Reg Dempster, Albany.
Brian Tamaki
True to form Brian Tamaki has come out pontificating about the reasons for the current dreadful weather and the shocking tragedies that have occurred.
I didn’t think I’d ever agree with anything Tamaki said but in ‘What’s with the Extreme Weather in New Zealand’ he states: “You will mock me again and call me a religious nutcase” and I absolutely agree with how he described himself. It is spot on.
Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.
Heavy lifting
As a Labour Party supporter, I would like to address the situation the party finds itself in. The potential Coalition parties just aren’t polling well enough to change government in November.
The Greens are on 7% and Te Pāti Māori are on 1%.
This just isn’t enough to change governments. Whatever you think of them, the current Coalition Parties – Act 10% NZ First 11.9% – are a strong boost to National’s polling.
Come on Greens and Te Pāti Māori parties and their supporters. Labour can’t do all the heavy lifting.
Susan Wilson, Waiheke Island.
Penny pinching
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters needs to tread carefully over the suggestion by various Samoan matai (chiefs) that the $6 million paid by our Government over the sunken HMNZS Manawanui was inadequate and might even be returned.
This is not only because the sum sounds paltry when experts have suggested that $40 million would be needed for clean-up operations. But earlier this year the Cook Islands signed a partnership agreement with China to help improve its economy, infrastructure and diplomatic relations.
Peters showed diplomatic concern and paused aspects of economic funding to the Cook Islands. However, if New Zealand decides to penny pinch over an environmental disaster that was not of Samoa’s making then China will surely be more than willing to exploit disharmony and further its geopolitical ambitions in the Pacific, while further weakening New Zealand’s own influence with its closest neighbours.
Bernard Walker, Mt Maunganui.
No king, no empire
The military action in Venezuela may, sadly, be just the first in a series of military strikes against some governments in South America disliked by US President Donald Trump.
Harsh words have been expressed in the circles of power about the regimes in Colombia and Cuba. Some of the hawks want to attack Cuba while others prefer a military strike against Colombia. When the US became a country, the guiding principles were “no king, no empire”. Thomas Jefferson, who was the primary writer of the Declaration of Independence said, “If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest”. So how has it now come about that the US feels that they must acquire an empire?
Johann Nordberg, Paeroa.
Taxing reality
The additional tariffs imposed on those nations exporting goods to the United States, are not being paid by the exporting nations. The tariffs are paid by the entities who import the goods into the US, the costs of which eventually pass all the way down the supply chain to the consumer.
There will almost certainly be numerous instances of importers and exporters making contractual arrangements over the selling price of goods being exported to the US, in order to alleviate the impact of the additional tariffs on the shelf price. But at the end of the day, the tariffs will be incorporated within the purchase price of goods paid by the end user.
For President Trump to say that his tariffs are seeing billions of dollars flowing into the US economy is very misleading, to the point of almost being a carefully constructed lie. Billions of dollars are indeed pouring into the coffers of the US Federal government, but they are being put there by Americans. They will eventually come to realise that.
Phil Chitty, Albany.