Lyndon Hood - oathbreaker, Lower Hutt
Saturday, August 06, 2005
So I take it this means National won't waste any money at all, then?
I know I implied I wouldn't be talking about specific issues, but screw that.
My basic reaction to the Taxathon pamphlet (and associated press release): I'm sure people who will be voting National anyway will just love it. To me, it seems kind of childish. As in, it might have been more persuasive with a more serious tone.
But then, I'm not representative of the general population.
Also, I wonder if this way it doesn't make the whole idea of over-taxing and wasteful spending look, well, kind of cute.
And (suprise suprise) I believe it is genuinely debatable whether New Zealand is overtaxed, and whether the quality of spending is all that bad, by world standards.
Oh, and one observation out of several: I know they don't actually explicitly say the money in the right-hand column is all waste, but that $239,000,000 is the entire annual spend on Te Wananga O Aotearoa, isn't it? Does that mean you do want to axe it, Mr English?
The pamplet is, however, somewhat resistant to parody. That is to say, point-by-point quibbling of the whole thing would make me feel like a lot more of as hack than I am.
And what with its done-in-my-office aesthetic, and what with the cuteness thing noted above, it's kind of already parodying itself.
Still, with Aaron so determined to supply the bits, it would be churlish not to a least have a nibble ...
Update (12:35AM, 7/8): Original contained appalling arithmetic. 2 billion divided by 4 million is not one half. This is, I hope fixed now.
Click for large version
I know I implied I wouldn't be talking about specific issues, but screw that.
My basic reaction to the Taxathon pamphlet (and associated press release): I'm sure people who will be voting National anyway will just love it. To me, it seems kind of childish. As in, it might have been more persuasive with a more serious tone.
But then, I'm not representative of the general population.
Also, I wonder if this way it doesn't make the whole idea of over-taxing and wasteful spending look, well, kind of cute.
And (suprise suprise) I believe it is genuinely debatable whether New Zealand is overtaxed, and whether the quality of spending is all that bad, by world standards.
Oh, and one observation out of several: I know they don't actually explicitly say the money in the right-hand column is all waste, but that $239,000,000 is the entire annual spend on Te Wananga O Aotearoa, isn't it? Does that mean you do want to axe it, Mr English?
The pamplet is, however, somewhat resistant to parody. That is to say, point-by-point quibbling of the whole thing would make me feel like a lot more of as hack than I am.
And what with its done-in-my-office aesthetic, and what with the cuteness thing noted above, it's kind of already parodying itself.
Still, with Aaron so determined to supply the bits, it would be churlish not to a least have a nibble ...
Update (12:35AM, 7/8): Original contained appalling arithmetic. 2 billion divided by 4 million is not one half. This is, I hope fixed now.
Click for large version
