I guess this wouldn't apply to a lot fo you guys, but what have I learned after 21 years on this planet? That money will stop you from having the things you really want.

Insert rant here:

So the NZ dollar is pretty strong at the moment, meaning everything here goes up in price.
Petrol per litre now cost $2 ( America is paying around $1.20 a litre? ), because petrol is at an all time high, everything else goes up. A bottle of coke ( 600ML costs $3.30c )
A block of cheese costs $15...yes, $15.
Rent in my city has increased to ridiculous amounts. I am paying $165 per week, and the flat is small and cold. Interest rates are extremely high as well.

I get paid $400 per week for my job. $400 minus 165 = 235. Minus loan payment of $70 = 165. Minus bill payments of $40 a week leaving me with 125. My food per week costs around $90 because of the prices of it. Giving me 35, which covers my petrol, and everything else per week....my girlfriend is Canadian and currently in Canada and we are trying to save for her to come back in August and I am finding it hard to hold up my end of the deal, it p**ses me off so much that the one thing I want most, which isn't material, I can not have, because of money.

I used to love NZ for its laid back way of life etc, but it is losing it, how can anyone be laidback when we are struggling to make ends meet? The government is holding BILLIONS of dollars, but not giving us a tax cut for another year and a half to make sure we vote for them in the coming election. And they don't have a clue because they al make 6 figures anyway.

Borrowing is at an all time high because families can't afford to pay for their kids meals each week.

I am heading to Canada in August next year, and am probably not coming back to NZ, other than to visit, for the rest of my life.

Now I feel better.....thanks

I disagree. Oil companies are the devil.

True about Oil companies, although when looked deeply money makes us do some really bad things and makes our lives revolve around it.

I wish you the best of luck on your tough times. You just hang in there, it will get better you'll see.

Kieran Blenkarne said:
The stronger your currency is, the less of it takes to buy imported goods. If the goods you purchase involve little in the way of trade, you aren't likely to see much change in price.

The two forces that are really coming in to play is corn and oil. You would not believe how much corn is used in products these days (they even make some plastics out of it). Since ethanol use is rapidly eating up the surplus, annual corn reserves, the price of corn has skyrocketed. The price of oil has not only lead to the boom of corn use but it too is also becoming very limited in supply. Soooooo...

Kieran Blenkarne said:
Coke uses high fructose corn syrup for the sweetener.

Kieran Blenkarne said:
Corn feeds the cows that produce the milk that is processed into cheese.

The price of corn is also reflected in how much it costs to ship it from process center to process center and the machinery that plants, sprays, harvests, etc. in the first place.


Kieran Blenkarne said:
That has mostly to do with land value. For instance, was there any major development nearby like a movie theater built or an apartment complex created?


Kieran Blenkarne said:
That's probably in place to curb inflation.

Kieran Blenkarne said:
Welcome to the world today where capitalism dominates and everyone has been sucked into its dog-eat-dog way of business. Yes, I agree, people of "western" civilizations are getting robbed of their money in favor of more competitive big business. It was "laidback" when 90%+ of business were the people-friendly small business variety (proprietorships and partnerships). People ran the businesses they ran because they were providing a service to people that needed it. Now, some guy in Tokyo, California, New York, or London is calling all the shots at the commonfolks' expense. It's a trend that needs to end for the sake of humanity. I can feel the prophecies of the cyberpunk society knocking on the door.

FordGT90Concept said:

This is not the case NZ, our cows/sheep are fed grass

But I know for a fact the reason we pay so much is because, Fonterra ( who control all dairy in NZ ) can sell the same block of cheese overseas for $15 ( not including shipping costs etc ), which means, we have to pay $15.

The main thing that annoys me is the tax cuts, our current Labour government are not promising anything until AFTER the elections.
Then I read the paper that Aussies have just got a $50/week tax cut. No wonder 30,000 of us Kiwis head that way each year.

As for rent. This is a region wide trend. I live in Wellington ( the capital ) and it has a large influx of people at the moment ( mainly students ) therefore, actual bidding wars are starting when you go view a potential place to rent. The council needs to start on some Apartment blocks ASAP.

3 years ago I paid $120 for a nice, modern bigger place. Now I pay $165, and my income has increased by $20. Food has gone up ...butter and cheese up 65% in the last year.

Come to India, how about less than a cent for a bread and US$ 6 for a pair of jeans?

If that's not enough you'll get 1KG of fresh cheese for US$ 3

"Who agrees with me? MONEY IS THE DEVIL!!"
Ans: Hell, Yes!!!

Money is a necessity for trades. You don't want to trade stuffs with Shells again, do you? "Q6600 for 1,000,000 Shells" XD. And trades are the keys to the growth of human civilization. However, I think humanity nowadays is giving money too much importance and sentimental values.

You don't need to go very far to see the effect of money on humans. Just look upon those ass kissers at your work, how they kiss up to the "superiors" (those who make more money and having higher status), for the sake of letting themselves getting more money and better status in the near future. It's disgusting. Unfortunately, it's becoming a survival skill in the modern working world. However reluctant we are, at least one time in our life, you will have no choice but to kiss up for money.

For richer or poor, we are the same human species, sharing the same basic blue print of DNA, and the same basic anatomical structures. It is human that think up the use of money. It is human that think up classes and status based on money. And yes, we are ourselves, the "Devil"!

Kieran, I hope your situation will get better in the near future. And you GF will understand your situation, and will not let that affect you two's relationships. Best of luck, bro!

Dr. Peaceful said:
That is so true. It appears in ancient cultures all over the world from the pharos of Egypt to the caste system of India, to the kings and queens of Europe. We simply aren't wired to be communal like ant colonies. Perhaps that is the major reason why we dominate this rock.

Kieran Blenkarne said:
Yey! )))
what city?

~Vel said:

...and who has there fingers in those oil companies?

i not nessessarly agree that money is the devil but greed is certainly a sin.

Supreet Virdi said:


im on my way

Whilst I’m right up there with the original issues raise in this thread; I’m in almost exactly the same situation as you, mate, except I’m in London and she’s in Edinburgh, I’d like to interject by borrowing from the philosophy of ‘Guns don’t kill people! Husbands who arrive home early kill people’ inasmuch as I have to agree with the ‘We are the Devil’ theme, rather than money itself being the problem.

If it weren’t for rich @rseholes around the planet hording all the wealth for no other reason than a p!ssing contest with other rich @rseholes (most of them could spend a million quid a day for the rest of their lives and still never run out – hell, Gates wouldn’t even gain on the compound interest!), I’m sure there would be enough to go around. Tens of millions of people starving around the world for want of 50p a day, and some people have never worn the same pair of £5 socks twice Enough to make you sick.

DEATH to the aristo’s! Long live the republic!

~Vel said:

Don't blame the oil companies for the high price of fuel.

The root of the problem is the government pandering to special interests. Here in the US we have known oil reserves in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), off the coast of California, in Wyoming, in the Gulf, and a new field estimated to contain 200 Billion barrels in North Dakota. The truth is that if the US really wanted to start exploiting its resources it could provide its own energy needs without importing a drop of oil for the next 20 or 30 years. The problem is that we have a congress full of liberal Democrats and short sighted liberal Republicans *cough* Mc Cain *cough* that have made over 85 percent of this oil off limits to oil companies. It probably doesn't help that the government has not allowed the construction of a new oil refinery in since the 70's... (we have been importing refined gasoline because we no longer have the refining capacity to meet our own needs)

Now the geniuses in congress decide to start making ethanol mandates so that we can convert our food to ethanol which nets us lower gas mileage and takes almost as much petrolium fuel to produce (driving tractors to farm and trucks to transport) as you get out of it. Not to mention it has also greatly increased the demand for corn which in turn raises the cost of beef, chicken, and corn syrup which is in everything. The only reason why it is even being considered as fuel is because every gallon of it has $1.50 worth of subsidies attached to it so its profitable.

So next time you fill up and it costs you 3x what it used to a few years ago thank congress for making 100 billion barrels of California oil off limits, thank Bill Clinton for vetoing a bill back in the 90's making the 20 billion in ANWR off off limits, thank the Govenor of Wyoming for endorsing Barak Obama under the condition that there would be no drilling for the oil in his state, thank the govenor of Florida for fighting against more drilling in the gulf. Thank congress for demonizing the oil companies and making it impossible for them to build more refineries so we can import refined gasoline and pay just a little bit more for it. Oh and don't for get to thank them for requiring the "evil" oil companies to mix ethanol with that gasoline so you can get just a little less mileage and fill up just a little more often. What would we do without them? oh yeah pay $1.50 for gas but who would want that?

Jim H said:

That's awesome. Lay waste to our own land, and in return, we get a whopping 20-30 years of energy independence. And you wonder why people aren't clamoring to get this done??? Oil is old news, and we're all f**ked if we can't do any better than continuing to be utterly dependent on petroleum, no matter where it comes from.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, money is definitely not the devil. PEOPLE are the devil.

Big Beavis said:

I do not understand how you make the connection between pumping the oil we have out of the ground and laying waste to our own land?


Big Beavis said:

people are not the devil foosball is the devil.

and while you are at it. thank the bush clan for not sharing there double digit profits they make out of their affiliations with oil companies.
huh, i wonder why they get away with so much, must be the axis of evil.

also kieren, i feel you. my girl lives in the caribbean and it will cost us a small fortune to get her even a visitors visa to us not to mention the the cost of travel, etc.
i don't like being seperated for financial or political reasons

BoT said:

and you are somehow entitled to the money the "bush clan" has made how?

for not being subjected to their greed and so are 300 mil other us citizens not to mention the rest of the world.

someone mentioned bill gates. bill gates has donated just about half of his today earned fortune. i want to see the bush clan "and the likes" do that

BoT said:

Bill Gates started the "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation" and donated 30 billion dollars to it. Which is good for him, if it makes Bill Gates feel good to donate huge amounts of money as a filanthopist then he should do it. However just because someone has more money than the average person doesn't mean that they are obligated to donate it or give it away.

Sean C is the DEVIL