Two Americans emigrate to New Zealand from Colorado,
USA.
We talk about
our life in Nelson, New Zealand.
May 2009 | Blog home | July 2009
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Conservative government presents a budget that does NOT cut entitlements - it can be done! |
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Here I am, back at it in New Zealand. About a week and a half ago I left for a whirlwind trip to the States for a week to see my family and a few friends. Whirlwind doesn't really describe it as I was so busy I can hardly believe I am back already. But I am glad to be back, I found the experience as stressful and busy as I found life when we were in Colorado. Tranquil Nelson is a relief and more welcome than I can say.
I flew to Los Angeles and then to Seattle, where I spent my week. The experience of flying in the States is obnoxious! I forgot about everyone who carries on their bags, taking up all the space in the overhead storage so that those of us who sit in the front of the plane who board halfway through have no space to put our bags. I packed smartly, using a very small carryon that easily fit in under my seat with legroom to spare, but I witnessed many disgruntled faces, including the flight attendants. The size of carryons is monstrous, I just cannot get over it. Because of this, it took longer to board a 3 x 3 aircraft than it did to board the 747 I flew across the Pacific, no joke, and by a LOT of time.
And the airport experience ... in this day and age for pete's sake can we not figure out a better way of security than to make people all but strip at the xray machine? I fume at the requirement to remove my shoes, are you KIDDING me?? And I wear trackies for comfort why flying long distances, but also so I don't have to remove any belt that might hold up my pants or jeans, the blokes were nearly naked walking through by the time all was said and done. It's more than obnoxious, and not that I'm anti-security, but there MUST be a better way!!!!!!!!
Most noticeable, and especially in a big city like Seattle, was the driving. All the driving. I had to drive so far just to get anywhere. On parkways and highways and state highways and freeways and on and on. It took me 4 highways to get to my grandmother - I take the 202 to the 520 to the 405 to the 5 and then I'm sure the main drag in my grandma's home city has a highway number on it but I don't know for sure, so it coulda been five highways. Five vast multi lane highways. The only landscape I saw was tarmac.
But anywhere I went I had to take highways, just to the grocery store was a four lane parkway, into the city was multiple highways and no parking, ANYWHERE. I can't believe the lack of parking on the street in the city, where does everyone park? Probably in parking high rises.
Speaking of high rises, Bellevue has turned into a high rise city of its own, only 20 minutes from Seattle proper. When did this happen? I guess when Microsoft took over the city, according to my brother. Driving in Bellevue was as bad as driving in Seattle - race to get to the next light. Stop and go driving, you get a green light only to go to the next light that is red, and you wait. Over and over. To move a couple of miles.
So I wasn't thrilled with all the driving, but you'd get that anywhere - Denver, Auckland, etc. That is why I moved to a smaller city, of course!
I could definitely feel the pace of life was quicker. The cars were bigger and the use of energy sometimes astonishing. I had to curb my enthusiasm to be green and desire to shout, 'Just turn the damn thing off!!' and other such phrases to indicate my judgemental opinions about the excessive consumption I saw nearly everywhere. Mostly I refrained and cringed on the inside. I often say and feel, to each their own, but I have to say the energy consumption seemed utterly excessive.
It was so great to see my family and friends, and I happily stayed with my brother who was a great host. My mom and one of my friends flew in to spend time with me, what a treat! In such a short turnaround, I managed to keep mostly to a New Zealand clock, staying up pretty late most nights so that my sleep patterns wouldn't take long to normalise back home. It was so cool to see friends I hadn't seen in years and to see them happy. Everyone looked great!
I am glad to be home, though. I am convinced our move here was the right one, especially for me. I have space to breathe and time to think and best of all, we just live at our own pace. It's grand.
In this tough economic climate where New Zealand has yet to really feel the big pinch, the new National Government led by Prime Minister John Key presented its budget for the next ten years last month and the indications are pretty dire. Projections are for unemployment to continue to rise in the coming year or two and for New Zealand to really get hit after this year and into the following three years, at least.
While unemployment is expected to rise, real estate is projected to come down further this year, even further next year, and possible further the following year.
Tax cuts promised by National for next year are now gone as the government will have to pay to cover billions of dollars of annual expenses while they pay out unemployment benefits and receive less tax revenue with fewer people working. Typical scenario, the States is all to familiar with it. For a country our size, however, it feels much more daunting in some ways. Sure the numbers are smaller, but it feels somehow riskier to be in a small country in the southern hemisphere so reliant upon international investment - it could be a long haul.
Importantly, however, National's budget has accomplished its mission of avoiding a costly credit-rating downgrade. Still, annual borrowing is expected to continue until 2018. But my sense is National is working hard to be conservative but still do what it needs to get the economy going again - something I'm not used to conservatives doing. There's no ideology other than what's best for New Zealand.
One of the cost savings is National's suspension of payments to the Superannuation Fund for a decade. The Superannuation Fund, or Super for short, is the fund that pays for the equivalent of social security benefits for people over 65. The Labour Government of 2003/04 started the fund. It is truly a fund they invest in and manage for these payments - novel idea, no? It's taken a hit with the dip in the worldwide stock markets, but even so from what I can gather the government has been making $2.2 billion in payments each year into the fund. The fund's current balance, lower than highs of over $14 billion for obvious reasons, is about $11 billion.
Those $2.2 billion over ten years would leave quite a hole, but of course that is all proposed as the current government is only in power for another two years as we have triennial elections. Obviously lots could change.
But perhaps more astonishing from my American perspective is that this titular conservative government has not only kept all entitlement spending, it has proposed adding to it! I cannot even conceive of a conservative government in America doing that, it has yet to sink in.
Unemployment benefits will still be there, spending on health care has not been cut, and a new programme to encourage installation of home insulation in the form of a $1,300 grant as well as a $500 payment towards low-pollution heating such as wood pellet burners or heat pumps will help homeowners of poorly insulated home built before 2000. Plans are to upgrade some 180,000 homes at a cost of $320 million to the Government.
To round it out, there will be $7.5 billion of capital expenditure over the next five years to help create jobs, just as in America.
Grim, but not tragic, and not unexpected. With things projecting to rebound in America this year into next, hopefully the rest of the world will follow and things will begin to look up.
A little tale about a restaurant we frequented in Colorado. I loved Chipotle burritos - $5 for about a kilo of meal (give or take). Typical meal for me was a chicken burrito with guacamole and chips. Yum, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. The pre-heated tortilla is carefully filled with fresh free range chicken, cilantro flavored rice, pinto beans, pico sauce, and the medium spiced salsa (not sure what was in that one). Yum. Angela was kind enough to have a couple burritos while she was back in the US and brought me a few photo memories that I will share. These pictures are from her new camera so not the best as she was still in the learning stages.
Let us all take Angela's experience in through her phone lens...
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Here we go, about to enter. If you look carefully enough you can see Angela reflected in the glass. |
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She's now waiting in line, making the decision on what to eat. Angela's brother wasn't as interested in the food as he was at getting his picture taken. Getting closer to feed time!!! |
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Menu board ahead, start thinking about what you are going to order. I didn't need to, I always ordered the same so I'd spend my time here chatting. Sorry about the guy's head in the pic, obviously Angela wanted you to see the balding spot. Sorry dude. |
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Calorie board - new fixture is seems. Appears that my typical meal was around 930 calories. Angela and I would split the chips and guacamole so let's just say I'd have another 400 with that. Just over 1300 calories of goodness. I like the ranges on this board - a salad is between 130 and 780? It's like playing calorie Russian roulette. |
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We're at the starting point of food prep - quickly detail your order to the first station, just like an assembly line. This first person heats the tortilla then adds the rice, beans, and selected meat. |
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You can see a stage one prepared burrito on the far left. Next the salsa and extra toppings are added. We're getting closer. |
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Meal...complete, packaged, and ready for consumption. The foil wrapped look is a trademark. Compact and easy to eat (after foil removal). |
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Sorry it is a bit blurry but DO YOU SEE THIS!!!!! FANTASTIC EXCELLENCE! Good stuff, I do miss it. This is Angela's vegetarian burrito up close and personal. |
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Well that's it, last bite. It appears Angela devoured this with one hand. I know Angela's favorite part was that last bite and the chips (which is why they have shown up in the last 3 pictures). |
Thanks for reading, I'm going to get some food now. What do you think? Any readers out there have a favorite restaurant that they can't patronize anymore? Also, remember Tour de France is coming up in just over a week - ARE YOU EXCITED????
* Today is my 13th wedding anniversary - I guess that would include Don too. Of course it's a Monday so booorring, so we had a nice dinner out on the weekend and Don gushed with delight when he opened his new Garmin GPS unit for his bike. He was like a four-year-old with new legos.
* 6 July is not only my father's birthday but our third anniversary of landing in New Zealand. It would be nice to celebrate with a dinner at Chipotle, alas I will have to live on the pictures above to make it through. As New Zealand has no real cuisine of its own to speak of, I'll have to find something fish-y to have to ring in year number four.
* From the NZ Herald on 28 June, "Credit crisis: Young, gifted and broke." PULEEZE, WHEN did this age group ever have money?! Apparently teens aged as young as 16 are being declared insolvent as the number of people succumbing to debt balloons. 810 people under 25 declared insolvency in the 2009 financial year - more than double the 2005 figure. Insolvencies, which include bankruptcy, shot up by 77 percent overall, with the most dramatic jumps in the youngest and oldest age groups. WAHHH, I feel like crying, NOT. I just can't mask the lack of interest or caring. But noteworthy as another symptom of the worldwide economic illness.
* Yes Michael Jackson dying is big news here. It was the top news story for the last three days or so since it happened, and surely there will be more to come. I know it's sad, but I guess I found his life very sad and his premature death was just another event in a truly problematic life. I hope his children are well cared for, I fear they will be in therapy for decades.
* Next month I'll be doing a series on earthquakes, since New Zealand is practically one big earthquake zone. It's pretty interesting stuff so stay tuned! And happy July 4 in America in advance.
