Why doesn't Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr hand the Monopoly money straight to Kiwis and cut out the middleman? Photo / Mark Mitchell
I read with incredulity but really no great surprise, the article (NZ Herald, December 4) on "Negative rates turn loans upside down". Senior economist at Westpac Michael Gordon felt that a lot of people "didn't find it intuitive" that the Reserve Bank would pay the borrower
i.e. the banks, to borrow money from them. Really?
Will the banks continue this approach with their borrowers? I don't think so.
Has the rort which is the banking system now reached the Monty Python moment where the banks will be paid for borrowing money and then get paid for lending out the same sums of money?
Why don't we just cut out the middleman? Every household could just be paid by the Reserve Bank to borrow their money.
Truly the phrase that the inmates are running the financial asylum came to mind, but then I thought, wait a minute, here is the solution to Auckland Council's financial woes. Just get the Reserve Bank to pay them to borrow their money. The longer we keep it the more we earn in interest. They would soon be able to give us all a rates rebate and the Government. could continue on its merry way printing Monopoly money.
Bill MacDougall, Milford.
For the last three years the current government has continued to issue permanent entry tickets to New Zealand even though it is obvious there is insufficient housing for those already living here.
Each new arrival, carefully selected to be above the average income earning capacity or with substantial funds, displaces an existing resident from a housing opportunity. The implications for displaced families and those that cannot find acceptable housing are terrible.
When the government recruited 1000 teachers from overseas they displaced 1000
families from their homes.
We know that without immigration our population growth will be negligible if not declining. If we can get to that point it won't take long for the building industry which builds 35,00 houses each year to catch up.
When, and only when, we again achieve a housing surplus, and those houses that are in poor condition can't be sold or rented, should we again consider opening our immigration gates.
Each time we issue another permanent entry ticket, someone somewhere is deprived of a home. It is that simple and it has to stop.
Steve Matheson, Epsom.
It's hard to feel sorry for Aucklanders complaining about a median $36 extra annual rates increase. The median property owner has made $140,000 of untaxed capital gains. Renters, meanwhile, face annual rent increases of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The attitudes of some Herald correspondents are exactly why cities around New Zealand, including Auckland, are coming to terms with decades of underinvestment.
Andrew Flanagan, Hamilton.
Jacinda Ardern's Labour behemoth needs to put tax dollars where it will do the most good - in the bank accounts of beneficiaries in time for Christmas. It will all be spent locally with local retailers, and return to sender in the form of GST.
Most families surviving on benefits face a bleak Christmas - no Christmas food, and even less Christmas cheer. Forget about Christmas pressies for the kids. Many will be forced to beg for money for food at WINZ or go to a food bank just to feed their kids over the holiday period.
The Government has actioned liveable wages and extra sick leave, so why not liveable benefits?
Christopher Simmons, Papatoetoe.
With numerous calls for vastly increased social welfare benefits to relieve child poverty, it would now seem absolute sense to revisit the method of all welfare payments. This, as presently being adopted in Australia, by means of a cashless debit card to replace cash payments.
Such a measure would prevent precious taxpayer funds being wastefully spent on alcohol, gambling, drugs, and on those who the funds are not intended for - rather than always on the necessities of life.
With considerable Covid-19 economic challenges facing New Zealand, it is now time for urgent action, and a strong commitment of accountability to control welfare payment waste. Every hard-working taxpayer should demand such a change, which would also go a long way to easing child poverty.
Hylton Le Grice, Remuera.
Could you please stop comparing Copenhagen to Auckland (NZ Herald, December 4) where cycling is concerned? Edinburgh would be a far better comparison. Steep hills with weather that seems to dare cyclists to brave the elements.
In Edinburgh it's cold, wet and windy, whereas Auckland has warmth and humidity to deal with but terrain-wise is a pretty good match. Not the billiard table landscape of Copenhagen. E-bikes might be your answer to the hills but not until they are much more affordable. Try taking your weekly shop home on one.
And if your other pet project takes off will all those cyclists become light rail users or the other way around?
James Archibald, Birkenhead.
So 40 per cent of Auckland's greenhouse gas emissions are from cars? I wonder why.
On my 4.5km commute between home and work, I pass through four traffic light intersections. Typically, at least one, often two, of these intersections, has traffic (usually me) sitting at a red light with zero vehicular or pedestrian traffic crossing. I sit there like a bloody idiot staring into empty roads, because Auckland Transport is too incompetent to co-ordinate traffic lights properly.
If traffic was allowed to flow properly, and not wait for vacant roads, then we would not need to convert our expensive chemical energy (fuel) into global-warming heat energy (in the brakes) and then pour more fuel into our engines and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to re-accelerate back to our cruising speed. And, we'd save a lot of money in the process, and get to our destinations happier.
Brian Cox, Pakuranga.
Congestion charges are unfair to those living far from the city because they have worse public transport options than those living closer to the city. It would be fairer if congestion charges were inversely proportional to distance travelled.
This means that a shorter drive to the city would result in a higher charge, while a longer drive would result in a lower charge. For example, a person driving to the city from Takapuna would pay a higher charge than a person driving from Huapai.
This would encourage those who live closer to the city to use the good public transport available to them, whilst not penalising those who live further away for driving, when driving is often the most appropriate option.
Jamie Diprose, Herald Island.
So the chair of Auckland's non-profit, zero dividend-paying, congestion-causing, delivery-disrupting and unsightly port is Deloitte chairperson of the year (NZ Herald, December 4). How embarrassing for Deloitte, the judges and the port-owning mayor who won't sell the port because he needs the dividend to keep rates in check. What dividend, and how has that kept rates in check?
Wayne Brown, Ponsonby.
Amongst all the criticism, I would like to offer the University of Auckland my congratulations on their brilliant idea to purchase a $5 million mansion in Parnell.
University vice-chancellors don't come cheap. Part of most remuneration deals for someone holding such a prestigious position includes free accommodation. These are highly paid individuals and have normally been for quite some time. Any accommodation suitable in the Auckland market is likely to have cost the university around $2000 a week.
By the time Dawn Freshwater finishes her tenure, the university will have made a profit on an asset that will have more than paid her salary, as well as providing accommodation suitable for someone of Ms Freshwater's standing.
Kent Millar, Blockhouse Bay.
On rates
What came first, the rocketing Auckland house price or the rocketing Auckland rates rise? Bev Owen, Mission Bay.
On cricket
Spark, I gather, has bought the rights, but why can't we see cricket on TV anymore? Sky, please get it back so we can watch tests as we always have. Gill Eady, Kohimarama.
On university
The question is not will the university learn from its bad decisions (NZ Herald, December 4) but rather who are the bad decision-makers? The HR managers I have dealt with over the years would have kicked up merry hell. Phil Butler, Christchurch.
On shovels
It appears that the "shovel-ready" projects proposed by the Government are going to remain "shovel-ready" for some time yet. Richard Carey, Manly.
On borers
So we have another tunnelling machine. Whatever happened to Alice after boring the twin Waterview tunnels? Maybe she is available and still looking for work? Eric Gill, Epsom.
On Unlimited
I would rather that Auckland Council fund public toilets and playgrounds than Nick Hill (NZ Herald, December 7) be given funding to "develop Auckland's innovation ecosystem". Rachel Hall, Auckland Central.
On Auckland
Auckland's waterfront looks fantastic, whilst the rest of us watch our local community crumble. Time to abolish this Super City Idea and get back to the grass roots of looking after local communities. Bob Jessopp, Massey.
Each day on The Great New Zealand Road Trip, we catch up with a noteworthy Kiwi.