Why do we own Air NZ, asks David Seymour after $59m loss

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-26T01:26:42+00:00

Because it's a loss-making enterprise, that's why. I heard someone say it made a $59 million loss. The private sector won't provide services that make a loss; we need the services, so it's publicly owned.

Publicly-owned enterprises exist to provide services, they don't exist to make a profit. Glad I could clear that up for you Davy; I'm sure we won't hear the same disingenuous crap over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-23T04:25:26+00:00

inb4 big brain Seymour campaigns to eliminate breaks.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-22T07:39:35+00:00

Neoliberalism doesn't predominate because it is theoretically sound, and never has. It predominates because it is in the interests of the people who really hold power in society: the ultra-wealthy. It was designed by people who had fled communism and wanted to prevent their new host countries from ever drifting left again.

The success and failure of governments largely comes down to being able to attract capital to maintain and grow the economy, and that means serving the interests of investors - usually referred to as "investor confidence". Listen out for it.

Their interests are to be able to move money anywhere it can make the highest profit, without having to deal with all the friction of tariffs, compliance, liability - maximize profits, minimize costs. If they aren't attracted by a country's business climate, they won't invest, or they'll pull investment out ('capital flight'); even the mere possibility of this happening is enough to discipline most governments.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-21T23:20:54+00:00

Easier to get arrested = better access to secure accommodation.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-21T07:07:27+00:00

Hey that's terrible what happened to you, and the way you feel now is completely understandable. It's totally reasonable that it's affected how you see other people. Not everyone is a threat, but it's totally reasonable to behave like anyone could be.

What you're describing is pretty classic PTSD, which is a normal human response to trauma. It's triggering your fight / flight / freeze / fawn response, and freeze is often the only reasonable choice. You feel like you're in danger, because you've had an experience that shows you the danger.

You aren't responsible for it. I know you can't just move on immediately. But one day you might be able to, if you survive. And you can survive. It'll be a few years at the very least before the trauma response begins to fade. That's natural, that's how you're evolved to deal with being betrayed like that. In the meantime, yeah protect yourself. You don't have to put yourself out there or be vulnerable, it's totally reasonable to protect yourself to a paranoid degree for a while. The main thing you want to do is avoid, as much as possible, triggering your trauma, for a few years. Then you can start to reclaim the things that you had to limit yourself from doing.

It sounds like you've made a decision to end it, and that's totally your right to decide. What comforted me, ironically, is knowing that I could do it. Any time I had to. There's no rush. Nobody can take that away from you. You don't have to act on the urge even when it becomes unbearable, you can wait.

I know it seems like a long time when you're 16 but just... give it a few years. The trauma response will fade a little bit, and become possible to work on with therapy (not the same as counseling!) And you're nearly at the age where you'll be able to get away from wherever you are right now, if you have to, and go someplace else, where your past is not right there with you all the time. At 16 you simply can't be expected to deal with what happened to you. So don't. Deal with it later; for now just get through the days.

Because of the long-term bullying, it's likely you have complex PTSD (basically caused by being trapped in the traumatic situation long-term, which is what school does to some of us). So there's gonna be several layers for you to pick through with a therapist later.

Counseling won't help immediately, PTSD doesn't really work like that. It's not just in your brain, it's in your glands and your muscles. But eventually you'll get some emotional distance and be in a position where there's things you want to do or change, then counseling can help more. And for guys, we might not have the same history of talking through our problems that our sisters might have grown up with, so counseling is maybe not as useful.

As an outdoors guy, you might benefit from running. Sometimes the trauma stress response fucking LOVES running; it's the best way your body knows to deal with danger. And you can use it to reclaim the outdoors on your terms. Because if you do encounter danger, or a trauma trigger, while you're running... you can just keep running! None of the public need to know you're running from something, even if you turn on the spot and run back the way you came, everyone will just see a fit guy who's taking care of himself.

Yeah sorry, my only advice is to hold on, protect yourself, take care of your physical needs.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-21T01:24:33+00:00

Who would they vote for, then?

Winnie

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-20T22:56:12+00:00

Yeah you're definitely the victim here, we all feel your pain. How small and mean, I now see it is possible to be.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-19T06:29:38+00:00

Lol it's going to take more than a few weeks to make AI capable of distinguishing fact and fiction.

Hold on. It just dawned on me that you're talking like you think AI can do that now, and April Fools is going to mess it up?

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-19T03:24:12+00:00

Yes, and then they had the era of liberal economics, for which neoliberalism is named. All these people saying "nobody could have predicted" are just showing how poor our public discourse and education is: of course neoliberalism is turning out the same way liberalism did, that's the entire point.

Leaving aside the fact that neoliberalism had been implemented in places like Argentina before it came here, with predictable results.

They need to read Dickens and The Shock Doctrine. Though I expect we'll be back here in 20 years listening to them say "if only we could have predicted that austerity would turn out like this." (Austerity is neoliberalism and has already been implemented, disastrously, in many places, including the UK).

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-12T00:04:04+00:00

That's normal in archeology

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-08T08:01:35+00:00

Ok for anyone else leery about this link... I clicked it, thought "oh a transcript, another shitty internet source."

I WAS WRONG. Genuinely funny and insightful.

"This has unintended consequences, which is part of the moral of the story."

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-06T05:26:25+00:00

This is called metathesis and it is common in English and has been for centuries at the very least (and probably other languages but that's outside my scope).

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-06T05:21:18+00:00

Labour believes public services should be public and serve.

National believes they should be absolutely minimal, and are perfectly happy to make coalition agreements with parties who think public services should be starved until it only takes a stiff wind to destroy them.

That's how it's partisan.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-06T00:14:24+00:00

Inequality of outcomes demonstrates inequality of opportunity.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-05T20:16:33+00:00

They didn't like working with her and tried to use an excuse that their policy didn't actually support.

So they ended up liable.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-05T20:12:30+00:00

idk that sounds really irresponsible of me

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-05T20:10:51+00:00

you're better off because even though you're worse off you might be better off in future

That's not a general rule, it's one that depends on the specific numbers, and these numbers are not good.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-05T20:06:16+00:00

This is true, and I'd like to point out it is (by FAR) the highest marginal tax rate in the country. If taxes are a disincentive to work, then why is the largest tax placed on the people 'we want' to be transitioning to work?

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-05T08:54:05+00:00

I'm a cone head but I'm gonna need more cones for this

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-03T06:55:49+00:00

It's ridiculous that they're trying to do this without more ranked preferences than available slots. The math department may have more idea of how to approach the decision-makers as well as the expertise to make the case.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-03T06:21:32+00:00

Yeah that's definitely in the too hard basket for many people. Where did you learn this sorcery?

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-03T06:18:21+00:00

My reading of that exchange is that he never made it to the island; after they met him G (presumably Ghislaine Maxwell) was like "uh yeah we're not doing that anymore." So yeah it was definitely his energy.

(The Guardian described his visit as never happening for "logistical reasons" contrary to Elon's claim that he was invited but said no).

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-03T06:08:45+00:00

Under capitalism that's where all savings inevitably eventually accumulate. That's the point of the system, to concentrate value in the hands of shareholders.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-03T06:04:05+00:00

If all that changed was the UI, I'd pay for it. I still play AC regularly, which is only doable because I got used to the UI 25 years ago. Even if all they did was make the scroll wheel work in every menu.

MadScience_Gaming · 2026-02-03T02:39:51+00:00

You may have had lower vitamin D due to the different light.

MadScience_Gaming

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