Drinking and Trading

Well, it could be the red wine I had at lunch or the absolute unbridled enthusiasm that I have for the New Zealand economy and our stockmarket, (naaaah it must be the Cab Sav)I just purchased, from my dividend allocation this last quarter, 3000 Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd [FPH.NZX] shares at $2.35 each.

I am a very happy camper about my new addition and this more than doubles my current holding in the company to 5000 shares.

My 2000 allocation was bought at NZ$3.72 per share and cost approx $3.50 when you include dividends and imputation credits.

The obvious reasons to buy was the current weakness in the stock price, the increased revenue of the company and the downwards trajectory of the New Zealand dollar. It hasn't had a good year profit wise but recent results are not materially important because the profit drop is due to the weaker US dollar, in which much of the company's business is done. A stronger US dollar will take care of that.

I also have an order in for 2000 more shares of Michael Hill International Ltd [MHI.NZX] or which 354 have traded at .82 c each.

It is unbelievable how low the P/E of this stock and others is/are. At just over 12 for MHI it clearly represents great value for investors considering it is trading off its highs only last year of over NZ$1.20 and they announced a record profit for this last period to Dec 31 2007.

As I have said manifold times over the years, when there is a sale it is worth buying what you like when it is cheaper. Investors would do well to grab their favourite companies during this downturn.

I am still on the prowl for Hallenstein Glasson Holdings Ltd [HLG.NZX] but think it still has further to fall given the tight retail conditions at present and the fact that I have exhausted my dividend cash.

The Share Investor Portfolio is still just in positive territory and currently up by 1.5% net overall. Not a good look when you consider the bulk of the portfolio is around 6 years old but hey considering the rorting the market has been getting it has done well and it will recover given time and more favourable economic conditions.

*It ain't advisable to trade shares after drinking half a bottle of good red. I miscalculated the sum of money I needed in my CMA account . A rider to that of course is if you are used to drinking that much and making financial transactions then go for it. What can I say, I'm a cheap drunk!



Fisher & Paykel Healthcare @ Share Investor

Share Investor's 2011 Stock Picks
Stock of the Week: Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd
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Fisher & Paykel Healthcare: 2010 Full Year Profit rests on Foreign exchange movement
Long Term View: Fisher & Paykel Healthcare
Stock of the Week: Fisher & Paykel Healthcare
Analysis - Fisher & Paykel Healthcare: FY Profit to 31/03/09
Schroder Investment Management takes big Fisher & Paykel Healthcare stake
Long VS Short: Fisher & Paykel Healthcare
Big Fisher & Paykel Healthcare trades a curious taleWhy did you buy that stock? [Fisher & Paykel Healthcare]
Drinking and Trading
Share Investor's 2008 stock picks
Fisher & Paykel: A tale of two companies
FPH downgrade masks good performance

Discuss FPH @ Share Investor Forum
Download FPH Company Reports





c Share Investor 2008

WASHINGTON TIMES: Beguiling curves of the Swedish model

To give readers of Political Animal an idea of what the Labour Party's "Swedish Model" is this piece from the Washington Times will give you a glimse. Particularly important are these two outtakes:

The outlines of the Swedish "third way" welfare state began appearing in the 1950s. As late as 1960, taxing and government spending in Sweden, as a percent of GDP, was only slightly larger than in the U.S. But then the welfare statists went into full bloom. Taxing and spending surged in Sweden during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s until the mid-1990s, when tax revenues were more than 50 percent of GDP and government spending had reached a whopping 66 percent by 1995 (a peak from which it has slightly declined).

The extent of the failure of the Swedish model are both shocking and little known. For example, no new net jobs have been produced in the Swedish private sector since 1950.

In New Zealand over the last 9 years the State has grown faster than the economy and total Crown Expenses are expected to be $67.9b for the year to June 2008, or 41.2% of GDP. That is awfully close to Sweden in the 1990s and will clearly lead to a larger State apparatus and a smaller private sector.

Originally published 10:27 p.m., April 25, 2004, Washington Times

When considering the Swedish model, one can be forgiven for thinking of a comely statuesque blond with blue eyes. However, to economists and policy junkies, the Swedish model refers to the "third way" between socialism and capitalism many on the American left laud as the ideal.

Does the Swedish model work as advertised? According to a new paper by the highly regarded Swedish economist, Nils Karlson, the "model has become quite different from what was intended and to what many people still believe to be the case."

The extent of the failure of the Swedish model are both shocking and little known. For example, no new net jobs have been produced in the Swedish private sector since 1950. (By contrast, the U.S. created more than 60 million new private-sector jobs during the same period, from 52 million in 1950 to about 115 million in 2002.) "None of top 50 companies on the Stockholm stock exchange has been started since 1970."

Again, contrast this with the U.S. where many of our biggest companies had not been born or known of in 1970, such as Microsoft, Intel, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Cisco, etc., Mr. Karlson's litany of failures of the Swedish model include: "Sweden has dropped from fourth to 14th place in 2002 among the OECD countries (i.e., affluent industrialized countries) in terms of GDP per capita since 1970."

In addition, "well over 1 million people out of a work force of around four million did not work in 2003 but lived on various kinds of public welfare programs, such as, pre-pension schemes, unemployment benefits, sick-leave programs, etc." Finally, "a majority of the adult population are either employed by the state or clients of the state in a sense that they have a majority of the income coming from public subsidies."

A half-century ago, Sweden was a great success story. One hundred fifty years ago, Sweden began a transformation from a poor agricultural society to a rich industrial society. The economy was deregulated, taxes were lowered and tariffs abolished. Modern limited liability company laws and a patent system were adopted. The result was from 1890 to 1950, Sweden was the world's fastest-growing economy, and developed a number of globally known and respected companies. During this time, Sweden was a low-tax country where the total tax burden reached only 21 percent of gross domestic product by 1950 (currently total taxes are approximately 30 percent of GDP in the U.S.).

The outlines of the Swedish "third way" welfare state began appearing in the 1950s. As late as 1960, taxing and government spending in Sweden, as a percent of GDP, was only slightly larger than in the U.S. But then the welfare statists went into full bloom. Taxing and spending surged in Sweden during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s until the mid-1990s, when tax revenues were more than 50 percent of GDP and government spending had reached a whopping 66 percent by 1995 (a peak from which it has slightly declined).

The rise in taxing and spending was coupled with increased market regulation, "social engineering" and state planning. All the taxing, spending and regulation had a number of unintended consequences, such as undermining volunteer organizations as people increasingly turned to the state for help. Job security legislation made employers more reluctant to hire. Fewer new firms were created, new inventions and innovations declined, and real costs of providing goods and services rose. Increasing taxes on labor undermined work incentives and increased the "black" or underground economy.

In addition to cataloging the economic decline resulting from the rise in the Swedish welfare state, Mr. Karlson argues that perhaps the most damaging consequence of the "third way" is the loss of "dignity" among the Swedish people. Mr. Karlson takes a classical approach and argues every individual has a "unique value" and a "good society" requires individual liberty, personal responsibility and respect for the liberty of others.

As the welfare state undermines the ability to engage in productive activity to support oneself, and individual liberty and responsibility, there will be a corresponding loss in dignity. This loss of dignity debilitates both the individual and society.

The Swedish model teaches us good intentions are not enough when trying to create a humane, compassionate and prosperous society. Failure to fully understand the economic and social consequences of policies that increasingly regulate and tax productive activity was the Swedish model's fatal flaw.

Unfortunately, this same ignorance of the consequences of taxing, spending and regulation is rampant among far too many of the American political and media class. The good news is the Swedish model is not totally useless; it is a fine model of what not to do if only we can get the American people and their opinion leaders to understand it.

Richard W. Rahn is a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute and an adjunct scholar of the Cato Institute.

Feminist Socialists: A disease with a cure

Helen Clark and the collectivists in the current Labour Party Government are a product of the feminist/socialist movement rooted in the early 1970s. This movement had its genesis at universities across New Zealand, in the Labour Party's case it was Auckland University.

While there Helen, Michael, Goff and co went bra less, didn't shave parts of their bodies(or in some cases let it grow), protested against anything sensible, smoked dope, experimented with bi sexuality, embraced lesbianism (not that there is anything wrong with that Seinfeld would say) listened to Helen Reddy,drank beer, sometimes went to lectures,smoked dope again, and generally wasted their and everyone else's time and money.

Related Political Animal Reading

Labour's State Control out of Control
Labour's Socialist peril
Mike Moore: Return to Muldoonism
At least Robin Hood was honest: Labour will buy the 2008 Election
Clark's push for Neo-Muldoonism Deja Vu all over again

While there they also fomented the centre piece and central thinking of the current Labour Governments policies.

The central core of that was a socialist/communist bent(nothing sexual of course) centered on policy to destabilise the family unit, restrict individual freedoms and make the State the centre of everything.

What we have seen over the last 9 years of Labour Party policy is a massive increase in Nanny State interference and attacks on personal freedoms.

The legalisation of prostitution-leading to the legitimisation of the act as a career path for Women.

Allowing homosexuals to marry-inherently a male/female institution.

Removal of the Privy Council -allowing judicial activism from politically appointed Supreme Court Judges.

Introduction of the Electoral Finance Act-making individuals and groups fearful of speaking out against the incumbent government.

Repeal of Section 59- the anti smacking bill made good parents criminals and allowed the State to further interfere in family life.

Working for Families-an oxymoron at best, made working families reliant on the State and led to the highest ever number of people on welfare in New Zealand's history.

Attacks on choices -of what individuals want to smoke, eat, watch and listen to and propaganda run constantly on all forms of media to brainwash the masses in feeling guilty if they made their choice to do what they wanted.

Relaxation of the definition of rape-putting innocent males accused in a worse position than a genuine rape victim and therefore lessening the importance of real rape victims.

State employees growing - a huge increase in State sector employees, leading to higher taxes increased red tape and a burden on the private sector

Increased personal tax- leading to families having to work harder and straining the "nuclear family". A deliberate intention to allow the Labour-led State to step in and take control through the Working for Families welfare package.

Interference in employment relationships-legislation passed to allow extra holidays, maternity leave,higher wages, de facto compulsory unions, crippling Kiwisaver and ACC legislation let government agencies take control of private business decisions for the first time in NZ history.


Stealing taxpayer money to buy 2005 Election- not since Watergate in the early 1970s have we seen such a political scandal in this country. NZ$824,000.00 taxpayer money illegally used (and covered up)to fund Labours 2005 election campaign and retrospective law passed to make that theft legal.

The Feminising of education-especially at the primary school level, boys have been largely sidelined to something of a curiosity. Normal rough and tumble play by boys has been hindered(bullrush has been banned!!) by feminist teachers with the same agenda as Clark and her Junta (love that word Junta) and feminist agendas have been given prominence.

The Feminist socialist agenda hatched by Ms Clark and her band of fellow travelers at Auckland University in the 1970s has changed New Zealand society, not for the better but to the detriment of our freedoms, the majority of its working citizens and former taxpaying retirees and to the societal ideal of the successful nuclear family.

This bunch of jack booted, slobbering, anti democratic carpet munchers haven't finished though and their agenda will only be completed when we start to look more like those poor souls in Sweden or the Swedish Model, on which Clark's socialist/feminist/communist model is based. The Swedes suffered under a similar regime for 65 years. That model is almost complete State control over every aspect of our lives.

Luckily though, the sensible among them have said fuck you arse holes we are taking back our lives and they have begun to turn the evil tide of socialism back.

You have a chance to turn the tide back come election day. Vote wisely my friends.

c Political Animal 2008

I think I love you Sir Bobby

My faith in sensible, comical,intelligent "rich pricks" has been restored by Bob Jones and his promise to purposefully break the filthy, socialist anti democratic Electoral Finance Act by using his own hard earned dollars to mount an advertising campaign against the fascists in the Labour Party Government.

"This is the most despicable thing I think I have seen in my lifetime in this country, I really do, certainly by any Government... this overwhelms me. I cannot believe it happened." Bob Jones 2008

Having lived through the fascist Muldoon era of the late 1970s- to early 80s for Bobby to say that is really nailing the point home to those of you who are waivering on the EFA's intentions and the hatred that Labour have for the democratic system and those that value not only political freedom but their personal freedoms as well.

Political Animal Electoral Finance Act coverage

2008 Electoral Finance Act protest

Electoral Finance Act March Mar 9, 2008

Electoral Finance Bill Vote

NZ losses democratic freedom

Mike Moore turns the knife

List of MPs who voted for Act

Cartoon and comment

2007 Auckland Protest against EFB

The purpose of the Bill is clear

For those of you old enough to remember, Bob ran for office in the 1984 election just to oust National's Muldooon and succeeded. Sadly what he did back then by using his own money to run for office is now illegal because of the EFA and I guess that is one of the reasons for his current tilt at those in office.

Opposition from all sectors of the political sphere is growing against this Act and even Labour voters have been showing their opposition on all forms of media, especially the better blogs , talkback and when protesting around the country.

This blog supports Sir Bobby and will be keeping you all up to date in his fight to keep these knuckle dragging collectivists from inflicting more attacks on the freedoms of this country and its individuals.

c Political Animal 2008