ANOTHER VIEW

Economist Brent Wheeler isn't so kind when it comes to oldies keeping their gold card benefits.

We reckon that upping the age is the fairest way to go. Up to 70 seems sensible. However Brent, as economists do, says that the oldies forget that they have been looked after by the state in past decades.

He has no problem with giving them a subsidy- just questions the reasoning.

Not just the gold card either…. the argument is in common use in respect of numerous other things old people consider “I’ve always paid my taxes” gives them some right to.

The logic of this is faulty. At the time these people paid their taxes they consumed government services – education for their children, health care for themselves, a Police Force…. and myriad other things.

They consumed their “taxes worth” back then – more in fact – which is why we have run up various deficits at various times.

If we want to give old people money for being old – fine. But let’s not pretend that its because tax is some kind of saving scheme to be cashed in when you are over 65. If we stopped thinking like this we might see bribes like the gold card for what they are. Cheap vote grabbing schemes which penalise people who are still working and still paying tax.

His whole blog is here

OLD AND WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD

We were not surprised to see that Steven Joyce is looking to review the free travel for pensioners that was championed by Winston Peters.

Now we are all for making the lot of oldies as comfy as possible. But its about time we redefined old.

Now we went to lunch with a bunch of 60 - 65 year olds earlier this week. They aren't old. Definitely showing signs of excessive wear and tear but not old. One was some computer guru and was flat out on his iphone. The other was an ex merchant navy captain. One was ex PR and the birthday boy was a landlord and book keeper. They all have lived a bit and by hell they still are.

Now BB's ma and pa are closing in on 70 and 70 plus. Are they old? hmm probably best described as oldish. Rickety Hoons who sleep a bit more than they used to.

Now Joyces dilemma is that due to the popularity of the travel subsidy of $18 million and the growing numbers of those eligible, the budget is about to blow out like a fat girl after a feed of cabbage.

We reckon its about time to up the ante on the eligibility.

To 70.

Nice round figure and for some reason the age where people get oldish.

Now according to statistics there are abut 384 thousand people older than 70.

And there are 173 thousand between 65- 69.

But the really scary thing is there are 226 thousand between 60 and 64. And other big dollup between 50 and 60.

So its pretty obvious the budget will be blown to smithereens if the criteria stays the same.

But there would be big savings if they shift the criteria out to 70. Its time we, as a nation, recognised that old isn't old anymore - 65 is still pretty young and 70 is just getting oldish.

We are currently riding the Wairarapa train and as its an off peak its full of cottontops and we overheard a few talking about the possible changes. Those who are eligible dont want it to go but those who havent got it yet can see the sense in it being raised. Its easier not to give than take away.

So those who are already eligible should retain that eligibility but those who are not yet 65 should now have to wait till they are 70.

Its a big change but one we have to make in light of the big bubble of an aging population that will impact on the countries economy soon.

However, we think that the subsidy is a great thing. We have seen people widen their horizons with a bit of free travel. The 65 plus demographic have seen out wars and paid their taxes with the full expectation that those taxes would provide a goodly sum to live on in their dotage.

And we owe it to them to ensure that they can.

YOUR'E MAD IF YOU DONT LAUGH

We have had a few nasty emails about our lack of respect for our elders after our last post suggested that senior citizens should get permission from their kids before they vote or invest money.
Now some of the emails were a wee bit virtriolic - and their writers apparently missed what we thought was a big dollup of humour.

However, we still wonder how many of the Hanover Finance pensioner investors voted NZ First compared to the pensioners who weren't investors. That would be a good test of senility.
And our humour is really born out of a genuine concern for hard working people who have been hoodwinked by the last of the cowboy industries. Anyway just when we thought maybe we had been a little harsh on the fossils we find this in the Australian.

It appears you can work out if someone suffers from dementia by testing to see if they recognise sarcasm. Now we are really worried for the sanity of the grumpy curmudgeons who were not happy with our insinuations about their lack of abilty to make sane financial and voting decisions once they got to 65.


Here is the important bit
John Hodges, the senior author of the paper published in Brain says:

''(Frontal Temporal Dementia ) patients present changes in personality and behaviour. They find it difficult to interact with people, they don't pick up on social cues, they lack empathy, they make bad judgements,'' he said.

"People with FTD become very gullible and they often part with large amounts of money," he said, adding that one in 4000 people around the world are afflicted with the condition.

Researchers began studying the role of sarcasm in detecting FTD because it requires a patient to spot discrepancies between a person's words and the tone of their voice, Mr Hodges said.

"One of the things about FTD patients is that they don't detect humour - they are very bad at double meaning and a lot of humour (other than sarcasm) is based on double meaning," he said.

The research, conducted in 2006-07, put 26 sufferers of FTD and 19 Alzheimer's patients through a test in which actors acted out different scenarios using exactly the same words.

While in one scenario, the actors would deliver the lines sincerely, in others they would introduce a thick layer of sarcasm. Patients were then asked if they got the joke, Hodges said.

For example, if a couple were discussing a weekend away and the wife suggested bringing her mother, the husband might say: "Well, that's great, you know how much I like your mother, that will really make it a great weekend."

When the same words were delivered sarcastically and then in a neutral tone, the joke was lost on FTD patients, while the Alzheimer's patients got it

"The patients with FTD are very literal and they take what is being said as genuine and sincere," Mr Hodges said.

So we are now really happy - ma and pa both get sarcasm and are pretty good at dispensing it. They love humour and laugh a hell of a lot, in fact the more ribald and un PC the yarn - the better. And now when we see them at Xmas and they start laughing at our bad jokes we might just shed a wee tear.

MA AND PA NEED ROOLS

Cactus kate and I are of the same mind. She reckons that the oldies need supervision when it comes to investments - I reckoned a while back that they also require supervison when it came to voting. So I agree with Cactus - come 65 and the aged P should be required to get permission before making any big decisions - voting and money at the top of the list.
We love our parents but a bit like women facing menopause, they make some dumb decisions so they need assistance. Its not like Cactus and me need their money - we have made our own - we just don't want to see our parent's hard earned dolleros swallowed by sharks.
My Ma and Pa played it safe and poked all their spare spondies in bloody bonus bonds and have been rewarded, they still have their money, and a bit , and have the thrill of going to the letter box and to check if they have a plain envelope that says they got a bit more . So that takes care of the lotto fixation. And at anytime they know their original investment is safe. I wont even try to talk about rates of return, NPV etc. Sadly I'm still working through the fact that my old man reckons that deep down Winston is still a good bastard.

OH LORDY - BB IS A SEX SYMBOL

Well almost - Scalia reckon BB was one of the three hottest female bloggers. Nah Cactus is way hotter than BB . Whale Oil calls BB a " Nana" -

Madeline won the competition . Well deserved we say!

CLARK IS REALLY GOING HARD AFTER THE SENIOR VOTE

Hooton uncovers yet another Labour rort - and you the taxpayer are paying for it - we here at the prawn reckon Winston will be pissed off he never thought of this one. We are also deeply disturbed to hear that some journos had this info but didn't think it was a story - we beg to differ....

Read it and weep (again)