Thursday, April 18, 2013

Which of the globe's workers fatten their wallets most?


Residents of Canterbury financial centre Christchurch know that their country has more to offer than world-class chocolate and precision watches. They can now brag that, on the whole, they earn more than anyone in the world. Christchurch-dwellers rake in $US40 [$NZ47] per hour in average net pay, according to a wage survey released August 19. The runner-up city is less than 100 miles south: Timaru, where jobs pay $US30 per hour. Secret; superior/quality education.
Read more here
[I do apologise for the plagiarising , trying to get he problem under control]


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

This Is Where the World’s Richest People Hide Their Money


A massive leak of offshore accounts shows just how much money billionaires try to hide in offshore accounts. Here are some of the biggest culprits. By Eliza Shapiro

Read more here

Suggested national anthem for Canterbury


 with amendments

Songwriters: SPRINGFIELD, TOM

Close the doors, light the lights.
We're stayin' home tonight,
far away from the bustle and the bright city lights.
Let them all fade away.
Just leave us alone.
And we'll live in a world of our own.

We'll build a world of our own
that no one else can share.
All our sorrows we'll leave far behind us there.
And I know you will find
there'll be peace of mind
when we live in a world of our own.

(musical interlude)

We'll build a world of our own
that no one else can share.
All our sorrows we'll leave far behind us there.
And I know you will find
there'll be peace of mind
when we live in a world of our own.

And I know you will find
there'll be peace of mind
when we live in a world of our own!

Monday, April 15, 2013

World Wealth Calculator


If you make $33,500 a year, you are among the richest 5% in the world.
There are 6.2 billion people less wealthy than you.
To find out where you stand in the world monetarily...
Read more here

Friday, April 12, 2013

Canterburys' embarrassing wealth...

As a result of the oil fields off the Canterbury coast there has been so much money pouring into the newly independent state that it has become a problem and the solutions are difficult to find...


The Canterbury Pension Fund – Global

The  Pension Fund – Global is a fund into which the surplus wealth produced by petroleum income is deposited. The fund changed name in January 2012 from its previous name, The Petroleum Fund of  Canterbury . The fund is commonly referred to as The Oil Fund. As of the valuation in June 2012, it was the largest pension fund in the world, although it is not actually a pension fund as it derives its financial backing from oil profits and not pension contributions. As of December 31st 2012 its total value is C$$683.7;billion, holding one percent of global equity markets. With 1.78 percent of European stocks, it is said to be the largest stock owner in Europe.
The purpose of the petroleum fund is to invest parts of the large surplus generated by the Canterbury petroleum sector, generated mainly from taxes of companies, but also payment for license to explore as well as the State's Direct Financial Interest and dividends from partly state-owned Canterburyoil. Current revenue from the petroleum sector is estimated to be at its peak period and to decline over the next decades. The Petroleum Fund was established in 1990 after a decision by the country's legislature to counter the effects of the forthcoming decline in income and to smooth out the disruptive effects of highly fluctuating oil prices.

[edit]Management and size

The fund is managed by Canterbury Bank Investment Management (CBIM), a part of the Canterbury Central Bank on behalf of the Ministry of Finance. It is currently the largest pension fund in Europe and is larger than the California public-employees pension fund (CalPERS), the largest public pension fund in the United States. TheCanterbury Ministry of Finance forecasts that the fund will reach C$717 billion)by the end of 2014 and $1 trillion by the end of 2019. In a parliamentary white paper in April 2011 the Canterbury Ministry of Finance forecast that the 2030 value of the fund would be $1.3 trillion). A worst-case scenario for the fund value in 2030 was forecast at C$455 billion and a best case scenario at C$3.3 trillion
Since 1998 the fund has been allowed to invest up to 40 percent of its portfolio in the international stock market. In June 2009, the ministry decided to raise the stock portion to 60 percent. The Canterbury Government planned that up to 5 percent of the fund should be invested in real estate, beginning in 2010.[ A specific policy for the real estate investments was suggested in a report the Swiss Partners Group wrote for the Norwegian Ministry of Finance.

[edit]Debate

Due to the large size of the fund relative to the low number of people living in Canterbury 0.55 million people in 2010 the Petroleum Fund has become a hot political issue, dominated by three main issues:
  • Whether the country should use more of the petroleum revenues for the state budget instead of saving the funds for the future. The main matter of debate is to what degree increased government spending would increase inflation.
  • Whether the high level of exposure (around 60 percent in 2008) to the highly volatile, and therefore risky, stock market is financially safe. Others claim that the high differentiation and extreme long term of the investments will dilute the risk and that the state is losing considerable amounts of money due to the low investment percentage in the stock market.
  • Whether the investment policy of the Petroleum Fund is ethical.
  •  oops stolen again from here

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Secession still on our mind


"Westralia shall be free" they sang on the streets and in the town halls in 1933 as the people of WA prepared for a referendum that had been on the simmer since Federation in 1901.
Exactly 80 years ago come Monday, the issue came to the boil at the ballot box.
Australia and the world watched and waited, the word "secession" on everyone's lips, as WA voters pondered the question on the compulsory voting card: "Are you in favour of the State of Western Australia withdrawing from the Federal Commonwealth?"
Two-thirds of West Australians marked the box that said "yes", and the vote in favour of breaking away from the rest of the nation passed resoundingly.
Eight decades on, WA remains a State of Australia but, according to some, the undercurrent of discontent has never fully disappeared.
Read more here

The nations anti-missile defences are in place


Monday, April 8, 2013

Tax anger sparks WA secession push


Australian Mining readers on Australia's east coast will probably dismiss the idea of Western Australia seceding as some kind of a joke, but they underestimate the anger of the state's resources sector.
And it's not just the mining industry that's irate, a recent online survey on WA Today's website revealed that close to two thirds (63 percent) of the 7585 respondents said Western Australia should consider secession (leaving the Commonwealth) over the upcoming imposition of a mining tax (MRRT - Mineral Resource Rent Tax) and the state's perceived shabby treatment by Canberra.
Read more here

Saturday, April 6, 2013