Are you better or worse off?

Forums › Off topic › Are you better or worse off?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Networkn
32349 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#550907 28-Nov-2011 12:30

Lurch: Well your issues have less to do with who is in power and more to do with inflation (a fact of life) and more do to with circumstances (Insurance see CHCH and other massive natural disasters).

There is always the major two parties in every country, you can find a party you aligns your views and vote for them and under MMP they will be able to represent you.

networkn

Networkn
32349 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#550908 28-Nov-2011 12:33

After the result of NZF getting into office I firmly believe that Students and Beneficaries shouldn't be allowed to vote! NZF got a result because he promised to wipe student debt, something that a long thinking person of reasonable intelligence (Rather than someone like the students who voted for him, with selfish and short term thinking), would know that a) He has no power in parliament, b) The country couldn't afford it c) people don't value what they don't have to sacrifice for.

Labour bought the vote last time they won with similar promises, it was pretty much their only chance!

I know it's unlikely to happen, but it should!

Ragnor

8218 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#550909 28-Nov-2011 12:34

Lurch: Worse off and it has been each year for a long time now. Food has gone up, Petrol has gone up, Electricity has gone up, Insurance has gone up, car registration has gone up... Tyre's have gone up, rates have gone up, rent has gone up and there are many more items that have gone up in price.

Only thing not going up is my pay even though our workload has increased and we're now doing things that are not even on the job description, some of the stuff isn't even IT releated. But such is the way of life in NZ :-)

As a side not about voting, I vote. But it saddens me that it's either Labour or National pulling the strings. Has been the same since I've been voting, even with FPP.

Assuming you have IT skills that are in demand shouldn't you be able to shop around for better pay or start your own company?

Ragnor

8218 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#550911 28-Nov-2011 12:35

networkn: After the result of NZF getting into office I firmly believe that Students and Beneficaries shouldn't be allowed to vote! NZF got a result because he promised to wipe student debt, something that a long thinking person of reasonable intelligence (Rather than someone like the students who voted for him, with selfish and short term thinking), would know that a) He has no power in parliament, b) The country couldn't afford it c) people don't value what they don't have to sacrifice for.

Labour bought the vote last time they won with similar promises, it was pretty much their only chance!

I know it's unlikely to happen, but it should!

My Nana voted for Winston... I literally face palmed.. but hey that's democracy.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#550929 28-Nov-2011 13:01

Ragnor:
networkn: After the result of NZF getting into office I firmly believe that Students and Beneficaries shouldn't be allowed to vote! NZF got a result because he promised to wipe student debt, something that a long thinking person of reasonable intelligence (Rather than someone like the students who voted for him, with selfish and short term thinking), would know that a) He has no power in parliament, b) The country couldn't afford it c) people don't value what they don't have to sacrifice for.

Labour bought the vote last time they won with similar promises, it was pretty much their only chance!

I know it's unlikely to happen, but it should!

My Nana voted for Winston... I literally face palmed.. but hey that's democracy.

'

"The problem with democracy is that every idiot gets to vote."

"The best argument against democracy is a five minute talk with the average voter"

both (paraphrased) by Winston Curchill I believe

:D

Ragnor

8218 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#550947 28-Nov-2011 13:27

Agreed but...

The saving grace of democracy is that it's a great system for removing/changing the government when (or just before) they inevitably become too corrupt/self interested.

Lurch

1061 posts

Uber Geek

#550961 28-Nov-2011 13:44

Ragnor:Assuming you have IT skills that are in demand shouldn't you be able to shop around for better pay or start your own company?

I have a varied background everything from building machines from scratch to working more in the network space. i.e. configuring switches. Setup a video conferencing network etc, cabinet setups.

Have built the occasional server, also had a small business for awhile were I was sub contracted.

I apply for the odd job now and then but either don't hear back or get the good old unsuccessful letter :-)

I was talking to HR here at work they had an IT role come up recently 90+ people applied, which they say is the norm for any job role due to how "the world" currently is. So isn't that easy to shop around as it once was.

Would love to work for myself again, but then getting the customer base is always the key and having a family I need to be careful :-)

Anyway slightly off topic :-)

I agree my situation may not be the Governments fault, but then again there are a few policies that don't help.

I know Mr Len Brown isn't helping the cause.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

networkn

Networkn
32349 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#550967 28-Nov-2011 13:52

lurch: As the owner of an IT Consulting firm, and employer of staff, what I can tell you from my perspective would help improve your chances of a payrise, is approaching the manager responsible, and having a frank and polite conversation about the fact you would like to earn more money, that you understand it's a tough economic environment (to make money in at the best of times) and that you would like feedback on what you could do, or do differently to add value that the company would consider additional compensation for.

I personally work off a concept that if a staff member brings in more money, they are more valuable, but that it's not just that one fact, but how they work with the clients they are already responsible for, and interact with the others in the team.

Sorry for the off topic.

Geese

1028 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#550972 28-Nov-2011 13:54

networkn: After the result of NZF getting into office I firmly believe that Students and Beneficaries shouldn't be allowed to vote! NZF got a result because he promised to wipe student debt, something that a long thinking person of reasonable intelligence (Rather than someone like the students who voted for him, with selfish and short term thinking), would know that a) He has no power in parliament, b) The country couldn't afford it c) people don't value what they don't have to sacrifice for.

Labour bought the vote last time they won with similar promises, it was pretty much their only chance!

I know it's unlikely to happen, but it should!

Yeah students are pretty dumb. Everyone knows they have sub-par intelligence. That is why I have 10 University/Polytechnic and other qualifications, because they give them away as we are so stupid they pity us.

In fact I must be really stoopid by not voting for labour (ever) when they were "buying votes".

jeffnz

2870 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#550974 28-Nov-2011 13:56

I'm 54 and haven't seen many times where prices don't go up so don't think any particular party would stop that. Maybe the thread topic was a bit ambiguous and was just meant to take a poke at National.

Galaxy S10

Garmin Fenix 5

networkn

Networkn
32349 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#550975 28-Nov-2011 13:58

IlDuce: Actually it's nothing to do with Intelligence, it's to do with selfishness and lack of common sense and the fact that students and beneficiaries are not contributing to the tax base, society as much as workers do, and as such shouldn't be able to control how those funds are distributed.

Lurch

1061 posts

Uber Geek

#550979 28-Nov-2011 14:02

networkn: lurch: As the owner of an IT Consulting firm, and employer of staff, what I can tell you from my perspective would help improve your chances of a payrise, is approaching the manager responsible, and having a frank and polite conversation about the fact you would like to earn more money, that you understand it's a tough economic environment (to make money in at the best of times) and that you would like feedback on what you could do, or do differently to add value that the company would consider additional compensation for.

We have a review at 6 months and then a year, we go over what can be improved on and what we're currently doing in the role and from here a pay review is put forward to a panel and they then hum and har over it for months (even longer) or you may not even hear back.

Not sure what other tasks I can take on, was a desktop role with some networking. But this has progressed into server builds and now even punching krone blocks and setting up the PABX :-) Also ordering and quotes now that I remember :-)

We even troubleshoot network issues and replace switches/media converters which is the network engineer role :-)

I enjoy the role and the people, but the word exploited comes up. Anyway this is all off topic :-)

jeffnz

2870 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#551007 28-Nov-2011 15:06

" Exploited " , so what do you contracts say, let m guess ' and any other work as required by ......' etc etc.

Actually I've met very few people in my time that have thought they get paid what they believe they are worth so maybe exploited is just a perception.

Personally i don't think i get paid enough either but that is what the market is paying and if I don't like it I can leave.

If I owned a business I would budget a pay increase each year and give it to those that put in the effort nbot those that just turn up. In the work I am in now I get a percentage of my salary budget each year and the above is how I portion it out, some get more some get none. I'm not a believer in funding mediocrity.

I'm not saying this is what is happening in your case just generalising and giving an opnion
:)

Galaxy S10

Garmin Fenix 5

Ragnor

8218 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#551132 28-Nov-2011 18:16

networkn: IlDuce: Actually it's nothing to do with Intelligence, it's to do with selfishness and lack of common sense and the fact that students and beneficiaries are not contributing to the tax base, society as much as workers do, and as such shouldn't be able to control how those funds are distributed.

When you start getting selective democracy it tends to be a slippery slope.

Complaining about students and oldies voting in a self interested way is overblown, practically everyone votes selfishly to some degree.

Geese

1028 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#551133 28-Nov-2011 18:17

networkn: IlDuce: Actually it's nothing to do with Intelligence, it's to do with selfishness and lack of common sense and the fact that students and beneficiaries are not contributing to the tax base, society as much as workers do, and as such shouldn't be able to control how those funds are distributed.

Yeah students certainly are very selfish. Just look at those 9000 student volunteers who helped in the Christchurch earthquake cleanup (February). They should have been going to paid employment instead to pay into the tax base to earn the right to vote.

Students prove their lack of common sense thinking they should study to improve their knowledge and skills in order to seek gainful employment, in order to contribute to society. Damn students!

I suppose to be fair, voting should not be allowed to the retired over 65 as they are no longer earning/contributing to the tax base. Also should take vote off people in hospital too.

My annual 4 figure IRD bills would like to beg to differ on your position students aren't contributing to the tax base!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7