It was 33 years ago when GST was introduced to New Zealand, adding 10 per cent to the cost of most goods and services to everything we buy. The people weren't happy and spending dropped by 28 per cent in thefirst month, but bounced back after six months. GST was key part of what was dubbed "Rogernomics" after Minister of Finance Sir Roger Douglas. Douglas implemented the reforms after Labour won a landslide victory in the snap election of July 1984. NZ History reports: "The new Government inherited an alarmingly high Budget deficit and overseas debt, an over-valued dollar, and rocketing inflation. Rogernomics was a ready-made solution — or so it seemed to many. New Zealand was quickly reinvented as one of the most free-market economies in the industrialised world. Radical change came thick and fast: deregulation, privatisation, the sale of state assets, and the removal of subsidies, tariffs and price controls. GST was added to the mix in 1986. This 'regressive' tax hit the poorest the hardest, because people on low incomes spend a higher proportion of their money on basic goods and services than the better-off. The rate of GST was increased to 12.5 per cent in 1989 and to 15 per cent in 2010."
Sky Tower, Invercargill
According to this world map in a restaurant in northern Armenia.
The Washington Post's review of Debbie Harry's memoir was tweeted with this nub of sexism:: "Debbie Harry proves she's more than just a pretty blonde in tight pants." The responses included this: "I mean, she's 74, but I guess any woman can hope to live long enough to outshine her pants" and to prove it would never happen to a male icon ... "In his memoir, Prince proves he was more than just a man who owned socks." The review continued the theme of dismissiveness: "Even if Harry, of Blondie, isn't to your taste — her voice too thin, her sexiness too blatant, her music too smooth — you can't dismiss certain truths about her ... "
How to fight cleavage wrinkles
There's a night-time bra to "fight cleavage wrinkles" ... That is a product that has been purchased, for money, by someone in the world.
