A Shower And A Hot Meal
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For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for – blimey – close to ten years, the reheated series is a pretty good place to start. There you’ll find, among other things, a guide to rationalising sub-optimal life choices in the most grandiose way possible, and a feminist intellectual who tells us that “a curfew for men” and “an end to masculinity” are necessary and “make sense.” Along with some exhilarating performance art involving hand dryers, an artistic release of gas, and an unpopular leftwing novelist explaining why unpopular leftwing novelists deserve nicer homes than yours.
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Careful, NZ is a small country.
Indeed. If New Zealand, after a bit of interwebbing, was a US state, it would be Alabama, which has a nearly identical GDP and population. The two largest cities, Auckland and metro Birmingham are also about the same size, but Birmingham has almost as many MRIs as all of New Zealand, which brings us to point two.
Competition would not drive price down because two flash MRIs which are not used to efficiency are just expensive waste.
Actually, there are both hospital and independent MRI facilities in Birmingham (and most US cities) and the cost of MRIs in both has either fallen or remained constant (depending on the market). Next, “used to efficiency” is meaningless, the fallacy being that if a machine exists it won’t be used to capacity in innovative ways that extra capacity creates. A classic example of this is that of a scaphoid fracture. The scaphoid is a small bone of the wrist with a poor blood supply, missed diagnosis can lead to long term disability in the affected wrist/hand because it will not heal properly (if at all) on its own. It is often missed even with serial x-rays, but is readily seen with MRIs. In Birmingham you can get an MRI for your wrist, likely in a day or two. In Auckland, you will be x-rayed, and might get lucky and be diagnosed properly, but you probably won’t get an MRI because you would probably be on a waiting list even for something more serious because there is no excess capacity.
Life expectancy in NZ is two years higher than the US. Infant mortality is terrible, but better than the US
My two favorite fallacies. Life expectancy – the US has a higher rate of “accidental death” which skews the rate lower. Self removal from the population through criminal activity also skews the rate lower. At the other end, the US is far more aggressive at trying to resuscitate extremely premature infants. This is reported in the US, but deaths below 27 weeks are not reported in most countries except Norway. Worldwide, around 50% of neonatal mortality occurs in the first 24 hours, this is reported in the US, but not most other countries. All of these factors skew the US rate higher.
And no it doesn’t drive our tax up. Our top rate is 33% and we have only national tax, 15% sales tax and low land taxes. We are low tax.
You left out that bit about the taxes and fees that cover the Accident Compensation Corporation, capital gains tax, and fringe benefits tax. Further, your top tax rate is levied on what is only $50,000 USD which is here the 25% bracket before deductions. Here in south Flyoverlandia with no state tax, budget dust property tax, 7% combined average state and local sales tax, with deductions that would be about a 15 % rate. Your 33% plus earners levy plus 15% VAT would be the equivalent of someone in these parts making about $2-400,000 USD, so, yes, you are high tax. I will give y’all points for everybody paying something, though, unlike here where nigh half the people pay zip.
Tip jar hit.
This week in the identity politics of stupidity, the organisers of London Gay Pride have said they want their 2017 event to be “less focused on gay, white men”. The organiser, a Mr Holt, said,“Over the years, the focus has tended to focus on gay, white men”.
Hmm, I wonder why that was, historically speaking. Could it have anything to do with the ethnic makeup of the country being what it is? Could it possibly be related to the fact that in this country, it was gay and bisexual men who were the ones persecuted in a most appalling manner, while gay women got off as lesbianism in the UK has never been illegal?
Also, Mr Holt then says, “it’s also about making it a safe space – it’s much bigger than just ‘gay’ pride”. In what way does he wish to make it a safe space? If his aim is a place where those of an LGBT persuasion are free from physical and emotional abuse, then that’s something I think most people can get behind. If his definition of safe space refers to safe space from opinions, a place where only certain views are tolerated, and where, for instance the likes of LGBT UKIP and others are banned from attending, that’s far more worrying.
http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/attractions/date-announced-for-pride-in-london-2017-as-it-s-promised-to-be-less-focused-on-gay-white-men-a3378576.html
Things like “cancer survival rates” are meaningless, since they depend on the type etc, which depend on race, diet etc.
Apples-to-apples comparisons are easily done, even with those variables. It’s a way of measuring the wait time between diagnosis and the start of treatment. In the US, we’re diagnosed with Stage-4 anything, we start chemo within the week. In Canada, it’s a few months wait, which literally makes all the difference between life and death. For non-life-saving surgeries such as hip replacement or repairs to body parts that cause the patient intense pain and difficulty, the wait times are torturously long, which is why Canadians are willing to pay cash on the barrelhead to get that hip NOW instead of 18 months of agony for “free.”
Plenty of service providers don’t compete on price. It’s why the US has many of the world’s top ranked universities, but boy you pay to go to them!
Universities are expensive for the same reason healthcare is: third-party payment, which shields the consumer from price signals. It doesn’t matter how high tuition is, enough students can get the loan for it (or daddy shells it out), so price-shopping is done only by people who can’t get loans.
Insurance (and single-payer) likewise shields consumers from price signals, because it covers every middling thing (Rx to office visits) instead of being for catastrophes only (like auto insurance, which doesn’t cover oil changes and new tires).
Restaurants often don’t compete on price, which is why they are not driven out by McDonalds. But the nicest three star restaurant feeds you no more healthily than burgers.
McDonalds provides lower-quality fare, lower-quality service, and urine stench in the playroom for that lower price. Paying more elsewhere means getting better food, better service, better atmosphere, and a better overall experience. For some people, just BEING in the fancy restaurant (positional good associated with being in the “right place”) is worth the price of admission.
People pay more when they’re getting a concomitant increase in what they want, even if what they want is a Big Name on the pocket of their jeans.
The iron laws of supply and demand are iron: no exceptions.
I’m laughing my way through your ‘reheated’ posts. Have a drink or two on me.
Something towards a shower (I wasn’t going to mention it, but)….
Something towards a shower
I need to be particularly fragrant for tomorrow. I have tickets for Doctor Strange.
“”Over the years, the focus has tended to focus on gay, white men”.”
So is he planning to focus on gay Muslim men?
This one is classic Peak Guardian…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/26/selling-yoga-teachers-neocolonialism-british-indian-spiritual
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/23/lord-and-lady-heseltine-gardening-squirrels-thenford-brexit
From the gardening section in the Grauniad.
The only section that I generally read.
Even by Grauniad standards, the comments below this article are quite stunning in their repetitive, predictable, unfunny nastiness.
tip jar hit! Good for at least a nice bath gel & lotion set.
Farnsworth, I would point out that there is no Capital gains Tax in NZ, none, nada, zip. However trading capital items can be deemed to be income and thus taxed at normal income rates. It is somewhat spottily applied. Fringe benefit just means that payments or services provide in lieu of salary are taxed as income; so if you are given a company maintained vehicle for private use it is treated as income (which in practice it is) and taxed accordingly – though taxed at the provider level. Vehicles used to be the major non-taxable benefit applied.
An ACC levy is paid a various levels, personal, corporate, and on Motor Vehicle registrations. It is indeed a form of tax being a compulsory personal injury insurance scheme, any treatment for injuries arising from accidents are paid for via the scheme as is compensation, income replacement, etc. Because it is compulsory it is relatively cheap, currently 1.39%. It does not apply to some categories of income, for example rents, royalties, dividends, retirement pensions; and is capped at a maximum of $1,650 or so pa. So broadly our top tax income rate is 34.4%. As a consequence though, personal injury cases are almost unknown and only possible if gross negligence is able to be proven.
I would claim one big plus on NZ’s tax structure though: One lot of four rates (10.5, 15.5, 20, and 33% at US$ 0-10K, 10-34.6, 34.6-50.5 and over 50.5) plus a damn near universal GST (VAT, bugger all exemptions: means most people can fill in a tax return in 10-15 minutes online with little assistance.
There are some complications, a “Working for Families” scheme where you can claim a tax benefit per child based on your income levels. This is typically managed through the PAYE system so not something that overly complicates the end of year tax return though it can take a little setting up. The benfit reduces as income rises, however with one child you would cease to gain any benefit when your income is around US$53K.
The end result though is not that different to many other similar jurisdictions; the top 10% of earners pay a large share of the collected income tax.
Great blog. Tipped.
A little something for your trouble. 🙂
Jar tipped. Hopefully enough for a few bottles of decent plonk to keep you lubricated.
Beach privilege!
Tip jar hit. Keep up the good work, David.
Oh, brilliant.
Mass. cop’s wife faked home invasion, blamed Black Lives Matter
. . . and related observations.
As if that ever works . . .
Enjoy your stuff, David. Tip jar tapped.
Been lurking for years. An overdue contribution is on its way to you. 🙂
*pinged*
Kidney sold. Sorry, didn’t get much for it. *ping*
Big fan. Small tip. 😉
Again, thanks to all who’ve chipped in, or subscribed, or shopped via the Amazon links and widget. It all helps to keep this place here, even after close to a decade, and is much appreciated.
[ Fondles tip jar in a faintly indecent manner. ]
an artistic release of gas
LOL Jar tipped
and the comments are where much of the good stuff is waiting to be found.
Agreed. Some British pounds have been stuffed in your
g-stringtip jar.