This story describes how a man was jailed for contempt of court for refusing to serve on a jury. The jailed man refused to serve on the grounds that he had work commitments that would have reduced his impartiality. The judge responded by jailing him.While I am in favour of people doing their civic duty and doing jury service, in this case the judge was an idiot.
Fines for failing to appear for jury service are relatively light, but this bone-headed judge has now made the penalty for showing up to explain your reasons imprisonment. End result? More people just won't show up.
More people would turn up for jury service if 1) there was strong legislative protection for their jobs while they were serving, and 2) the compensation for jury service was equivalent to what they would miss out earning while serving. Instead, we get a judge throwing a temper-tantrum and putting an honest man in jail.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Bob Jones on Housing
In this opinion piece on Auckland house prices, Bob Jones spouts so many logical errors that I hardly know where to begin.
He starts here with a reducto ad absurdum argument about banning private landlords:
First, if Auckland's housing woes can in part be laid at the door of residential investors as alleged, simply ban them.
Having set up his absurd straw man, he then uses it to argue against regulation of landlords. Presumably, he doesn't like the idea of a warrant of fitness for rentals, or any other measure that is intended to improve the health and future prospects of New Zealand children.
He follows this with a fine example of ducking the point that he himself brought up:
Another foolish cry is that landlords buying houses drive up prices. As they buy to rent and will stop abruptly if the tenancy demand dries up, that argument is not very logical. Lately, world-class foolishness has been on display with the "unfair" claims that a landlord can deduct his mortgage interest while an owner-occupier cannot.
The point is that a landlord, as a business owner, can deduct mortgage interest payments. This gives them more money to bid on a residential property, which allows them to force genuine home-seekers out of the market. In other words, it allows the wealthy to lock the less-wealthy out of home-ownership. This is not only unfair, it concentrates more wealth in the hands of fewer people.
Then, there's his willful blindness to fact:
We're also hearing nonsense about foreigners driving up prices by buying up Auckland's housing stock. Really! So where are the tens of thousands of unoccupied residences?
Some sources say that 11% of Auckland houses are owned by non-residents. Obviously, they are rented out. Thus, the rent money is going overseas, minus the small amount going on property management fees. So foreign ownership of residential property not only drives up house prices, it exports the value of those properties, depriving New Zealand of the money spent on rent.
Jones then pontificates about the perfection of the market system for solving problems.
If the market was perfect, this mess wouldn't have come about to begin with! House prices are so high now that many people in their 30's and younger will never be able to own their own home. Rents are getting so high (to cover the mortgage payments of serial investors) that people are living on the street, or having to cram four or five or more people into a two-bedroom apartment.
The market cares about making rich people richer. That is all. It doesn't care about people having a home, about kids having a warm and dry place to sleep, or about anyone else having a life less than slavery.
Residential property investment does not create wealth, it only concentrates more of it in the hands of the already wealthy. Bob Jones should know that.
He starts here with a reducto ad absurdum argument about banning private landlords:
First, if Auckland's housing woes can in part be laid at the door of residential investors as alleged, simply ban them.
Having set up his absurd straw man, he then uses it to argue against regulation of landlords. Presumably, he doesn't like the idea of a warrant of fitness for rentals, or any other measure that is intended to improve the health and future prospects of New Zealand children.
He follows this with a fine example of ducking the point that he himself brought up:
Another foolish cry is that landlords buying houses drive up prices. As they buy to rent and will stop abruptly if the tenancy demand dries up, that argument is not very logical. Lately, world-class foolishness has been on display with the "unfair" claims that a landlord can deduct his mortgage interest while an owner-occupier cannot.
The point is that a landlord, as a business owner, can deduct mortgage interest payments. This gives them more money to bid on a residential property, which allows them to force genuine home-seekers out of the market. In other words, it allows the wealthy to lock the less-wealthy out of home-ownership. This is not only unfair, it concentrates more wealth in the hands of fewer people.
Then, there's his willful blindness to fact:
We're also hearing nonsense about foreigners driving up prices by buying up Auckland's housing stock. Really! So where are the tens of thousands of unoccupied residences?
Some sources say that 11% of Auckland houses are owned by non-residents. Obviously, they are rented out. Thus, the rent money is going overseas, minus the small amount going on property management fees. So foreign ownership of residential property not only drives up house prices, it exports the value of those properties, depriving New Zealand of the money spent on rent.
Jones then pontificates about the perfection of the market system for solving problems.
If the market was perfect, this mess wouldn't have come about to begin with! House prices are so high now that many people in their 30's and younger will never be able to own their own home. Rents are getting so high (to cover the mortgage payments of serial investors) that people are living on the street, or having to cram four or five or more people into a two-bedroom apartment.
The market cares about making rich people richer. That is all. It doesn't care about people having a home, about kids having a warm and dry place to sleep, or about anyone else having a life less than slavery.
Residential property investment does not create wealth, it only concentrates more of it in the hands of the already wealthy. Bob Jones should know that.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
NZ Police are perfect
Or at least, that's their attitude.
When Bruce Hutton, a former senior police inspector died, he was eulogised by the Deputy Police Commissioner as having "integrity beyond reproach". This is despite the fact that he planted evidence that sent an innocent man to jail for murder and may even have been the actual murderer.
For a senior police officer to describe him as having any integrity at all is simply laughable. If the New Zealand police insist on refusing to even consider that they make mistakes, they will lose all credibility.
When Bruce Hutton, a former senior police inspector died, he was eulogised by the Deputy Police Commissioner as having "integrity beyond reproach". This is despite the fact that he planted evidence that sent an innocent man to jail for murder and may even have been the actual murderer.
For a senior police officer to describe him as having any integrity at all is simply laughable. If the New Zealand police insist on refusing to even consider that they make mistakes, they will lose all credibility.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
David Bain Case
In yet another example of irresponsibility and misconduct in the seemingly never-ending David Bain saga, it has been revealed that the former judge hired to second-guess an independent report into the case used it to funnel money to a woman he was in a relationship with. This case has really shown how rotten the New Zealand justice system can be.
Meanwhile, the Dunedin police still have not taken any responsibility for their enormous screw-ups. Let me make this very clear: either the Dunedin police screwed up and put an innocent man in prison for 13 years, or the Dunedin police screwed up and let a multiple murderer walk free. Either way, they screwed up and refuse to admit it.
How can we have confidence in the justice system when stuff like this is going on?
Meanwhile, the Dunedin police still have not taken any responsibility for their enormous screw-ups. Let me make this very clear: either the Dunedin police screwed up and put an innocent man in prison for 13 years, or the Dunedin police screwed up and let a multiple murderer walk free. Either way, they screwed up and refuse to admit it.
How can we have confidence in the justice system when stuff like this is going on?
Monday, January 14, 2013
More predatory landlords
In this story on stuff.co.nz, medical professionals are warning investors who are snapping up earthquake-damaged homes in Christchurch to make sure that they are livable before renting them out. What has been happening is that rich investors, with cash on hand, are buying up properties that were damaged in the earthquakes that hit Christchurch, but have been written off by insurance companies as uneconomical to repair. The investors are then renting them out for huge returns, up to 25%. Of course, some of those properties will be very unhealthy to live in, but the rental market in Christchurch is so crazy that many people don't have a choice.
We need a warrant of fitness for rental properties, where owners must prove that a property is livable before it can be legally leased out.
We need a warrant of fitness for rental properties, where owners must prove that a property is livable before it can be legally leased out.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Don't be an activist in the USA
The message from this story is don't try to change the status quo in the USA if it threatens rich people's money. The government will crush you for it.
Waiting Lists
I recently saw a letter from Dunedin Hospital to a patient who is waiting for a CT scan. The WTF moment was when I saw that the target waiting time is six weeks, while the mean actual waiting time is 38 weeks.
How does a health system get this run down? How many bureaucrats do we have to sack before we can funneling more money to the people who actually look after sick people?
How does a health system get this run down? How many bureaucrats do we have to sack before we can funneling more money to the people who actually look after sick people?
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