Grey Power March 2017

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28 NZ GREYPOWER MAGAZINE » MARCH 2017 H A L F P R I C E O F F E R Boost your hearing Never miss another word with Do you struggle to hear the TV? Do you have the volume turned up high? Annoying other members of the family or even neighbours? The Smart Ear listening device will enable you to listen to the TV at the level you want without having to turn up the volume too high. Never again will others complain that the TV volume is too loud. NOT JUST FOR TV Smart Ear is not just for the TV, it’s also perfect for the theatre, the cinema, parties, church, restaurants in fact any conversation. You can hear everything that is being said, even 30 metres away. No longer will you feel left out of conversations. VERY COMFORTABLE AND EASY TO USE Smart Ear is far more comfortable than normal hearing devices that have to be inserted in your ears. The earpieces are just like modern mini earphones – anyone will think you are listening to music when in reality you are listening to every word and sound around you. SMART EAR WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 Easy to use Hears a whisper from 30 metres away Looks like a pocket radio No whistling noises Comfortable to wear – use neck strap or belt clip Fits in your shirt pocket Portable, battery operated Battery supplied Suitable for men & women of all ages Amazing value HALF 3 Smart Ear looks like a small pocket radio, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. It can clip to a belt, waistband or neck strap and weighs less than 60 grams, it’s so light you won’t know it’s there! Easily adjustable volume control. Uses only one long life AAA battery which we will supply. PRICE OFFER $99.95 ONLY $ 49 .95 SAVE $50.00 Smart Ear “Now I can turn up the TV without disturbing others” SMALL & DISCREET Fits in pocket or around neck. “I just can’t believe how well Smart Ear works! I can hear things I hadn’t heard before... The front door bell for one... talking from the next room... even the TV at normal sound levels – that stopped my daughter complaining. It’s just fantastic... I normally wear a professional amplifier that cost $1500... but it’s not as good as this new device. Smart Ear is easier to adjust without whistle. With my other amplifier at the club I get all the disturbing noises all at the same level so I have to turn it off. With Smart Ear I can hear conversations, sharp and clearly... Thanks to Smart Ear I’m back in the picture... and the conversations.” Mrs C., Southport “I received my two Smart Ear sets just in time for my 88th Birthday. I gave one to my son who was as amazed as I was. I have an expensive hearing amplifier which cost me many hundreds of dollars but the Smart Ear is far better. I will spread the word to anyone needing help with their hearing. Thank you for your help and keep up the good work.” Basil D., Port Talbot “Thank you for Smart Ear – it arrived and is all it claims to be” P. L. Valuta, London “Thanks to Smart Ear, I now hear TV without needing it to be at full blast! So the rest of the family can watch and listen in comfort too. Also on my walks I hear birds I have not heard for years” J. Harper, Windsor IRONCLAD MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE Order the Smart Ear with absolute confidence. If you are not satisfied FOR ANY REASON, please return it in good condition within 90 Days of receipt and we will refund the purchase price – immediately – NO QUESTIONS ASKED! COMPLETE SATISFACTION GUARANTEED PLEASE CUT OUT AND KEEP H A L F P R I C E O F F E R Please send me the Smart Ear for only $99.95 $49.95 + $9.95 p&p BUY TWO SAVE $120.00 Please send me two Smart Ears for only $79.90 + $9.95 p&p Lifetime Replacement Guarantee per unit – Just $12.95 I enclose a Cheque/Money Order payable to Century Mail for $_____________ Order online at: www.cmshop.today/KSE27 12.00pm - 9.00pm CALL NOW 0800 55 77 99 Lines Open 7 Days: Please charge my VISA/MASTERCARD as follows: CVV The last 3 numbers on the back of the card. Expiry____/____Signature___________________________________________ Occasionally we may make your data available to carefully selected companies. If you do not wish to receive interesting offers from these companies, please tick this box q If you do not wish to receive further communications from the Century Mail Group, please tick this box q Delivery normally within two weeks but please allow 28 days. B153 SEND TO: CENTURY MAIL, DEPT KSE27 PO BOX 912021, VICTORIA STREET WEST, AUCKLAND 1142 Mr/Mrs/Ms______________________________________ Address________________________________________ ______________________________________________ Suburb_________________________________________ Postcode___________________DOB______/_____/_____ Phone___________________________________________ Email____________________________________________ q Tick this box to sign up for exclusive email offers from Century Mail. Ask for Dept KSE27 © Century Mail 2017
NZ GREYPOWER MAGAZINE » MARCH 2017 29 From page 27 rapid decision making and implementation with the capitalist financial structure providing the necessary incentives and efficiency. But where is the communist dream of ‘each for all and all for each’ and the people’s dream of freedom of thought, speech and actions? However, capitalism itself also has its inbuilt weaknesses; being open to manipulation by speculators; being subject to regular periods of boom and bust, the latter particularly stressful with often prolonged periods of increased poverty; and being a vehicle to create wealth in abundance - but at the expense of also creating impoverishment for those not creative in wealth making. Over time this dichotomy has become more pronounced with the vast bulk of the world’s wealth now concentrated in the hands of a very small percentage of the people, with the divide between them and the remainder rapidly increasing. This splintering effect has been exacerbated by globalisation whereby the average wage-earner and taxpayer has had to stand helplessly by as the huge conglomerates amass more of the world’s wealth while at the same time paying only minimal tax. The reality is that it simply filters further up making the rich even richer. It is pertinent to ask why no system exists to channel a huge proportion of the vast wealth we have all created into the public purse, then use it to pay a workforce that could make all our lives more worthwhile and more comfortable. If democratic capitalism is to survive in the long term there will need to be drastic measures put into place. Is it really beyond the wit of the movers and shakers to change the rules – even if only to ensure their own survival? For instance just a few possibilities for reform:- * A decree that no one in a company or institution can earn more than 20 times the lowest paid worker. * Golden handshakes made illegal. * Bonus payments permitted only if paid equally to all workers. * Where share option schemes are offered they must be made available for the whole workforce on the same terms. * Where some of the profit is made available for distribution, 10 percent must be paid equally to the whole workforce, 90 percent to the shareholders. * Multinationals be legally obliged to pay tax both in their country of origin and operation. * A new simple tax system ensuring that everybody pays a realistic tax, at source, without contrived deductions and before being routed into trusts. * All payments of more than $1mill.pa. to be taxed at 90 percent. “Insane!” Will be the cry. I’m genuinely puzzled why minds much sharper than mine haven’t realised that time is of the essence and devised foolproof methods of ensuring that ‘trickle down’ becomes a waterfall in order to bring some sense of justice into a system that has become corrupt by being geared to make those with specific aptitudes become richer at the expense of those that don’t have the Midas touch. Is it not time that society valued the worth of the man or woman who cleans the toilets as highly as a Board member? Unless we do learn that lesson then democracy and capitalism will end in turmoil; an avoidable tragedy. The future scenario will inevitably be either that it will change, be forced to change, or suffer catastrophic, revolutionary change. A stark but realistic choice. Gerald Rodway Inaccuracy I would like to correct an inaccuracy in the President’s Report from your last issue. The Legalise Cannabis Party was never involved in the campaign by the Otematea GP branch surrounding Medicinal Cannabis. That campaign was entirely a grassroots initiative motivated purely by the intelligence and strength of conviction of GP members! After we learned about this campaign through the media, we intended to reach out to the Otematea branch to thank them for speaking out on this important issue. Unfortunately before we could do this, I received an unsolicited phone call from your president, Tom O’Connor, during which he proceeded to berate me for unduly influencing his poor “feeble membership that are easily taken in” (his words). I had to inform him that we had never been in touch with any GP members, and that the members researching an issue and passing a resolution is in fact the normal democratic functioning of an incorporated society in New Zealand, whether he likes the content of the resolution or not. It is not the place of the president to censor or influence the content of resolutions so as to be politically acceptable to him. Abe Gray, president The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party It is the role of the president to keep outside groups from intruding in Grey Power initiatives. We have succeeded in improving access to medical cannabis but kept away from recreational use. I will take such action again of required. Tom O’Connor President Double-dipping concerns With regard to Section 70 deductions for overseas pensions, I understand your concern about double-dipping and claiming pensions from more than one country. However Section 70 is also used to capture contributory schemes based on employee and employer contributions, when this is part of a universal welfare scheme. Many countries have a basic pension, equivalent to New Zealand Super, with extra payments based on contributions made while working. This is equivalent to New Zealand Government Super, a private investment scheme for former state employees. This does not affect New Zealand Superannuatants (except couples with a non-qualified spouse). Because some overseas systems are administered by the same pension department, all payments, both contributory and those from general taxation are treated under Section 70 as part of a welfare system covering any of the contingencies for which benefits pensions or allowances are paid in New Zealand. Other countries have more restricted eligibility, so only those who worked for the government are eligible for a pension. This can lead to a contradiction, where a former housewife is not eligible for a pension from another country because she was not a wage earner, while her New Zealand Super is reduced for the pension her husband receives because he was working. Our interpretation is that if the pension is only available to wage earners, then it is not the same as New Zealand Super and should not be covered by Section 70. Noel Ellis Shrinking pension Is there anybody out there who, like me, receives an overseas pension paid annually, in arrears, as the amount is too small to be sent monthly, because it is not enough to cover the transaction fee to get the money into NZ? And is your NZ superannuation reduced fortnightly, because at some later stage within the next 12 months you are going to receive your overseas pension? So you always get paid less than other superannuitants, even though you cost the country less overall, because your superannuation is reduced by receipt of the overseas pension. And although you have come to a written agreement that you would advise each year on receipt of your overseas pension, and MSD would bill you, this is ignored and MSD start to deduct your NZ Superannuation with no discussion or permission? And do you find that MSD staff do not understand the process, nor the legislation (which allows for deduction where a person is entitled to receive or receives an overseas pension) ? And finally, no help available, including Grey Power, and (so far) politicians If so, please contact me to discus Caryl Blomkvist blomkvist@vodafone.co.nz Let’s agree On the National Superannuation Sustainability debate let us agree with John Gascoigne, that under current NZ prosperity prospects, a certain rate of universal NZ Super under certain conditions will remain affordable and sustainable. Let us also agree with him in the spirit of his article “There is a better way” in the November magazine. But, according to his own criteria – his vision of the NZ economy in 2050 is not based on hard, irrefutable data, but only on the assumption and assurance, that “savings were mobilised and channelled into a massive expansion of the productive sector” without any practical policy proposal based on irrefutable data about how that is to be achieved at a higher rate than what we have at present. Our current national income growth rate only matches population growth, with just a fraction (0.1%?) of it due to increased wealth and productivity per head of population. A population of 5 million in NZ by 2050 is speculative. Employment of labour requires capital, and when full employment has been achieved, only more saving and capital investment per worker can increase productivity and wealth reserves. Both John G. and the Retirement Commission (“for fiscal capability”?) have not mentioned the NZ Super Fund in helping to keep sustainable our universal NZ Super and its entitlement age at 65 for our still increasing proportion of longer living superannuitants after the baby boomer bulge, so far. What doubts can there be, that systematic national retirement wealth creation and ownership through the NZ Super Fund is a most stable and reliable kind of “economic growth engine”, and that therefore debate or discussion on the “pros and cons” of a permanent contributions rate into a permanent NZ Super Fund built into our taxation system should not be suppressed or evaded? Jens Meder, Auckland. UNIQUE EDUCATION ENTERTAINMENT JUMBO’S WORLD DVD: A great story about the iconic Whirling Bros Circus & Jumbo the elephant. The Elephant Man Book – An amazing trip back in time. Great stories – contact Tony Ratcliffe NOW to buy your copy or book a time for a Movie showing for your Grey Power Association, followed by a question and answer time. BOOK NOW!! circusmemories@gmail.com PH 021 215 2075 COMPETITION Send your name, address, phone number on the back of an envelope, address to The Elephant Man Competition, C/- Waikato Business Publications, P.O. Box 1425, Hamilton Mail Centre, Hamilton 3240 and be in to win one of either 3 DVD’s or one of three Elephant man books. Good luck!
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Grey Power March 2017

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