The missing link

Stuff: Don't blame Auckland power cut on regulation - Cullen

"It's quite clear that the failure that occurred in Auckland was not a consequence of the RMA – it was a consequence of reliance upon a single process through the Otahuhu station."

Which was a consequence of? regulation perhaps ?

Timing is everything

Stuff: PM unveils $30m for early childhood

So unable to pin down the killers of the Kahui twins the PM grabs the children awareness spotlight and announces more money. Scurrilous.

Nightriding

Awesome night in Welly last night for a ride around Mt. Vic. The crew meet at 'ride leaders' place and attacked the more unusual angles of the beast. Cris-crossed it a few times, always heading up hill and it was lightly raining. Awesome amount of mud and some good slow and messy falls to watch.

The mighty NightLightning Ruby lighting the trail for more than myself for the last 15mins.

What next.

Stuff: Why we can't afford tax cuts

The way I see it this about sums up the whole story "Finance Minister Michael Cullen said the report showed how serious trade-offs had to be made in every budget. "

So what we have here is Dr. Cullen, desperate for some hard evidence that tax cuts are not affordable, has asked the Treasury to get at least one shred of evidence that we cannot afford tax cuts now.

So if we keep ratcheting up taxes as the current Govt seems to like doing, just what will our tax rate be in 20 years ? 70% ?

How can it be that with an aging population, and no substantial expansion foreseen in the population, we are not expecting a large fall in overall Govt expenditure excluding health. The Police numbers should surely decrease, roading expenditure should decrease, housing costs should go down as fewer people require large houses, schooling costs should decline etc etc.

Cycle commuting

Great day in Wellington to jump on the bike this morning. A weekend of crap Southerly weather had me hankering for a ride. Awesome morning for it and a lovely spin home under lights. Home: 11.32K's, 25:52, Avg: 27.02, Max: 39.6.