolic/is behind schedule/is going too slow…’, when in fairness, at the time, regarding COVID-19, New Zealand was far better positioned than most; unlike much of the world, other than what we were allowing through our border, there was no COVID in the country and our comparatively sparse population meant that even if one day we did relapse, again unlike much of the world, the virus was not going to be impossible to eradicate.

Here is an interesting truth which I suspect many of our Kiwi malcontents have never considered: New Zealand is a country with so little genuine hardship that, in your mal-contented little brain, the above non-issue is of a positively ruinous magnitude; channelling a similar vein is the ‘hardship’ Kiwis face during a Level 4 Lockdown situation where, upon resumption of First World freedoms, first thing many want to do is buy fast food and coffee – not dress severed limbs of dying family members or scour rubble for loved ones’ bodies but buy takeaways – because this is the reality of New Zealand hardship.

Here is another interesting truth: New Zealand is nearing the 80% vaccinated threshold but, even with just 20% of the nation unvaccinated thus susceptible to COVID-19’s full wrath, the New Zealand healthcare system could be inundated by this illness; this reality is unlikely as it is doubtful that every unvaccinated person will contract a severe case of COVID requiring hospitalisation, but Government has to work with worst case scenarios because, should the worst happen and they were unprepared, well, we have a fair idea what the malcontents would say about that.

Yet another noteworthy piece of candour: New Zealand’s unvaccinated 20% will comprise largely ‘anti-vaxers’ and are likely that same group of mal-contented, conspiracy-forming, politically disinterested idiots who, just months earlier, were complaining about the Government making such a shambles of vaccination distribution.

Additionally ironic, those groups first approached by Government to ‘get vaccinated’ because they were more at risk of severe illness if afflicted with COVID-19 – the immuno-compromised/Polynesian/Pasifika – were largely the same groups who caused delays in the beginning of the vaccination process due to much of the Pasifika community believing that ‘God will protect them’ thus holding an ‘anti-vax’ stance which presented vaccine distributors with interminable administration woes as appointments were made for people with zero intention of showing.

Ultimately the reason 90 rather than 80% of Kiwis need to be vaccinated, after each of that remaining 20% do contract COVID and inevitably choose to burden New Zealand’s free healthcare service with whimpering pleas of breathing difficulties, is so that our country’s health system will continue to cope.

Bearing in mind the aforementioned, if much of that remaining 20% is in fact composed of anti-vaxers, this does not need to be an issue; instead of taking a vaccination shot, these people need to be offered a waiver, where their signature will declare that, should they contract COVID-19, they will stay home, they will get plenty of rest, do no heavy lifting, drink plenty of fluids and deal with their illness on their own terms.

Manmade or otherwise, this pandemic is no conspiracy; COVID-19 is a virus and we humans are adept at handling viruses.

 

 

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by R D Apt

Photography by Vera S Handler

 

Down the end of my street there is a primary school.

In the next town over there is two schools, both a primary school and a secondary school.

In the other direction there is a town with five schools; three are primary, one is secondary, and one is a Christian school.

Hm.

‘Christian’ school; what exactly does that mean?

What specifically does this Christian school teach?

Can atheists go to this Christian school, or is it a school exclusively for Christians?

Does this Christian school teach NCEA accredited curriculum, or does it focus more on teachings of religious scripture?

Does a Christian school teach students how to be scholars, or how to be better Christians?

Hm.

In New Zealand we have public schools for regular folk who are happy to let the Government pay for their education and private schools for students whose parents believe it will be better if they pay for it themselves.

We also have ‘Christian’ schools; is a Christian school taxpayer funded, parent funded, or God funded?

Boys’ school for boys, girls’ school for girls; Christian school for people who think that everything they see was constructed by a 32-year-old carpenter named Jesus and his godly father.

Seems wrong, having a school that is basically the same as other schools, but which reserves its schooling for Christians.

If Christian schools teach Creationism rather than Evolution, does that mean their historical studies won’t mention dinosaurs?

Will it mean, at this Christian school, students won’t delve into the history of the Universe; will it mean, instead of going back aeons, world history for these Christian students will stop at around 10,000 years?

Where public schools are sometimes pressured to include in their teachings the myth of Creationism, are these Christian schools ever under pressure to forego their historical make-believe to include the reality of Evolution?

Hmm.

A Christian school made especially for Christians yet, like churches, not funded by God.

Geez, feels almost as though we’ve gone back to 19^th century segregation; like having a white school and a black school – you know, in the same way that Methven has a blue pub and a brown pub.

No, of course, Christian schooling couldn’t possibly be spawned from something as serious as racial segregation; religion, after all, exists primarily in one’s mind – a belief system – while race is inherent reality.

Surprising, at a time where Political Correctness holds such inexplicable strength and being ‘woke’ is seemingly more important than getting your eight hours’ a night, that such a depiction of exclusivity as a ‘Christian’ school is still accepted by the masses.

Much like ‘cultural differences’, ‘human rights’, ‘disabilities’, or ‘body-shapes’, religion is a topic that, as a society, we appear have deemed ‘untouchable’ and thus, irrespective how inappropriate, repugnant or downright ghastly logic tells us one of these situations has become, it must be respected for what it is.

The ‘Theory of Wokeness’ maybe needs to be introduced as part of the curriculum in Christian schools.

 

 

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Jesus H Christ

Photography by Sam Ara Tonne

 

As established in the last Inflation, attempting to solve a nation’s economic woes through the printing (handing) out of money, does little but increase inflation.

Having just read through the first Inflation, I realise I could have basically condensed that 1000+ word article into just one line: ‘if you are receiving more for doing no more, you are doing nothing but contributing to inflation.’

The above line is why the New Zealand Government would do well to stop being so ecologically precious about ventures such as West Coast goldmining and start seeing an opportunity for what it is.

Any high-profit business in New Zealand, from our Socialist Government’s perspective, is effectively printing money; in a financial year, for example, if an electricity company takes $300 million revenue, then is taxed at 33%, the Government will effectively skim $100 mil – now we begin to see maybe why Government allows utilities to charge consumers increasingly high electricity prices.

Internationally, gold prices have reached a new peak; incidentally, international trade is the best way to increase a nation’s wealth without dramatically increasing inflation.

Known global tax havens – Switzerland, Luxembourg, Bermuda, etc – where income tax is extremely low, yet individual wealth is comparatively high, acquire that wealth primarily through foreign investment, enticed by their miniscule income tax rates (sometimes less than 10%), compared to NZ’s 33%.

Therefore, where Switzerland imposes around one third the taxation of New Zealand, that taxation is against perhaps 10 times the cashflow thus, in the previous scenario, the Swiss Government will still accumulate over three times the wealth of the New Zealand Government.

Of course, a wealthy Government does not necessarily equal a wealthy populous although, as the New Zealand populous has surely witnessed over past decades, if the incumbent Government is focused on short-term political popularity rather than long-term national prosperity, that wealthy Government might take the easy route to success and, instead of using its wealth to build a future financial stronghold for the people, that Government might simply pander to the people, essentially handing out money thus making the people also wealthy and temporarily, for a few months anyway, very happy, until inflation catches up; then the people are again struggling and Government coffers are again short.

Regarding those wealthier nations, then, Switzerland, Luxembourg, or Bermuda, how do they prevent inflation from rendering their currency worthless?

Aha, they have clever, forward-thinking Governments and, along with other tax-haven countries such as Andorra and Netherlands, they seemingly understand that a government’s foremost concern has not so much to do with people’s finances but rather ensuring the contentment of said populous.

If an affluent government uses its wealth to provide for its people by subsidising everyday commodities such as food, childcare, and electricity, rather than handing out cash, the result is a populous of financial contentment which does not need as much money; this is in comparison to an avarice-driven but cashed-up populous who watch the price of commodities being continually pushed up as inflation rises rapidly.

When commodities are affordable people do not need to be driven by avarice and subsequently, because people are not price-gouging one another across every available commercial avenue, the cost of living comes down thus poverty becomes non-existent; simple, right?

Government wealth and populous contentment notwithstanding, if a nation’s inflation is to remain low, there does need to be income inequality; as with every Socialist country, in New Zealand, tax from the higher income earners takes care of citizens of lesser fortune and if not for that higher income taxation, the country’s economy would cease to function – for instance, if every person was on a high income, first commodity prices would inflate accordingly then, if every person was making the same, how would one define a ‘high income’, anyway?

Pay attention.

Ultimately, one of the best ways for a country to get rich is through foreign investment (that or oil and, you know, eco-issues), and John Key knew that.

Unequivocally, the best way to abolish poverty is for a wealthy Government to subsidise the cost of everyday commodities – food, childcare, electricity; Key was working on that one, too.

Alternatively, if your wealthy Government has already given away all its money, essentially in cash form, while the cost of everyday commodities continues to rise and inflation is set to go out of control, if aspiring businesses must battle through barriers of bureaucracy and pointless eco-regulations only to find themselves still struggling then I don’t know, maybe you voted the wrong way in the last election.

Just saying.

 

 

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by John Keenew

Photography by Future National

 

 

Coffers are running low thus taxes are soon to run high as our nation verges on insolvency.

That said, why is the New Zealand Government not doing more to support viable economic ventures?

Why is the Government restricting rather than supporting potentially lucrative prospects, such as goldmining, in New Zealand?

Gold is still plentiful around the country and equipment for goldmining still exists; while excess bureaucracy means that most of that gear currently sits idle the value of gold has never been higher yet, for some reason, this is a revenue-stream on which the New Zealand Government is unwilling to capitalise.

Statements akin to the following might be familiar to struggling Kiwi entrepreneurs: ‘The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has shut down a West Coast gold mining exploration venture that was injecting $500,000 a year into the local economy.’

Gold can be lifted from our lakes, rivers, and landscapes throughout New Zealand without causing destruction to our eco-system; goldmining would create potentially thousands of jobs across the nation and ultimately, it would revive a forgotten industry.

Like the drilling of oil – which can be harmful to our eco-system – goldmining has been vilified by ignorant eco-warriors who erroneously assume that, because this is another form of mining, goldmining must also be damaging to nature; again, gold can be mined across New Zealand with minimal effect to the eco-system.

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation is, expectedly, responsible for the stymieing of goldmining production, undoubtedly, under coercion from an incessantly interfering Green party, ignorantly, under the impression that such efforts would cause irreparable harm to West Coast rivers’ natural beauty…

The following is an exasperated quote from South Island farm owner and hopeful West Coast goldminer, Peter Morrison: “We applied a year ago for a mining permit but we’re still waiting.”

…Peter Morrison owns 500 hectares of land on the West Coast and has already invested around $2 million prospecting for, and discovering, gold on his block; now, it seems, New Zealand Government is preventing him from extracting, thus being heavily taxed on the value of, that gold.

While New Zealand Government’s Financial sector struggles to source funding to continue to hand out money to the people, the flourishing Bureaucratic sector continues to find reason to hamper business progress.

‘But after being told by MBIE he was breaching the exploration permit and threatened with massive fines, Morrison has been forced to pull the plug.’

“We applied a year ago for a mining permit but we’re still waiting.”

The above bureaucratic delay seems to be the norm in New Zealand; unless you’re someone of eminence, the only time Government takes notice is if you’re doing something illegal.

Potentially millions more dollars to be spent on this potential goldmining endeavour with umpteen potential new careers across the district; so much potential prosperity for so many people on the West Coast, now lost, because the New Zealand Government would rather borrow future millions from China than take them from taxable business enterprises in the South.

This is an example of one more business prospect to become entangled amid the web of bureaucracy cast by New Zealand’s Socialist governance; the problem, realistically, is that our ever-influential band of Eco-warriors has never been supportive of anything relating to progression, efficiency, or lucrativeness – goldmining is potentially all three.

Additionally bothersome is when the New Zealand Government is bound by bureaucracy to such an extent that they are unable to incarcerate or deport an ISIS-supporting potential-terrorist and must instead spend tens of thousands of dollars employing officials to basically babysit the shithead, until he starts stabbing people, then they can finally get rid of him.

The message appears clear: stabbing people in New Zealand is bad, goldmining in New Zealand is good, and there is too much bureaucracy in New Zealand for the future prosperity of either.

 

 

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Stabby McGee

Photography by Burrow Chrissy