A smart move
Auntie Helen has announced this afternoon that if reelected, her government will eventually make the student allowance universal by abolishing the parental income test in 2012. Before that, the threshold for receiving an allowance will rise each year to make more students eligible for student allowance.
Well sure this policy is not targeting at current university student like me, so I won't benefit much from it. The real target of this is the middle-class family: 40ish couple, with a bit of money but not too much, got a kid or two that is about to enter the university but don't want kids to ruin their life.
Middle class people do not form the stable vote base of neither major party, and they are the real king/queen makers of the election. People will eventually have children at a point of their life (well most of them), so a few bucks of tax cut sure is no match to Auntie Helen's big cash out bribes.
Just need to see how would the voters respond to this policy...
Although I will not benefit from it, it does, however make me swinging more toward Labour. I like left-wing more than right wing Nats - lefties usually tell public what they really think, wheres Nats tend to tell you what you like to hear - I cannot understand why National's cash dishing policy (tax cut) can be branded as "smart" "helpful to economy", but Labour's same type of policy is branded as "big election bribe". So why high income earner's spending can stimulate economy, but give more money for students' to spend is a bribe?
Some people are really too greedy, 2% more of taxation in exchange for the cheaper labour and social stability, that's the best deal in the world. Most importantly, that 2% reduces the gap between the rich and poor, prevent proletariat to become lumpenproletariat class (gosh, such a long word).
"it does, however make me swinging more toward Labour". No kidding!
You are as unbiased as Fox news.
Your English has already shown that you haven't been benefited much from the university education anyway. But hey, look on the bright side, it shows that you are integrating with your fellow Labour supporters from the South Auckland. Well done mate!
Thanks Mate!:)
In addition to my reply to your comment in my Chinese blog ...
First I have to admit that I do need quite a lot of work on my written English. I'm not that talented in mastering new languages. It's also partially because I'm very reluctant to spend my time and energy to proofread anything other than an assignment - well nobody reads my blog anyway.
But I survived in a very language intensive degree for more than 2 years now so don't you worry about my English.
I don't like Fox News either :) But I have to note to you that I'm not a news media, so instead of the Fox News' ironic slogan "we report, you decide", blog is the place to express your own opinions and I'm just doing that here. Whether you like it or not that's really up to you.
BTW, If you cannot accept the diversity of opinions and ideologies in our multi-dimensional society, I can guide you to some right wing blogs - I monitor quite a lot of them to gather a wide range of opinion and to widen my knowledge. but I think you can benefit a lot more from them as your brain will release more endorphins to make you feel happier.
Geez, Craig, if you're going to criticize others' command of the English language, you might like to make sure your own grammar is correct.
Arctosia, I read your blog, and I appreciate the effort you put in to making sure what you write is fair and balanced while still clearly expressing your opinion.
Oh thank you Chris for letting me know that somebody actually READ my blog, Really appreciate it, I thought nobody likes to read a blog full of grammar mistakes. As my tagline shows, the original purpose of this blog is to force myself to practice more on the grammar, not to expect anyone to read them.
I personally blame NCEA for letting me slip through the system:) It's a good system, but just way too easy, and people are not motivated. But hey, I'm in a degree which has only 40 people per year, so "cheated through the system" is probably a more appropriate phrase:)
For Craig's comment, I guess like I mentioned in another blog, you may need to accept that kind of stuffs as part of new Chinese culture, especially in a blog environment.
Actually, you get comments like Craig's everywhere, and it's not just Chinese who do it. I've had to deal with more than a few such comments myself, from Chinese, Americans, Kiwis, everybody.
As for NCEA, I was already in China when it was implemented, so I don't know a huge amount about it. But I remember at the time reading the news from home and not liking what I saw. I mean, high school was bad enough for anybody with a functioning brain under the old system, but at least there were exams which gave the bright kids something to work for. You describing NCEA as "just way too easy" only confirms the suspicions I had about it.
But hey, you're practicing your grammar and you're putting some interesting and well thought out ideas out there, and that's why I keep coming back to read more.