Man of the Week - Barry Colman
Barry Colman on Close Up
With Mike "But I am not a socialist" Hosking chipping in. Self-made scrapper Colman says:
"This gap between the rich and the poor is one of the most damaging myths we have in New Zealand and people like socialists just keep repeating it over and over again even though its demonstrably not true.
The people who are poor in NZ today are enormously better off than if they were poor 50 years ago or 100 years ago. A hundred years ago they couldn't eat at all. Today we've got a really good welfare system in place, much abused as I think it is, so the poor people fundamentally have rooves over their heads, and they have enough to eat by in large....a tiny number when you are talking about a city of over 1 million people".
In other words, Colman states that the poor already have enough. Unapologetic for the fact he is loaded and they aren't.
Colman is the first Rich Lister (albeit his own list) to come out and explain precisely why the poor have never had it better in New Zealand. And that the Rich listers themselves who existed three years ago aren't on it now due to recession etc.
Good job Barry. Happy to keep chipping in with that $89 every 6 months for common sense comments such as this and to keep Matt "Sludge" Nippert and "Schlock" Jock Anderson on their huge corporate salaries.
Now just stop giving money to socialists to fund political parties such as Labour and you will be allowed your rightful place in the VRWC. Which we almost gave back to you when you fronted with the Veuve Clicquot.
That Busted Blonde STILL after almost a year has in storage. If it isn't consumed within a year I have the right to send the boys around to take it and throw the party myself.
With Mike "But I am not a socialist" Hosking chipping in. Self-made scrapper Colman says:
"This gap between the rich and the poor is one of the most damaging myths we have in New Zealand and people like socialists just keep repeating it over and over again even though its demonstrably not true.
The people who are poor in NZ today are enormously better off than if they were poor 50 years ago or 100 years ago. A hundred years ago they couldn't eat at all. Today we've got a really good welfare system in place, much abused as I think it is, so the poor people fundamentally have rooves over their heads, and they have enough to eat by in large....a tiny number when you are talking about a city of over 1 million people".
In other words, Colman states that the poor already have enough. Unapologetic for the fact he is loaded and they aren't.
Colman is the first Rich Lister (albeit his own list) to come out and explain precisely why the poor have never had it better in New Zealand. And that the Rich listers themselves who existed three years ago aren't on it now due to recession etc.
Good job Barry. Happy to keep chipping in with that $89 every 6 months for common sense comments such as this and to keep Matt "Sludge" Nippert and "Schlock" Jock Anderson on their huge corporate salaries.
Now just stop giving money to socialists to fund political parties such as Labour and you will be allowed your rightful place in the VRWC. Which we almost gave back to you when you fronted with the Veuve Clicquot.
That Busted Blonde STILL after almost a year has in storage. If it isn't consumed within a year I have the right to send the boys around to take it and throw the party myself.
posted by Cactus Kate at 10:29 PM
8 Comments:
Did Barry really use the spelling "rooves over their heads"?
Whats wrong with taking a potshot at the rich listers if you think wealth is not fairly distributed? Absolutely nothing is the answer.
So what if the poor are better off than 50 years ago? That's not relevant to the question of whats fair. I'm sure we are all better off than a medieval king but did Barry Colman invent every technology and economic insight that lead us from the dark age? Nope. So lets not pretend he's an inspiring guy.
I think that leftards work on the premise of relative poverty to justify income distribution. So if the middle class all own PS3's then not to own one is to be living in poverty.
11.32pm
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_plural_of_roof
"It should be noted that in New Zealand, the plural of roof is rooves, in both its written and spoken form"
So fuck you grammar nazi.
Srsly - nothing. But take a potshot and you deserve a smash back. Which Barry has done. That's what you cannot handle.
Hey I can handle it, but when is someone going to smash someone back? This is a fairly lightweight argument, that poor people are better off so therefore what? That Barry Colman and rich people are what? It only makes sense if you live vicariously through rich people. Which is what these blogs are about no?
I agree with Anonymous and his leftard group whatever that is, all people should be able to play Mass Effect 2 regardless of creed or color.
Grammar Nazi?
I thought you supported excellence in education?
Horses have hooves, but houses have roofs. Refer to a style guide if you need more clarification.
1) Correct of course KC, Rooves, hooves,thieves,halves etc.
2) Why is it that some (most) give more credence to the opinions (re poverty) of the wealthy than the opinions of the not wealthy?
Colman I thought spluttered his way through his responses and was entirely irrelevant.
The gap is not a myth, nor is its relative growth. The cost of living could double and the average rich lister would be largely unaffected, while the price could halve and the average poor would still struggle.
The poor he refers to are some Dickensian motley crew from his schoolday readings of Great Expectations - not the heaving pathetic equity-negative middleclass which has emerged in recent years.
The new poor - saddled with credit debt and dissipating asset values in depressed markets, struck by redundancy, rising costs,crippling vehicle fines,energy costs etc (and please don't think it's all about bad choices - it's all about least bad of bad options) are genuinely struggling - and are not envious of the rich - we are just pissed off when they wheel them out to tell us we are better off than we would have been 100 years ago!! What a thoughtless prick!
Colman laments the loss from the list of several names, and seems to think this somehow balances things in a Yinny-Yangy way. When Hoskins challenged him to deny the maths (Rich 20% richer-poor 3% poorer)he tried to excuse it by talking about averages being skewed by high fliers.
Why on earth do we even go to people like this for opinions about poverty - He may run the NBR and be an expert on wealth and business but he is the anti-thesis of expert in poverty.
Why do we consistantly equate wealth with success? And with Intelligence (including Em.Int), and with Wisdom, and with Knowledge?
Success is about being a good person, a wise person, an intelligent person, an emotionally controlled person, an empathetic person, an achiever,a loved and loving person, and a good provider.
Why is it that we take simply the proof of exceptional ability to provide - and then assume they must be better than the rest of us.
It is inevitable that some of these individuals can't understand why the poor can't get of their arses and 'succeed' -but it's easy to get things done when you can pay for them to get done - it doesn't mean you are better at doing things.
"He may run the NBR and be an expert on wealth and business "
Cartwright, I would politely ask you not to concede intellectual ground on this. I would ask you to draw a distinction between riding the waves of the market as an astute investor and creating fundamental economic growth that we all share in.
Those of us with a genuine concern for our community should for sure shoot down this kind of egotistical rhetoric. As if Barry Colman's smug values created this nation! Our true values aren't this disrespectful of the problems of the poor.
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