This is an update on what we have gone through, and our views on the state of NZ
One calendar month ago we left for a brief trip to the South Island. This was our 2021 leave, which we have not been able to take. Sometime between 10 a.m and 3 p.m TAXGOD and our Corolla Levin ZR were stolen from our driveway, in broad daylight.
The conclusion is: we were being watched. The garage door was prized open, the house broken into and the keys…all the keys were taken. The thieves then casually drove away.
Even though our neighbours were aware we were going, they thought for some reason we had shifted the cars. I cannot fathom this at all.
CRIME STOPPING HINTS
Make sure you have bolts on the inside of the garage door on both sides so it cannot be prised open. Padlock them. Take the keys with you or store in a safe if you have one.
Be so clear to your neighbours about what you are doing and in this case….the cars are staying put. This is to ensure everything is UNDERSTOOD CLEARLY.
We were not aware of these thefts until we returned. Here is where it gets worse:
The cars vanished, and this is a very correct term on Tuesday 29 Aug 2023.
On 1 September, a Friday afternoon, our neighbour noted a white male walking up the side of our house. She thought nothing of it as she PRESUMED it was a builder working on the house behind us. He WAS NOT a builder.
CRIME STOPPING HINTS
Make sure your neighbours never presume anything and look a bit closer, take a picture.
Tuesday 4 September Blenheim, approximately 4 pm.
I received a call from the Police. They were at the house, and we had been broken in to. The burglars had been there for hours due to the way the house was ransacked. They had time to even go though all our cookbooks…we have a lot, and examine them for any hidden treasures. The alarm did not go off, we are picking it was disabled according to the experts.
We told the Police we would return then and there. The Police said no, they did not want the crime scene mucked up and forensics (finger printing) would be done the next day.
The next day at 3 a.m we were broken in to and ransacked again.
CRIME STOPPING HINTS
Ignore really bad advice from the Police!
We booked to come back Tuesday, and arrived early afternoon. As we drove up to the house: cars are not there!
At the end of this are some pictures to show you the reality of what ransacking looks like.
THE POLICE
The next day the person in charge of the case phoned me and asked me to come in to the station to make a statement. A time was made for the next day. I duly fronted and asked for the officer/detective. I was then told he was not in today. I was then asked why I was there, and incredulously told the front desk that I was asked to come down specifically by the officer and make a statement to him.
I was told by the chap at the front desk that he would take my statement and I said great, I have some more evidence to give you. He then said, no, I cannot take your statement as this is more evidence, so here is this form, and here is another form. Go away, fill it all in and then come back and I will take your statement.
I told him I would do it then and there, but was told to go away and come back. This is brainless.
From here on in, I surmised the Police were as useful as an empty bottle of water that had been run over on the road.
The extra evidence I had was provided by Westpac fraud. I had 2 debit cards with pay wave stolen. The day before I went in to the station the thieves starting spending on the cards. We had dates and places from, Manukau, Papatoetoe and Otahuhu. Quite close! And there would be all on CCTV, particularly at AT/petrol stations and grocery stores.
I made my statement the next day.
CRIME STOPPING HINTS
Disable payWave or take your cards with you.
Once you are allocated a file number, you can add data to the case, such as losses and more information. This has been done. You can also request an update from the Police.
I did that online and to date nothing. So, I called in to the station and talked to the front bench. I was told that :
“The file was with the tactical crime unit and they were following up”
I told the person : that is what I was told 3 weeks ago, so a request was made to the officer in charge to call me.
To date nothing!
AMI
Insurance claims were lodged for the cars and keys stolen 3 weeks ago. I have been told we have a standard 7 day stand down before the claims are actioned. This has long expired.
I have contacted AMI every day and have not been updated. I called the claims manager for our case, left a message(s) and have never received a reply.
In talking to the many people and businesses we have had to deal with we are now aware:
Business who sell jewellery etc tell us that they write out insurance reports for theft 1 to 3 times a day. This is across the board for all businesses we have needed support from.
The other worrying issue is the time to settle the claim.
Across this rather short journey in to oblivion so far we have been told many first hand stories about insurance companies, namely anywhere from 4 months to settle to over a year and still not settled.
CRIME STOPPING HINTS
You have to keep your receipts for purchases handy and safe.
You have to photograph your items for added proof.
Make sure you read all the fine print in your policies.
Review your insurers and look at surveys as to what company resolves quickly. To date this seems to be AA who also advertise on tv with “we have your back”. I like that.
AMI State, NZI etc etc are all AIG.
The assessor arrives
The assessor was late to arrive. Her words were she was running late and thought she had sent a text message, only to find and declare she did not. That is a not a great start for a “professional”.
Insurance processing delays were blamed on all the crime going on and a big part was all the flooding claims. To the latter I reminded her that insurers were responsible for the delays for flooding etc claims as they were the problem is the solution.
As it tuns out what was illuminating is that crime/burglaries are an HOURLY occurrence here in Auckland.
CRIME STOPPING HINTS
Make sure your security system is in top order and sensors are everywhere they should be (no black spots) and that the sensors are very sensitive. The alarm should ideally be monitored. Make sure all doors and ranch sliders are dead bolted and all keys are safely stored. Reduce exterior visibility if possible and install a camera system. We went with a Euphy 4k 4 camera system with hard drive, wireless. We added a matching door bell with camera.
Store all keys safely and this applies to cash and valuables. Apparently cook books are not on the pinch list.
Pointless having neighbourhood watch stickers on the door (for obvious reasons we have experienced).
An invitation to post graduate studies in London
I have been invited to do my POST GRADUATE Masters of Business Administration at LSBR, a very prestigious globally accredited online facility.
I regret that I cannot enrol as our lives are so upside down, I simply cannot afford it. Nice to get the invite though.
Middlemore Hospital
We know our health care system is in crisis. As you all know our youngest has been in and out, mostly in hospital with serious medical issues : ICU/high needs/gastric for the last 2 years. Her last admission came about to ICU 3 a.m on the morning after she was discharged and sent home the day before. She had been out for 8 hours!
The policy for this place to me is bandage the patient send them on their way. This is the personification of failure. Personification in this sense does not mean abstract quality rather than deliberate shortcomings.
Our youngest stayed with family in Napier when we went on leave. She was admitted to hospital there and thank God for that. They took the time to figure out the issues and fix everything that Middlemore had overlooked, including sepsis, over 3 weeks. How Middlemore cannot get that right is beyond belief really. My son also took his one year old there recently. He told me it was the worst experience he has ever had, was treated appallingly, and has vowed never to return.
Politics/MMP/Politicians/the state of the economy
Having business “chops” and qualifications including economics and management I feel I can make some straight forward logical assertions. We are all responsible business owners and we make a living from our hard work.
POLITICS
Sadly, this has been reduced to making policy statements purely to get votes.
Our debt is somewhere around $156 Billion. As a country we are broke. Offering tax cuts is ridiculous. Offering, as Luxon has, to build a new cycle way down south costing $15m is stupid. Put these dumb ideas on hold. Stop building more bus lanes. Invest in urgent infrastructure including health care, security (yes more Police, lots more who don’t like crims), invest in education, invest in roads. Do not introduce policy that slows down or strangles the country. There is 5 million of us living off a water diet whereas the politics of what we face is a champagne spend with no end in sight.
In Politics we need to hear: speak truthfully, speak honestly, with integrity, speak with respect for our country and speak with the strongest conviction you can. Something that has meaning, not just today but for decades. Something that is achievable, and something that is important. Give us hope, give us the dreams we yearn for.
MMP
I feel MMP has had its day. Or rather it will have had its day if we do not have a single party to lead and control. Certainly, this has been the residence of Labour for the last few years. Naturally there are a raft of unique reasons for Labours stronghold, including it’s socialist undemocratic strangle hold on NZ. Now that that is over, we are faced with the plethora of a mish mash of parties that need to co join in order to gain power.
The real issue herein is the parties themselves. Individually they do not make a “one stop shop” for voters. None of them exhibit the strength and tenacity needed. QUALITY governance and policy comes from people who are QUALITY. There is no real back bone, strength, resilience, foresight, integrity, statesmanship or otherwise in any of them.
Hence the scrambled eggs we face daily. We are leaderless essentially, and to be honest we are “making do”..
Shame on all of you. You should do better, you certainly know better, and remember you are responsible to me and the voters and the public of New Zealand. Not the other way around (HIPKINS ROBERTSON ARDERN!).
POLITICIANS
No other politician is as polarising as Winston Peters, and for that I respect him. He is a political cockroach that can and generally does, survive a nuclear winter.
I am neither enamoured nor have any real faith in those that are in the race for control. No Politician ever speaks with real heartfelt guts and angst, with distress in their voice as they remark on all the suffering we are enduring. This is partly because they ae not suffering. Like all civil servants they did not get the $600.00 wage subsidy. They got full pay!
They do not know what suffering is and if they actually saw first hand the brutality of life here in NZ, maybe their voice would tremble.
They are politicians, serving themselves and their political aspirations. We as a nation have no one to aspire to, to hold as our great saviour. We only have lost, pampering souls derisive in their road map for NZ.
Some words that resonate strongly and deeply to this day came from an iconic American statesman John F. Kennedy, around mid-day, on January 20, 1961, in Washington, D.C. This was 11 days before I was born.
The occasion was his presidential inauguration, and came as he was concluding his inaugural address. He had just declared that the torch had been passed to a new generation of Americans – “born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage” – and pledged to “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” Soon after, he spoke these indelible seventeen words:
And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.
I use the term indelible herein because they are indelible. These words cannot be removed from humanity, they are too powerful and provoking and too meaningful.
Where is our JFK? our leading guiding light? The Statesman or woman we so desperately need?
I believe that incompetent political performance and governance should be met with prosecution both civil and criminal. If you, or I acted in such a reckless manner as the Labour Government has, we would face the consequences. To hold politicians accountable means, they are accountable for their recklessness, incompetence or otherwise. Fine them, jail them.
I believe that might see a shift in the quality of politicians putting their hand up for the job.
The state of the economy.
Whatever the books reveal, remember these are on an adjusted basis. We owe so much money we do not have any surplus. The only way to repay borrowings is to repay from revenue (tax) or by borrowing more, and the latter is what we are doing.
We have to stop spending and re evaluate every single project or political promise(s).
It is us, you and me that are being held to ransom just to survive today, tomorrow and beyond. We suffer the consequences of the actions of others, we are (not us at least) comfortably numb with the excesses of crime, of bad roads, of care……..of the cost of living et al.
We are the second most bust economy on the planet given the size of our population. We have transgressed to the lower end of the third world, second from the bottom of the list. How does that make you feel?
And, it will get worse. Profit takers are not going to stop taking profits. Banks, supermarkets, drug companies, gas stations, electricity providers amongst others never change their ways.
Fuel will rise, El Nino may or may not come (it is supposed to be here, now). We are a dangling muse at the behest of the global economy. As Mark Ellis said, NZ has lost its mojo.
Taxing high income earners more is not the answer. Te Paati Maori has this as a mandate, however they are on a rudderless ship and they need to take ownership of all they represent and why are their members are so cash strapped. Remember the words of JFK?
We all need to step up.
Once we have consistent accountability then we can plot a solution. We need to know what is in the bank, what we need to spend. The big Question is :
HOW? Well one way may help. It is not a be all and end all.
DIRECT TAXATION
We know that revenue comes in and has to cover our outbound costs. That is huge. Bigger than huge, it is atmospheric. We know that revenue does not cover our costs, hence the borrowings. Lots of borrowings. We know spending has been rampant and excessive with Labour, but to be fair, this is the result National garnered with the Flag referendum which ultimately sealed John Keys resignation. He knew the writing was on the wall, more recently as did Ardern.
We know from the COVID fund that huge sums of money were ser aside for COVID. What we do know now is that that money was splashed everywhere, and this is how your tax money is spent. Everywhere…on thousands more civil servants, 80+ more PR people in Waka Kotahi for the road to zero policy, the 0 signs made at 10k a pop, housing blow outs, the harbour bridge cycle lane debacle, 3 waters, imported dirty coal, and on and on and on and on.
At this stage I would suggest that we keep tax the way it is. We need every cent coming in. However, I propose to add an additional direct tax of $5.00 to $10.00 weekly, from the beginning, per person, to be deducted from tax payers and to have direct consequences. Tax will be applied directly to new funds: Healthcare/Education/Police/ Welfare and infrastructure. These funds will grow by around $3.5m weekly. Interest earnt will be approximately $70000.00 a week gross on a 30 day rate. It can climb to mid 5% on longer terms OR $182000.00 per month.
This is a savings plan. This is not a borrowings plan.
After a year capital direct tax invested is $182 million per fund. Plus of course the interest. Interest at the higher rate, which does not allow for compounding, will be gross $9,464,000.00.
If we want all of what we desire, but we are not getting, then we have to pay for it, one way or another. We are at the crossroads of bankruptcy. What MUST we do for our country.
I suggest for the price of one cup of bought coffee per week, we can do it. Or part of it for a start.
Funds would be strictly controlled and funded directly to the target. Naturally it will take some time, but if we start now, the funding problems will eventually go away if managed correctly and astutely.
Currently they will never go away.
Katie Davis, a missionary and a young one at that, once said:
Our steps currently go backwards. And I doubt we have the courage to call it vital.
Or do we? Can we?
As always, I would love your feedback and criticism, no matter how strong that may be.
DC
Dave Clark
FAL Consultants
29 September 2023
Don’t stop here see the next page
Here is what a burglary looks like. A small example:
FAREWELL TAXGOD. You brought us joy, we loved you well.
Words adapted from the eulogy for Denys Finch Hatton. Out of Africa.