Thoughts about my move to New Zealand

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

How about comparing prices to labor hours?

Rough napkin calcs say you are paying more or less equivalent prices and taxes there in labor hours, adjusting for currencies, only I suspect the quality would be better judging by my Spain trip last week.

When the whole country is a scenic paradise, a view house is common unlike USA

If I understand the question correctly, prices are lower and labor (when paying for services) are higher. Presumably this is because there aren't as many overheads.

Minimum wage is $22.70NZ and many places start at $26NZ (around $16US), because it's what's classified as a "living wage" and it's good PR to offer that wage. At the current exchange rate that's a hair under $33,000US at 40hr/week. A 37.5 hour work week is common for FTE. There's also little incentive for people not to work part time, other than for more pay, because the benefits and such apply equally to someone working 1 hour per week as to someone working 40, or 60.

You're also right, in that it's hard to find a place that doesn't have a view. Mine is perhaps above average, but not exceptional. Attached is a pic of the view from a bedroom, yesterday afternoon.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by freebeard

My friends who live upriver want it to be that way. But they can wish in one hand....

Hereabouts we're teetering on the edge of a dystopia. We can hear the Cavalry's trumpets but they haven't come around the bend. A much better situation than your Oztralian neighbors. How's that new Prime Minister working out?

I liked the outgoing Labour government. I had one significant policy disagreement with the incoming National government, which was negotiated out while they were forming their coalition. Overall I feel just about equally happy with the incoming government.

The incoming National (center right) government wants to increase healthcare spending and hire more nurses and doctors, to give the middle and lower classes a very slight tax cut, and to give rebates to families who pay for child care (to get more people into the workforce), and to streamline a lot of consent processes, such as for building houses.

The policy I didn't care for was to open NZ houses above $2,000,000 to foreign buyers, and to tax foreign transactions heavily, to raise funds to pay the Covid spending down faster. My opinion was that it would cause an upward pressure on lower cost homes, and I haven't yet bought a house here. The coalition ACT and NZ First parties vetoed this policy.

As for the PM himself, he seems alright. He did a cooking show as part of his campaign, which gave a glimpse into his personal life and views outside of work.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Ecky

$1200 buys a Mitsubishi L200 5 speed pickup.

4WD, crew-cab? Gas or Diesel?

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

4WD, crew-cab? Gas or Diesel?

2WD Extended cab 5spd Gas. Paint is faded on the hood, but otherwise looks good.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I invite you to visit Permalink #20 to understand my confusion.

Again, I'm agreeing with you.

You provided evidence suggesting the US average might be less than $0.23/kWh, and I piled on with a fact from a source, misunderstanding that perhaps you weren't providing counter evidence, but accepting the fact as presented and offering an anecdote.

My confusion was the impetus for yours, which is why I'm attempting to clarify my statements and understand yours.

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

You're kidding, no? Haven't really noticed. NOT.

Agreeing with people isn't interesting or helpful. Most everything I don't comment on is because I either agree, or don't have enough knowledge to weigh in. Naturally, what's left is argumentation.

Originally Posted by Ecky

There's simply nothing that needs shooting.

There was a fella named Brenton Tarrant that needed shooting, preferably well before he murdered 51 people. That's my take though; others think a mental health professional should have spoken calming words of affirmation to him.

[freebeard]

Agreeing with people isn't interesting or helpful.

No it isn't.
..vs
No, it isn't.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

There was a fella named Brenton Tarrant that needed shooting, preferably well before he murdered 51 people. That's my take though; others think a mental health professional should have spoken calming words of affirmation to him.

I wager it's a bit more complicated than that.

I have no doubt most of those 51 people could legally have had guns had they wanted them, and simply chose not to. It's my impression the friends and families of the victims likely still choose not to have guns.

If someone took him out before he murdered 51 people, it would have been an international incident, since he was a foreigner. By a group of armed Muslims, no less.

Additionally, you can count on your hands how many mass shootings (more than two people) this country has had since its founding. Last I checked, the US has more than 500 per year.

Also, the police were on scene within 6 minutes.

I've personally been in a mass shooting - in Florida. When the guy came into the library and started firing, in a heavily armed state, it was very clearly not in everyone's mind to shoot back. He was shot dead by the police in minutes. It did not occur to me afterward to start carrying in public. Instead, I later opted to move somewhere with less gun violence.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Ecky

I wager it's a bit more complicated than that.

I have no doubt most of those 51 people could legally have had guns had they wanted them, and simply chose not to. It's my impression the friends and families of the victims likely still choose not to have guns.

If someone took him out before he murdered 51 people, it would have been an international incident, since he was a foreigner. By a group of armed Muslims, no less.

Additionally, you can count on your hands how many mass shootings (more than two people) this country has had since its founding. Last I checked, the US has more than 500 per year.

Also, the police were on scene within 6 minutes.

I've personally been in a mass shooting - in Florida. When the guy came into the library and started firing, in a heavily armed state, it was very clearly not in everyone's mind to shoot back. He was shot dead by the police in minutes. It did not occur to me afterward to start carrying in public. Instead, I later opted to move somewhere with less gun violence.

Comfort breeds impotentness. It's a blessing and a curse.

Again, NZ has a population similar to Oregon, a nothing state among 50 in the US. Claiming only a handful of mass shootings in a nothing country is unimpressive.

I have no experience with NZ, so I'll stop short of any cultural values comments. That said, most problems are the result of good people not taking responsibility (or lack of good values), not liberty run amok.

If Brenton Tarrant had been shot dead the moment he wielded weapon by a good person that was armed, I would never have known such a person existed because news wouldn't have talked about it. Those scenarios play out all the time. "news" is the failures and unlikely scenarios, not the successes.

[Ecky]

A difference in perspective. As an aside, Oregon is lately averaging as many mass shootings yearly as this country has had since its founding.

The last Thanksgiving I had in the US was in Michigan. Around the dinner table, the discussion was about the recent school shooting that made the news. One person commented "they ought to arm teachers" and there was near universal agreement - so the teachers would be ready to kill any student who becomes dangerous. While there's a certain logic to it, I think it ignores the psychology of the remaining 99.9999% of the time (or perhaps less in the US) where you have children who are aware there is an adult in the room who is, in theory, able and prepared to kill them. Nevermind that you now have more stressed adults living in preparation of violence, given weapons around children. Maybe I'm wrong, and if we put people in the position to kill more often, it would happen less often. After all, it generally only happens as a result of mental illness - something as often as not originating environmentally.

It's true that New Zealand would be relatively defenseless if an aggressive nation decided to come and steal their sheep and wind turbines. I'm aware of the position the US holds in the world order, and it's my view I'd rather the US were there than China or Russia, even if I'm not entirely happy with some of the downstream effects of the banana republics - it's easy enough to judge in hindsight. I'm well enough read in world history to know this period of "peace" is more the exception than the norm, even if US "defense" spending just prior to COVID reached levels near to the height of spending during World War II when adjusted for inflation.

All in all, I feel rather lucky I'm no longer footing the bill. Gaming the system, as you say. I have a smaller tax bill and I'm less likely to be shot.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Ecky

As an aside, Oregon is lately averaging as many mass shootings yearly as this country has had since its founding.

Oregon, more than most of the other states, lacks something unifying to gather around, to take pride in, and feel a sense of purpose and belonging to. As a result, we've got a higher incidence of purposeless zombies dulling their minds with drugs, or attempting suicide, or committing suicide by mass murder. Do these hopeless folk tend to use certain types of drugs or certain types of weapons to act out their despair? Sure.

A good friend of mine called me 10 years ago, and it was 10:45 pm. I remember where I was standing when I answered, and where my wife was sitting. It was days before Christmas. I drove to his house and he described the most horrific thing I will probably ever hear. Prior to calling me, he had cut the rope his sister had used to hang herself in the basement, carried her lifeless corpse upstairs, and uselessly called 911.

This time every year, I experience brief moments of paralyzing sadness. People with every material need should not be living in despair.

We don't need to outlaw ropes; we need to figure out how to build communities and families that are full of meaning and purpose. We need to care for the mentally ill rather than give them "freedom" on the streets.

The last Thanksgiving I had in the US was in Michigan. Around the dinner table, the discussion was about the recent school shooting that made the news. One person commented "they ought to arm teachers" and there was near universal agreement

Arming teachers isn't a smart solution, but understanding that nearly 100% of mass shootings take place in "gun free" zones is worth thinking about.

My thoughts on problems tend to focus on the origins of the problem rather than the symptoms of it. Mass shooting isn't the problem; it's the manifestation of other problems.

As absolutely horrific as mass shootings are, they still represent a statistical probability so low that one is unlikely to succumb to one, or know someone else who did. That's not to say the topic is unimportant, only that it's less important than discussing heart health, or ladder safety, or diet/exercise, or mental health, or the other things that kill the majority of people.

I'm well enough read in world history to know this period of "peace" is more the exception than the norm, even if US "defense" spending just prior to COVID reached levels near to the height of spending during World War II when adjusted for inflation.

I'm not thrilled by the size (as measured by taxation) of the US federal government either, especially on the war department. I also don't have a great solution for securing international waters so that commerce is relatively safe if the US were to massively shrink military spending. Perhaps nations would reduce global trade and become more isolationist once shipping becomes so dangerous and unprofitable?

Recently I've just begun to wonder where I'd go if the US experiment fails and the Marxists succeed in convincing the masses that arbitrary internal tribalism is more important than voluntary cooperation. I could move to another state, but if the Marxists are successful, independent states will be illegal. Marxism in the US is currently iterated as "woke" and "critical race theory", among others. There's practically no Marxist iteration our institutions of education don't like.

I remain hopeful that people will generally exceed 9th grade wisdom and understanding as they age. Reality has a way of demanding it not be ignored indefinitely.